619: Kings of Anglia: As you were, Ipswich Town…

24:45and that is exactly what happened. But it did take the goal for that to happen. I actually thought in the five minutes after the restart, I thought Ipswich again carried on where they left off. Millwall, as you mentioned, made the tactical change. That saw Langstaff, who was pretty dire in the first half, come off. Yeah, I do remember him playing because the one bit that I actually remember from him was he was side-by-side with Matasiwa at one point on the ball. Then he tripped over the ball and fell onto it, handballed it. The ref gave a foul to it, or a free kick to it because of the handball, and he was claiming a foul instead, which was very, very embarrassing, that one.

25:31And I'm sure that Alex Neal probably rolled his eyes and subbed him off partially with that in mind because that was really bad. But yeah, the change saw Ivanovic come on. Mihailo Ivanovic hasn't really worked for him this season based on last season, but he came on and Millwall ended up switching into this 4-4-2 man-to-man marking, and they created overloads in certain areas by doing that. Coburn and Ivanovic up front, Negli on the left, Aziz on the right, wanted to take the game to Ipswich more, and I thought that it was really the timing of the equaliser, wasn't it, that hurt. I thought that it was pretty self-inflicted from an Ipswich perspective.

26:15And if Ipswich defend that moment better, especially the bit preceding the cross, but also the cross itself, then I think that they can go into the game, maybe grab a second and see it out. But everything around this goal was just the worst possible situation from an Ipswich perspective.

26:33Ross Halls:Yeah, it wasn't great. I remember I was down just sending some photos through. because I was still trying to get some of the first half to your fine work. And I remember looking up and I went, oh, Furlong's on the floor. Why is he on the floor? Oh, no, Mill were attacking. Oh, no. Oh, go. Bollocks. Yeah, not great from Darnell Furlong, AJ. He needs to be stronger than that. And it's not really like him. I think he's solid, isn't he, Darnell Furlong? He's pretty much seven out of ten pretty much every game. Has some really good games. He drops off a little bit. But yeah, just pointing it in in this one, unfortunately.

27:10Yeah, his levels have been hit and miss in the last few. I didn't think he was great at Stoke. I thought he was okay against Leicester. But this one was frustrating. Negley gets the better of him. Negley's not one of the many Millwall giants. He's not some strong, muscly left winger. He's not an Adama trail or anything like that. And the fact that he's then barging furlong off the ball fairly, it should be said. just isn't good enough. You need to be stronger into those moments. Furlong then is spending too long on the ground. He didn't even appeal for the foul at that point. I don't think he just kind of looked like he was dazed and confused on the floor before getting back up to track back.

27:54At that point, there's no cover on that side. Matassi was probably a little bit too high up. And then O'Shea's kind of left. And I feel sorry a little bit for O'Shea because he has to do the one thing that I think Ipswich fans have criticised him a lot for, which is that kind of backpedalling motion. But he knows that there's no cover behind him, so he has to kind of backpedal because if Negley beats him, he's got an open run at goal. But the fact that O'Shea backs off, Greaves has left too much of a gap in the middle, so the cross comes in from Negley. O'Shea's on one side. The two centre-backs have been split because of O'Shea's backpedalling and Greaves' lack of movement.

28:35Glees doesn't really do well enough to stay close to Coburn. And it's given him far, far, far too much space to fire that goal in. Clinical finish, nothing Christian Walton could have done about it. But everything from Millwall winning the ball back to the cross to the centre-backs, just not good enough, unfortunately, there.

28:59Ross Halls:No, and unfortunately then, Millwall had the momentum, didn't they, AJ? And they had the ball in the net again, I think, five minutes later. of course got disallowed but this was like oh no that was soft as well I think it was about two minutes later should have turned the game around, it's a corner from Aziz that floats over everyone goalkeepers are well protected in this game I think it's Coburn again on Walton, there is a bit of physicality there, he does kind of get barged over a little bit Walton appeals it and gets it ultimately that's all that matters and that's the right thing from walton to do but um again probably needs to be stronger walton then needs the protection of more players around him coban is one of their biggest set piece threats because he's he's like eight foot tall um yeah just really disappointing from an ipswich perspective that one i know that this is a really tall millwall team but ipswich from set pieces both attacking and defending okay defending not as much but look at the goal that they could have conceded here where it went straight in and the marking was all over the place and attacking them i just want to get it up how many corners six corners in this game for for ipswich um how many near post headers you have furlong this one as on this one yeah need to be so much better and um they got off the hook a little bit with the one that easily could have gone in against them yeah i was actually going to ask you actually about set pieces and corners because in your live blog you and Itcherich have now won 50 ,000 corners, which in a way it did feel like that because Casey McIntyre made way to him he was winning corners as you mentioned earlier.

30:39Ross Halls:But yeah, it's not been great with set pieces this season as a whole. I can't really think at the top of my head goals to score from set pieces. Of course, we've conceded some as well. Why do you think that is been a problem? I could think of two off the top of my head. There was that Kipre one against Norwich, of course. There was O'Shea. at Borough. Yeah, I'm sure there might be one or two more. Also depends how you see set pieces. I know that this is going off on a tangent massively. There's an interesting bit from Luke Williams when he was at Notts County where he said a set piece is still a set piece from the moment that the ball gets put in until it goes out of play again.

