608: Kings of Anglia: Who should play at Wrexham, do we care about the FA Cup - and loads of your questions!

23:24I will be able to find what the 92 I've done. It's in a stats thing somewhere. I'm not sure I'll be able to find it while I'm answering this question, but yeah, I do keep track. And also while I'm on it, I do agree with Stu as well. the worst thing about stadium views can be the overhang like you get at Chelsea, but also at Birmingham, where it almost cuts off the top tier or the far tier from where you're viewing. And even some of the pitch sometimes do not like that at all.

23:50Mark Heath:You got any ideas, Tio, how many you've done? You must have done a fair few now.

23:53Stuart Watson:Just having a little look through the leagues now while you're talking. I think, so I'm getting myself up to Everton. I'm making the pilgrimage to Everton to see the new stadium soon, hopefully. so I'll get that one back Wrexham will be ticked off that's the final one on the championship

24:16Stuart Watson:I think Mansfield is the only one in League 1 looking at it and then there'll be a handful of looking at it maybe 4 or 5 in League 1 so I'm well up in the 80s it'll be good to tick it off I've got 76 it'll be 77 for Wrexham

24:36Mark Heath:solid for one so young. Obviously, Stu's past covering Cole U as well would have helped you get to some more obscure grounds. Michael Giametti on Instagram says, will the Kings be able to come over to Poland to play in my five-a-side side? Sorry, Michael, I'm officially retired. I can no longer play, having snapped my ACL. I've been advised to retire from the green bays of the five-a-side pitch. Stu, you obviously do still play. You're of the age now where your knees are in dire trouble, my friend. Fancy nipping over to Poland to play in Michael's side?

25:10Stuart Watson:Yeah. Ross is playing regularly as well at goals. I'll be up for a little trip over there. I think we're struggling for numbers though, aren't we?

25:21Mark Heath:AJ, you fancy playing? Yeah, I'll give it a go. I'll tell you what, this is the best way to do it. Convince Ipswich Town to do a pre-season tour of Poland. If they do that and we're nearby you, we will come and play that game. And I'll have to come, obviously, just because I've not been to Poland. And I'll just stand on the sideline, bellow instructions, and say I would have done things better. Promotion race. Will Biggs, Stewie, says, do you think the promotion race will go to the last day? And who will be involved? Now, the promotion race in the championship is getting really, really interesting, isn't it?

25:55Mark Heath:Coventry falling apart. Middlesbrough now top of the league. Hull City and Millwall refusing to go away, even though Town have got a game in hand I think on everyone around them so Town are five points behind Coventry now aren't they with a game in hand and Coventry and Borough play each other next week don't they next Monday so what do you reckon Stu how are you feeling about the old promotion race

26:18Stuart Watson:are we talking about the top two specifically I assume that's what he's talking about

26:24Mark Heath:yeah yeah because obviously there'll be something

26:29Stuart Watson:to play for come the final day.

26:37Stuart Watson:I don't think... I think the top two might be done by the final day of the season. And? Who's it going to be? I think it will be Burrow and Ipswich as it stands, and I don't know what order necessarily. I know that's not exactly a hot take at the moment, given the state of Coventry.

27:01Stuart Watson:what was it in league one that went down to was the final day for the title wasn't it but top two

27:08Mark Heath:was done and dusted penultimate match yeah exeter what was it exeter yeah it was very similar wasn't

27:15Stuart Watson:it in the championship with obviously went technically home and hosed going into that huddersfield game on the on the final day um yeah i've just got a feeling it might be done this time going into the final match.

27:29Mark Heath:I hope the day it's wrapped up is Saturday, April the 18th when it's with town host Middlesbrough because you can all come and join us at K-Way Live. Tickets available now. £10 each. Come and spend the night with us and hopefully celebrate town going back up. How many games left after that? Two, weren't there? Two more games after that. There's a away game. Three. Including that game. So Middlesbrough's fourth last. We then go to Charlton. on a wednesday night then at west brom the following weekend and then home to uh qpr on final day stew in the car i got him to test me to see if i could do all the games in order uh between now and the end of the season and i did manage to do it which is very sad god you're so cool man you're so cool i know i'm sat there every night before i go to sleep i'm going through i'm going, Braxton, Braxton, Watford, Swansea, Mum.

28:24Mark Heath:Mum, Mum, test me. Wish I was that cool.

28:28Stuart Watson:Might be more than that, yeah, with the amount of rearranged games there are to slot an FA Cup run, which we'll come on to in a bit, potentially. It might end up having to stick another game in amongst all those.

28:40Mark Heath:I still think Pompey away is going to be the last game. He's going to keep postponing it until the middle of June or something. Alex William wants to know, AJ, and again, it's linked to this conversation. He says, we're going to win the bloody league, aren't we?

28:54Well, I did a whole 1-24 re-prediction, re-diction. I went through and did that. No, is the answer. I don't think we are going to win the league. I think that Ipswich Town will finish second behind Middlesbrough. I think that Middlesbrough look very, very good. And I watched them play Sheffield United on Monday night, most of it until I turned over to watch the Olympics because Sheffield United went down to 10 and I got bored. But yeah, I think that Borough are looking in very good nick. They're starting to put that Coventry-style win of games from the first half of the season into the second half.

