596: Kings of Anglia: Red sky at night, Town delight

21:35Krastev, I don't think he'll pull off a piece of skill like that again, to be perfectly honest. It was so good, the way he turned into the box. But does Kipre need to do better to close him down? When the ball comes to Lancashire, it feels like O'Shea loses his runner a little bit. They all feel like quite harsh points because Oxford do well. but credit talks for the goal. But if you've got standards of being a top team, I think all of those players I mentioned will be a little bit frustrated with what they've seen. And it just felt like a little bit of a switch off where Ipswich have been pretty dominant in those kind of situations.

22:09And across games, look at the clean sheets that Christian Walton's kept. It's come because Ipswich concede very few chances. I'd need to get the, well, don't roll your eyes, don't roll your eyes with the XG against stats. I'm sure would probably paint that picture as well. Sometimes you might be able to get too comfortable in games, and I think this might have been one of those situations where they just didn't do some of the things that they usually would do in matches.

22:34Mark Heath:What did you make then of the resilience, Stu? Because McKenna has spoken a few times this season about needing to get better at dealing with setbacks. That was definitely a setback. And then there was a period where it kind of, I don't know if you kind of call it a full-blown wobble, but certainly Oxford was suddenly in the ascendancy. after that. Then obviously, Tam do manage to get the second goal and go on to win. But what did you make of that period after the goal? Did you like the way that Tam responded or not?

22:59Stuart Watson:Yeah, I think so. It wasn't the sort of Sheffield Wednesday prolonged wobble that we saw where the whole crowd got really nervy and one mistake led to another.

23:13Stuart Watson:When a team scores, of course, for the next however long they have a little bit of wind in their sails and Oxford did have that. I think they had a moment where the ball got cut back from the right and left-back Curry kind of lashed over from long range. And there was a bit of a collective kind of roar from the crowd to say, wake up. And to be fair to Ipswich, they kind of shut down that mini lift from Oxford quite quickly and got back on it, stuck to the game plan and were back to playing sort of front-footed football. And it was important that they got back in front before half-time. And they did.

23:55Mark Heath:They did indeed, AJ. And it was that man, Nunes, not Darwin, at the heart of it. Eight assists for the season. Obviously got two at Coventry. This was a pre-assist. I know those don't exist, but he releases Furlong. And often when I've been talking about Donald Furlong, I say, hey, he doesn't get forward enough. But I didn't realise this was his third assist of the season, which is more, I think, than Leif Davis, isn't it? On the other flank, we always say that Leif is a marauding, swashbuckling left-back. So Furlong tees a pack bomb and he does what strikers do. Yeah, I think Leif would probably feel a little bit harshly done by given the amount of chances he's put onto a plate that haven't been taken.

24:35Whereas I think Furlong may be, I don't want to say that he's been a bit more fortunate, but potentially you could look at it that way. and that right side of combination is coming together really well, I think, in Sindra getting involved. That's a little one-two between him and Nunez that opens the space up. Furlong knows when to move and when not to move. He's very clever in that way. He knows the gaps there. The delivery, to his credit, is really good. Plays it low. And does it take a little nick kind of between where that cross comes in and that pom? When you look at actually the current stats at the moment, Furlong hasn't been credited with that assist.

25:17I assume that will change. Are you having a beer?

25:22Mark Heath:It's fancy water, mate. New year, new me. Just drink fancy water now. That's my thing. Okay, he's having a sparkling water. Does it take a nick? I'm not sure because at the moment, Furlong hasn't been credited to that assist. That has to change in my eyes. But yeah, Akpom, right place, right time. I think that he won't have a harder, an easier finish to make this season to be perfectly honest. It's point-blank range, but he's positioned himself really well. He's caught Oxford napping at the back and given the way that Town managed to swing momentum in that favour, it felt exactly what they needed.

25:56Perfect time to do it as well. That's what gives them the advantage going into the break.

26:01Mark Heath:At the break, my feeling anyway was, okay, they've got over that mini wobble. They've got themselves ahead and now they're going to go on and probably add two, three goals, maybe second half. And it didn't happen. Again, we're back to this town-lacking ruthlessness chat, which, again, always feels weird to me, given the amount of goals they actually have scored. But there's no doubt they failed to take the opportunities to kill this game off. And that led to them becoming nervier and nervier towards the end, even in a game that they completely dominated.

26:34Stuart Watson:Yeah, and that's down to a combination of things. I mean, we have to rewind probably. to a fillaging chance at one nil where, where he slams over the bar after we talk about Davis, maybe feeling hard done by with, with assists. That was certainly one where it was a lovely cushioned pass from, from Davis back to fillaging. And he smashed over the bar. And I think if that had gone in at two nil, this could have been a day where it should go on to, to rack up a big scoreline, but that didn't happen. Oxford get back in the game. and then second half at 2-1. Still chances in the match. I think Nunez was denied three times in this match.