31:15So even if it was cleared all the way back to the goalkeeper and then you counted up the other end and scored, that would count as a set piece goal. I don't quite know if I agree with that, but that's how he sees it anyway. I think that it really needs to be the first phase or a second phase of a set piece. And Ipswich, especially from first phases, just haven't been good enough this season. And I don't think I'd even put it as much down to the deliveries. They have been a little bit inconsistent. You see that with the fact it's been mixed up. We saw Johnson taking quite a few in this game. Davis, obviously, is a regular.

31:50Nunez, Anis Mometi has been pretty terrible for a lot of his, unfortunately. but quite a few are getting into good spots and it's just poor anticipation and heading from what i can see there were two that in this game i mentioned the furlong one and uh azon's i think azon's had quite a few how many have we seen land on the head of o'shea at the back post and he's fired wide i think o'shea could easily be on four or five goals this season from the opportunities he's had from set pieces um it was such a big thing and it was a huge thing going into the Premier League where we said, oh, well, Town are going to have limited opportunities from open play.

32:26They need to be better from set plays to threaten in the Premier League. And I asked McKenna about that a lot and all of the Ipswich players going into the season, they're pretty rubbish from them in the Premier League as well. And it hasn't really improved that much. So it's something that I really would like them to work on because especially coming up against low blocks, you will win a lot of corners. You saw how many times McAteer won a corner off Sturge I think at least three times in this game they're really good opportunities to get the ball into the box I know Millwall are a tall team but this is Ipswich winning those first contacts quite often in this case and just not doing anywhere near enough unfortunately

33:03Ross Halls:Of course, you've got to give credit to maybe the opposition if they're defending that well Of course, we have a set-piece coach Mark Hudson I think it is, isn't it? He needs to start owning his money because we need to start scoring on set-pieces but everything went downhill with that United one. I remember we had a big narrative in the Premier League last year. It was like, Ipswich are really good from defending set pieces. They don't really concede many. As soon as we started building that narrative up, Town went to Old Trafford and I think conceded two from Harry Maguire headers against 10-man Man United, which was still a very bleak day, all things considered.

33:41Yeah, as I said, both ends of the pitch areas to improve, but especially going forward when you've got O'Shea and Greaves and Furlong and Azon and Hurst. These guys are in the box. You need to be more threatening from them or at least more clinical because they're making first contacts. You just need to be doing better.

34:01Ross Halls:Yeah, get on Saga. I remember Dara O'Shea was at a game recently where he's back post and he's got off when I was going to be in. He's had a couple. Yeah, he's left the game. so but yeah AJ I want to talk about the subs because for me very unbalanced especially when you're trying to fit in two of your best players and Jadon Filagin and Jack Clark of course it's great to see Jadon Filagin back but he of course comes in the play on the left Jack Clark gets moved over to the right and yeah doesn't work because Jack Clark of course was the best player on the pitch for town in this game but he got sort of sacrificed in a way.

34:40Ross Halls:You know, your thoughts on that? I know there's a lot of Tower fans a bit frustrated on McKenna's decision-making with subs in this one but then you go back, we've got a very good record of subs making a difference and scoring goal. We've got the best record. You know, the last few games, our subs have been making a difference but in this one, unfortunately not, my friend. Yeah, this was not a game for subs at all and I think that the approach to them was wrong And I say that with the benefit of hindsight. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But these didn't work. The only substitute I thought really kind of earned his corn was Jack Taylor came on for Dan Neal and kind of carried on when Neal left off was a threat, had that energy, carried the ball forward into the final third.

35:25Well, you look at the others. Jane Philogene comes back, Portman Road return, and it moves Jack Clark out onto the right because McAteer is the man who sacrificed for that. Clark, I think, was just growing into that second half again after a really good first half, quieted down in the start of the second, and then was having those moments where he was really making Caleb Taylor defend hard. And, yeah, it just ended up kind of fizzling out with him on the right. He was totally lost at that point. Philogene on the left was man-marked out of his skin. and he had about three people on him at one point.

36:06He just couldn't do anything with the ball. You could see he was kind of twisting and turning, trying to open up the space, and you'd look up, and there'd be three, six-foot-four defenders in front of him. He couldn't move. So nothing against Villagene, but that shift, that tactical change, ultimately did the opposite of what Millwall's did. It was a change that made Ipswich worse going forward. I was a bit confused as to why two subs came on on 68 and two on 72. that might just be a small thing but I just bring them all on at the same time just make the check bring them on four minutes apart doesn't change anything um George Hurst was was fine I've seen some negativity around him I think that's harsh I think he held up the ball well some good bits with the ball at his feet but it's not like he had anything to work with he didn't have anything to do in the box it'd be unfair to criticize him too much Jude Brackham has one moment where he has a shot that deflects another day he hits that and it probably could go into the back of the net so he's unlucky in that vein but also beyond that didn't do enough he was in acres of space at times and decision making a wrong or if such didn't find him and then the last change is sindra balarigeli coming on it's 87 minutes it's too late he can't do anything at that point he's only got seven minutes to try and impact the game he should have come on about seven minutes earlier i think um um taking mimetti off is an interesting one i understand that from a fresh leg's perspective he's going to be going away over the international break you want to keep things as fresh as possible but all things considered bar from taylor for neil i think that this was the wrong timing and the wrong approach to those subs and the big one that will get spoken about the most is jack clark playing out on the right because we've seen it so many times it doesn't work it imbalances its switch and i'm a little bit surprised that kieran mckenna still goes down that route because i remember being at deepdale at the start of the where Jack Clark started on the right.

