Hello and welcome to another episode of the Sutton Podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I’m your host, Mike, and today I’m joined by Johnnie and Nick to sift through the wreckage of a bruising 4-1 defeat at Solihull Moors. We’re diving into a weekend that saw our defensive line-up looking more like a last-minute seven-a-side text chain than a professional squad.
Mike Dowling
Hello and welcome to another episode Sutton Podcast in association with Lucky Stardew. If you're a regular listener, thank you very, very much. Welcome back. If you're a new listener, you're very, very welcome.
Mike Dowling
I'm your host, Mike. And with me today, we have Johnny and Nick. There was no podcast last week because I had a Christmas event at work and I thought I'm not rushing back to talk about a 4-1 loss away with someone getting sent off so we'll skip it for a week and very kindly the team has helped me out by giving us a repeat of a 4-1 loss and a red card so that's nice, thanks guys.
Mike Dowling
We do love hearing from you, join the conversations, give us the thumbs up, the comments, all the likes and all the rest of it on social medias, at Sutton Podcast, you know I love it and it boosts my ego. Nick, how are you?
Nick
All things considered, I'm well, Mike. Thanks. Yeah.
Mike Dowling
Very good. Very good. And Johnny, how are you?
Johnnie
Yeah, it could be worse. Could be worse. It wasn't ideal having to be up in the office this morning after yesterday. But yeah, we're still here, still going.
Johnnie
So I can't complain.
Mike Dowling
Birmingham for early doors, 4-1 loss all the way home, and then you had to get up and go to work this morning.
Johnnie
Yeah, what a weekend, eh?
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I'm interested to know what the worst could be, but I don't feel like we're going to bring the mood down, so we won't do that. Let's get straight into it. You've had a week of it, well a couple of weeks now, two cup exits, the first one wasn't that bad in hindsight, the second one was a bit worse and then yesterday. What was your thoughts and hopes going into yesterday and was there any sort of surprises in the lineup or not in the lineup?
Johnnie
I don't think we've really got much choice, really, with the players we've got fit. I mean, I was surprised to see Jack Taylor drop out, but he obviously wasn't fit or he'd have come on at some stage. So we've probably picked an 11. It's an 11 that pretty much picks itself with the players that we have available.
Johnnie
I don't think we'll be able to pull any surprises in the Aldershot game. It will just be who we can get back playing. Which 11 players can we find to go out on the pitch? I think that's one of the problems we have at the minute, squad depth.
Johnnie
I'm sure I'll be able to run on about a few problems, but I just don't think we've got enough backup in the squad at the moment. So yeah, I suppose I wasn't really surprised. It's the only Fit11 we could find. Hopefully we can get some players back, but obviously more suspension problem now.
Johnnie
So it's, I can't imagine there'll be too much decision-making for Agui before Aldershot. Like who have we got available? It's like me running a seven-a-side team on my Wednesday evenings, Mike. It's literally, who can we get in a group chat that's around?
Johnnie
And that's your team.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Mike Dowling
mute those notifications, otherwise you see the blue tick and they know you've seen it. Yeah, what about yourself? What were your expectations going into the game? Did you have any surprises in the line-up?
Nick
No, I mean, yeah, Jack Taylor was a notable absentee. I mean, I wasn't aware that he'd injured himself or the week prior or something, but that seemed a slightly surprising one, a slightly odd one. I'd assume that he would come straight back in the team because, of course, there's a big hole now in the defence come Boxing Day. Brandon was on the bench.
Nick
I assume that's just a numbers thing because he just needed, maybe his injury is still plaguing him. So yeah, it did seem a little bit threadbare, unrecognisable obviously, two new players straight in. I mean, I'd be curious to know actually how much, how long have they, because the announcements get made the day prior usually when we brought a new player in. Have they been brought in that very day or have they been with the team all week?
Nick
In which case, you know, they're getting to know one another on the bus to the game, in which case I would have thought so. So yeah, given that, I mean, you know, given that there is a bit of a lengthy injury list, it was, it wasn't a bad first, first 40 odd or so minutes, but, but yeah, it was, it was a, it was like, like has been said, a sort of seven a side, you know, who's around kind of thing. Yeah.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, you saying that, meeting him on the bus. Johnny, I don't know if you can remember who, but there was definitely a story in Doz's days of a player being picked up on the way.
