587: Kings of Anglia: On location in Hull as Town tame the Tigers 2-0

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0:57Hello everybody, it's me Roscoe and welcome to the latest Kings of Anglia Itchristown podcast On Location special. If you're watching on video you can see we're at the Humber Bridge in Hull after last night's 2-0 win for Kieran McKenna's men. I'm joined by Stuart Watson, Anax Jones, my boys. We are sitting here, Humber Bridge in the background, a start we used to. You're our sort of creative director for these on location podcasts how are you my friend yeah i'm a travel

1:29Stuart Watson:agent um taxi driver and uh as what was my title alex on this one creative director yeah when we booked the hotel in in hessler hessler yeah hessler uh just outside a hole i thought let's get ourselves down to the river humber bridge in the background and a bonus bin as well for uh for the viewers It's just over our shoulders. Yes, indeed. So that's why you should subscribe. We've got our latest offer to see us if you're listening on audio. But AJ, my friend, town made it six games unbeaten, three successes away wins. That makes this podcast even more special because we're talking about a win.

2:05How are you? I'm good. Yeah, here we go. I'm going to pass the microphone around. Yeah. Welcome to Hessel, which, you know what? I think we've done quite well here. Stu's booked a lovely hotel. I had a little look in the map to spot any benches we could record from. And I think between us, led by, as we mentioned, our creative director, who probably scouted out the location with this very premier inn that we stayed at, we've done quite well. So it's a busy week ahead, of course. This will not be our only on-location podcast, as far as I'm aware, at least. We'll have a few others, even if they end up being in hotel rooms or something.

2:39But I think we can be especially proud of this one and where we've ended up. indeed we're going to pass the mic hopefully it's not too windy a bit of a chilly winter's day in Hull but the sun is shining and Stu why don't you snap thoughts on Town's 2-0 win clean sheet as well which was lovely big shout out to Callum Brissett who mentioned September 2024 was the last away Town clean sheet so nice little stat there but yeah over to you my friend what was that

3:09Stuart Watson:the 0-0 at Brighton in the Premier League when Aro Muric had a good game. It feels like a long time ago now. I think Axel Twenzebi was up there and shutting down Matoma that day, wasn't he? That feels like a long time ago. The first back-to-back clean sheets. Do you know when? I tested Alex on this this morning, but I'll ask you, Ross. Would have surely been in the championship last time. Was it the QPR, the December period? That was Alex's first guest this morning. You've gone too far back there towards the end of that season. Do we draw against Watford? No, you've gone too far forward. No, you've thrown a lot of nil-nils at me.

3:56Stuart Watson:The answer is the 6-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday, followed by the 1-0 at Blackburn on Good Friday. Last time, back-to-back clean sheets for Ipswich Town. Snap thoughts on last night's game. bit of a pig of a match for 70 minutes really wasn't it but uh ipswich found a way to win and what do they say teams uh successful teams find a way to win when not at the best that was certainly the case last night indeed snap thoughts from you aj before we hear from kira mckenna on the three points away from home yeah we came across a tweet in the press box which was in the first 20 minutes saying this is the worst 20 minutes of football i've ever seen i sat there i thought you know what I think it's been quite good and ever since I thought of that from the 20th minute onwards it just descended into absolute terrible football um neither could kind of hold on to the ball passes were sloppy um it just did not feel like a game between the second top scorers in the division and the pre-season title favorites with a squad worth of like more than 200 million or whatever um it didn't feel like that at all but as Stu says you have two moments where you come up with some quality some uh good play from those who come off the bench and um that is ultimately the difference you don't have to be at your best week in week out Ipswich are not at a point where they've got snazzy attacking play and defensive solidity so if you're able to have the solidity at the back and then have one or two moments that you can take that's what gets you the points and I think if you'd offered a 2-0 win away at Hull before we made the trip yesterday I think we all would have been very happy with that.