29:35I would imagine that they'll go to Coventry and win next Monday.

29:38Mark Heath:Did you see the war from Calvin Phillips, by the way, for that Sheffield United goal? Yeah. That whole move was really good, wasn't it? It was, yeah. Sorry, Stu.

29:45Stuart Watson:Borough, I know they're in red hot form at the moment and I agree I did watch a bit of that game and they look very good um is that six in a row for them now but they did go four without a win before that um seasons ebb and flow and um they've yeah there's a bit of pressure they've not been not been promoted for a long time it's psychology comes into play doesn't it if you remember back to the championship promotion season before leads looked kind of well on at one stage and really good and it's it's amazing what what pressure can do can't it so um i'm not gonna hang i'm not gonna hang my hat on ipswich winning the league by any stretch at the moment but but i'm not ruling it out either you're saying there's a chance yeah i wouldn't rule it out the one thing I would say as well is that Ipswich need to do something that they've probably only done once this season, that's put a run together.

30:44And the only time I'd say they've realistically done that was from that Coventry game through until when they beat Bristol City and then they've had a little wobble since. They're going to need at least one, if not two or three more runs like that between now and the end of the season of consistent wins, given that Coventry are obviously amassed a lot in the first half of the season and the rate of points being picked up by Middlesbrough at the moment is really impressive. So, yeah, more about Ipswich than anything else. What do we want on Monday, boys? We want a draw, do we? Yes. Or, you know what?

31:19Anything but a Coventry win,

31:21Mark Heath:I think, would be a good result. Agreed. Stewie, Benny Theo wants to know, could Casey McAteer be more effective as a right wing-back, considering KM McKenna uses his defensive qualities in some games? We've talked about potentially shifting to that if they get back to the Premier League. Is there an argument that could be a good role for Casey?

31:40Stuart Watson:I would argue that it's a very fine line between Ipswich already kind of playing with a wing back anyway. The kind of 4-2-3-1 system that Kieran McKenna favours has always had flex. It's always pivoted with Leif Davis bombing up and down the left and then the right winger. it's kind of halfway house between a proper right winger and a full-on right back at times there's kind of no in between the way the the team pivots at times you'll see Wes Burns playing right on the last shoulder in line with the striker and then at other times you're seeing him drop right back in to defend Casey McIntyre has been brought in because he shares a lot of the same attributes as Wes Burns.

32:27Stuart Watson:He's quick, he's direct. He can do the defensive side of the game as well. So I think they're kind of almost using him a bit wing-backy already as it is, to be honest. Certainly plays it very different to Sindra. But yeah, if it does go to a full-on back three in the future, which we've discussed, then absolutely he could play that right wing-back role.

32:54Mark Heath:Excellent. Andy Mook on Blue Sky. I think we've already covered this, but I'll name check you anyway, Andy. He says, all bow to the Kings. Correct, Andy. Correct deference. Kiss the ring and all that. If you ever meet Stuart Watson, that's how he expects you to greet him, by the way. Down on one knee, bow down, kiss the ring. Kiss the head. He says, to each of the kings, believe town can be consistent enough from now until the last game and deliver the points and points needed for a top two finish. I think we've all said, yes, we think they can finish in the top two. this is a good question though uh aj i'm gonna ask you because you mentioned watching it earlier and it's from our old friend with the fish friend of the show nigel gooding it's a bass um on blue sky with the winter olympics in full swing which event would each king like to have a go at so i've obviously already done the skating side of things so we'll push that to one side of course yeah yeah what would i choose i feel like you've got to choose the well there's maybe two answers here the one that i always look at and think i could do that would be curling because all you do is sweep the little broom up and down make sure that the stones move yeah fine i could nail that what i would like to try and would probably die doing would be either um the bobsled or like skeleton luge kind of thing one of the ones where you go down on a little cart on the track you would never try that i i probably wouldn't from fear of dying would i like to like i love the idea of it that's great as someone who like loves roller coasters and stuff like that i would be all over that i think it would be great um but i feel like the skills needed to do it are something i wouldn't probably have and i do fear that i would probably be decapitated you know i love just blades of glory style i would love you to have a go at skeleton is literally the insane thing isn't it we go downhill head first on a tea tray i would love to hear the kind of words that you come out with to describe that experience afterwards yeah it'd be tremendous i think that we should get all of us into a bobsled well someone else actually replies to this sam ward says um roscoe is a bobsled driver just for the utter chaos so he'd go to the front and we'd all be pushing and then jumping in well i think the driver is somewhere in the middle isn't it um the front man oh right okay the brake man and the back is the steering uh and then the one in the middle is essentially ballast other than the driver um stew how about you what do you fancy having a go at i always forget that aj had a had an early career in figure skating could have been you aj makes me laugh every time could have been me

35:30Stuart Watson:it could have been me is there footage on the internet of you figure skating you know that the answer to that is yes and you know that i will bury that footage deep within the depths of tell how long did you do it for aj when did you quit um when i moved to england from the netherlands so it would have been about nine so probably that for about five years or so five six so were you