37:56Kieran McKenna said, this team is unbalanced. We need signings through the door to change that. And here we are towards the end of March and Jack Clark is still playing minutes on the right. Yeah, shows the imbalance between the left and the right at the moment, especially with Wes Burns out. But I think that if either of those two are going to play on the right, it should be Jadon Philogene from what I've seen.

38:19Ross Halls:Yeah, and once again, as you said earlier, it's hindsight is a wonderful thing because, yeah, if we went on to win this game, no one would be even caring about that. But because it was a bit of a nervy ending and it just didn't work. And, yeah, to take Jack Clark off in the 88th minute to bring on Syndra, it's like, well, what's the point? You might as well just keep one of your threats. I know you want to freshen it up sometimes and Jack Clark can be tired, but I'm sure Jack Clark will go, well, I might as well just play the full night and try to impact at the end there. Yeah, I can understand it from a freshness perspective.

38:53I don't know how Jack Clark was feeling. You want to keep people feeling okay and you don't want to have any injuries. You could keep Jack Clark on for another seven minutes and you'll feel his hamstring and go, God forbid that happened, something like that. But it's just the timing. When you're making a sub at that stage in the game, if they'd done it seven minutes earlier on 80 minutes, then you've got 10, 15 minutes for Sindra to get into the game and to make stuff happen. But he comes on on 87. How many minutes has stopped him? Four, I think, wasn't it? You add on the three minutes there, limited opportunities.

39:28I mean, what did he do? He played three minutes. He had two touches of the ball in those three minutes. He made one pass. There's just no opportunity for him to get in the game at all. Late, late substitutions for me should be saved if you're defending a lead more than anything. When you're in Ipswich's position where they needed to, and felt like they really needed to go on and win the game, I would have rolled the dice about between 7 and 10 minutes earlier. So a little bit disappointed in that. Again, you say hindsight's a wonderful thing for sure. It definitely is. And the fact they're all sat here kind of having a go at some of those substitutions, maybe we wouldn't have done if we were talking about it before the game.

40:13But yeah, with hindsight, with the benefit of it, definitely some that should be reflected on.

40:20Ross Halls:Yeah, definitely. and after he came on, Syndra, Millwall had a big chance to win it at the end. I was in a set position at Porton Road, so I'm normally taking pictures of the Millwall attack right next to the Millwall way end and I remember just looking up, so I was just sending some more photos as I do and I just saw Millwall on a counter attack and then Barry Bannon made a difference when he came on the pitch, didn't he? Good old Baza because, yeah, he was involved in this and I don't know how Ivanovic which has missed this chance. I think you just hit the crossbar. Talk us through, AJ. How were you in that press box?

40:59Ross Halls:Because you've got a great view there. And yeah, everything was going on in that box. And Millwall probably feel they're disappointed not to take the lead in that moment. Yeah, I thought that was the moment, to be honest. Barry Bannon is the one who orchestrates, well, not orchestrates, but he starts it. He orchestrates a lot of what Millwall wanted to do, is what I was going to say. sorry if you can hear any noise going on in the background with trees being cut down yeah this was I especially needed to get to grips with him better they did it really well and I know a different game but the Sheffield Wednesday game, Barry Ballon didn't get a sniff and this time they just let him do the one thing that I warned the kids basically in that bit where I looked at the matchups before the game which was they just avoided him too much space his passing range is excellent and that was a real shame that they kind of let him do what he's able to do.

41:49They needed to be better to that. He could have scored the winner. He has the shot that's saved by Patterson, pushed away. Not passed away, by Walton. There we go. He has the shot that's saved. I've done this so many times that I've messed this up. He has the shot that's pushed away by Walton. There we go. No, he doesn't. Let's try that again. Right. I've got it now. I've nailed it. Okay. This is live podcasting for you he has the shot it's blocked still could have gone in could have won the game comes back out to Femi Aziz he has a shot that's saved by Christian Walton got it right this time uh which I think was a good save but one that I still would have expected Walton to make made a couple of good saves in this game Christian Walton to be fair to him um and then it's it's pushed back out and lands as far as Ivanovic Walton's still kind of on the floor from the save he has most of a goal to aim at.

42:43He's probably about 10 yards out, if that, and he absolutely rifles this. He gets so much power behind the shot to the point that he almost probably cracks the crossbar in half, but you've got the whole goal to aim at. You are one of the most dangerous goal scorers the division has seen in the last, definitely last season and even at times this season, such a clinical striker. How do you miss this? This should have been the moment. If I'm Alex Neal, as I was about to say, if I'm Alex Neal, I'm tearing my hair out. Not sure I'd be doing that, but wow. Just unbelievable moment, that huge let-off for Ipswich.

