605: Kings of Anglia: Town didn’t sign a striker on deadline day - so is their season scuppered?

21:48seven goals, two assists. I think that ultimately, if this had been an offer that Ipswich had put in earlier in the transfer window, I think Millwall would have accepted 13 million from what I've heard. The big reason that they wouldn't have done at this stage, A, obviously, is because it's late, and B, is because Idomuamaku, another talented young winger that Millwall will have, is going to be sold to Oxford by the looks of things, which essentially meant that the Dominoes couldn't line up to full for this deal to happen. So is it a little bit bizarre? Yes, in a way. Do I link it with the Smoddix thing?

22:25Quite possibly. Also then becomes a bit weird when Kieran McKenna has said, if Sam Smoddix leaves, we won't look to replace him, which was the comments from the press conference head of the weekend. But that's how it's been. So I can understand why Millwall stood firm. And there is reasons behind why Ipswich would want to go for him, even though given how a striker was clearly the number one area to strengthen, and it does make things feel a bit weird, doesn't it?

22:50Mark Heath:Yeah. I think Stu might still be working. So I'll ask you this one as well, AJ, from our friend Ian Wolbank, the Great Wall. I understand what the good doctor that Stu is saying, but we were promoted in May 2024. It's now Feb 26. We've never brought in the striker that we've wanted. Why do the Kings, in this case you, AJ, think that's the case? I guess what he's saying there, although that came in at the time, we were all like, well, he's not going to be the main striker. And it was a bit, you know, it was a shock, let's be honest, how good Liam Dillac was when he came in because he's not done it in the Championship really and then obviously he was this kind of freak athlete in the Premier League and he's not been able to replicate that obviously this season with the big move.

23:27So do you think that's a fair comment, first of all,

23:30Mark Heath:that Town have never gone out and got, right, this is the big name, big money striker to lead the line? And if you do, why do you think that is? I think it is a fair comment, yeah, that they haven't done that. Why is that? A couple of reasons. One that you both alluded to is that we've not really seen big scoring number nines in the Kieran McKenna side. There have been wingers and number tens and other players who are chipping in with goals. And the striker in a Kieran McKenna team, I feel so bad because I keep saying the same thing. They're like a broken record. It's about so much more than putting the ball into the back of the net.

24:03And if you don't have a player who can hold up the ball, bring others into play, link play, yada, yada, yada, then everything behind falls down and you don't have the output that Jadon Philogene does or Jack Clark does or that in previous seasons you've had Nathan Broadhead and Connor Chaplin and Wes Burns. It doesn't happen. So that is the first reason. Secondly, I think it's just the way that things have fooled. It's not for want of trying. In that summer transfer window, when Liam DeLapp was signed, Ipswich went out and tried to get other deals done. They had an on-again, off-again situation with Armando Brogier, which was on, then off, then on, and then off again.

24:33I think it might have been on and off again after that. With his medical issues, that would have been a£20-25 million starting every week striker had he have signed. but his medical history wasn't right at that point and it's proven to be because he's hardly played football since then on a consistent basis and they didn't need to take a risk like that because Liam De Lappe had started the season in an incredible way and ultimately that proved to be the right decision imagine if they'd gone and signed Armando Abroger they went to push to get Emmanuel Latte-Laf they made a deadline day bid for him that would have been probably I think 18 million was the fee quoted at the time didn't happen he ended up going to atlanta uh in mls the following february he's been out there for about a year and has been pretty naff to be perfectly honest since going out there um so i think that's kind of why it's got to this point and then going into the summer and again going back to koa live we we sat and saw george hearse score against Nottingham Forest.

25:33He'd been a really good run in the Premier League. And we all said, would you start George Hurst in these final Premier League games, knowing that Liam Dallapp's going to go, to make sure he's in the best possible position to be Ipswich's main man in the Championship when relegation happens? And we all said, yes, let's get him ready. He got the number nine shirt in the summer if you said George Hurst is going to be the main man to lead the line. Do you take that? Everyone says yes. Going into that Birmingham game, we've all been happy with that. I don't think there are many people who wouldn't have been.

26:05So when you look back on that, going into the summer, hindsight's a wonderful thing to say, well, actually, you know what, we shouldn't have done that. Well, yeah, maybe they should have gone and got another starting level, number nine, but we all thought that George Hurst was at that level. It hasn't really happened. And then you get into January, where it's really difficult to go out and sign a£15 million striker for the reasons, again, that Stu has outlined. Have you seen any players that have gone elsewhere to another championship club or another club with a similar appeal to Ipswich that you would have wanted that would have fit the bill?