27:19Stuart Watson:One was a peach of a free kick and a hell of a save from the goalkeeper to get it right out the top corner. He had a turn and shot in the box that was saved. I can't remember which half it was in. Another one outside of the box that was well hit and stung the palms of the goalkeeper. So there were chances. I wouldn't say sort of any glorious chances, certainly not to the level of philagines in the first half. But I guess the greater frustration was that the energy, the intensity kind of dipped a little bit. And that's, you know, Kieran McKenna's comments after the game was that we lacked the edge to go and kill it off.

28:02Again, as I said, right at the very start, mitigating factors maybe about the busyness of the schedule and stuff like that but the energy in the crowd dipped a little bit I think that's fully understandable it's New Year's Day it's freezing cold everyone's maybe feeling a bit hungover and the team didn't really kind of give

28:20Stuart Watson:them much to to get going in that second half and the whole match kind of yeah drift drifted away a little bit in in that second half so um if that's an if there's a knock on this performance it's maybe the way that second half kind of got away from them a little bit. And on another day, Oxford can nick a goal. I mean, they had a massive chance. They had the best chance of that second half, didn't they? On, what, 50-51 minutes where O'Shea sort of misreads a long ball. And I think they're fortunate that – how do we pronounce his name, AJ? Dekeersmacher. Dekeersmacher, thank you. right footed and he goes outside of the boot when really it's a left footed chance, isn't it?

29:03One on one and he puts it wide. And if that goes in, it goes to 2-2 and the whole mood changes. And again, goals change games.

29:11Stuart Watson:Who knows how things could have unfolded from there. But yeah, we keep saying it, don't we? Not ruthless enough, not clinical enough. They've left quite a few goals out there this season. Ipswich, thankfully, this wasn't an occasion where it proved costly.

29:26Mark Heath:A little switch off from O'Shea there. O'Shea, of course, had a header basically cleared off the line, didn't he, at the other end. Yeah. Big header, which looked like it was goal-bound. That was meaty, that, wasn't it? It was a real thumper, a real meaty thumper, for want of a better term. AJ, talk to me about the subs. Quickly moving on. Compose yourself. I won't link Christmas food to meaty thumper. Let's move on. the subs, AJ, we used the subs coming on injecting energy and all that kind of stuff but is it harsh to say that didn't really happen this time? No, not at all I mean the one thing that would stand out to me in terms of a first half second half swing is that in the end of the first half, so Town have gone ahead Ackpom scored, they had two shots on target between then and the interval, one from Cuyusta which was swung into the gloves of coming the goalkeeper and then a long-range strike, which Nunez saw saved.

30:25And then in the second half, they had the same number of shots on target as they did in that five-minute spell towards the end of the half. They did create some decent opportunities, the O'Shea one, as we've mentioned. But yeah, quite often we've seen subs come on and prove to be the difference. How often have we seen Ipswich kind of get towards 70-odd minutes? They run out of steam a little bit, and all of a sudden, you've got Oxford down the bottom of the table who look over and you see Epswich bringing on Jack Clark, Wes Burns Jack Taylor, even Azon Ashley Young even coming on with the experience that he has and the impact was pretty limited, to be honest they were doing more defensive work than anything Jack Clark liked a lot of what he offered at times, he played in the 10 when he came on briefly which was new, I think that Kieran McKenna is still trying to find ways of how can we get him and Jadon Philogene into a team that is going to function.

31:21I still don't think there's an answer to that, personally. The Jack Clark at number 10 experiment probably lasted all of about 10 minutes, to be perfectly honest. I thought he looked more comfortable at wide. Flashes, but he didn't have a shot in the game. He didn't really feel like he was going to be the super sub to come on and get the goal. Wes was defensive contributions. He had two touches on the pitch. He played 25 minutes and then hardly got a sniff in an attacking sense. wasn't one of Taylor's finest performances off the bench. Azon looked a little bit, well, was totally cut adrift. I don't think he really had anything to work off.

31:57And then when Ashley Young came on towards the end of it, it felt like he was trying to shore things up. Taylor goes into the 10. You've got Young playing alongside Matasiwa. Just see it out at that point. We know that the intensity is not going to be there for these final stages. Let's try and make it a bit more comfortable. It's not always going to happen, is it? You're not always going to be able to bring on five substitutes and totally change the game and totally reinvigorate the team. Of course, it needs to happen more often than not. But in this match, it was just more important about, come on, breathe some fresh legs and do your defensive jobs to ensure that the Doxford don't get an opportunity.

32:31And their only shot on target that they had in the game was the goal. There was just kind of some right-sided efforts towards the end of the match, which did put some pressure on, but nothing really fell for them in terms of really testing Christian Moulton.

32:43Mark Heath:I know we've seen it a couple of times, but I'm always super impressed when he doesn't just bring Philogene off for Clark. I like to see that Philogene can play deep into games and still be energetic and threatening and stuff. That's really encouraging for me, given how hard he works generally and how important he is to the side. Stewie, you and I have not been on a pod since Wes Burns scored that fairytale goal at Coventry. It's so good to see him back, isn't it? And for me, as someone who's had the same injury, the thing I was most excited about was the knee slide celebration because I wouldn't do that now because I'd still be slightly worried about the old knee.