43:21And we've seen that story before, haven't we? Town-dominated game, opposition teams score, they turn momentum and then they go and win it. So, yeah, thankfully it wasn't that this time, but Ipswich very, very lucky at the end not to lose this one.

43:36Ross Halls:Yeah, as you said earlier, one of the worst could have been fortunate because, yeah, Town, go away with the game, drawing 1-1. In that first half, though, missed opportunity, as you said. Yeah, but then would you say a fair result over the 90 minutes of football? I think I asked you on this on the video verdict. Yeah, you just think, yeah, Town could have gone to win it in that first half. But then a very nervy second half, some disappointing technical decisions maybe from Kieran McKenna. but yeah just your overall take on our point because we are now as we were going into this game just one more game played more yeah is it fair absolutely I came back into the press room after the game and I spoke to Max Millwall press officer and the first thing he said to me was I think that's first half you won the half second half we won the half I think that's a fair reflection isn't it and I said yeah you've nailed it it's a a trademark cliched game of two halves, this one.

44:40You look at the stats overall, and they probably actually show when you look at them that Millwall edged it, even with some of those chances that they had in the second half, obviously helped with that shot that they had right at the death from Ivanovic, which will have a very high XG, 0.54 in that one. So, yeah, quite a high number there. I know, I know. but it shows a balanced game. You could argue that Millwall, over the course of it, maybe had the better opportunities to go and win it. Ipswich create more, but just aren't doing enough with those chances. They aren't clinical enough in front of goal.

45:20You can defend as well as you want, and they did for a lot of this, but you can't be faultless for 90 minutes, and that's why you need to make sure you're scoring two or three in games. Yeah, a real shame from an Ipswich perspective, and as you say, it's as you were at the top and it's a missed opportunity. Ipswich win this game and they got to 70... How many more would they have? So they'd have two more points. So they'd be on to 71 points. They'd be second on goal difference and then they'd have that game in hand on Borough with Borough still to play. And they'd be huge favourites to go and get promoted then because you could say that by the time they go and then play Borough, if they were to beat Borough, they could be five, six points clear of them.

46:00now we're in a position where they're still playing catch-up. Could be back down to fourth by the time the Ipswich are next in action. Could be level on point to the Hull by the time the Ipswich are next in action because they're not playing on Good Friday and all the other teams are. So just an opportunity missed to go out there and change the narrative of how this game should have been, to be honest, and how the table should look. It's a disappointing one from that perspective. But then the positive is Borough weren't able to go and win at Blackburn. And if they had done that, then I think there'd be a lot of fans looking towards those playoff days.

46:42Ross Halls:Yes. And thankfully, we didn't lose against Millwall, because as I said, they were a close to Millwall to get that late winner. And yeah, I want to hear now from Kieran Conradio. You were in the big boys' trousers for this one. Thanks for us. Well, you know what I mean. Stu's normally the man who speaks to Kieran you speak to the player but when Stu's away AJ's there to speak to Kieran McKenna so let's hear what you asked him and what he said after the draw Kieran, 1-1 draw what do you make of that one today? I think it's clearly a couple of different ways to look at it because they had a chance at the end so you could lose the game but in reality I thought we should win the game we're disappointed that we didn't win the game I thought first half performance was excellent so I'm really really pleased with every aspect of it apart from probably the last execution to go and be 2 or 3-0 up at half time because I think our level of dominance and the general performance was good enough for that so yeah a little bit disappointed we didn't open up more of a margin disappointed we didn't go and kill the game off in the second half because they came out and put two up front and went man to man and locked on and we had so much space to break through and you know when they do that we know they're a big threat they're always going to be capable of scoring a goal they're always going to be a threat putting balls into the box and on set plays but we're disappointed ourselves that we didn't go and execute better on our transition moments and the moments that we broke the pressure to go and get the second or third goal and really put the game to bed so um yeah you don't do that they did it and executed really well in the goal and then i said they they put some pressure on at the end and the game can go another way.

48:21Ross Halls:So, yeah, there was loads of different parts to the game. As always, we'll take the positives and I think the first half performance, how we went about it, is a big positive going into the last eight games. And then we'll look at the things that we could have done better and we'll try and use this break now to be ready for the running. Yes, indeed, AJ. I want to actually ask you, I've probably asked this to Stu before, maybe we've spoken about it on the podcast. How do you sort of get ready to interview Kieran McKenna after a game? because I'm sure your brain's a bit frazzled trying to do the live blog report and all the other bits and things you have to do, and you get into the press room.

48:56Ross Halls:I'm sure it's easier when it's a win, if you go, well, that was a good win, weren't it, Kieran? But when it's a draw or a defeat, I'm sure it's harder. Because, yeah, some people go, oh, why don't you ask this question or whatever? But sometimes you haven't got much time to prepare because you've been busy doing other stuff. But when you get in that press room, sometimes you're waiting around, aren't you? And you don't know how they're going to react to certain things. How do you prepare for this chat with Kieran after the game? It's different with players and with managers. So when you do it with players after the game, firstly, you know that you're second in the queue behind Brenner from BBC Radio Suffolk.