Johnnie
You were thinking of Ben Wyatt on the way to the Oval.
Mike Dowling
Yeah.
Johnnie
Yeah, yeah.
Mike Dowling
He turned out all right. Yeah, yeah. Literally, we'd signed him and picked him up on the way to the match. So, yeah.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, it can work. Nick, you've already mentioned it. It's a tale of two halves. We'll talk about the first half first.
Mike Dowling
I watched it on TV, same as yourself. We looked all right. We looked good. We were passing the ball around well.
Mike Dowling
We were first to everything. I thought we were doing quite well. We looked quite dangerous and we had quite a few chances. How did you feel about the first half?
Nick
Well, I mean, I actually saw the fix. I was over and I saw the game back in. in August, I think it was. So we got to the end of the first half and I thought, is neither of these teams, this has got like nil-nil, you know, neither of these teams wants to score basically.
Nick
I thought it's going to be 180 odd minutes. I thought that it was very cagey. I thought we had the better of the first half. The new player that we brought in up front, David, he had, I thought, the clearest chance or one of the clearest chances.
Nick
And I thought we edged it. I thought we looked really good. And it did look like we looked like we were playing against Shrewsbury when we were spraying it around. And I thought, oh, good.
Nick
You know, we picked up what we left off there. But it did feel like a nil-nil at the end of the first half, well, because it was nil-nil. I thought there's not going to be any goals in this game, you know, which I probably would have been fine with, given what we'd just come off the back of. But, and also, I was just...
Nick
I thought to myself, how soly are where they are in the league? I mean, you know, they've got a very, they just didn't have that much to offer us as well, considering they were playing at home. They tied, I think, recently with Forest Green. So I wasn't.
Mike Dowling
It could be that we were making them look ordinary in that half.
Nick
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
Mike Dowling
I have to admit, I was cursing one of the commentators because they did say on about 35 minutes, something like the last three games been these two sides have been nil-nil draws or something like that. Cheers mate, thanks for that. Johnny, what about yourself? You were there, how did it feel in the ground?
Mike Dowling
Did it feel we were in control? Did it feel we were doing all right in that game or were you literally manicking every time they crossed the half?
Johnnie
It was more when we had the ball in our own half that most of our problems came from. I think we were all right in the first half. I didn't think we were excellent, as Chris said we were in his interview. I think it was pretty even.
Johnnie
I thought it was quite a good game, to be honest. The Jacksons made a few good saves, again, mostly from us causing ourselves problems, to be honest. Their keeper made a few saves, De Vita had a couple of headers, which I think he put both over the bar where he might have felt he could have done better. So either team could have been ahead at half time.
Johnnie
I think the draw was probably about fair at that point. Yeah, there was no sign of the impending disaster of the second half, really. I mean, it was a perfectly good half away from home. Certainly no complaints about the first half.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, one of his chances, I think, just came to him and he had quite a bit more space than I think he realised. And I think you snatched it and then was like, oh God, I had more time. But you can't really complain, as we said, he's only been with us a few days.
Nick
Yeah, it might have been on his less favoured foot. I think it was on his left, maybe his right foot.
Mike Dowling
But Johnny, we'll open the scoring. And I mean, again, the way it was said on commentary, when you're watching it, you're like, it's not quite as fun to strike as you're claiming there, but a great goal set us up for a perfect sort of smash and grab away victory. How were you feeling when we took that lead? 50th minute or just before the 50th?
Johnnie
Yeah, just after half time. It was a goalkeeping mistake, if we're honest, or defensive error, whichever way, whoever you want to blame. It was the defender sort of left the ball when he could have blocked it. The keeper thought the defender would have blocked it and then it goes straight for him.
Johnnie
It's a pretty awful mistake, whoever you blame for it, but we take it. I'd like to have seen us maybe have a bit of a plan B from there. You've got a lead, don't give anything away easy. Stay in control of the game, keep things tight.
Johnnie
We looked to stay in control of the game, we always looked to play on the front foot but we didn't keep things tight. We seem to have this problem at the minute, letting one goal. you let in two, you let in three. So Jelan was in the bar at half-time obviously and missed our goal obviously.