33:18Mark Heath:But clearly he's in a far better place and he's quite happy to go sliding on those knees. Brilliant to see him back. Yeah, obviously, I think all that celebration would have just been pure instinct. I see the video of him. He was showing the footage of the goal back and the celebration. And I think he was taken aback. He said, by how aggressive my celebration was. I think that was just a guttural roar of relief, of joy, of everything that he's probably gone through over the last 11 months. Yeah, magic moment at Coventry. That one comes on, gets a few more minutes in this match.

33:52Stuart Watson:Didn't really have anything of an attacking note to do. But I tell you what, he made a couple of really good defensive tracking runs. We're saying, what's his pace going to be like after so long out and that type of injury? I tell you what, he kept pace with a couple of defensive runs where it came back and shut things down a little bit. So that was good to see. So, yeah, not a classic. It was nervy to a point, wasn't it, at the end of that game? I think the moment we were all kind of thinking, could this happen? But there was never really any great kind of great pressure moments from Oxford. No, no.

34:32It only takes a moment, doesn't it? And then when they get a corner in stoppage time and the goalkeeper comes up, I think everyone's thinking, here we go. Thankfully, that didn't beat the first man. And that was it.

34:47Mark Heath:Three points in the pocket, park it, move on. Which we're going to do shortly. Just quickly, AJ, looking ahead, Wes Burns now back in the fold. Got a few minutes. Clearly, don't know how far he is away from being able to play more minutes and potentially start. but it's going to be interesting to see what happens there when he is with him and Sindra because clearly Sindra seems to establish himself as a starter now with McAteer thoroughly underwhelming since arriving. But Wes Burns, again, that role in the team is specifically his, you know, the Wes Burns role in the team and Sindra plays that in a different way.

35:19Mark Heath:He's not the same sort of player. So going forward, how do you see that kind of playing out? Different matches will call for different things. I think that ultimately, Sindra Valarageli is going to play the bulk of the minutes at right wing this season. I can't see that changing, regardless of who comes in or whatever happens really at all. I think that Sindra is going to nail down that spot and will continue to grow. It should be said that I think Sindra, his recent performances have probably dipped from some of the levels that we've seen, but also he's a 19-year-old playing winter football and really regular games for the first time in his career in a totally different country, in an incredibly competitive league.

36:02So he deserves A, credit for that, and B, probably some recognition about how hard it is. And it's good that he's now got the support with Wes coming back. That Blackpool game is really interesting, and I'm fascinated to know who's going to start on the right, because if you're going to rest Sindra, do you give Casey McAteer the opportunity to play against a League One team, hopefully get your first goal, try and build up something. Or Wes Burns, as I openly said, you know what, I kind of have a bit of an eye on the cup game for my first start. So that's going to be an interesting one. I'm pretty confident that both of those will play more supporting roles to Sindra.

36:42But in Wes's case, it's going to be looking at what he's like physically, what his pace is like, how he looks being able to last 60, 70 minutes on the pitch. Obviously, he hasn't done that apart from the 21s and how he's up to championship standards. Because with a player like him, pace and physicality are so important. And when you're not playing for 11 months, coming back into things at the same level that you left it, I think is quite difficult. So he seems to think he's up for the challenge. He said post-match after Coventry, he feels better than he did before. He feels like he's a better player than he was before that injury.

37:23now it's time to see if that's the case

37:25Mark Heath:Indeed, right, let's hear by way of putting a cap on this game from the man I would say probably with the second best accent on the Utrecht Town team, Jens Kajusa just behind George Hurst's lovely lilting tones let's hear from Jens and then we can finish off the chat

37:40Kieran McKenna:Jens, what did you make of that one this afternoon? A bit scruffy win but, you know, three points were massive, tables looking looking pretty good and yeah, we keep on pushing It was a win you needed as well off the back of Coventry, wasn't it? It was always going to be a different kind of game as well. Yeah, yeah, but we were kind of prepared for that. We knew that, I mean, last time we played them a couple of months ago, you know, it can be tricky and can be difficult. So we were prepared for that and, yeah, this time it went our way. You obviously looked at the league table. What does that mean after 25 games to be in the top two for the first time?

38:12Kieran McKenna:Nah, of course, that's what our ambition is and we keep on pushing. But, yeah, it feels great, but we know it's tight. so many more games to go so we have to stay focused not look too far ahead but focus on on each game that comes again another assist for you and for this one and jayden philagine with a pretty fine finish what do you make of that goal talk us through a little bit uh i think jayden does the biggest part of it he helps me out quite a bit i think uh the other assist i got uh was also to jayden who did a fantastic job with the finish and dribbling as well so yeah um cred all credit to him.

38:49How good is it to see Chubarak put on the score sheet as well? Because it hasn't really come that regularly for him this season. I'm sure he's kind of waiting to explode almost in a way and confidence is going to be a key thing for that.