26:36Do you go and get Cameron Archer who can't hold up the ball or Adam Armstrong who is a poacher who can't do anything else? Joel Perrault wasn't going to come to the championship. Sam Surridge wasn't a feasible deal because of the money behind it. There's so many different factors to it. So in a very long-winded way, that's my thoughts behind it really. Stuart, are you finished typey typing?

26:58Mark Heath:Can you read on the chat? Excellent. again we're getting obviously loads of comments about striker this is from Andy saying a striker like Jace Townsville will fit our team so well he puts 100 % all the time I mean it is all very well throwing these names around Stu but just then signing someone like that is clearly a whole different ball game and I want to move on maybe away from the striker thing now clearly that's going to be the main talking point but the recruitment as a whole I'm seeing a lot of comments in the chat about our recruitment has been poor overall you know it's not been good enough, etc.

27:30Mark Heath:And look at Sunderland, how they're doing in the Premier League. Does that debate hold any water? Clearly, you're never going to get 100 % hits with your recruitment. But how do you look at Towns recruitment? The last two or three windows.

27:46Stuart Watson:Jay Stansfield scored eight goals for Birmingham, mid-table Birmingham in the first half of the season. Just going back to that, George Hester's got six. Is there a wildly difference there? how many won penalties yeah

28:04Stuart Watson:recruitment as a whole I think it's quite easy for us to sit here with people wallowing in the disappointment of no striker to forget that Ipswich have signed one of the most effective attacking players in the first half of the championship season in terms of Anis Mometi, eight goals six assists for Bristol City at a knockdown price because he was coming to the end of his contract

28:27Stuart Watson:and a proven championship midfielder, a man who lifted the playoff final trophy at Wembley with the captain's armband on his arm in Dan Neal on loan from Sunderland, which for me was probably the biggest issue in the squad was that Matasiwa backup slash competition. And he's a two-in-one player. He does that. And I think he could also, in what is his prime position, and get into that box-to-box role ahead of Kayusta and Taylor and make a real difference there in terms of his technical qualities on the ball as well. So we haven't seen him in action yet. But I think those are both very good bits of business from an Ipswich Town point of view.

29:10Stuart Watson:In terms of recruitment as a whole, I'd have to go back through and look at the whole list in general. There'll be hits, there'll be misses, but that's the nature of football recruitment. show me a football club that gets every single transfer right. Ipswich sold two players for big, big profit last summer in Dilap and Hutchinson, so they have got lots of things right in the transfer window. If we go through the squad now, Furlong's been decent signing at right back. Matt Asira, I don't think anyone's going to argue that he hasn't been a great addition for the money that Ipswich paid. you could go you could go through a few others as well that you would say have been decent signing so haven't got them all right schmodix will obviously be someone that they're going to take a bit of a financial hit on but there hasn't been many of those so far um it's the nature of business isn't it i mean we can go back to the striker bit as well this idea that ipswich have never been able to get a striker signing right in recent years freddie ledapo was was a hit for what he did in that period got the goals in league one that were required before he left george hirst came in saw that league one promotion over the line and played a very big part in the championship one and then de lapp comes along and maybe through a bit of luck um because they didn't really sign him to be that sort of week in week out number nine striker he ends up being a roaring success as well and then there's a little bit of benefit of hindsight here in terms of oh he should have been replaced last summer because George Hurst goals per minute ratio in the Premier League was good and a lot of people were actually quite excited to see what he could do coming back to the Championship.

30:57Stuart Watson:Has that been the case so far? No. Yeah and whether they could or should have done something this window it's easier said than done I would say with the number of names that sort of people throw around willy-nilly. It's not football manager, is it?

31:17Mark Heath:And here's another one, which is one that AJ mentioned in one of his lists. Ian Warbank says, you ask who we could have signed? I think we should have looked at Troy Parrott in the form of his life in Holland, Danford Island. Big, strong, hard-working striker who scores goals. How much would Troy Parrott have been, AJ, do you reckon? Well, so he's got 11 goals, one assist so far this season. Earlier today, PSV Einthoven, who are top of the Eredivisie, made an inquiry about him and azed alqma said go away basically and it didn't materialize to anything so um probably north of 30 million to be perfectly honest and i think there would have been much more attractive clubs unfortunately than ipswich in the race to take him on unfortunately st austral blue typical eadt journalist let's cover itfc ask fair playst austral blue you're title to your opinion yeah you asked earlier as well St Austell Blue um well you didn't ask you insisted you told us that the problem with us is we don't ask the questions that should be asked at press conferences um so just drop in a few questions you'd like us to ask I'd be interested to see um should we move on just generally boys to looking at the the window as a whole now the window's closed and yes obviously we don't know it looks like someone's on the way two in the door Anis Mometi and Dan Neal.