49:33Love Brenner to bits. He's a brilliant man, great man. But my God, is he thorough. So you've got to think outside the box to come up with questions because he will answer every single question that you might think that you have going into it. and you don't have your notes in front of you as well because you're recording on your phone. I haven't got like a laptop out. You're stood around. So it's really trying to think on the spot and that can be very difficult. There have been a few occasions where I've tried to think of a question. There was one with Smoddix at Tottenham after that one and I just went, I forgot what I was going to ask there, which is quite embarrassing.

50:06That was not one of my finest moments. With Kieran, it's a little bit different. They're done in the press room. So usually I'll drop down a couple of notes on things that I want to ask. We lead with Kieran in the manager stuff, so it means that we've got more kind of flexibility on what to ask. But also post-matches, again, different with players and with managers. Players, you can be a little bit more thorough. Usually with Kieran, I'll try and keep it quite brief to make sure that we cover the main talking points of the game, overall thoughts, any key talking points, and maybe one or two other bits.

50:39But there's other people who want to ask questions there, try and get through maybe three or four and then pass it on. But yeah, you've just got to be kind of sharp on your feet, listen to what's being said, react to that. That's how it works. But the player ones, in my view, are the hardest just because you've got to try and constantly think. You have nothing in front of you. And yeah, they're different post-match and pre-match as well. Pre-match, you might ask slightly more theoretical or different questions of Kieran McKenna, whereas this is just going to be purely about the game. So, yeah, there you go.

51:14A little peek behind the curtain. That's how it works from my perspective.

51:18Ross Halls:Yes, and we've got some audio to play from Dan Neal very shortly, but I want to ask you, any other business from the game, AJ? Anything else you want to mention? Anything you liked, disliked? We're going to maybe speak about certain players. We're going to actually talk about Dan Neal as a whole so far. We're going to hear from him first. But any other bits and bobs from the game you want to earmark? Should we do key players, and we can kind of finish with Dan Neal as well. So players that I liked from this one, I thought Jacob Grease, bar from the goal, handled himself well. Matasi were first half excellent.

51:50Casey McAteer's shown an improvement, I think. Definitely his kind of end product is getting there. And he's doing better on the ball. Jack Clark, man of the match. As on first half, really good. Better in terms of battling these big old centre-backs now. But the player that I do want to give special credit to, you know it's going to be it's your man BJ, as you mentioned in the previous pod. Ben Johnson, so good. So, so good, to quote Pep Guardiola. So good. So, so good. Yeah, really, really impressed with him because he's coming from the cold. He started four games this season before the Sheffield Wednesday one.

52:27So Sheffield Wednesday was five. This was six. His match fitness must be on the floor. He's often the man who drops out of squads to let others come in and isn't making a place on the bench. He comes in I wasn't at Sheffield Wednesday, so I can't exactly vouch for his performance there, but I thought he was excellent here. Not only was he an attacking threat, but he limited one of, if not the best right-sided winger in the division this season in Femi Aziz to absolutely nothing apart from that late little chance. Set pieces were good, deliveries into the box, predominantly right foot, but also left foot.

53:03Defensively, really, really solid. A really good display from him. So an excellent option for cover at left back when Leif Davis is out. And I'm very interested to see who starts at left back against Birmingham after the international break, because with Cedric Kitbrae coming back in, it could be Jacob Greaves or it could be Ben Johnson. Yeah, really interested to see who gets the nod.

53:24Ross Halls:Yes, that'll be an interesting talking point for the build-up to the Birmingham game. Because I was about to say, no, Leif Davis will start. No, you've still got one more game left to be banned, which is not ideal. but yeah, good to see Cedric keep right back but then Jett agrees and Dara Shea partnerships linking up alright, but yeah, we can have that conversation at that moment but let's hear AJ from Daniel on the draw as you said, Brenner of course leading this chat, let's hear from Daniel A good performance against a tough team so overall I had disappointed not to get the win Yeah, quite disappointed in the end I think we had probably enough chances to win the game, probably not as clinical as as we wanted to be in the final third.

54:07Ross Halls:But I think you've got to give them a bit of credit as well because I thought for the first probably 60 minutes we were by far the best better team. And that's why they're up there in the league. They stick together. They've clearly got a good team spirit. And, you know, they found a way back in the game. But, yeah, I think the overall reflection is disappointing and probably two points dropped in the end. What about the bigger picture when you look at the league table? I guess not too much has changed in terms of points. Middlesbrough have drawn as well. But I guess it's another home game that's gone by.