35:52Mark Heath:were you kind of on the path towards you know kind of making a a move towards the uh the upressions of that sport or i yeah i was going to be registered for the dutch team at some youth level having wow competitions before um but ultimately as well thing is that also would or held me back i'm flat-footed which would have been probably a disaster trying to like go and compete at the olympics or something like that if i decided to continue it for another 10 15 years or whatever um but yeah do you do that spinny spinny round really fast thing yes what's the again we're digressing massively here but there's a special trick they're not getting dizzy isn't there when you do that is it some kind of movement of the head that kind of no i just got dizzy and just got over to be perfectly honest uh and found myself in in hospital on a couple of occasions when when uh not managing to to make for uh make landings on jumps but um yeah did you have any sparkly outfits uh yeah oh yeah yeah yeah got to have the sparkles oh man we could do a whole show about this i don't think we should i think we should bring in some clips speak to speak to Mother Jones about it get some insight by the way while we're talking about this there is an excellent documentary on I think it's called The Price of Gold it's one of the 30 for 30 ESPN documentaries about the Tonya Harding attack on her rival figure skater it's tremendous really good watching Stuart we didn't get to the point of you saying what you'd like to have a go at

37:28Stuart Watson:I tried a bit of skiing in my 20s and was pretty useless at it to be honest I don't think winter sports would be my forte. Probably luge. Just chuck me down on the tea tray and see what happens. Not the head first stuff. That's mental. Yeah.

37:49Mark Heath:That's what you fancy. Did you see, by the way, in terms of skiing, you see Lindsay Vaughn, who tried to ski with a ruptured ACL, ended up having a horrendous crash. AJ, you're on mute. I thought of you throughout that. Yeah. so i mean admire her because what's a warrior spirit to kind of say i'm going to ski on a a knee that has no stability in it um i think because she it's her last winter olympics but now she's ended up having a horrifically fractured leg as well um so yeah but one incredible athlete and warrior spirit um i've tried snowboarding it's really really hard um and as everyone i've tried to do what i would call cool things snowboarding surfing i've been humiliated by the instructor who always is one of the coolest men alive so in the snowboarding thing it was a french guy who had the kind of you know in in suceance um kind of shoulder shrugging beautiful accent looked incredible sort of skiing backwards on his board making us all look um like rank amateurs and kind of as i kept falling over he was sort of picking me up and i i felt i felt emasculated um and the same when i tried surfing when i had an australian guy kind of holding me by a fingertip as he essentially surfed one-legged, showing off with his beautiful mane of hair.

39:07Mark Heath:That's my experience when I've tried the cooler sports. I hope I've brought that to life with you. I painted a picture with my words. What should we do next? This is from DJ, our old friend Daryl Jones over in Jacksonville, who's now on Blue Sky. If all the ladies went on a Galentine's night out, so I assume that means all of our better halves going out a night out which would be interesting, don't get me wrong which three current town players would you have over for a Valada Tynes dinner so we're having three town players around for dinner boys, who are we having

39:48Mark Heath:who's going to go first that sounds horrendous

39:51Stuart Watson:first of all yeah

39:57Stuart Watson:so we have to pick dates individual dates from the team is that what well I mean

40:02Mark Heath:we can we can take it however you want I mean who would I I'd probably have Cedric let's be honest oh great shout I'm mildly in love with Cedric so I'd have Cedric as my date and I think I'd enjoy talking to him Stu who would you have

40:22um i who would i put you can have kieran as well i suppose

40:27Stuart Watson:no i just talk football the whole time enough kieran come on let's talk about something else yeah eat your chocolate dessert um uh leaf davis we've been discussing recently leaf leaf leaf's a a lovely young man isn't he i think i think i'd enjoy a bit of time with him as long as he doesn't go on a bang on about flight simulators the whole time well he's got a little one on the way now so yeah yeah yeah i'd give him some some parental gentle parental advice ahead of his next chapter

41:02Mark Heath:he'd be the parents banging on about their kids in the corner i'd stay way away from you um aj who would you have i was going to go leaf as well but then i had a change of heart and i'll go even Azon. He's interested in so many things outside of football as well. You could talk about football. You could talk about everything else. You could talk to him in Spanish. It would be great. So yeah, even Azon, my pick. That would be actually quite good. I'd quite enjoy that. Ivan Azon, Cedric Keeper, and Leif Davis, by the way, uses the word buzzing a lot, I've noticed. He's buzzing about everything. Who do you reckon Ross would have?

41:33Mark Heath:Who's the most compatible with Ross, would you say, in the East Rich Town squad? Jacob Grease? Yeah. yeah yeah that'd be quite a party actually now i'm thinking about it um quite good fun uh where are we adam wright wants to know about yellow cards which is something you're going to do aj um when does cut off yellow cards happen so that's coming adam so we'll take part two of your question if the seasons never changed which would you most like to live in eternally and why so of the four seasons stew which which would you most like to exist in

42:10Stuart Watson:um first of all thank you for prepping me that we weren't doing the yellow cards thing because i've just done a load of research on that going into this and you've shut that down so that's completely wasted um but yeah go and read aj's piece on that thanks for sharing the question

42:25Mark Heath:in the group chat anyway beforehand um oh sorry i've done you there uh

42:33Stuart Watson:season of the year, spring. You like spring? I like spring as well.

42:37Mark Heath:Yeah. That feeling of renewing, better days are ahead, all that sort of stuff.