32:36Mark Heath:Dan Neal certainly covered a major need that was the most glaring need in the squad heading into the window. And obviously Mometi comes in and as she's already said, one of the best attacking players in the division this season. The window as a whole then, AJ, how would you grade it? How would you rank it? The headline is going to be not signed a striker. But what about the rest of the business they've done, such as it is? can i do 0.5 so that feels like cheating if i do that um we're somewhere between a six and a seven i think which might seem really high but i think it's essentially been a good window with a bad ending and if they've gone and got a striker to finish it off then you can boost it up to an eight nine whatever it's not that um but you can't then because they haven't signed a striker totally discredit what they've done to this point because they've gone and signed Anis Mometti, who I think will be an upgrade, to be perfectly honest, on what Sam Smoddix has offered so far this season.

33:35He's got a much higher ceiling. He's younger. He's got a really good goal return. He's versatile. So much to like about him at a brilliant fee. Don't forget, if Sam Smoddix was to leave this month or in the summer for£5 million, that's still a bigger fee than Town have ended up paying at least as an upfront fee for Anis Mometti. I think that's great. And then they've gone and got the one position that I think they really, really needed. And I know that Stryker has seen by many to be that position, but God forbid if they'd gone into any long period of time with no Matasiwa cover and they hadn't signed anyone and he'd been suspended or anything like that, it would have been a total disaster.

34:22So they've gone and not only got cover, but got excellent cover and someone who can start alongside Azul Matasiva as well, who they'll hope to sign on a free transfer in the summer, who's a great leader, who can do the defensive work, has a great shot in him, all of these kinds of things. So that considered, I think that we have to take the positives from them. You can't discredit it because they didn't get a striker. I feel probably more positive than negative when I look at it as a whole it's just the fact that we're sat here discussing the fact they didn't get a number nine which felt like probably the second most important thing for me and also the biggest narrative around the team

35:03Mark Heath:I'm going to ask you the same question Stu then I'll unmute myself because my team is going mad with questions about something to do with Prince so I'm going to have to just sort this out rate the window out of ten Stu I'll return I'll just unmute myself and then I'll be back shortly.

35:17Stuart Watson:Okay. Six. Yeah, I think I'd be quite happy to sit on a six. As I say, I don't underestimate the two deals that Ipswich have done in Mermetti and Nill. It's amazing how quickly people move on from one new shiny thing and instantly want another. As soon as we announce a signing, it's what's next, who's next. But they have done two good bits of business there. and I've been encouraged what I've seen from Mometti so far in his two appearances. I think it's what Ipswich need in that number 10 role. I think his qualities are more suited to it than Schmodek's were in there. It's just that the strike a bit holds me back a little bit.

36:01Stuart Watson:Could Ipswich have got better than what they've got? There would have been someone out there, probably. But I'm not going to be too down on it. I know it's going against the flow of the zeitgeist of what everyone's kind of thinking, popular opinion. But Hurst has done it at this level before. He's done it at times this season. I actually don't think, and I'll hear people screaming at the screen now, I don't think he was that bad on Saturday when he came on. That bad miss aside when he put the ball wide, I thought he gave some battling qualities up front. And he had the one where he cleared off the line.

36:44Stuart Watson:And it's been a bit of a pylon on George Hurst, which I think has been a little bit over the top. And Azon was great against Bristol City recently. And Ackbom, up until that little injury setback, had started to show a bit in the number nine position without going too overboard. I look at this squad on paper still, and it's a very good championship squad. And I think people forget how much championship Premier League experience is in this squad. And the record that they've had, I know the last two results have been disappointing. But Kieran McKenna is right to point out that since the summer transfer window shut, Ipswich have been ticking along at virtually two points a game ever since, which is top two promotion form.

37:35Stuart Watson:So I'm pleased that the window's shut now and we can kind of get back on. We can put all of this to one side and hopefully after any kind of disappointment settles around this window, everyone can put their energies back into supporting the players that are now guaranteed to be in the squad between now and the end of the season.