38:59Kieran McKenna:Yeah, it was great for him, great for the team. We need that. Very, very happy for him. You spoke about it being different in the championship. Can you take good things out of it from being away from the Premier League last season? It was a lot of being down at the bottom, a relegation battle this year, the vibes are different, isn't it? And you're looking to be at the top and chasing to really achieve something. I think going to the Championship with Ipswich is probably the best decision I could have made. Not going to lie, it was tough for a couple of months, but I think I've grown not only as a player, but as a person.

39:34Kieran McKenna:It's a challenge that I'm really glad I took. And yeah, I'm looking forward to the months ahead.

39:43Mark Heath:Nice stuff at the end there, AJ. Where do you think we are with the Jens situation? Because I thought he started the season really well. I mean, we're talking about him being the best player at one point and then he fell off and then we kind of, I don't know, have we fallen into kind of the, with him and Jack Taylor, we've fallen into the kind of Greaves and Kipra bit that we saw where they're just going to be kind of swapped out each game. What do you reckon? Yeah, I'm not really too sure. Again, I think it's kind of a, it can be a game on game basis. I feel more solid with Jack Taylor in the field.

40:13I think the team is more kind of resilient defensively. I think that when you have a game like this one, where Town have more of the ball, where there's more space to operate in and drive in, Jens can make midfielders look silly. But he still has that kind of rick in him. He still has maybe moments where he switches off a little bit, like what led to the goal. There's still certain aspects I'd like him to improve. Set piece marking, for example, given his height, I think is an important factor and I'm still not quite sure he's nailed it in that respect. But look at the quality he's got at times, the way he spins past players.

40:53His big setback came around, I'd say, October. Maybe that's the period he's talking about with the couple of months where October, November, when he fell out of the team and Jack Taylor was really performing. Jens was off the boil and didn't really seem to be up for it. but he's really recovered well coming into, into 2026, the final few weeks of 2025. Um, and now there's a decision to, to be made and as well, it's not easy with the balance of the squad. Is it knowing about the, these things, um, going into January, what happens with Marcelino Nunez in the 10, what's the competition going to be like?

41:29Um, so I'm interested to see what, what that balance is going to look like, uh, maybe post January.

41:36Mark Heath:Is there anything else just to put in a cap on the game? You want to reflect on? And I think it's probably worth pointing out that Azor Matasiwa has emerged from these games without picking up another yellow card, which, you know, Millwall away, Coventry away, tough games. So he's done really well there. Fantastic. Anything else you want to mention, Stu?

41:53Stuart Watson:Yeah, pick up on the two midfielders then that we've just been discussing. I'm just having a look while you were chatting about Jens and the period you're referring to. It was after the 3-0 home defeat to Charlton that Jens dropped out of the team. and he only starts two of the next 11 matches. So it was the home draw against Watford and the 2-0 win at Hull. Jack Taylor, you know, we're talking a lot about Ipswich maybe looking more solid, having a bit more structure with him in the team, maybe not quite as flashy as Jens Kjouste. But Jens has now started three of the last four, Sheffield Wednesday, Millwall and Oxford.

42:32Taylor played at Coventry.

42:36Stuart Watson:I think it's very similar to this discussion as we've been having about multiple other positions it will be judged on different qualities for different games for me Jens is better suited for Oxford at home Sheffield Wednesday at home games where Ipswich are expected to win likely to have lots of the ball someone that can drive past one or two players in midfield and create then the space for others and drag people out of position and break down low blocks. And then maybe away from home at Coventry, others where you need some maybe nitty-gritty aggressive qualities of Jack Taylor, that's when he'll come in.

43:20Stuart Watson:So it's good to have two different qualities there. As all matter, Siwa, appreciation time. he's just he's 7, 8 out of 10 every game isn't he and we're almost taking that for granted now the growth that he has shown after that baptism of fire at Birmingham on the opening day where he by his own admittance felt completely lost with the intensity of the championship having come over from France he comes off the pitch probably with barely any mud on his shorts but the way he reads danger and makes those standing tackles where he just, you know, his appreciation of space and closing down is so good, wins the ball, rarely loses it.

44:09Yeah, again, among Ipswich's top performers at the weekend.

44:13Stuart Watson:And can he continue to walk this disciplinary tightrope in the way that his predecessor, Sam Morse, did so well for long periods before? he's doing a great job of it at the moment isn't he absolutely my fear with him is he's so good so

44:30Mark Heath:consistent that as you say he's almost going to start flying under the radar because what he does isn't really that flashy is it he's not like he's not doing flicks and tricks like someone like he used to does for example or philogy but he's just so relentlessly consistent and also given we've spoken about him kind of having injury problems in the past and never playing that many games he looks like he's bomb proof as well like yeah let's touch wood while saying that whenever they flip to him on TV it looks like he's barely breathing even though he covers so much ground and works so hard it's fantastic

45:02Stuart Watson:he's a proper athlete he's the signing of the summer no doubt about it he looks a snippet the money they paid was£7.8 million which in modern parlance isn't a lot of money with the money that gets thrown about now they brought him in because the big lesson from the Premier League is you have to have a team full of athletes as well as technically good footballers. He is certainly that. He looks like he's got Premier League qualities. Yeah, and he'd be right up there in terms of, if you were saying Ipswich's best players from the first half of the season, it'd probably be between him and Jadon Filagene, isn't it?