42:41Stuart Watson:We're constantly in the business end of the season all the time as well. That's true. Which would be great for web hits and subscriptions and all that sort of stuff.

42:52Mark Heath:Excellent answers to you. Weather's good, not too hot. Like it. That's all I've got for you. Getting your old jet washer out on the patio. AJ? I totally misinterpreted that. And the first thing I thought was, oh, yeah, the 2023-24 season. Of course you would. I'd go for. Yeah, I would also go with spring with that in mind. The days are getting lighter is the biggest thing because I don't like being plunged into darkness at like half four in the afternoon. I want things to feel like they're getting lighter and better. So, yeah, spring for me. Superb. Selfie Chef wants to know, and I hope your new job's going well, by the way, Sophie Sheff, over at the Brasserie in Essex.

43:35Mark Heath:His name escapes me and I should have prepped. Which ITFC player would make the best NFL player in what position? Mine would be Leif Davis cornerback. I better answer this, boys, because it's American sport. It's in my wheelhouse. I'd say Cedric Kipre, linebacker, would be tremendous. He's got the build for it and he's got the pace for it and he's got the mentality for it. So that's what I would say. Did you stay up? I did stay up, mate, yeah. I watched it all. it's a shame really because it was an awful game um i ate uh i made myself my own tortilla chips i ate three whole tortillas worth of tortilla chips and an entire jar of hot salsa which did some interesting things to my insides on monday lucky i had the day off um so yeah paint some again painting pictures with my words there uh i i want to answer that one as well because i did research into this.

44:26For starters, obvious one I'll go with. Leader of the team and plays the balls out from the back. Dar O'Shea, quarterback of the team. Getting it up the pitch. Number two, the other one I'd have. Again, this is kind of from research that I've done. I don't really know a great deal. I used to be big into my NFL and then I lost it a bit and now I just kind of don't really care that much. I am going to say Azor Matasiwa, cornerback from what I have read about the positions. which was covers wide receivers to prevent catches or intercept passes. And intercept passes is a big one for Azul Matasiwa.

45:00So I'm going to go cornerback Azul Matasiwa.

45:03Mark Heath:I like it. Physically, I think he'd be more of a safety, but I like where you're coming from. Stu, you've got no thoughts on that, so I'm going to move on. Sorry about the yellow car thing, old friend, by the way. Do you want to do that bit at all? No, I don't. Absolutely not. All right, fair. Dear, oh, dear. You're not mad, you're just disappointed. That's the vibe I'm getting from you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I might have it. Don't worry. Yeah. Jack Barber sends a picture of his lovely dog called Bongo. He's a big fan of the show. He wants to know how Benson is doing. Benson is old, Jack. He's 11 and a half.

45:35Mark Heath:I don't know if you can hear him. He's coming downstairs. Used to be a big part of the show. But then we got complaints about him snoring in the background. So now he's very much a fringe player. He's downstairs as it stands. But Bongo looks delightful. And there's one more question I want to do before we finish, which was from a former sponsor, Tony Southgate. he's asked two questions so i'll ask i'll ask one of each of you starting with you yeah well to be fair i mean he gives us money that's fine quite happy to be uh be led by the nose by cash um could we meet norwich in the playoffs is question one aj norwich absolutely resurgent no i would not rule out ipswich being in the playoffs because they are currently there right now but given that there is a lot of teams it's not just the points as well there are a lot of teams between um them and the top six i i don't think it's going to happen so it's the person who put sheffield united in his playoffs and sheffield united are actually below norwich um but i'm just going to say no anyway yeah no there we go there's your answer tony and second question for stewie is hurst has got better mins per goal than last time in the championship so why so much stick this time

46:49Stuart Watson:where are norwich in the table before i take that just don't know six 16th in the league at the moment they've played um a game more than most of the teams around eight eight points off played a game extra than most they're gonna finish up in the in the middle of the pack somewhere aren't they um what was the question about hearst hearst goals per minute ratio i've done some research on that as well good preparation um championship promotion season george hirst scored seven goals and that's was one every 255 minutes in the championship promotion season obviously you got that injury didn't he on boxing day and then came back right at the end premier league he got three goals obviously was generally a substitute behind liam de lapp that season yeah uh so that was one every 217 minutes which was which was pretty good and this season he's got six um from 19 starts and a few sub appearances that's one every 252 so one every 255 in the promotion season one every 252 this season virtually identical um which comes back to the point that we've made about strikers not always being the one that carry the weight of goals in this team.

48:18Stuart Watson:I think there's a couple of things that sort of stand out is that he got six assists in that promotion season. He's got one so far. And then I've started to look into some of the sort of the deepest stats about headers, key passes, all that sort of stuff. I won't go through them but in general I would say his it's not the goals that are concerning me this season he could have had more couldn't he he's plenty more he's had missed chances um it's more the sort of the link play and his general all-round play I think has taken a bit of a dip this season and the way he's kind of helping connect the rest of the team I know it's it's different it's a different type of team that he's playing in this year because Ipswich are you know teams are coming to stop Ipswich now.

49:02Stuart Watson:They're playing deeper. I think that negates some of George Hurst's qualities to a point. But in answer to the question, you're right. The goals per minute ratio isn't... Don't get too hung up on that. It's not too different to what it was last time in the Championship. I think some of the angst around George Hurst is more about the eye test and some loose touches and his link play and all that sort of stuff. but yeah, I don't think he's been as bad as people have made out. I will say that.