54:34Ross Halls:Yeah, I think initial reflection when you see Middlesbrough have due that it's maybe an opportunity missed. But at the same time, it's another point on the board. We're in the same spot as what we were before the game, you know, with the game in hand. So we're still in a good position and the old cliches take one game at a time. So, you know, we've got, obviously, we got so off now to rest and recover because it's a busy period coming up, which starts with Birmingham on Easter Monday. You must have been pleased with the word that has dealt with the occasion It was a big game with a fair bit of pressure on this one Yeah definitely and I think like I said I thought first half we were We almost blew them away Probably disappointed that we were only Warned up going into the break But you know I thought the fans were brilliant as well today That's the best atmosphere I've heard Since I've come here and they've really Helped us keep driving and keep going To try and get the winner And you know we're going to need them For the rest of the season I was going to ask you what difference can that make the cliched 12th man if you like oh massive I think the record here I don't know it off by a heart but I'm pretty sure the record here at Portman Road over the last few years in the championship is an amazing record and you know they play a massive part in that you know when we've got teams on the back foot and they're almost rolling the ball into the goal so yeah eight games to go I think it's eight games to go is it eight games to go we're going to need everybody players staff fans you know to try and get over the line.

56:05Ross Halls:Oh, the cliché 12th man. Oh, yes. That's bingo card territory there. But AJ, let's talk about Dan Neal. You know, he's now playing, you know, a good amount of minutes. It's been a, I want to say a mixed bag start of his town career on loan so far. But it's two sort of parts of Dan Neal. I think there's a few games where it does show his lack of minutes. But how do you sort of sum up his loan spell so far, Daniel AJ you know he's obviously battling with Jack Taylor for that other centre mid position alongside Azor Matasiwa and yeah how would you sum up it so far I think mixed bag would probably be fair I think that there's more positives to take from the spell than negatives because you can clearly see that he's a really talented player a really excellent footballer a really good technical player on the ball you see what he's capable of you see the movement I can't even remember what goal it was now off the top of my head but the one where he pirouettes into space um and opens up was that the leicester goal i can't even remember now but there's one where he just does so well that little spin and space and the ball forward it shows what he's able to do he was good in this game i thought you mentioned that shot that he had from the edge of the area really impressive um he has the makings of a premier league footballer and for a player of his age, being an English player, that's really exciting.

57:32And obviously someone in Ipswich I think will want to sign permanently for free over the summer. At the same time, yeah, match fitness has clearly been an issue. He's hardly played in the first half of the season, but it's almost like Cinderella-esque, you know, when Cinderella, the clock hits midnight and everything turns into a pumpkin and her dress to Cinti and it all just goes horribly wrong. It's like Daniel gets the hour mark and suddenly he needs a nap which um yeah that's that's kind of how it feels a little bit and they still need to push on with that it's good that then you've got taylor who can come in and pick on the baton um and others uh that that's going to be the next step there's been some performances from the start where i've been a little bit disappointed by him where the levels have clearly dropped um yeah more positives than negatives work to be done but i think that the early suggestions from Dan Neal were really positive.

58:29And I hope that there's a long-term, by long-term, I mean this season and beyond, partnership with him and Asal Matasiwa going forward because they seem to work really well with each other.

58:41Ross Halls:Yeah, but then I feel sorry for Jack Taylor because I think when he's come in, he's stepped up and I thought he made a difference when he came on in this one. You know, he's very, he's just excitable, isn't he? He just goes in for the bite and stuff like that. I think certain games, I think he's going to be good for. Or maybe the Norwich game, maybe you start Jack Taylor in that one, you know, at Coward Road in a few weeks' time. But yeah, I'm sure it's a bit of a headache for Kieran McKenna. But then you've got Dan Neal, who's been here, done that, got promoted before. Jack Taylor has as well with town.

59:11Ross Halls:So, yeah, good options. Yeah, and it's the part of the squad now where Ipswich's run after the international break is brutal. It's eight games, five of them away from home. I think that they have a run of like three and then a home game and two or something like that. or two home game and three it's busy there's a lot of traveling dan neal is not going to be playing and especially not going to be starting every single game in that run and jack taylor will get his opportunities especially now where marcelino nunez is playing further forward jens kiusta seems to be totally out of the picture at the moment unused substitute i think in four of his last five games um it feels like it's going to be neil and taylor kind of slogging out to play alongside Azul Matasiwa.

59:56So, yeah, let's wait and see what happens with that run-in. But I think they'll split the minutes quite well. I want to see Dan Neal obviously starting lots of games, but when he's not able to, when he's not 100%, when he's feeling tired, when he needs to come off, I've got that faith in Jack Taylor as well. Credit to Jack Taylor because I know that he's obviously signed his new deal recently, but there were definitely conversations had about how this is going to work for him going forward. his minutes, his opportunities, whether his future might be away from Portman Road. But he's plugged away at it really, really well, had a good season, and he feels like someone that is dependable when asked to step into the team.

1:00:36Ross Halls:Yeah, and I think hot take from me, going into the next eight final games, I think he's going to have a big moment. That's my hot take. A screamer? Yeah, a screamer somewhere. A big, big moment. Not on the record. If this is wrong, it's fine. We'll still come to it. Screamer, who's it going to come against? Maybe Norwich, maybe. Borough? Borough, yeah, potentially. No, I think away from home. He's going to be the Derby Day hero is what you're feeling. I like it. I do worry for that game, AJ, though. Norwich, they're quietly doing okay. We'll cross that bridge down the line. We'll be okay. There's more to get our teeth stuck into.