Johnnie
But in the time he was walking around, I saw him come out the bar We were 1-0 up. By the time we got to behind goal, where we were stood, we were 2-1 down. I mean, it was two goals in a minute, probably. You need to take this thing out of a game when that happens.
Johnnie
We don't seem to have the ability to do that. We don't have the mentality to do that. We just approach everything the same way. For the cricket fans out there, it's the same criticism England are getting at the minute.
Johnnie
They don't adapt. They have this way they want to play. they have an ethos or a sort of mentality and there's no step back from that. So like, yeah, what's our plan B?
Johnnie
Do we have, it's difficult at the minute with the players we have, but if N'Joku's fit, can we play N'Joku up front, put second N'Joku up front, put balls over the top, put balls in the channels for him or Rob Bonner to chase? Can we go change the shape, change the formation, keep things tight? Can we just start messing around with the ball at our own penalty area for five minutes? Like, I'm not against that strategy as a whole, but there's a time and a place.
Johnnie
That wasn't the time or the place after we'd just conceded, or really after we'd just scored. So that was the frustration for me. We sort of played ourselves into problems again for the third week in a row, really. So we, yeah, not against it being something we go to most of the time, but we need a plan B and we don't seem to have that at the minute, I don't think.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I've got a theory on what we've changed, but I'll come back to you in a second. Nick, how were you feeling at sort of 1-0 and then the collapse as Johnny sort of just spoke about with the goals, boom, boom, boom?
Nick
I thought to myself, actually, when we went 1-0 up, I had a feeling of dread because we've been in, it's almost like the worst thing we can do for ourselves is to score a goal, because it then sort of opens the floodgates. a la Wheeldstone, was it Hartleypool? We were 2-1 up, I thought, and then they got it back to 3-2. So I thought that we'd got out of our system, or the collective system, this kind of like, you know, panicking when we've got a lead, letting them back into the game, which we saw.
Nick
Eastleigh, Halifax, you know, those were both games where we took a two-goal lead and then we hung on. Whereas in the past, we've gone 1-0 up or gone a couple of goals up and surrendered the lead before. And so this was more of that. I thought, wow.
Nick
And I don't know, I think Aghi mentioned it in his post-match interview that we've got to get better. And maybe this is what Jake Taylor, who notably wasn't there yesterday, does really well, which is that he knows the tricks to slow the game down, to sort of take the sting out of the game. Can Jack Sims just suddenly go down because of his ankles, like two, three minutes after we score, maybe?
Mike Dowling
That's the thing that I was going to say was missing. Because that was happening quite frequently in November. We score and Jack was blighted with his terrible injury. I think it happened to Tommy as well a couple of times.
Mike Dowling
But I don't think that happened. So I don't think it happened in Shrewsbury. I wasn't at Walton, but I don't think it happened at Walton. And I don't think it definitely didn't happen yesterday.
Mike Dowling
But that's where we had previously taken this thing. Maybe we've received a warning. Who knows? Do you think that's what we need, Jonny, that obvious?
Johnnie
Yeah, I'm not going to advocate for us doing that, but it's something to the effect of just take the sting out of the game. It might be, yeah, take a bit long. I mean, you see Solihull did it as soon as they went 2-1 up or 3-1 up because there wasn't much time in between the goals, taking longer over the goal kicks, longer over the throw-ins. I remember absolutely losing my head at one of the home games recently where we were 2-1 up and we took a quick free kick and added time at the end of the city.
Johnnie
We're 2-1 up, just what are you doing? You could take two minutes over that free kick, put it towards the corner and you've killed half what was left of the game. We don't seem to have that switch in us. We're trying to do everything too quickly, rushing everything.
Johnnie
Yeah, it could be as simple as put a ball in the channel and get the ball up the other end of the pitch away from your goal. And we, yeah, we just can't seem to do that. So yeah, like the time wasting thing, like it works, every team does it, they'll put something in the laws to stop you doing that pretty soon, I would have thought. Um, so you can't rely on it, but yeah, we just, we need to have that, that out, that sort of little get out thing that we can do whatever it is.
Johnnie
And we don't, we don't have it. We certainly didn't have it yesterday. That's for sure.