45:42Mark Heath:Yeah. Right, I want to segue now into the usual bigger picture slash January kind of debate. But I suppose part of that is injuries, Stu. and you spoke to Kieran McKenna after the game just in terms of George Hurst and Sammy Smoddix who we've not seen for a while. I just want to bring us up to speed with those two.

45:58Stuart Watson:Yeah, Hurst, as I mentioned earlier, when he had the groin injury setback, which was the Coventry home game. Sheffle Wednesday home game. Oh, was it? Okay. Yeah, when he went off injured in that one, Kieran McKenna said that was going to be a few weeks.

46:18Stuart Watson:that time frame remains in place essentially potential for him to come back for the Blackpool FA Cup game more likely it will be the Blackburn home match on January 17th so not too far away for George Hurst he's obviously got a bit of a history of muscle injuries with hamstring and calf and things like that so they probably want to tread a little bit carefully with him and his recovery. Sammy Schmodix has now been out of the squad for the last four matches. Illness has been the reason cited for that. He's back training with the medical staff on his own, was the update from Kieran McKenna on that one yesterday.

47:06Stuart Watson:Well aware of social media noise around this one. That's about all I can say at the moment. The number 10 position has changed the picture, as we say, with Nunez in there, with ACPOM as an option. It's been a real injury hit year, 2025, for Sam Schmodix. Going to be fascinated to see how January pans out in terms of that position. Ipswich go to Fratton Park on Sunday. Portsmouth have a certain Connor Chaplin, and Ipswich have a lone recall option with him as well, which adds another kind of wrinkle to this chat around the 10 position and the top end of the pitch, what Ipswich Town will do. Yeah, there's a debate to be had around January as to how much they should do and all the rest of it, which I'm sure we'll come on to.

48:01Mark Heath:Yeah, watch this space in terms of that kind of thing. We're going to talk about that shortly. Just before we get to that, bigger picture stuff, AJ, knee-jerk poll, our town going up automatically yes 89 is the current current vote um now clearly people are feeling good about things because they're uh they're they're on the on the upward trajectory again um how are you feeling about things because mince you had this debate uh after leicester wasn't it after they lost at leicester and we both kind of said well i think they'll come to be in the playoffs but top two maybe not looks like it might be getting away from them now they're in the top two um how are you feeling about things uh well lose tuna at front park and then we'll all be mckenna out of course um it feels like that kind of season doesn't it um yeah stew has put it very eloquently reflecting on his verdict piece after millwall saying exactly the same thing i think this team is a nailed on top six team but i can't see them at the moment being in that top two and two games later they're in the top two so it's a crazy old league um if you ask me at the moment will they get automatic promotion my answer would be yes with the caveat that january can throw a lot of things in who knows what borough are going to recruit with a new manager that i still and hopefully i can curse him again i still rate very highly um who knows what coventry are uh going to do i've seen they've been linked with remain essay this morning um you still can't rule out a team like hull or like watford throwing money at it and trying to say well hang on we're only three points off the automatics at the moment.

49:32You can't rule out Southampton throwing money at it and going unbeaten between now and the end of the season or even a Birmingham or someone like that. But town are best placed. Of course they are because they're in it at the moment. The squad is touch wood in a really good position, adding to it this month, I'm sure. And the vibes are positive, but all it takes is one poor performance or one poor result for the whole narrative to shift again. it's going to be about a run now and that's the biggest thing. As I said before, I hope it's yet to win three games on the bounce this season. If they go to Fratton Park and win, that will be the monkey off their back and they can hopefully kick on going into January.

50:13So yeah, at the moment I'd say yes. I would back them to go and get into the top two but come back to me at the end of the month.

50:20Mark Heath:Yeah, that's probably going to change a few times.

50:24Stuart Watson:Yeah, I think Coventry will be okay. they remind me a lot of Ipswich two years ago started the season few people were tipping them thinking Coventry might be dark horses this year but probably underestimated a little bit at the start of the season by some then they're pitting seven goals past QPR and fours and fives past others and there comes a point in the season where teams start treating them a little bit differently and if you remember Ipswich had a bit of a blip, a wobble during the winter period that season. One win in nine, I think, over the Christmas period. And then the January transfer window came and it helped them and they got over the line.

51:08And I think there's still, I know the gap's now down to Ipswich, eight points behind. I don't know what the gap is then to third, but it'll be greater, won't it? I think there's a margin of error enough for them. What is it, Alex? Nine points, borough a point behind Ipswich. So nine between Boro and Coventry. I think Coventry will be okay.

51:32Stuart Watson:When we did the live pod, didn't we? The Christmas live pod. And I think we asked for sort of revised where Ipswich will be. And I teetered between second and third. And ultimately, I just said, the reason I thought maybe second was because I still think it's a very average division this year. but ultimately Ipswich not being convincing enough in terms of performance levels kind of landed me on third but yeah who knows there's still the last two performances take away the results the last two performances at Coventry and aspects of it against Oxford have made me think that this is now a team that is starting to come together as a collective, and that encourages me.