5:35Yes indeed. I'm just looking at AJ, he's got a nice scarf on. Sue's got a hat, I should have wore softened wintery, I just got my nice big orange coat. You call me the orange? Our little glass of orange that we've got here. Yeah I haven't gone with the coat which is a bit of a concern mainly because we're on a slightly soggy bench and I didn't want to sit on the soggy bench so I've sat on my coat instead so it's going to be a bit of a chilly podcast this yeah me and Stu have gone right deep in the soggy bottom territory let's hear from Kieran McKenna on the win

6:06Stuart Watson:Kieran congratulations not a lot in that probably not classic for a long period but you've found a way to get the goals and get the win yeah yeah I thought we showed the qualities that you need on you know some nights like this games in the championship midweek difficult pitch, difficult surface, both teams really struggled to get to grips with it in the first half and showed some good learning as a group there because we've spoken about it plenty now but in those times when it's not perfect like the first half and we couldn't really get the control that we wanted to you have to stay intense, you have to stay together, your defensive organisation needs to be really good, I thought it was, I thought we pressed really well all night made it really hard for Hull to build as well and they've been a really good attacking force really stopped them playing through the pitch at all the only giveaways we give really were a couple of poor moments on the ball but in terms of our defensive organisation was excellent mentality at half time was good knew that we could push on in the game and yeah improved in the second half find a rhythm on the ball a bit better, adjusted the conditions better and then you see when you get the first goal a big difference, the confidence sort of grows in the team and the opponent sort of gives you a little bit more space and stops defending quite as hard and from that moment on we looked like we could score any number of goals and we still kept the defensive resilience.

7:31So yeah, we know it wasn't perfect tonight but again, one of the biggest learnings for me for the group, for the club again, over this last month or two as a group isn't going to be perfect. It wasn't like that when we got 97 points and we had a team that had played together for two years. So, you know, it's how we are in the tough moments, how we are when it's not perfect. That, in the end, will be decisive. So, I think for to come out with a win tonight and a clean sheet in that sort of setting, I think is a positive. All right then, Stu, that's Kieran McKenna on Towns win. I want to start off with the changes.

8:08We've got the McKenna rotation bingo. Centre-arge change, midfielder change, the forward four change. Thoughts on it?

8:19Stuart Watson:always found sounds dramatic we've we've had this conversation so many times already this season and it's going to continue Kieran McKenna has made it clear that he's built a squad with like for like quality in so many departments and that hopefully is going to be Ipswich's super strength over the course of the next over the course of the season but certainly over the next few weeks months when when it's really busy and hopefully others you know feel that as injuries and suspensions by that rotation, that freshness will carry them through. Another way you can always put a different twist on it, I think it was one change from the Swansea 4-1, it's a different way of looking at it, I think we're going to quite often see the front four change in its entirety, fairly regularly.

9:06Stuart Watson:Cajusta for Taylor probably wasn't a great surprise, given Jack Taylor I thought dipped a little bit in the Wrexham game. Probably the biggest surprise debate really is around centre-half. Greaves coming back in, former club of course, back at Hull. Personally, I don't like rotation in centre-halves. I think that's one area of the team where you really benefit from a settled partnership. But you can't say it's harming Ipswich at the moment. Greaves had a good game at Swansea. Kipra came back in and was solid against Wrexham. Greaves had a good game last night. So, yeah, while you're winning games, the rotation debate will disappear.

9:51Stuart Watson:And then as soon as you have one slightly frustrating afternoon, it will all get whipped up again. But ultimately, I guess it paid dividends again last night, didn't it? Yeah, indeed. And AJ, you're not being dropped. You're just going to be ready to be that finisher. Do you have any thoughts on that? Yeah, I mean, I agree on the centre-half thing. I know Stu's been quite strong on it from the start in terms of not liking the rotation. And I've kind of seen the other side to it. But actually more over time, I've sided with that opinion of I'm not that keen on it. But as he says, and as we've said for the last few weeks, while the results are positive and Ipswich are six unbeaten now and chopped and changed in the last three, four games or so with changing the centre-backs, then there's not really that much criticism to be had.