49:39Mark Heath:Yeah, so I think a lot of it's linked to expectation as well, isn't it? What we expected from him this season and what he's kind of returned as a goal. And certainly I was guilty of talking him up as a 25 goals striker, that kind of thing. One final question from Dame Caraman, who messaged me on Instagram and it relates to this kind of question and it's excellent. So I thought it'd be worth doing. I'll put this to you, Alex. He says, listen to all the content that went out around the transfer window, has always found it very insightful. I know there's been a lot of chat around not signing up a nine this January, which I understand.

50:12Mark Heath:But on reflection, I think it may not be the root of town striker issues. Ultimately, I think we've got the right profile of nines from McKenna Teeman as on Akpom and Hurst. And in all honesty, they're an upgrade on the options from last time in the championship. The crux of the issue is the lack of clinical finishing when our nines get their chances. so my question is do we think lee grant's departure in the summer has had a bigger impact when we first thought and what do we do to address this and obviously lee grant now that's a job aj bring him back well what do you reckon is that kind of has that kind of gone under the radar because he clearly you know he was having some sort of impact wasn't he yeah i think so i wouldn't say it's necessarily gone under the radar because i've seen it mentioned a lot um i feel that there's always a quite often i'm not sure how much it is in this case with ipswich but what i found with clubs before is that you've got the manager who quite often is the motivator the front of it the face and then you've got the assistant who is kind of the tactical mind now i'm not quite buying into the idea that kieran mckenna is not like your tactician let's say he's more of a tactician and he would be probably like a motivator, if that makes sense.

51:28So there is an argument. I think on the other side, you kind of said about the finishing, and then is that down to the coaching? I don't think that it is necessarily, because we've seen these guys deliver before, obviously, yes, in the Grant system, but I don't think that lead Grant going equals strikers don't finish chances. I think that it's situational more than anything within games. It's been an element of misfortune within it as well. I would be more concerned and I would then start pointing towards something like Lee Grant's departure. If they weren't creating the chances, that's where I would start to see maybe a more coaching issue.

52:09This is just a case of various different kind of, for me, non-coaching aspects coming into play that have meant that the strikers haven't been as clinical in front of goal. Don't forget that at no point in their careers have George Hurst, have even as on ACPOM, okay, had one season, but they've not delivered consistent goals as well. They've not gone out and had, I think ACPOM's one season at Boroughside, has not scored 20 goals in the season at kind of top club level. So for me, I wouldn't put it down to a coaching thing. I wouldn't put it down to Lee Grant necessarily. I just think it's been an element of kind of just different circumstances within where Ipswich are at the moment and things aren't falling necessarily in the same way that they would have done in the last championship season where it felt like everything they touched turned to gold

53:02Stuart Watson:It's not just strikers missing chances either, is it? I think that's important to say quite often this always boils down to striker number nine not taking chances you know, at the weekend it's Wes Burns who goes through one-on-one and doesn't beat the goalkeeper. There's other games where I can think where Jack Clark in the early stages of the Sheffield United game didn't take a chance. It's not just a striker debate, I would say, in terms of those. In terms of Lee Grant leaving junior Stanislas came in, a fairly recent Premier League attacker who even has honours heaped praise on, along with Shawnee Aluko, talks about them being almost like additional managers in the camp.

53:44Stuart Watson:So there's been a lot of praise for those two. Yeah.

53:49Mark Heath:Okay. There are two more questions to go, which kind of lead into Wrexham. So we'll take them both. Sam Edwards wants, I should say actually, Dane, thank you very much for that question. Dane, by the way, has promised to come to KRO Live dressed as Mick McCarthy. So I look forward to seeing you there, Dane. Sam Edwards says, with two games a week apart at Wrexham, Heathie has the power, I do, to force the guys to stay there the whole week, being benevolent, and just ruler. I decided not to do that. But what would the King's most and least favorite places to stay a week out of this season's away destination, Stu?

54:21Mark Heath:So if you, if I said to you, Stu, I turned dictator, you have to stay a week anywhere. And in this scenario, you have to bunk up Airbnb with Ross. Well, where would you like that to be? And where would you least like that to be?

54:41Stuart Watson:Where would I most like it to be?

54:47Mark Heath:I can hear you looking at the table. I don't know.

54:50Stuart Watson:I'm looking at the table thinking, I don't know. It doesn't really matter where we are, to be honest.

55:00I don't know. AJ, help me out. Right. Okay. Here we go. I've got some actual answers for this one. Two that I like. Number one, QPR. You're in London. There's plenty to do. and if we're there for work, I'll claim whatever on expenses and hope that Mark just says yes. Trip out to the museum, yeah expense that all the things you can go do in London there's plenty, so that would be one I also really like from the times I visited Bristol and I think going to Bristol for a week if there was going to be somewhere I think that would be okay Oxford would also be another one that's quite nice places I would not like this is going to be so bad because it's slagging off places.