52:25But there's still some more convincing to do, as we say. Far from perfect, and Mikel knows that, and they're working hard. So hopefully, as we say, that elusive three wins in a row will come at Fratton Park on Sunday,

52:42Stuart Watson:and they can continue to kick on.

52:44Mark Heath:Yeah, I mean, looking at the table, even though they are in second place now, I mean, all the way down to Wrexham in 10th, they're only seven points behind so there's still a lot of a lot of ground to be covered a lot of things that can happen in terms of that and every kind of every single week um it's going to be interesting to see every single result is going to be important in that chase for the top two so just before we get to Portsmouth January you're writing your annual kind of January transfer window preview which will go online tomorrow morning one of our prime bits of content every year um and without giving anything away around that in terms of specific targets and all that kind of stuff which also alex is going to be start dropping his his listed targets um january as a whole stew when traditionally this is when when town have succeeded they've kind of supercharged it in january and they've done very sensible business given that we spent most of the first half of the season talking about kind of needing to gel and so many new players and all that kind of thing how do you feel just generally in terms of how they approach january is it going to be you know one or two bits of business to feel kind of very specific needs because there's a danger isn't there if they bring in a load more players we're going to go back to the again we're going to they're just starting to gel it feels like and then they they change things again and we're back

53:59Stuart Watson:to kind of square one yes i'll probably leave the kind of specific names and targets to to aj we've been using car journeys to kind of throw a few names around i know alex has been uh keeping a list for a little while so I probably won't go too deep into that this will be more about the assessment of the squad where it's at um there's some imbalances in the squad that I think need addressing um Kieran McKenna yesterday post-match talked about we'll look at areas that we can maybe feel we can add to but also other areas that we can tie to areas of the squad that we can tighten up a bit and you know it's quite clear that there's four right backs on the books at the moment that's too many um you can even argue at right wing now with wes burns being back with with cindra wes and casey mcateer that um three's too many there although he does like to have different you know plenty of uh attacking weapons um there so that'll be interesting we've discussed the number 10 dynamic already on the pod is there a need for a striker george hurst is is coming back tuba akpoms just scored a goal as a number nine um there's going to be a real delicate balancing act here because as you rightly say they've spent half a season working really hard to to get a semblance of cohesion and chemistry and we've seen we've got enough examples now not just of this season but if you go back to uh the great reset under post paul cook demolition man and how how long it took for that team to to come together um i don't want to be doing too much you don't want to be getting dragged into a bit of football manager uh style transfer window here at the moment just because you can doesn't always mean that you should um it's notoriously a difficult month to do business.

56:06Stuart Watson:Everybody's looking for a silver bullet, a solution to whatever their needs are at the moment. There will be a limited pool of players that can make Ipswich better at the juncture that they're at at the moment. They need to think not just about the here and now, but they need to think about next season. It's really up in the air as to what division Ipswich will be in. Do you make signings purely to try and get you over the line this year, but then you've got to think about where does that leave you potentially going into a Premier League season. There's a lot of things to take into consideration here.

56:43Stuart Watson:Four has been the magic number in terms of quantity over the last few years. I'll probably reel them off off the top of my head. The League One season was Clark, Luongo, Broadhead and Hurst. The championship season was Travis, Sarmiento, Kiefer Moore and Ali Alhamadi. Alhamadi, thank you. And then last year in the Prem, we had Ben Godfrey, didn't work out. Nciso did pretty well. Phil Ejean didn't in the short term, but is coming good now. and Alex Palmer, who's been a pretty solid signing, hasn't he? So they've got more right than wrong in January transfer windows. I'm fascinated to see how this one pans out.

57:36Mark Heath:And just by way of segwaying into the Pompey chat and sticking with you, Stu, just because you spoke to Kieran about this, Connor Chaplin obviously can't play on Sunday, hasn't really done anything at Pompey this season, I think it's fair to say. Town can recall him in January if they want to, and you spoke to Kieran about that. The problem is, of course, that there is now that, you know, Nunes is pretty much nailed on as the 10. And then in theory, you've got Smoddix and Akpom as well in that position. So it's kind of cluttered. But could you see, for example, a scenario where they bring Chaplin back and maybe look to move one of the other ones on?

58:08Mark Heath:For example, Smoddix, we talked about not really making much of a mark this season.

58:13Stuart Watson:I could definitely see potential for that. Yeah. I can probably talk about this now because the story is going to go online by the time this podcast goes out, but Kieran McKenna was asked directly about are you considering recalling Connor Chaplin? And he didn't rule it out. He basically said, my full focus, as he's kind of repeatedly said, has been on this kind of busy period of Christmas, New Year fixtures. Once we get beyond Sunday's game against Portsmouth, we'll properly assess every area of the squad and that includes loans and recalling them. So hasn't kind of formally discussed it, but we're talking about Ipswich wanting to sign players that can hit the ground running.