10:38There's always a couple of surprises in there. But when I went through and picked the team, when Mark did his predicted line-up, he got it spot on. I was one off because I thought Syndra would start. It's kind of easy to see now maybe some of McKenna's thinking, especially with this run. We say it to the ends of the earth, you know, seven games in 22 days, isn't it? That's an incredibly busy run. And that's where you need to keep people fresh and use the depth because there's probably not a squad in the championship that has the depth of Ipswich Town this season. So, yeah, I'm intrigued to see how they'll go for Friday.

11:12But in terms of this one, I think you could see a lot of it coming. It gives opportunities to some players. And McKenna had also said after the Wrexham game as well, back whoever goes out and plays in midweek. That's probably kind of where they're thinking of McAteer coming in. I could kind of see that one and some others who got opportunities that maybe hasn't quite clicked for them so far this season. And you mentioned Hefe. He obviously got the line-up correct. He also got the first goal scorer correct. So he's very smug, I'm sure. He's now, I think, maybe joint top in the leaderboard now. Because he obviously gets...

11:42We all level on points together now. I don't think I am because I went for a draw. Me and Stu went for a 2-2 draw. And last time we went to hole, Stu, it was an entertaining 3-3 draw, an incredible game. The first half was not showing that. Just your thoughts on that, because it was really poor. Both teams in possession, a lot of mistakes. And you know, you kind of mentioned about the surface as well, didn't you?

12:06Stuart Watson:Yeah, that was interesting. I mean, you just mentioned our predictions there. We've all gone for high scores. We came off the back of the 0-0 against Wrexham at the weekend and said, well, Tuesday's going to be completely different. Hull are wide open. They score loads of goals. They concede loads of goals. Ipswich have been scoring away from home. Maybe it will be up there in terms of entertainment, as you say, that last time we came up here for that incredible 3-3 draw. or Omari Hutchinson with those two fantastic goals right at the back end of that promotion season. Kieran McKenna thumping the perspex of the dugout.

12:41Stuart Watson:I mean, that's probably one of the best games of football from a neutral perspective that I've ever watched, probably, covering Ipswich Town. And we were hopeful that that was going to be the same again last night. How wrong we were. Yeah, I've touched on it already. I mean, right up until Ipswich getting that first goal, that game was dire. And you said Kieran's touched upon the difficult playing surface. It's always hard for us to judge. I don't know what it was like pitch side for you, Ross. You might have a better insight. But from up high, we can't always kind of tell on the quality of the surface.

13:19Stuart Watson:But that can't be the only reason why neither team could find a teammate. They were both as bad as each other in terms of unforced errors. and there was a moment right at the end of that first half that summed it up for me and it wasn't the first time that the whole keeper booted the ball out of hands all the way through to Christian Walton. Christian Walton went short. Dierre O'Shea then booted it all the way up the other end of the pitch and it went out for a goal kick and you thought that kind of sums it up really. Another bit that summed it up was start of the second half. They managed to leave the cones out from the half-time warm-up so the ref had to stop that while they removed four orange cones from the pitch and that was about as exciting as it got for the crowd.

14:00Stuart Watson:really poor game Ipswich are miles off it still in terms of being that free-flowing connected force that we've known in the past but the main thing is when they're not perfect when they're not at their best they're not now giving away crap goals which was the case earlier in the season and that gives them a chance late in the game with the depth that they've got and that's what happened yeah it did and yeah the surface my point of view obviously it looks pretty does it lovely and green but maybe because it rained a little bit just before the warm-ups or during the warm-ups so yeah but I don't think there was anything Was it cutting up?