Mike Dowling
and the other thing that has been happening in the last three games is um lots of red cards uh so it's four in the last three games uh johnny do you feel we've suddenly got into a dirty side or You feel we've been unlucky?
Johnnie
No, we've definitely not been unlucky. This is the thing that I rant the most about, and I was furious about this on Sunday, because it's the stupidest shit that we're getting the red cards for. Every single one of them is so unnecessary. And it's just discipline.
Johnnie
It's all been, three of them have been when we're losing. One of them's when we're drawing, having just conceded a 90th minute equaliser. It's because we lose our heads. It's like under-16s football where you've got loads of shoppy kids and every time you lose in a game we feel like we've got to throw an elbow or commit a stupid foul or go in with a two-footer tackle you're never going to win.
Johnnie
And now you've screwed your teammates over because they're playing the rest of the game with 10 men and you've screwed not for the rest of the game only, but for the next three. I mean, we're missing Junior for three games. A little bit of sympathy for him because it was a bit soft, but still, why give the ref the option? David's I've got the most sympathy, but still not a lot because maybe he just forgot he'd been booked in the first place.
Johnnie
I mean, Jake and Eden are just ridiculous. I mean, they've both been good, very good overall since Agui came in. We need Jake on the pitch. Why on earth is he committing that foul?
Johnnie
You're 3-0 down and you're never getting anywhere near the ball. It's so obvious. Anyone can see that's a penalty. I didn't see it at the time because I was having a piss and I think I was the only person on the ground that didn't see it.
Johnnie
Everyone that wasn't in the urinal had a clear view of it. Whether he's got sent off for the foul or dissent, it's stupid either way, and there's just no need for it. It's just a head-loss tackle. It's a discipline problem.
Johnnie
I read through the thread on The Planet about the penalties we're giving away. Discipline. We've had one unlucky one I can think of, which was at Woking, where the fella took a dive over Charlie Bell. The vast majority of the rest of us are just doing stupid shit.
Johnnie
It's like there's a corner comes in and someone's lost his man. So he just thinks, fuck, I'll bring him down. Stay with your man. Mark your man.
Johnnie
If you lose him, that's on you. Don't lose your head and make it worse. The two, Wilton and Hirsham, the two penalties, what on earth are we doing? It's not even like the first one, it's not even in shot.
Johnnie
If you watch the video, why is he getting involved in a wrestling match there? What good is that going to, you know, what's it going to achieve? Brainless. It's absolutely brainless.
Johnnie
And it's the frustrating thing about it is it's not from us not being a good team and it's not from us not having good players. It's just doing stupid shit. And now we've lost Eden for three games, we've lost Jake for one, we've lost Junior for three, David for one. It's killing us.
Johnnie
It's actually killing us and it's so unnecessary. It's so unnecessary. It should be an easy fix, but here we are on the 22nd of December and we've not got any better. If anything, it's worse.
Johnnie
If I was Chris Agatha, I'd be reading the absolute riot to all four of those players after the game. We need to be better if you're a professional footballer, especially the experienced players. And that's not just to dig them out. I mean, Junior's been a success story of the season, realistically.
Johnnie
David's been brilliant. And I think Jake's made a massive difference since he's come in. But you cannot be doing stuff like that. And it's causing massive problems.
Johnnie
It needs to stop.
Mike Dowling
Do you agree, Nick? I mean, one little thing I won't agree with, it's not just the four players you need to be drilling into, it's everyone else as well to make sure no one else falls foul of it. But do you agree with Johnny? Is it a problem?
Mike Dowling
Or do you think we've been unlucky? I mean, there were some comments of, oh, the referee doesn't like us, all refs hate us. What's your thoughts, Nick?
Nick
No, I think, I mean, I agree with everything that was just said. I mean, it's funny. I was watching just the other day, like I think on Amazon, it was it was one of these Amazon fly on the wall documentaries, the Spanish team at Euro 2024. And Luis de la Fuente, the coach, he actually says to them as they as they leave in the dressing room, 11 go out, 11 come back in.
Nick
And it basically don't do anything stupid because, like it's just been said, you're just basically gifting the team the opposition. an opportunity and that can dictate the game. I think of the four red cards, I have some sympathy with David Ogbonna. It's a stupid rule, but then again, it's a stupid rule, but that's the rule.