37:53Mark Heath:Yeah, I'm pleased the window's shut as well, Stewie. I'm on record as not particularly enjoying transfer windows, especially January. And what you just said there about Hurst, Clearly, that was a glaring miss, the big miss that he had. But he should. He would have scored. Not should. He would have scored. He had great work, didn't he, with that three ball? I think it was from Jack Taylor. I just dinked over the keeper. It's cleared off the line. So you could argue then that, you know, on a different game, in a different day, he would have scored that goal. The fact is, he's got one of the three strikers that are in his town.

38:22Mark Heath:So, you know, we've all got behind him and hope that he does well. Alex, let me ask you this. I want to move away now because I want to reflect on Preston. I want to look at Portsmouth as well. We're just a couple more points on the window. One, people are now asking, do we finish top two? Here we go. In fact, I'll just flash this up. P Day 82. Do we finish top two? I think we just miss out. Get glory at the new Wembley. We're too strong for the other playoffs teams. So that's one question I want to ask you. And the other question is, will, come the end of the season, will we be sitting there, here, wherever, thinking it could have been so different had they signed a striker?

39:02well the second point is so dependent on what happens because regardless of how even how george hirst does to be perfectly honest or or as on or akbom if ipswich don't go up this season then the january will be one of those bits that will come under scrutiny will come under spotlight and and the recruitment as a whole from the last two transfer windows that you'd have to say um so i can't give you a hugely definitive answer that one which feels like a bit of a cheat but yeah um will ipswich still finish top two again feels like the impossible question what i would say is that have borough done a great deal to strengthen they've got leo castledine who's a player that i like finley munro's come in who's a really young player sarmiento of course who uh seems to guarantee promotion wherever he goes but also i felt had quite a few weaknesses to his game and that was why Ipswich didn't sign him permanently.

39:56And Joe Wildsmith, who has come in to plug the gap in goal, and I don't think it's that great. And Coventry, who are in really poor form. They've lost their last two games away from home to Norwich and QPR. They've got Romain Essay, who's a good player. Min Hyok Yang, who's come in from Spurs. He wasn't getting game time at Portsmouth, so he got recalled and sent to Coventry. They've got a young lad from Switzerland called Jan-Noah Markello. and then Frank on the Eccas, the most recent one to come in. Obviously, you can't discredit Hull as well, who've added some nice little bits and pieces. But it doesn't feel like anyone's gone out and signed game-changing additions that have come in to totally alter the picture of the automatic promotion race.

40:40I think that all of the teams have been frustrated. I don't look at any of the teams around the top four. And if you said who's got the best striker, I'd say it's McBurney at Hull. so do Ipswich still finish there? Toss a coin I say yes, why not I don't think that it's they've had a bad window or they've had this window and therefore they're done there's nothing like that they are seven points off second with a game in hand

41:09Mark Heath:There's a good point here from Suffolk Des which is ultimately true, Stu the result tomorrow will probably dictate the final overview of how successful the window's been if Azon scores three tomorrow or Hurst gets a couple then suddenly everyone's not too bothered about not getting a striker are they that's ultimately the nature of football it's a fickle business on to the next game etc etc um i just want to move on away from the uh the transfer stuff now just to look at just on the top two debate i think the

41:34Stuart Watson:question was what you know does does top two hinge now on getting on not getting this striker no what it hinges on is whether ipswich have got the character for these away games we're looking at the difference between Ipswich's home record, joint best in the division, and their away record, 14th in the division. Can they now, in this February run, go to Portsmouth tomorrow, Wrexham, Watford, Derby, etc., and get results? That's not just down to the striker, that's down to a bit of collective character, I think, amongst the group and a mentality issue, whether They've got the collective cojones to grind out those more difficult games on the road, like the one we saw at Bramwell Lane recently, which was a bit of a dogged, fiery encounter.

42:29Stuart Watson:There's so many factors. I think if you try and boil it all down to wipes which have dropped the points they've got, look back at the games they've lost, look back at the games they've drawn. It hasn't just been as black and white as if they'd have had a striker, they'd have won that game or got a point from that game. I know Alex has mentioned the stats about big chances missed and things like that, but I honestly don't think it's as black and white as that. That's not to say that an extra striker might have helped. I do understand some of the disappointment around it. I just feel like some of it's a little bit overblown and it's not taking into account the full picture of what's...