55:44I really don't like Stoke. And that would probably be one that I would avoid. And the other one maybe would be Hull. I would probably have them quite low down. What should be for Stoke, AJ? What's Stoke going to you? Stoke in particular, I... So, again, about to call out a whole football club there. It's not as much Stoke City. I've not had that much time around that area. I really didn't like going to Port Vale when I went before. It was not one of my favourite destinations ever, which now I really hope doesn't get clipped up and put on Port Vale Twitter or anything like that. It just wasn't for me personally.

56:26So I would probably not like to spend any extended period of time around there.

56:31Mark Heath:My favourite place, obviously, for family reasons, would be Derby. I'd stay in Derby for a week, just go and see all my family. I don't know about my least favourites. Do you have any thoughts?

56:39Stuart Watson:This is the point of the question. You're missing the point of the question. There's lots of places that I would take my family and have a lovely little time at. This is... Put yourself now you're spending a week there with Ross and AJ and I'm assuming that you're sort of forced to spend a little jolly boys outing for the week. So you've got to kind of think about it through that lens.

57:01Mark Heath:Yeah, I wouldn't cope well with that. What's the best places for nights out in the championship? I don't know where you are. Two old for nights out, AJ. You're not there. You don't know to game. Oh, I see. Stu, are you still up for a night's out? Where would you like to hit the tiles?

57:19Stuart Watson:Sheffield? Yeah, I'm probably semi-retired from that game, to be honest. Oh, I've got a great shout, actually, for worst. The obvious one that we're all missing. Where would you not, in the championship, where would you not want to go again?

57:37Stuart Watson:Blackburn. Blackburn. The obvious one. Imagine we've already been up there twice. Imagine having to go for another week up there. No, thank you.

57:47Mark Heath:I actually spent a Saturday night accidentally in Sheffield City Centre, and I was literally like an old man going around going, see what they're wearing, that kind of stuff. So, yeah, I'm definitely too old for that game now. Final question, which takes us into the Wrexham chat. He says, trying to find it, I've been looking at the championship table. Where are we? Matt Goodram KOA is global says listener from Canada welcome Matt excellent country Canada I'm going to get there one day wondering if we may see O'Shea rested for the first time this season on Friday and maybe a first captain appearance for Leif Davis now clearly Wrexham there's two big talking points around Wrexham one is who plays I'm going to put a pin in that we're going to come back to that in a minute Matt because the other question which kind of supersedes that is Stewie should we care about this game it's the FA Cup it's tin pot it's a shambles it's not what it used to be get out of it focus on the league what are you saying uh slightly conflicted on

58:49Stuart Watson:this because I've written a piece for tomorrow which kind of outlines the argument um for and against and I can convince myself on both to be honest the sort of the the purist in me sort of thinks don't overthink it it's a game of football go and win it winning is a habit build some momentum it can translate into a feel-good factor in the league if you think back to the league one promotion season when Ipswich faced Burnley I think that was in the fourth round stage Burnley were championship winners in waiting at that stage and Ipswich pushed them all the way over two games and that I think played quite a big part in boosting belief and getting that promotion over the line.

59:36Stuart Watson:Ipswich have certainly got the squad for it now. We've talked about the like-for-like quality in so many different positions, three players in certain positions. It's a chance to get people like Dan Neal up to speed. So I can say all of that and think, don't overthink it, go and win the game. You're only what then win this and you're into the last 16. I look at the teams that have gone out. There's a few other all Premier League ties. Odds are, Ipswich have got more chance of facing a fellow EFL side slash relegation fighting Prem Club than they would one of the big 5-6 that are left in it in the next round.

1:00:24Stuart Watson:Win that and And you're into the quarterfinals for the first time since the early 90s. And then, you know, who knows? Coventry got to the semis, came within a kick of the final not so long ago. Sheffield United got to the semis, what was that, two, three, four years ago. And I think they ended up going up as well that season. So part of me thinks, why not? I'm up for it. Let's see how it unfolds. Just win games of football. But then in the cold light of day, I take a step back and I look at the fact that Ipswich have already got the Portsmouth game to reschedule. They've been down to Portsmouth twice already.

1:01:05Stuart Watson:They've done two trips to Blackburn, got back-to-back trips to Wrexham. We're already looking at the calendar thinking, where are we going to slot these games into? It'd be the Leicester home game that would get moved if they got through. all of a sudden you could have three games in hand on Coventry and Borough who are both out of the competition.

1:01:30Stuart Watson:So I'm conflicted in answer to your question, to be honest.

1:01:38Stuart Watson:Yeah, I think ultimately I don't think there'd be too many tears shed if Ipswich Town go out on Friday, both externally from the fan base and internally, not that you'd say it publicly from Kieran McKenna as well. And I think the team he selects will probably reflect that. There's also a little kink here that Ipswich are going to Wrexham the following weekend for a far more important game. Do you want to show your hand too much in this game going into that one as well? I think that there's a bit of that at play.

1:02:09Mark Heath:That's exactly my argument, Stu. I'd say feel the very much changed side. Don't show too much of your hand. lose this one if you're going to have to lose one and then go and win the following week with your kind of full strength side which brings of course AJ to who plays um now is it going to be all change are we going to see any surprises for example last round as all matter see were played um because it basically wanted to he wanted to keep the rhythm going do you reckon we'll see that again is there a possibility we might see leaf davis and if so could he captain the side all these kind of questions what do you reckon i've done a predicted lineup should we go through it and you can tell me if i'm stupid right let's go in goal alex palmer i think we can all agree on that one right back we're going ben johnson because ashley young is out with his uh hip injury which at his age obviously could be the end of the fatal yeah i mean god if ross was there geez um This is where things...