Nick
I think you could maybe look at that either way. Sympathy with Junior because the guy made the most of it. Again, the rule's the rule. As for yesterday's one, I mean, I don't know what the referee was supposed to do.
Nick
I mean, had the referee got a yellow card out for that, I think that the Sonny Holt players probably would have been up in arms themselves, saying, you know, what are you doing? I mean, that was a red card. I think there was some discussion as to whether it was a red. I thought, well, he's gone through the back of a player.
Nick
You know, I think two feet were off the ground. I mean, that's serious, dangerous play. I mean, my question there is, is it, my wonder there is, is there a board that looks at that and says that is serious, dangerous play and that it can actually get extended? I'm not sure about that one, but three games, we might be lucky with that one.
Nick
I can't remember the last time that we had an opposition, that we played a team when the opposition lost a player. I don't have anything in recent memory, certainly from this season, unless I'm missing something.
Johnnie
Shrewsbury is the only one in the last two seasons.
Nick
Why are other teams able to keep their heads in a way that we don't? There has been an uptick. You can see the play has improved and there's an uptick. intensity.
Nick
I think that the training sessions are probably a lot more intense. I think Osmond Foyer went to one of our training sessions and he was taken aback by how intense it is. Is the intensity level such that some players, it's getting to them and they're doing rash things. That's the only thing I could come up with to explain four red cards in three games.
Nick
So, but yeah, it's a serious thing. And the more that it happens, the more inclined referees will say, well, I'm playing a dirty team. Well, this is a dirty team. They've got previous.
Nick
Therefore, that's going to condition the split second decision that I'm going to have to make here. Yeah, I think that's probably what Aggie was referring to in his post-match interview yesterday, that he went in and he sounded like he gave the players a right bollocking, basically, and it's probably over the discipline issue. yeah you know guys keep your heads come on you know.
Mike Dowling
I agree there will certainly be a reputation for this we obviously we had that for years with Easty and that season with Harry Smith as well he's literally they were getting booked for joining the name being on the team sheet almost at some point but I mean it's how do you solve it I mean you don't want them suddenly all being angels but they do need to find that line. I mean, there was no doubt that was a textbook red card. As soon as I saw it first time, I was like, he's gone.
Mike Dowling
And the only doubt that came to mind is it was taking a long time for the referee to decide. I was like, maybe we'll get away with that. But I definitely thought it was a red. I don't think he meant to injure him or anything like that, but it was a definite red based on the laws.
Mike Dowling
But added to that we also, Hayden came off for injury, I haven't actually heard any more since, so I don't know what his status is, but we ended up with a very, very, very makeshift back line. Nick, I'll come to, I'll get Johnny to draw his breath because I know he's got thoughts on this one as well. But Nick, what do you think about the squad's depth that we've got now? I know Aggie was very keen to say, look, our squad is way too big.
Mike Dowling
We need to move people on. But suddenly with these suspensions and injuries, is it looking a bit thin back there?
Nick
Oh, undoubtedly. I mean, the one player that we haven't mentioned so far that I'm wondering whether he can do a job at right back is Edwina Vaz. I think he came on yesterday. He might just have to do a shift there because I wasn't very impressed with the lad that's been brought in from Huddersfield.
Nick
I think he might have been a bit exposed for their first goal but towards the end of the game he was just getting turned inside out at every opportunity, at every turn. So it might need a midfield player where we've got slightly more bodies to come in and defence and do a job there. Jake Taylor. Jake Taylor might be required to help out in defence.
Nick
We'll see. I mean, he seems like quite a versatile sort of player. So I dare say that he can probably slot in there. But it's going to have to be the Academy, and it's going to have to be one or two that come in from the Academy probably.
Nick
Just on squad depth, on the issue of squad depth, those learning out of Modabra and also Dylan De Silva now is looking, I mean, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it is now looking a little bit regretful that we don't have those two to fall back on. in some depth. I mean, Mo Dabra would slot in very nicely if Jake Taylor can go into the defence, then his position could be covered by Mo. We'll see.