43:10Stuart Watson:Ipswich haven't blown me away this season. There's no getting away from it. And I think that is probably where this undercurrent of frustration is. And, you know, Saturday was another case in point. Part of that we have to acknowledge is probably because there was such a big turnover of players last summer. And with turnover, it takes a bit of time to go through collective experiences and build chemistry and all the rest of it. So it's counterproductive then to say I want more signings on top of that in January because that could be counterproductive to what you're trying to do. So I'm trying to be balanced.

43:48Stuart Watson:I'm trying to be objective about it. This isn't us being a voice piece of the club or apologists of the club. We've got things wrong and we'll always call it as we see it in that respect. Yeah, that's just being honest. That's where I'm at.

44:06Mark Heath:Yeah, I mean, we're not going to swing. I think history will show we're not going to swing wildly from one extreme to another. that's not the podcast for that if you want that there are other shows out there who do do that so you know that's there for you but we would always try and be balanced sensible and and offer our honest opinions one final question here from Ian Walbank says yes or no gents if we don't go up this season is it a failure clearly yes I would say so Ian although there are you know nuances around that is in terms of how they don't go up if they lose on penalties at Wembley as opposed to you know miss out on the top two I don't know but overall yes I would say If they don't go up, it probably would be seen as a failure.

44:43Mark Heath:Right then, AJ and Stewie, I want to move on to the game tomorrow night, which is now suddenly a big game, obviously. We've got Portsmouth away tomorrow, the game in hand. And off the back of the last two games, it is a big game. They lost to Sheffield United. They were frustrated by Preston on Saturday. So, AJ, I don't want to go back and talk about Saturday because now that feels like old business. That seems like ages ago now. We don't need to do that again. If we could look forward, but through the prism, if you like, of Saturday, what would you like to see in terms of Town, who they put out on the pitch tomorrow?

45:18Mark Heath:What do they need to do differently? Clearly, Saturday was very frustrating and no one really played very well, maybe with the exception of Alice Mometti. How do you feel about this trip to Pompey tomorrow? What would I like to see? I would like to see if Strasbourg played better. I almost think that's the most important thing. Obviously, points are everything in football, especially with a game in hand. But I think just putting a better performance. And one of the big frustrations I've had with the Sheffield United and Preston games is that the pace and the intensity that they are playing with at the moment has reverted back to what we saw maybe around November time, where they just lack it so much.

45:59And that's been really disappointing to see. It feels like a step backwards in that respect. so I want to see them go back to the front-footed, fast attacking play that we saw towards the latter stages of December and especially in those January home games. It's going to be pretty difficult, I think, because Fratton Park is your trademark tough place to go. I think that teams might clock on to the fact, and I think Sheffield United have exposed that Ipswich aren't a team that like a scrappy game. They don't want to fight, and probably those O'Shea comments haven't done the world of good, and they're the kind of things that Jean Monsignor would probably like to put up in the dressing room, you'd have to argue.

46:41Obviously, changes, I think, are going to be important. Should I just rattle off roughly what I'd think? Yeah, sure.

46:47Mark Heath:It's definitely some good chat around that, isn't it? Yeah, so has Bootroom gone up? I think Bootroom's gone up. We had a little discussion, me and Ross, on with this, so go check that out if you're subscribed. I've got the video up. But essentially, what I would go with, I think Jacob Greaves is a shout at centre-back. I think that Cedric Kipra is one who has been a little bit undercooked in last week. Hasn't really worked for him. He's brilliant at his best, but when he's not at his best, he feels one of those that's way off it. And unfortunately, he was that at Sheffield United. Injury added on, but also against Preston, didn't feel that he was at his best at all in that game.

47:24So I'm not for the centre-back rotation, but I would look maybe to bring Greaves in for this one. Fun hot take. I'm going Dan Neal into midfield. Give him his debut. Give him his first minutes. I think that especially for a game like this that could be scrappy and bitty, he's that perfect almost middleman between what Cuyusta offers on the ball and what Taylor offers off it. And I think that's perfect for a game like this, playing alongside of Azul Matasiwa. I'm going to stick with Azul, Clark and Anis Mimeti as three of the attackers. And then I'm going to make a change on the right because I don't think it's right to put Wes Burns in for another start having just come back from an ACL injury.

48:05I don't think that's going to happen. I think we're already unpopular enough from some of our comments on this podcast, so I'm going to add fuel to the fire and say I think Casey McAteer should start. Yeah, he didn't start, obviously, in the last Portsmouth game, what I think he would have done, the one that got postponed due to the frozen pitch. he's waited so long for his opportunity didn't get the start in the cup he's been coming off the bench even then he's not been coming off the bench that much you can't totally discount what he can do he's still someone that ibs which has to have faith in i'm so sorry zonderman i'm sorry but i think it is going to be casey mccteer look you can't go with burns again and i haven't been sold on what cindra valet gelly is offering at the moment so you've got him in the squad for a reason Let's give him a go.