14:40Stuart Watson:A little bit Was the grass a bit long? Yeah I'll say maybe a bit long but yeah that wasn't the main reason why the game was dire but you mentioned AJ the first 20 minutes you thought it weren't too bad Yeah I think that it kind of descended into a poor game i think that the start you could kind of see well actually you know what there's little passages there's a lot of space hole leaving a lot of space obviously it's worth mentioning as well they had i think five starters basically out of that team this is the best time to come to play hole they have only lost uh one home league game this season i think it might actually be one home game full stop this season in all competitions um so factoring all that in Ipswich needed to come here and I felt put on a good display and get the win and I liked some of what I saw in the early stages and then something changed I'm not quite sure what it was I noticed they went very direct this was a game where I thought Ipswich definitely did have that kind of long ball tendency Daro Shea is usually really good at that the way he stretches the pitch I thought defensively Daro Shea was excellent but on the ball maybe just a yard or two off it a slightly different situation.

15:48But, yeah, that was part of it, I'd say. It just kind of descended into that a little bit, didn't it? And that's probably maybe the story of the game from about 20 through until 70-ish, I'd say. Yeah, let's draw a line on the first half. That was pretty much it. As my missus starts calling me. Sorry, darling, I can't speak to you right now. I'm just talking about the game at whole. But, yeah, second half then, Stu. Where do you want to start? because there was obviously a half-time change. Jenski Usta had to come off for Jack Taylor. He was a boot, McKenna obviously mentioned. We'll find out a bit more, I'm sure.

16:26We'll see if he probably isn't going to be planning against Oxford. But yeah, take it away.

16:30Stuart Watson:Yeah, I think there was a sharp intake of breath when we saw Jenski Usta go down right on half-time, clutching his right knee. It looked to me like a sort of a contact injury rather than a twist or a jar or anything like that. he got up, he sort of moved gingerly and there were seconds to go to the break so you thought they'll probably get into half time and then assess it and then he doesn't come out for the start of the second half, Jack Taylor comes on but we're all thinking given there's a lot of talk about Jens Kajusta's knees and having to manage them you're wondering how bad that is and then Kieran McKenna tells us afterwards actually it's not his knee, he's rolled his ankle and he's in a boot and they'll have to see how serious it is like you say Friday's game is coming very quickly so I would imagine that possibly even Blackburn next Tuesday might be a stretch for him but hopefully fingers crossed it's it's not not the knee which is the main thing yeah so my my uh concentration levels there will just went when I was seeing my phone calls like I'm trying to think what I want to say next um but AJ where do you want to start for the second half then because um as you say hole went a bit more direct I want to quickly give a shout out to Dara Shea straight away I know this is later in the game but I don't know how he's not got concussion like twice he got the ball straight right to his head and of course they had to like check it on him but yeah defensive and that was the solid foundations that sort of maybe went on to the town to win this game Yeah I think that's probably the next thing to talk about because the pattern of the first half continued into the second in terms of it being poor and both teams being loose in possession and we can sit here and criticise the attacking play and what didn't work there but you also do have to look at the other side and there'll be people that won't like that because of maybe some of the letdowns in the final third but defensively tonight and in terms of the last run of games Ipswich have been pretty imperious they've not given a lot away of course there are one or two moments but they seem to handle those moments better the players and Kieran McKenna quite often come out and say it's not going to be smooth sailing even coming back into this division And with all the money we've spent, you're not going to have a game where you're totally in control and dominant start to finish.

18:45And it felt like the moments that went against them in previous games, they hadn't really got to grips with. And what we've seen probably since Charlton is a kind of a slight factory reset almost in the approach that they've had. And this was a continuation of that. Hull were limited. And again, I know that they have players out, but it's one of the most attacking, potent attacking sides in the division. We're limited to very little. A few penalty shouts, didn't they? Yeah, a few penalty shouts. Both seem to be quite soft. There's handballs. There's one with Greaves on Gelhart. I think it might have been Gelhart again with Leif Davis.

19:19They both would have been pretty harsh. But I know that there's the whole side of they haven't had many penalties and they've been quite keen to get one and feel a little bit hard done by. But I think the refereeing overall was pretty good in this game. And I think, no? I don't know. I think there's a few moments where he was very card happy. And I know whole City fans weren't happy. I don't know about Tamer fans because I ran into the pitch for the first half, but there was a few decisions. I was like, oh, he's sort of not let that go. Oh, Stoney wants to talk. Referee, talk.