59:03You've got, you go out and spend a load of money

59:07Stuart Watson:on someone that may or may not work, or you can recall Connor Chaplin where you know exactly what you're going to get on and off the pitch from him. I certainly wouldn't be against it. He hasn't scored for Portsmouth. I think there's been some frustrations. They've not quite found the right place for him in the team. He's played wide at times. If he was there and loving it and scoring every week back at his boyhood club, he might say, look, come on, leave me down here. Rather than coming back and playing a bit part role. But I think there's a scenario where he can come back and provide a lift off the pitch.

59:45He'd certainly provide the crowd with a lift. Look at the energy that Wes Burns' return has provided in recent weeks. Connor Chaplin would certainly amplify that. I'm not against it, but there'd have to be some offsetting in terms of exits. And that's the same in multiple positions, isn't it?

1:00:04Mark Heath:Yeah, I think Chaplin, as you say, almost more valuable coming back up, you know, in terms of off the pitch. We know what a great character is. He knows exactly what it takes to get promoted and he's loved here. And I think that he'd be extremely valuable in kind of just his presence. AJ, moving ahead, looking at Portsmouth. I don't know if there's anything you want to say about January. Please don't say it in any great depth. But Portsmouth struggling towards the bottom of the table. What do you reckon we might see in terms of the starting XI? Is it going to be all change again? Plenty of time for transfer chat down the line.

1:00:38All change again? Probably not, but there is a fine balance to find with such a short turnaround. I would imagine there'll be a fairly decent chance they'll travel down tomorrow, which gives you limited training time. It's going to be, I would imagine, quite a physical game. I would imagine that it's going to be one again where Town are going to have the majority of the ball and it's going to be on them to ask questions of a Pompey team that at least in their last game, yes, they got wallops, but did play a back three in that one, which seems to be quite often the Ipswich Town arch nemesis as we've written about and spoken about before.

1:01:19So yeah, I would look at some areas. I think we're kind of away from the wholesale changes aspect, but I think that McKenna's found a call that he likes and then it's about changing things around that. So I can't see the back line changing. Maybe see Jack Taylor coming back in. I like the dynamic of let's play, let's start Jack Clark away from home and Jaden Philogene at home. That seems to work. Why not stick with it? I'd be quite keen to see Jack Clark start this one. Might need to be careful with minutes for Sindra and for Marcelino Nunez. There's going to be a decision about the number nine role.

1:01:58So again, I could easily see three or four changes within that attacking line and maybe one of the midfielders. But I don't think we'll see huge changes from the teams that played the last one against Oxford. but definitely a sprinkling of maybe three or four.

1:02:17Mark Heath:You got it absolutely bang on last time, Stu. So what do you reckon it'll do with the XI?

1:02:24Stuart Watson:I think that Azon will start up front. Kieran McKenna has talked about this being a completely different type of game stylistically to Oxford in that Oxford are a team that sat deep whereas Portsmouth, certainly at Fratton Park, which is well known for great atmosphere, tight to the pitch. They play with great energy. They're in your face. And they're going to have to match that intensity. And Azon is that sort of player, isn't he? We talked about Sindri Valerogeli having a couple of quiet games. For me, I know that people are desperate to see Wes Burns start, but I think this is more of a Casey McAteer match.

1:03:07Stuart Watson:Hatch started at Millwall away from home for a similar sort of challenge. I could see him coming in for this one. I think they'll try and squeeze a little bit more out on Nunez. That was probably why they took him off in the latter stages, just to try and make sure he's as fresh as possible for this one. Toss of the coin between Filagene and Clark at the moment. It does seem to suggest that we're getting towards this home-away split. We're starting to see that a little bit more, although Filagene has started a few away games. over recent weeks as well. He's probably the more dynamic presser of the two.

1:03:44So arguably is more suited, but we'll see. And I definitely think Jack Taylor will come in for Jens for this one. So, yeah, they're my thoughts on the line-up.

1:03:55Mark Heath:Okay, let's do predictions then. Stu, you've got Philogene, so I think you're starting to open up a gap at the top. Obviously, Ross isn't here to tell us what the official standings are, but I feel like you're stretching your lead at the top. I've totally lost my mojo on this. I've lost my way. I felt earlier in the season, I felt quite tuned in. But now I'm grasping at straws to try and get myself back into it. Hence the O'Shea pick, the first goal scorer on yesterday. Sue, as the league leader, what do you reckon prediction-wise for this one?

1:04:27Stuart Watson:I haven't thought too much about it, to be honest. Think now. Portsmouth, of course, Also coming off the back of a 5-0 thumping at Bristol City on New Year's Day. Beware the wounded animal. Kieran McKenna kind of feels that way. He said, I'd rather they come off the back of a 5-0 win than a 5-0 defeat. In his experience, it's never easy playing against a team that's come off the back of that result.

1:04:57Stuart Watson:I'm going to say

1:05:02Stuart Watson:1-0 to Ipswich this is going to be a grind it out away win and they're finally going to get that third win in a row over the line

1:05:12Mark Heath:who's going to score Stu?