48:54And Kieran McCann has been full of praise for him in recent press conferences as well. I know it's not what people want to hear, but I'm going to stick with him. I'm so sorry. Casey McAteer on the right. I want to see Stu's thoughts on this as well.

49:06Mark Heath:Yeah, I mean, I'll just quickly interject. I'm riding with Wes Burns on the right. I appreciate that. You go again. Absolutely. As long as his knee's okay. And we are not medically privileged in terms of the medical staff at Ipswich Town. but I would start Wes Burns every single game on the right side now that his knee is fit for because I just think he's clearly a level above what they've got there. He brings something to the team that no one else does. I agree with Dan Neal. I also, sadly, agree with you on Jacob Greaves and Cedric Kipre because I think Cedric has been really at it the last couple of games.

49:40Mark Heath:I think he was at fault probably for the goal on Saturday and he kept getting done on the counter, didn't he, as well, by Jebberson, as did the whole back line, to be honest. Stu, what do you reckon? Who would you like to see trot out on that pitch tomorrow?

49:52Stuart Watson:I, like you gentlemen, have got Greaves in at centre-half. It's been a while since he started a league game. Pretty poor performance up at Blackburn was the last time he started at centre-half in a league game. Kipro was slightly off it and it's a midweek game. Might open the door for him. I thought about putting Dan Neal in my team, but I've gone with... Very good plug, Monkey. I thought about putting Dan Neal in, but ultimately I went with Jack Taylor. That's purely based on Dan Neal, having not started a game since August. So I think maybe we'll see him off the bench and him being eased in.

50:32Stuart Watson:But I suppose he's got to get games at some point. So there's every chance he could start in this one. But I've gone with Taylor. We're going to have three of us with three different right wing starters in our 11s. I've gone with Sindra on the right. I think Wes, too big a risk for him to start two games in quick succession. I did toy with putting Casey in my team because I think he's more of an away day, kind of pacey, counter-attacky type player. Another one who I don't think has been, look, he's not been great, don't get me wrong, but I don't think he's been the levels of poor that people have made out from Casey McIntyre.

51:16Stuart Watson:But I'll go with Sindra on the right. Mometti in the 10, obviously, with Nunez still out. It sounds like Philistine might be back in the squad tomorrow, but I doubt he'll go straight into the 11. So, Clark on the left. And I'll go with Hurst up front against one of his former clubs as well. You hear George Hurst often talks about having that little bit of extra feeling of a point to prove against former clubs. and maybe if he's tuned into a bit of the fan base talk around his reputation at the moment, that might give him a little bit of extra pep in his step as well.

51:53Mark Heath:I didn't catch, I can't remember, I was probably reading comments saying I was talking sense and some excellent ones about Stardust Spirits. Did you pick start-up flop? Did you actually say? Azum. It's essentially the same front four with McIntyre coming in on the right been the only change okay um i agree with you i'd go with azon i thought although he came off at halftime he obviously had a headache a migraine i'm assuming um i thought he was all right in that first half didn't have a lot of the ball but he um he won his fair share of balls had that spectacular overhead kick by the way boys since when alex i you referred to that effort from uh azon as a bicycle kick uh and i've seen that used elsewhere as well since when did an overhead kick become a bicycle kick am i just too old now you've never heard the phrase bicycle kick i have but a bicycle kick to me is like the paulo decanio goal you know like the uh when you jump and you and you and you do that overhead kick is overhead kick where your legs

52:53Stuart Watson:are above your head it's overhead no i would if someone's a bicycle kick i would just thought that was an alternative uh description of an overhead kick i don't know i'd just call the decanio a I don't know. I mean,

53:07Mark Heath:he wasn't, he wasn't a class of his own, but that to me, that, that bike, it was called a bicycle kick because it's a bicycle action as if you're riding a bike. So isn't it? You can, you know, um, help us out in the chat friends. I appreciate we're not talking about strikers now, but, um, I've always, I've always known that as an overhead kick. Anyway, I'm saying I'd start us on anyway. Um, I'm not, I'm not sure about, about George Harris, but we will see. When do you cycle upside down? Exactly. Chris Bennett. Thank you very much. Heathie bang on. when do you cycle upside down yes justice for heath uh smudgy says scissor kick decanio uh again yeah i mean i could see that being a scissor kick um again it makes it makes sense