Nick
I mean, the only consolation is I'm thinking that we've got an injury crisis at the moment. Other teams, I think, probably have similar, probably not to the same extent that we have, but we are at that stage of the season where squads are starting to, through injuries or through suspensions, squads are starting to get strained. So this is almost a natural stage of the season that we're going through. So that's some consolation at least.
Mike Dowling
And Johnny, I know you mentioned this the other day as well.
Johnnie
Yeah, well, it's more of a suspension than an injury problem, really, which is completely our own fault. But yeah, the squad is definitely an issue. I definitely think we need a few more because every season we have a situation like this where we're short. Every club has it.
Johnnie
I think Aggie's done a great job overall, don't get me wrong, but there's a few things he's done I disagree with. The small squad policy is one of them. It's just a bit idealistic. I don't think you're ever really going to get a situation, it never seems like this at Sutton anyway, where we have our best 11 available every week.
Johnnie
It just doesn't happen. Like you look at the bench we had yesterday, we've got a couple of academy lads we named, I think Jack Taylor and Njoku who weren't fit or they would have played undoubtedly. So we've only really named a bench of what, four players? One of them's a goalkeeper.
Johnnie
It's a problem. We've been told that the data model we use for recruitment means that we have a kind of short list of players available at any time. Might be a good time to put that into practice. But yeah, the trouble we've had is if we suddenly get short players and we've had to bring in Mauricio and Rodari and it feels almost, I'm sure they'll, I'm sure we've vetted them properly and we've worked out that they'll fit in this style of play but it does
Johnnie
feel a little bit like a panic signing. We've got Junior Eccleson out for three games and we need to bring someone in. It would have been better to have had someone, even the same player. For example, Mauricio came in a couple of months ago and he's training with the team and he's playing games off the bench and he knows the style of play rather than just trying to bring him in on a You were saying, Nick, bring him in on a Friday,
Johnnie
play him on a Sunday. I felt a bit sorry for him. He didn't have a good game, but it's tough. You've just been plucked out for your first game in senior men's football.
Johnnie
90 minutes, it's on the telly. The fellow they had on the left wing was a good player, to be fair to him. So it wasn't easy for him. I think we could have just made the situation a bit easier by having someone, a back-up in that position.
Johnnie
We didn't seem to have a right-wing back. I don't think he trusts Aaron Jones because he's more of a centre-back of the three. I don't think Jones has really got enough going forward is the issue with Jones. If we don't think Jones is going to play there, we need to have a back-up option.
Johnnie
You can't have one player in a position. I think we have a similar problem in midfield and I think we have a similar problem certainly now at centre-back. I think we're sure at centre-back since we let Harry Phipps go. I think we really need to look at the holders of the purse strings, I guess.
Johnnie
We need to look at spending a bit if we want to keep our heads above water and avoid that relegation battle. I'm looking at the team for Boxing Day and thinking who on earth is going to play to even have 11 fit players. It's a real struggle. I think we're going to have to change the system because I don't think we have five defenders to play back five as simple as that.
Mike Dowling
I mean, 4-1 wasn't great, but it could have been more. You already mentioned him, Johnny. Jack Sims pulled out a couple of great saves. I mean, how's his form been, especially since coming back?
Mike Dowling
How important is it to have him playing for the style of play that we want to play?
Johnnie
He's getting a lot of practice, isn't he? I thought he was our best player by a mile yesterday, which tells you what you need to know. It could have been seven or eight quite easily just in the second half without him. Yeah, he's probably one of the best keepers in the league.
Johnnie
Very lucky to have him. I don't think we can really say a bad word about him. He's good with his feet, he commands this area, he's an excellent shot stopper. One of the real positives at the minute So yeah, great to have him back available every week.
Johnnie
I just hope he stays fit. Because again, like, you know, a crucial part of the side. But yeah, 4-1 flattered us, to be honest. I mean, the second half was that bad.
Johnnie
And he made a few good saves in the first half as well, to be honest. So yeah, lucky we had him on form yesterday or things could have got really ugly, unfortunately.
Mike Dowling
there's going to be a bunch of people disappointed you said seven or eight instead of saying six seven but never mind um nick what do you think about um simo i mean on the commentary the guy said um he must be injured because he hasn't kicked it long all game i was like well he's not gonna anymore that's that's just not how we're gonna play but what did you think of his four is yesterday in his form he's an excellent goalkeeper um i mean his his um
Nick
His touch and his passing and his vision to see plays. I mean, it is like effectively having almost half an outfield player added to the 10 that are already there. He's got that sort of star to him. I wasn't altogether impressed with Tommy Reid.