1:05:15Stuart Watson:the goal scorer is going to be Marcelino Nunez from a free kick nice

1:05:22Mark Heath:one of those games AJ what do you reckon Stu knows that my plan is always just to back Nunez and hope because I know he starts I want to part of my thinking with this is I mean I know that going to Fratton Park is difficult I know that everything that she said about Pompey is true I'm just going to rattle this off very quickly no Josh Murphy no Colby Bishop no Callum Lang no Connor Ogilvie no Mark Kosnowski no Connor Chaplin no Florian Biancini no Thomas Waddingham Hayden Matys is doubt Marlon Pax out no Josh Knight. That's a lot of absentees for a squad that's not exactly stacked and it is creaking and the managers said, John Monsignor said no signings expected ahead of this game this weekend.

1:06:07I think they are going to be quite stretched. Doesn't mean I'm expecting Town to go there and record a big win but we've said it in a few games, it feels like it's the best possible time to go to Fratton Park, to be perfectly honest. off the back of a real thumping and licking their wounds, both in terms of that result and also who they've got available. So I will go with a town win. I'm going to say 2-0. My first goal scorer, Big Sed. Big Cedric Kipbray. And that is because Pompey have conceded the second most set pieces in the league. Second only to Sheffield Wednesday. He's conceded 15. Pompey's conceded 14, which is the most alongside Oxford.

1:06:48so I'm going to back Big Sed to plant one into the back of the net from a corner

1:06:54Mark Heath:I like the thinking I was also going to go 2-0 so I'll stick with 2-0 I'll say 2-0 and I'll say I might say Nunes actually neither of you boys said Nunes did you? I've got Big Sed I do listen to what you say to be honest I'll say Jack Clark then the king of the away game if indeed jacob philogene is the king of portman road i'll say jack clark and obviously ross will let you know what he thinks boys anything else to mention there is one more thing that i forgot to mention which i specifically asked ross to put into this into the show so let's reflect on it now which is this lovely scene at portman road yesterday lovely absolutely delicious guy a thing of beauty is a joy forever as keats notably said uh and that that is absolutely beautiful what was actually like in person boys being there because it's uh just a lovely scene i think i really annoyed stew by like being like stew isn't it a nice guy look at the sky stew stew it's red and then like asking barry to move so i could go and get a photo of the sky and then coming and sitting back up and go isn't this amazing stew it's red and stew's been like yeah that's that's how it felt but it was pretty cool yeah no nonsense watson visibly visibly unmoved my

1:08:09Stuart Watson:favorite point i think i've heard it described as many things beautiful atmospheric i heard alex in only the way alex can describe it as scary scary it gave stranger things vibes to me okay yeah scary hell is opening up add that to the list of things that aj has described as being scary um my favorite was the salmon at man city i once described it if you remember you were scared of the salmon what was what was it had chili jam and i was worried it was going to be really spicy

1:08:41Mark Heath:oh okay right excellent we all make an official list of things that uh things that aj scared of yes salmon and chili jam and a red sky those are two entries at night town delight 26 starts with a bang more please tell me lovely stuff i sense that she wants to wrap things up anything else from you aj can i read can i read it out because it just makes me laugh what please can i say obsession oh go on can i read it because it's just so good obsession a week since christmas our first return to portland road since the big day what's that smell you can detect did the chap in the seat next to you or the lady in the pew behind find a bottle of perfume from calvin klein in their stocking nope what you can smell is obsession for goals the fragrance from tuba akpom i don't know who wrote that in the ipsitch sound program but it was brilliant and I loved it yeah the incredible accidental partridge of the day do you remember when you were going to launch a perfume after after you had that chat with Lambert at Oxford I was at Oxford wasn't it actually was it the delusion and fabrication oh yeah

1:09:52Stuart Watson:delusion and fabrication yeah

1:09:54Mark Heath:the scent from Stuart Watson that was Oxford wasn't it yeah it was Oxford yeah yeah what's happened in Oxford games actually thinking about it over the years They tend to be eventful, don't they? Yeah. Anyway, friends, this brings us to the end of Friday's podcast, building up to the game on Sunday. I hope you've had a good start to your 2026. I hope you have a good weekend, whatever you're doing. Just to remind us of our sponsors, use the code KOA at stardusspirits.co.uk for 20 % off all their excellent clobber, although I'm sure a lot of you are, like me, in July of January now. Boring, isn't it?

1:10:28Mark Heath:You have to tell everyone about it as well. Make sure everyone knows, because that's good. and also use the code KOATEN at molecular-uk.com for 10 % off all their car cleaning items. I'm going to get stuck in with those this weekend because their motor's a bit of a mess on these muddy roads. Friends, we will return next week, probably on Monday, to reflect on the game at Portsmouth. If you're going, enjoy it. If not, follow it all with us and we'll speak to you again next bloody ruddy time.

1:11:06Thank you.

1:11:37Thank you.

1:12:10Thank you.