53:46Stuart Watson:bicycle you're right that is the more bicycle motion scissor scissor kick again would lend itself to to that motion for me a scissor kick is kind of like a you almost have to be sort of horizontal in the air. That's a kind of scissor kick, an acrobatic kind of horizontal effort. But I'm now questioning everything I've ever thought. Well,

54:08Mark Heath:it seems that looking at the comments, I'm right. People agreeing with Heath overhead kick is what it was. Bicycle kick nonsense. So AJ update your football vocabulary, please. Okay. Shall we, shall we do some predictions ahead of tomorrow night? How do we feel? None of us got it right on Saturday. Clearly we all said win. was not a win. How do we feel about it? Should I... What? Well, I was going to say, should I go first? Because mine's on the record already, as is Ross's. I was going to say, I'll let you go first because you got all eggy when I asked Stewie. Well, I did get mugged off a little bit when he chose my prediction, but I've already done mine.

54:47It was still wrong, wasn't it?

54:49Mark Heath:It was still wrong. Everyone's wrong. Apart from Stewie, who did get Jack Clark first scorer, which I would have gone with. But hey, water under the bridge, water under the bridge. So the predictions that we've gone with from the boot room, I've got 1-1 in this one with Anis Mimeti to score first. And Ross has gone with a 1-0 Ipswich win. Also, Anis Mimeti to score first. Say that again. Sorry, I was just looking at these comments here. Garrett Kerber saying he's just looked it up. He's just looked it up. This is important. I need to get this right. Garrett Kerber says he's just looked it up on Wikipedia.

55:20Mark Heath:Bicycle kick is a.k.a. an overhead kick. I'm not sure about that, Garrett. I can't trust everything on Wikipedia. yeah i'm sorry mate you said you said one one yes yeah glad that you're listening um yep so we've got one one for me with anis mimetti score first and ross was a one nil up switch win also with anis mimetti to score first i've got a lot on i can't just listen to you all the time mate i'm looking at comments i'm bringing them in i'm hosting this show in a professional tasking i can do it i can do it all uh stewie apart from listening to you obviously stewie what are you

55:50Stuart Watson:you say hi uh alex is going to be delighted with this because in my preview i've written today i've written 1-1 memeti um and that feels really boring so i feel like i'm going to mix it up just for the spirit of the game i toyed with going with a 1-0 gritty 1-0 town away win then i looked at portsmouth forms good they're unbeaten in four they're much stronger now than they were when Ipswich were due to play them, obviously, first time around. They've made some January signings. Ebu Adams has made a real impact. Millie Alli on the left as well. That said, they don't score a lot of goals and they were without their two main forwards.

56:34Stuart Watson:Connor Chaplin's obviously ineligible to play his parent club. Just got off the mark at the weekend, starting to find a bit of form. Now he's being played in his proper position, but he can't play. And Colby Bishop, the number nine who's caused Ipswich to misuse who's in the past hobbled off with an ankle injury at the weekend. Sounds like he's not going to be fit. So that just gives me a little bit of hope that Portsmouth, a side who haven't scored a lot of goals this season, can be kept out. So my real prediction is 1-1, but for the fun of the game, I'll change it to a 1-0 town victory. Let's go with that.

57:06Mark Heath:OK, I'm going 2-0 town victory. And you can't look past that boy, JC, can you? Jack Clark, literally hurting his back from carrying town at the moment. Let's hope that Jadon Philogene is back sooner rather than later. Just had an educated update from a friend of the show, Callum Brissett. Sorry this has taken over, but I need to get to the bottom of this. Bicycle kicks would be overhead, but not all overheads are bicycles. Needs a specific action synchronised with a non-striking leg. I'm not entirely sure that's as clear as mud, Callum. I know what he means.

57:37Stuart Watson:if it was like the um uh who was it uh as on one at the weekend that was a kind of an overhead but it didn't have the bicycle motion did it it was almost like a falling effort where you just lead with a foot bicycle is the classic you know so you lead you lead with your left to provide momentum with with your right or vice versa so that's the sort of i think that's what callum's trying to say and i think i'm on board with that i think we've got to the bottom of it right then friends

58:10Mark Heath:anything else to mention before we take our leave it's um it's nine o 'clock now um you boys

58:13Stuart Watson:this uh schmoddix deal's been announced i think we were we were talk of a nine o 'clock announcement so we might even get that live as we wrap up let's have a look i've been noticing a lot of people in the chat saying it's off so yeah things might have changed it's not ideal trying to do this job and and record one of these at the same time so we'll i'll go away and find out what's going on. There is nothing to suggest anything about it being off, nor has there been any announcement. Don't worry, the doctor will do his digging and we'll have an update soon enough.