Nick
I thought that he had an error in him and he clearly wasn't as good with the ball at his feet as Jack. clearly is. We say this often, I seem to say this every time I come on, that I just hope that nobody comes in for Jack Sims over the transfer window and that we can keep hold of him because he's a vital player. I hope that we don't start talking about relegation again, but if we do get dragged into a relegation battle, goal difference is always something that is going to matter.
Nick
In fact, goal difference, you know, even if playoffs are still on, goal difference will matter there. It could have been, there you go, six or seven yesterday, but he did pull out really good stops and was at full stretch. Yeah, let's hope he can stay fit. I mean, you know, a good goalkeeper is the bedrock and the foundation of a really good team, you know, because they're literally the last line of defence.
Nick
And if you've got a shaky goalkeeper, that tends to go through the whole team. If you've got a security in goal, it does give assurance to the rest of the team. So that's hugely important that he there and that he's between the sticks. But yeah, he was really good.
Nick
It's funny to say that about somebody that when the scoreline is 4-1, but yeah, he was impressive.
Mike Dowling
I hear what you're saying about worrying about someone's coming in with his terrible ankles and his injuries.
Nick
I'm sure that no one's going to have
Mike Dowling
Nick, we had a fantastic November, undeaten. December hasn't got started really. Do you think, as a lot of people have been saying, we're going backwards or do you think this is still a blip that a couple of things just need ironing out? Because it is Obviously, the Cups are disappointing, but it is only one league performance that we've played badly in.
Mike Dowling
Do you think it's a blip, or do you think this is something a bit deeper that we need to worry about?
Nick
Oh, I'm not concerned. I mean, the team performance, the quality of the play has visibly improved since Aggie took over. I didn't see the Wharton game, and I think that a lot of the players then were still sort of on a downer from the weekend before. The Shrewsbury game, okay, that's already been gone over and everything, but I think the performances are there.
Nick
My goal is that the December month, I think, I said, ideally we want to get five points from December. Okay, so we can't get five, could get six. That means winning away at Southend and winning home to Aldershot. I have, It's weird to be saying this kind of thing in December, but that Aldershot game does feel like, given where they are in the league and where we are, it does feel like a must win to avoid getting dragged back into the relegation battle that we thought
Nick
that we kind of... I think that we kind of got a little bit euphoric with the November foot performance. I think that there was a little bit... little bit of getting carried away with ourselves over that.
Nick
And, you know, given our lead position, the fact that we were still like three or four points above the drop zone, I thought that we should have been a little bit more cautious about that. So But I'm still confident that we can do it, but it is going to now take a sort of psychological, something's going to have to happen psychologically to stop some sort of a slide going on now, because this is going to hurt. Losing 4-1 away, I think it is going to hurt. And so something has to happen to make sure that it doesn't become longer term.
Mike Dowling
Nick mentioned the league table. For a very short period yesterday, we were 16th and very, very short period. But do you feel that, OK, it's one game, move on to the next one? Or have you got a bit more longer term worries?
Johnnie
I agree with Nick that we've definitely improved noticeably since Agi came in. So we're a much better side than we were. I mean, we were looking pretty desperate when we came in, to be honest, we were awful. So, yeah, we're massively improved.
Johnnie
It's not to say that we don't have problems still. I think I've probably set my pace on those. Squad depth, discipline, the tendency to collapse, which I think is linked to discipline in plan B. So we've got things to address, but when we're at our best, we are a lot better than the sides below us.
Johnnie
I mean, you can see in the Gateshead game, for example, we have a much better team than them. Famous last words, obviously. So you might have to edit this out come May. But we do look at technically better sides.
Johnnie
I think we're causing ourselves problems. If we can get over that habit, we should be fine. But listen, we are in a relegation battle. You can't deny it.
Johnnie
We're three points, two points above the relegation zone at Christmas. That's the reality. There's a lot of teams in that relegation battle. I think we could If we won our game in Hungary we could go up to 16th, 15th, 16th.