1:01:18But yes, I echo those sentiments a bit as well.

1:01:21Ross Halls:But now we've just gone past the Magic out AJ but we need to talk about the international break because it's here the final one of the season before but as you mentioned the brutal eight games to go in the space of how many days it is but there's a lot of players on international duty and you've got big games especially the Irish boys also I was surprised to see Anastasia Metti get called out for Albania for the first time in an amount of years which is good to see sort of talk us through who's going who will be playing minutes and stuff like that I think I'll still Elkhart and Baggett with Indonesia again for the first time in a while.

1:01:57Ross Halls:Take us through it all. Yeah, so the big ones are going to be the Irish boys and also Albania now as well, because they've both got World Cup qualifiers. It's going to be interesting to follow. Then Ireland go away to Czechia. That is their first one that they'll have to play. That's on Thursday, away from home Thursday evening. So they need to go and win that game, which would set up a final against, let me get this right, either Denmark or North Macedonia to earn a spot at the World Cup. Four town players, can we call them four town players? Yeah, technically. Two currently part of the squad in O'Shea and Taylor in there, and also Sam Smoddicks and Chio Ogbene in there.

1:02:40No room for Casey McAteer, but four of the five town Irish boys there. Anis Mameti is the other one. let me try and get my notes up to figure out where he is because I didn't expect him to be in the squad because he's been out for a little while so they're playing in Poland on Thursday as well so same kind of time Anis has obviously been out with the squad for a little while now but he's coming back in at a good time with a chance of reaching the World Cup. Albania up against Poland and then the winner of that one will face Sweden or Graham Potter's Graham Potter's Sweden or Ukraine will be both those games I believe will be away from home for Albania.

1:03:22So those are the two teams that have a chance of going to the World Cup alongside Scotland, of course, and George Hurst. And there's been some talk about how Scotland are going to approach this. George Hurst obviously hasn't had the best of form. He's not really delivered for Scotland. Fans have kind of called for him to be taken out of the firing line. George Hurst are the better options. Olly McBurnie's scored more goals. But Steve Clarke likes George Hurst, clearly. and he's back in the squad, and this will be a big one for him. They're playing Japan, and then they're playing Ivory Coast. I think the Ivory Coast game might be at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, weirdly, at Everton.

1:03:57So that one, those are the two friendly games, and it'll be a big opportunity for George Hurst to try and nail down that World Cup squad spot, which would be good for him. Fun fact, Ivory Coast are also playing South Korea this weekend in Milton Keynes. Really weird. Kind of love it. Yeah, really weird. Really, really odd. And then the other two, one of them you mentioned, Elkhem Baggett's off with Indonesia. He's been out of that picture for a while. He's had some injury issues. Hasn't played that much, of course, as well. But he's going to be back in with them. He's been pictured as well arriving at the camp.

1:04:37That was fairly recently. They play St. Kitts and Nevis. And also Sonto Boniface. I don't know who England under-20s have got in this break. I will write about it at some point in the next few days. He's off with England under 20. So all of those happening in the next kind of few days leading into the Easter weekend with no game, of course, for Ipswich Town, their men's team.

1:05:01Ross Halls:Yes. That was going to be a nice segue, but I want to quickly mention something. Sorry, AJ. Very good segue. Very professional. Because, yeah, of course, the women's team are back at Bourne Road for their showcase game of the season. but I want to quickly mention about Mometi because I've seen the Albanian coach, who's Brazilian, Silvino, former Arsenal full-back, said he'll be playing him in a different role. He sees him as a wing-back, which is interesting because I think Albania, some of their best players are tens or they're in attacking roles. So yeah, you may be writing about Mometi playing wing-back for Albania potentially.

1:05:38Yeah, interesting. We'll see how it goes. Can he be a kind of a creator from that slightly deeper role? Hopefully he gets a start in this next little block. But look, I've been big on Ipswich moving to a back five. I'd like to see in the Premier League if they get promoted. Fingers crossed they do. So maybe if this works out, you'll see Kieran McKenna moving Anis Mometti into a wing-back role. Don't think it will happen at club level, but interested to see how that experiment goes at internationals.

1:06:06Ross Halls:Yes, indeed. And also I want to mention, I won't mention all of them, but there's some under-21s who are going to play for their countries as well, which is good to see. The Under-21s, you know, we've got players winning caps for their countries at different levels and stuff like that. Even a few, I think, playing at senior level for, I think, Subabwe is one with, I can't say his name, so I'm not going to say his name, but he's a good defender. But it's good to see. We've got a lot of even youngsters winning caps as well. So all the best to everyone. I won't really care much about them all because international football is not my, but I will be looking forward to seeing how Ireland do.

1:06:42Ross Halls:You want to see the home nations at the World Cup. Not many England fans do, I'd say. No, but... But if you're not big into your England, then yeah. And definitely, I think from an Ipswich perspective, seeing Dara O'Shea at the World Cup would be good. And then, of course, Jack Taylor and hopefully Casey and the Loneys as well. But the one thing I really want to see in the World Cup is because Scotland are going to play Brazil. And I want to see George Hurst and Neymar on the pitch at the same time. Yeah, that'd be great. That'd be great. So we shall see. Although Neymar didn't get called up for Brazil in their recent call.