58:45Mark Heath:Yes, anything else from you, AJ? Well, of course, the big deal of the day, Ipswich Town legend Calvin Phillips back in the championship with Sheffield United. What we all wanted to see. And I also loved all of the comments from Swindon's manager. Oh, God, his name has totally escaped me now. Who is it again? about Aaron Drynon, which was great, saying that he'd only sell him to a championship. I've had all these offers, confirmed all of them. Ian Holloway, of course. Ian Holloway, he's winning the boss now. Fantastic. Yes, he is. Huge praise for your boy Drizzy saying they've had offers from Salford and Burton and he's not going to sell him unless it's to a championship and he wants us, we want him to follow us to the championship.

59:29I love it.

59:29Stuart Watson:The answer was under the noses all the time. We're talking about who should they have signed. Can't afford him. Has anyone seen, probably not, there might be some people in the comments, the Ian Holloway meltdown about, yeah, Stu's seen it, his screaming fit, when asked, what did you think of the game? And he goes on to a four-minute rant about how his captain got banned for the game by the FA 24 hours before the match. And honestly, if you've not seen it, go and find it. Mark Keith, I'm looking at you because you would not have seen it because you didn't even know his manager. We often use in journalism that a manager raged at the officials.

1:00:07Stuart Watson:Yeah. And it's a little bit of hyperbole. Absolutely not the case here. This is a full-on meltdown from Ian Holloway and well worth a listen. Just to wrap up before we go, Schmodix to Derby, still on. Bit of a delayed announcement, but that will happen. That's my understanding.

1:00:26Mark Heath:Excellent. Okay, let's wrap up then, shall we? Thanks everyone for watching. Enjoyed all the comments. Disappointed, noted that St. Austell Blue who hasn't been back in the chat when I asked for questions we should be asking. So make of that what you will, friends. Just a reminder to support our sponsors. Use the code KOA at stardustspirits.co.uk for 20 % off all their excellent products, which Alex is a big fan of. Hasn't been imbibing during this pod when he said Casey McIntyre should start on the right. And neither has Stu been drinking what he's talking about, George House being good at the weekend either.

1:00:56Mark Heath:Just honest views, friends. And then the other sponsor, of course, is Molecular UK. Use the code KOA at molecular-uk.com for 10 % off all their excellent car cleaning products. I can highly recommend it. Actually, I can't recommend it enough because I'm so happy with it. The Banana Dine interior cleaner, all your trim, all your vinyl inside. I did that last week. This car is still absolutely spotless, plus the anti-fog stuff on the windows. That's tremendous. Of course, friends, we have to mention as we go, KOA Live is coming back April the 18th at the Baths in Ipswich. It's after the Middlesbrough game.

1:01:29Mark Heath:please god don't let that game be moved definitely not friday night can go to lunchtime don't get it moved to the evening either because that'll mess up our plans we don't want to we don't have to call a show off again um but tickets are out there live uh the ticket link is live we'll share it and we'd be lovely to see as many of you there as possible could even be the day depending on how tango from here that promotion is secured or at least a big step towards it how good would that be so that's saturday april the 18th at the bass in ipswich tickets available now 10 pounds which hopefully you think is fair.

1:02:01Mark Heath:Hopefully you enjoyed the show, this live show. Hopefully you've enjoyed, well, I say you probably haven't enjoyed Deadline Day because nothing's happened, but hopefully you've enjoyed our coverage of Deadline Day, friends. Now the window has slammed shut. The deadline has passed. Ipswich Town are off to Portsmouth tomorrow. It's the first in a run of five straight away games. Come the end of this run of five games, we will know a lot more about how Ipswich Town are going to fare at the end of the season. This could indeed be pivotal to their season. The boys will be hitting the road tomorrow.

1:02:31Mark Heath:If you're going, enjoy it. Safe travels. If you're not, follow it all with us. And we'll be back with you. In fact, Alex and Ross will be back with you with an on-location pod from Pompey on Wednesday. Friends, thank you very much for joining us. We'll speak to you. Thank you.

1:03:17Thank you.

1:03:48Thank you.

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