19:46Stuart Watson:What did you make of the reception for two former hole players coming back? That surprised me a little bit. Jacob Greaves and Jaden Philogene both coming back. Yeah, Tuba. He played for hole? Yeah. Oh, okay. I missed a senior goal. Okay. We'll come on to that. But Greaves, you know, he's a hole boy. boyhood fan was your dad played for him been there for for years and years they got a a good transfer fee for him um i think it was probably his involvement in um one of their players getting a yellow card earlier on where he sort of went down it's a bit of a flailing hand caught him and he and he made the most of it went down holding his face and then from then on you know all of his touches were booed which surprised me a little bit and then jayden came on and he was booed onto the pitch.

20:35Stuart Watson:His first action was to get shunted off the ball, outmuscled a little bit, big cheer from the crowd, that woke everybody up. Jadon obviously goes on to have the last laugh with the assist and was a real handful, hit the post, didn't he? I was a little bit surprised with the reaction for those two. Yeah, very much so. Of course, Jadon Philogene got involved in the first goal, major and subs are making a difference once again. We know this with Kieran McKenna's sides, the finishes uh shall we talk about the first goal yeah good this um i mean there's probably a point we kind of soon i spoke looking at the clock wondering when those changes were going to come because the game we'd have the first kind of 15 minutes of the second half and it felt like we had no real improvement and we needed those introductions to change things um i think that maybe having that substitution at the interval might have meant that he wanted to be a little more cautious in terms of we've heard before about making sure that if there was an injury for example that you're not playing 10-15 minutes with 10 men because you made all your changes earlier in the game and then with this one yeah Jadon Filagene onto the pitch it's good link up with him and Leith Davis I think that that's probably in terms of the connections the strongest left side connection at the moment even though the Jack Clark relationship is building well so a little bit of link up play down there and then it's a really well placed kind of looping cross from quite deep from from jayden philagine um marcelino nunez i'm not sure i need to go back through and see if he's ever scored a professional header before he's about 5 '8 i think so i don't think if he has he's scored many um positions himself in between the center back i think it's hughes that needs to do considerably better given there's about six or seven inches between them in height difference um nunez kind of ghosts in and um plants the header really well into the bottom corner 1-0 I think out of the blue is kind of maybe a little bit harsh but I don't think any of us saw it coming at that point and it's exactly what Ipswich needed to kind of lift themselves from there and the way they kind of played from that period onwards was much much improved.

22:43Yes and Jalen Filagene's ball by the way Stu oh what a cross and yeah Nunes I thought Weren't having a great game, but he's picked up another goal away from home, Nunes, which is great to see. But yeah, great ball from Jadon.

22:56Stuart Watson:I've seen a few people describe it as a hopeful ball into the box. I think that does it a disservice, actually. Jadon, I think to start with, tries to take some people on. He ends up sort of being forced back out wide, back a bit deeper. And for me, I think he knows exactly what he's doing with that cross. I described it as a delicious delivery, a teasing delivery. So yeah, full credit for the assist. And like you say, Nunez, he's playing as a number 10, but he took that like a number nine last night. Great movement and great execution as well. And that's what it needed, a little moment of quality.

23:34Stuart Watson:Ipswich certainly have got individual quality. It's not quite come together as a collective, but we keep saying it, if they could stop giving away those silly goals, they'll always give themselves a chance to win with the talent that they've got and the players that can combine that way. And that's what happened last night. It did indeed. And it didn't take long for Town to double their lead, AJ. And Chuba Atpon, finally, finally, after many games, getting so close, scores his first Town goal. Although, is it controversial? Offside and all that jazz. But the lino, done a good job. And yeah, 2-0 Town.