1:07:19Ross Halls:It can still happen, damn it. It's still a charm. Just saying, I saw a video of him saying, oh, didn't get picked. Looking very sad on a massage lounge or an ear. Yeah, but we shall see. Maybe he will get called up for the World Cup proper squad, but we shall see. Well, AJ, you did do a lovely segue a minute ago, but I ruined it because I wanted to quickly mention about the Mimetti thing. But yes, the Itchers Town Women, Tracker Girls, are back at Portman Road for their normal yearly showcase game. The first ever WSL 2 fixture at Portman Road as they take on Southampton. Unfortunately, on Sunday, they got beaten, not even Forest 2-0 to lose that unbeaten run.

1:08:03Ross Halls:David Wright suffering his first league defeat as boss. But yeah, you, myself and Tom will be there, AJ. to cover that game. Tickets, of course, still available. They're looking to hopefully beat their previous two seasons of records. You know, over 10 ,000 fans in attendance. It'll be great to see town fans go and support the girls. It's also non-league day, so it's a nice 12.30 kickoff and there's an opportunity for people to go to see non-league games as well. But yeah, you're looking forward to heading to Porton Road to see a Track the Girls game again, my friend? Yeah, I think the most exciting thing is it feels like there's something on it because the last two, the first one against Chatham was a bit of a non-event wasn't it the season was over Chatham were were they already relegated I think they were definitely heading down um it was a big win of course then there was the game last year which was important uh was a good win against Plymouth but I think we all knew where that was going it was great to have kind of a almost like a title celebration we all knew that the the tractor girls are going to get promoted said to have that was great.

1:09:07This is a lot on the line. There is nothing certain or guaranteed about this. It's a new Ipswich Town women's team, isn't it? Because of so many changes in January, because of the managerial change. The last year, I had Joe Sheehan in charge. Not anymore. So, yeah, that's going to be really interesting. I'm keen to see some of the new signings. I think we could see some of the old heroes, of course, as well. I feel like Sophie Peskett's been the big one of the Portman Road games in particular. but Natasha Thomas and others of course yeah I'm really excited by this one and a lot on the line because maintaining WSL2 status for town women is going to be of paramount importance and there was fears they could get cut adrift going into the run and now they've got something to fight for and they've got a good chance of staying in the division despite the feet over the weekend at the city grounds

1:09:59Ross Halls:just like the men's team it's in their hands because they've got games in hand and they've obviously had a really good run recently. So, yeah, it's going to be a really competitive game against Southampton, who are a bit of old foes from the third tier days because Southampton got promoted before us and they're now an established team in WSL2. We've got some really good players, some international players, but it's going to be a really good game. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully the sun will be shining as well. And, yeah, that will be this Saturday to fill the void of no men's game at Porn Road.

1:10:30Ross Halls:It's just how we're going to take on Southampton And, of course, we'll be there to cover it all, doing bits and bobs like that. But, AJ, any other business as we wrap up this longer podcast I thought was going to be then for a two-minute interview? It always is with me. Yeah, yeah. I just talked my way through it. No other business. Enjoyed this. It's nice to have a bit of a breather, isn't it, going into things. I think it's good to have a reset. Then we can come back. Obviously, we'll have another podcast next week. I'll probably be a mailbag. I'm not going to nail down anything too much. I'm not actually here next week, so it might have to be a mailbag for you guys, which I'll enjoy listening to in the Netherlands when I'm away, back in around Amsterdam and a few other places.

1:11:12So, yes, it's going to be interesting. Also, of course, with me covering some games, Stu covering some, Stu going away for some, you're going to see a lot of alternation between us in the next few weeks, I think.

1:11:26Ross Halls:Yes, indeed. And me and Heath, I'm sure, we'll pass on the baton every time for the hosting chair. But yeah, it's always good fun. Hope you've enjoyed the latest Kings of Anglia podcast. Thank you very much for tuning in, viewing wise or listening, whatever you're doing. Of course, we're sponsored by Molecular, who are a great Suffolk local company covering all your car bits and bobs. Use the code, Coway10. You get 10 % off your next order. Unfortunately, yeah, Stardust Spirit's not with us anymore, although I think you can still get some great stuff with them. also follow us on all the socials Kings of Anglia, everywhere you can get us really, so go and check that out and of course if you haven't already we've got a great offer going on at the moment on the website, so if you want to see some great written pieces from AJ, Stu and just even me and Heathie we get involved as well, go and subscribe and you can actually see our beautiful faces if you want to instead of listening you can watch us but thank you so much for tuning in and I hope you have a good week, the sun is well it's not shining in Suffolk just yet but it's spring I feel like the light of nights are here and all that jazz but thanks again for listening as I ramble go on a tangent to outro this I need to learn how to do an outro AJ I think that's what we're going to maybe I need to get like a soon on this wall I'm going to have like the best way to do an outro I think sometimes it's just see you later Roscoe out

1:13:00Thank you.

1:13:30Thank you.

1:13:59Thank you.

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