1:03:15Mark Heath:Just shoot him. Sorry, Ashley. Melt down your Premier League medal into someone useful. AJ just ended your career, Ashley. Sorry about that. Sorry, Ashley. Centre backs. Now, this gets tricky because there's a few ways you could do this. I'm not going to go with Elkin Baggett. I would like to see him off the bench, which sounds a bit weird for a centre back, but that would be quite nice, I think. My partnership I'm going to go with is O'Shea and Greaves. I have not been wholly convinced by Kipre and I'm surprised he hasn't been dropped in the last couple of weeks Greaves is a nailed on starter for me in this game 100 % so it's about who goes with him and I would go with O'Shea just for the consistency and continuity and then of course that would mean that he has the armband but I would still have Davis in there because there is no natural left back cover and with Young out you can't really start playing around with the full backs too much so it becomes a little bit trickier in that sense So I'm going to stick with Leif Davis in there.

1:04:09Midfield two. I'm going to continue with Azul Matasiwa because, again, while he's on this run of being one booking away from a two-match ban, I think that you've got to keep doing it because if he doesn't play, then comes back in the game against the Wrexham League game, and then he gets a booking in that one, then he's going to miss the next two. Then all of a sudden, all of the momentum he has goes out the window and you're only playing one of four games at that point. So, yeah, I'd like to see him start and that would be alongside Dan Neal, which I think could be the long-term partnership in midfield.

1:04:47And yeah, needs his first start. Then for the front line, let's make things interesting. On the right, Casey McIntyre got his assist at Derby. Let's get in his minutes and hope that he can deliver in this game. I really, really hope he can. I'm just going to mix things up a bit now I know what you're going to say Sindra Valadegeli this is an opportunity to try a few different things and there's another one that's coming down the line as well which you might know what that's going to be as well Sindra's spoken about playing in the number 10 we've not seen it in more than a few glimpses he sees that as a long term future let's try it, let's see because with the rotation and with Marcelino Nunez still out with an injury let's give that a go So, left wing, Tuba Akpom.

1:05:34Akpom, yeah. Yeah, we've seen it. Kieran McKenna has spoken about it being something that they've looked at in training. Let's see it from the start. Up front, George Hurst, because my God, could he do with a goal for his confidence at some point, and hopefully that will be here. So, the team that I've picked out would be 4-2-3-1, Palmer in goal, Johnson, O'Shea, Greaves, and Davis at the back, Matasiwa and Neil into midfield, McAteer on the right, Cinder as the 10, Tuba Akpom on the left, Hurst up front. Also important to remember that with all the absences as well, Anis Mimetti is cuptied, so cannot be involved in this game because he's played in the Cup for Bristol City.

1:06:08Any advances on my team?

1:06:11Stuart Watson:Cuppied thing. I wrote something about cuptied earlier in the season and someone pointed out that the rules may have changed around that. So I need to have a look into that. He might be cuptied. I don't know for sure. Let's see if we can do some research on the fly on that. I've got one change to that team. I have got the same attack that you have mentioned, and I think that will work quite well. Akpon will play fairly narrow. I think it will create almost him and Nageli will almost become dual number 10s, creating a little bit of a box midfield. McAteer going up and down the right. Leif Davis going up and down the left.

1:06:57Stuart Watson:in answer to the listener's question about leaf being captain yes i think he might end up being captain in this one because i think dar o'shea will dip out if you look at his ipswich town career he's dipped out for pretty much every cup game so far do you know how many consecutive league games dar o'shea has now played for ipswich town um it's got to be a lot uh 40 higher he signed if you remember he signed when ipswich went to man city yeah in the early days of the premier league season he kind of think that got done up at the hotel up up in the north he went straight in for the league cup game against wimbledon he was on the bench for the fuller match he made his debut in the nil nil draw his league debut i should say the nil nil draw at brighton and he started every league game ever since 65 in a row for dario shea so I think history dictates that he'll dip out for this one and I'll go with the same central defensive duo from the Blackpool game in round three which was Kipre and Greaves which would leave I think Leif Davis being the obvious man to to take on the armband there was one other question mark that I had which was over central midfield I think there's no doubt that Dan Neal makes his full debut in this one.

1:08:20Stuart Watson:I just wondered, with the threat of the suspension against hanging over Azor Matasiwa, that the man that would take on his position, sort of shielding the back four, would be Dan Neal next. Do you use this game as an opportunity for him to kind of get a feel for that role in the team and then have, I would imagine, Jens Kijusta as his midfield partner in there. But AJ's convinced me on the, if Azor doesn't play this one and then gets a suspension that kind of mucks up his rhythm. Kieran McKenna said that Azor came to him ahead of that Blackpool game and said he really wanted to play because he feels like he gets the benefit of playing games and keeping his rhythm.

1:09:06Stuart Watson:So I will concur with AJ on the midfield.