24:14Yeah, he's had these opportunities before. he's hit the post against Charlton he's fluffed his lines against Wrexham he's had opportunities to finally get off the mark and show us the player that scored 27 I think goals for Middlesbrough in his last championship campaign this is one that comes after a really good period from Ipswich there's a 3v2 when Nunez carries the ball forward into the final third has options to his right and left I think it's Sindra to his right you're thinking make the pass, make the pass and Nunez sees his name up in light another brace from on the road and it doesn't happen and he kind of rolls it i think it's a blocked shot with um that one might have been saved i can't remember but either way a save shot so there you go that was a really frustrating one they come again cut back from from um davis has played through to akbomachi that one was blocked i'm sure it was yeah uh we're getting some nods so that one was blocked and then um comes out to furlong he forces a good save wins the corner um corners whipped in it kind of pinballs a little bit i think it's o'shea's knockdown taylor scoops into the box and i think from almost every angle in the stadium that looked offside at first glance um whole bench livid away and a little bit probably confused from what they'd seen home and livid as well um i thought it was a clear offside i think i don't know how your view was but um yeah akpom gets the goal when you see the replay ryan jones is playing one it's quite tight but the linesman's made an excellent call in a congested area.

25:44Chubat Akpom needed something to fall for him and that was really important that it did. Yes, indeed. We're going to hear from Chubat Akpom as well. You spoke to him after the game but let's get Stu's thoughts on this goal. Where my pit side view, I couldn't really see. It's very difficult. But yeah, Chubat Akpom, Stu, that will do him a well to good getting that first-time goal.

26:03Stuart Watson:Absolutely, yeah. Sometimes when it's not quite happening for a forward player and the wait for that goal goes on, people talk about he just needs one to go in off his backside or something like that. Almost got that against Wrexham where a philagene shot sort of hit him in the box and you thought he was going to tow it in. Keeper makes a save. I think as you'll probably hear in the audio now, he says to Alex, I needed a sweaty goal, which I believe is a FIFA reference, isn't it? And yeah, in real time, I think we all turn to each other and were going, he's got to be offside because he's basically on the goal line.

26:45Stuart Watson:But great credit to the linesman to have seen that in real time. And then when you look at the replays, I think it's tight, but it's clear that he's onside. I will take you up, Alex, on calling that an O'Shea knockdown. That's a hell of a downward header at the corner. The goalkeeper makes a save. He attacked it really well. but yeah I mean it's a great goal for Tuba to get and that killed it off really didn't it and then from there more goals could have followed Philogene was having great fun out on the left Davis was overlapping at will down that side and a game that had been a really difficult watch for 70 minutes suddenly became really fun Yeah it did, it got us off our feet but yeah let's go and hear from Tuba at POM then we're going to, while that audio is played we're going to probably chant his song with the tune of Tequila.

27:38So, Tequila? Tequila. Tequila. Chuba. Chuba, over to you, mate. Chuba, is that the very definition of a hard-fought away win in the championship? Yeah, it was a big win. One of the most important wins of the season, I'd say. Coming here, it's difficult to play, difficult to get points here, so I'm glad we won. And up in the top six for the first time this season, does that mean anything at this stage of the season? Must be a nice little lift for you.

28:02Stuart Watson:It's nice, but it's too early, you know. We need to be consistent for the full season. So, yeah, we have a lot more work to do and hopefully we just keep on going. How nice to get off the mark. Yeah, I needed a sweaty one like that, to be honest. Every striker wants to score goals and I'm really thankful to the fans, actually, because there's been games, you know, where I've come on and they're still singing my name and I haven't even got my first goal yet. So that really gave me a big push. Yeah, I'm glad to get off the mark. Had it been frustrating? You'd had one or two chances. Yeah, of course.

28:31Stuart Watson:you start to overthink it and stuff and it's not something I'm used to you know like I like to put the ball in the back of the net so when it's not happening I get a bit frustrated but yeah I just had to show some patience and I'm glad it went in today. Juva I think that most people in the stadium at the time that goal went in thought it was offside did you have to have a little look back because it's only when we saw the replays it looked actually quite onside. I was looking at the liner and just praying like oh please because I saw the ref run over to him and I was like oh But, yeah, glad it counted.