1:09:10Mark Heath:I agree with everything you've said I very much want to see Casey McIntyre on the right I very much want to see Sindra as a 10 Tuberak on the left even if Alex Mometi can play I'd rest him I think he can having looked at it I think I was wrong I think I was a bloody idiot I've owned it I think that he is not cup tied having a little look at it and the way they've changed the rules I think that basically they've relaxed it so you would be cup tied in the same round So obviously he played in the third round for Bristol City. He would then not be able to play in the third round for Ipswich, which obviously he hasn't because we're now in February.

1:09:48So he would, as I understand it, and I will need to do some proper research into this, but having just a little look at it now, he would be able to play in this game. So if he can, then I'd imagine he'll probably have a space on the bench.

1:10:01Mark Heath:Yeah, I would definitely not start him for reasons of keeping the old powder dry in the game the following week. and in that spirit, I'd start Christian Walton up top. Who are you keeping guessing? I'm not going to ask you for predictions, boys, because it's the FA Cup and it doesn't really matter and we don't actually know what kind of side is going to be put out. My only question is, we have a 10.30 deadline on Friday night. Does it go straight to Penners? Nope. Great. Again, that's as far as I'm aware. I've already been wrong once in this podcast, but I've seen extra time being played. already um funnily enough in a um in a brexham game they went and uh took forest penalties that went to extra time oh so that is going to happen believe that uh it is on the cards for them it's gonna go to penalties because we've got so many pages to fill live gonna be great fun um lovely stuff what a way to send you off to new york as well aj um not it's not you really

1:11:03Stuart Watson:that bothered yeah oh that's a strong that's a strong team though isn't it you know we're talking about all those changes when you when you read that out loud it's not like a scratch team that it's which are putting out there um i know there's a few people who've gone as far as say and chuck some of the under 21s in and have a look at them and there might be a few candidates because the john mcgrell's team are going along quite nicely this season and someone like tudor mendel that's seemingly doing very well and Leon Allende who's been involved with the first team in a couple of pre-seasons now.

1:11:39Stuart Watson:Somto Boniface at left back if you wanted a bit of cover for Leaf. They do play at home to Stoke on Friday night, the 21s. So I would imagine they would probably see more benefit of those players being involved in that game than travelling all the way to Wrexham. to sit on the bench and get a few minutes. I don't know. We'll find out at the presser. I think the Wrexham team is going to be interesting as well because they, unlike Ipswich, play Tuesday night in between the two games. They have to go all the way down to Bristol for a game at Ashton Gate on Tuesday night. So there has to be a case of managing minutes within there and Wrexham have had quite a few injuries.

1:12:23They've got good depth and fairness to them and they rotated, I think, a bit for the game they played against Forest. but I think that you might see quite a bit of rotation given the fact that they're in the playoff hunt. They're currently in the playoffs. And I would imagine, although they would like a cup run and Wrexham are still waiting for that Premier League big boy scalp that they've not been able to kind of come up against since coming under new ownership, I do think that they will, like Ipswich, want to prioritise the game in the league and that could see a bit of rotation here.

1:12:55Mark Heath:I don't really care what happens. just as long as it happens within the original 90 minutes would be tremendous, please. If that can happen, that'd be great. We would appreciate that. Friends, we've come past the 70 minute mark now, which is a bit long for the old podcast, but hopefully you've enjoyed it. Anything else to mention boys?

1:13:16Stuart Watson:No other business. Bailey Kadamatri could make his debut for Wrexham, January deadline day signing for them from Sheffield Wednesday. I think I've said this before. his old man was the first name and number i got on the back of a football shirt so that's that's

1:13:32Mark Heath:going to make me feel old we're so old stew and danny kadamati was a kind of young phenom wasn't he was rooney before rooney um i remember so god that's a long time ago and yet now his son's playing and he and writes grandsons are playing i'm essentially fit for the glue factory i'm so old um so light-hearted and and uplifting way to end the pod thanks for listening yeah friends just to remind support our sponsors use the code koa at stardustspirits.co.uk to get 20 off all the excellent alcoholic concoctions and also use the code koa10 at molecular um uk.com molecular-uk.com for 10 off all their cleaning products which i can highly recommend i'm still absolutely flabbergasted by how good the banana dying is my my the inside of my car is still spotless having cleaned it with banana dying more than two weeks ago now um so i'd highly recommend that get on that uh and also friends if you leave us a five-star review on itunes that has helped lift us visibility wise in the charts and boosts our fragile egos particularly mine um aj this is the last time we'll be on a podcast together for almost a month i reckon uh because you're off to new you're off to new york then when you get back i'm immediately off for two weeks to mexico so we ain't going to be in the same virtual room for some time now so i wish you good travels have a great time thank you friend um i look forward to seeing your pictures uh from new york city it's going to be tremendous and i hope you enjoy it stew i hope you have an even better time in wrexham cheers on friday night and then if you enjoy it you can go back again the next week how good's that nice one thank you very much friends uh i hope you enjoyed this pod i hope you have a good rest of the week and I hope you enjoy the game on Friday night and I hope it finishes in 90 minutes whatever happens I've already mentioned that I think I have um fingers crossed it will and we'll be back next week to break it all down and start to build up to the return to Wrexham have a good one friends we'll speak to you next time

1:15:47Thank you.

1:16:17Thank you.

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