Johnnie
So it's not just us, there's a lot of teams down the bottom. We've got to make sure we're one of the best ones at the end of the season. I think we should be good enough to not go down if we play at our full potential. But that's the issue, isn't it?
Johnnie
Because we showed it in November. We've not showed it in December. Clearly, it's there from the performances we gave in November. Just need to find it again.
Johnnie
And whether that's just keeping our heads better, I think bringing a couple of players in, whatever it is, just need to find that consistency and be at that level for the rest of the season.
Mike Dowling
Okay, well, very, very quick chat. I know Nick said something already about the Aldershot game, but how are you looking forward to the Boxing Day game? Are you worried about who we're going to put out or are you just like we're back at home, everything's going to be fine?
Johnnie
I'm dreading it just based off the availability. If we had a full strength team I'd be quite confident. I genuinely don't know who we're going to play as about five or four because I don't think we have five defenders. You could maybe go Jake Taylor.
Johnnie
I mean, Will Tizard was holding his arm at the end. I don't even know if he's fit. Assuming he is, you maybe go Jake Taylor, Tizard, Jones at centre-back, Mauricio at right-back, Vaz at left-back. But that's a stretch.
Johnnie
You go four at the back, Tizard, Jones, Mauricio right-back, Vaz left-back, something like that. Jake Taylor in midfield. I don't know. It's going to be really difficult.
Johnnie
They're on the up. They've improved. They're going to be looking at this, licking their lips, thinking this is three points. And all of a sudden, it's like us, we won three games in a row, moved from well inside the relegation zone to out of it.
Johnnie
They've won two. Some of their fans would have been saying they looked dead and buried two weeks ago. They could be out of the relegation zone by the end of Boxing Day. So they're going to be looking at it and seeing an opportunity.
Johnnie
We've just got to be up for it. Hopefully they get ahead of themselves. We can start the game well and get out of them. Don't do anything stupid, crucially.
Johnnie
Listen, we still have a very good team. We'll still be very strong going forward, I'm sure, so it might be high scoring. Yeah, I think it will be close either way. The thing that worries me is defence.
Johnnie
We just don't seem to have any fit, well, non-suspended defenders at the minute. So, yeah, that's the concern for me.
Mike Dowling
Maybe we just go all out attack, play one at the back. It's worryingly looking at the league table. I think a 1-0 defeat would actually put Aldershot ahead of us. So because they're on minus 11, we're on minus nine goal difference, that would make us 10-10.
Mike Dowling
And they've scored three more goals than us at the moment. So yeah, I'm not happy I looked at that. But Nick, oh, Johnny, sorry, give us a prediction.
Johnnie
I'll go with a 3-2 win. I reckon we'll score goals. I said there'll be goals in it. It'll be entertaining, high scoring, hopefully a big crowd.
Johnnie
Don't worry about the league table yet, by the way. If they go ahead of us, it's where they are in April. I'm not worried about whether we're going to finish the day in a relegation zone if we can string four wins together afterwards. But yeah, we're in a tough place at the minute with the squad, but hopefully get a few players back a couple of weeks and hopefully we can pick up wins in between.
Johnnie
Southend will be pressure on them, for example. So not, I'm not, I say I'm dreading it. I'm a bit tongue in cheek. Like it, yeah, it's going to be tough, but it's a long way to go.
Johnnie
So no, no panic for me.
Nick
Excellent.
Mike Dowling
And Nick, how do you see the game going?
Nick
They're having a very good December. I think they've come off the back of two wins, haven't they? I mean, the win at Boston, they got to, but Boston's home form has been really shit this year. You know, they lost 4-0 to Morecambe.
Nick
but they've got their tails up. Yeah, just second what Johnny said. I mean, I'm just looking at yesterday's lineup and the fact that, you know, yeah, we've got notes of an absentee, but our midfield is going to have Lewis Simp, Jaden Harris, David O'Connor, Kai Jennings, Charlie Bell, possibly Brandon Njoku up front. We'll see.
Nick
I mean, you know, he's got five days he could recover and we could. So that is a very, very strong forward. line and to the point that they'll probably be able to score goals. I think, you know, there's so many goals there.
Nick
I think that the likely result is probably a draw, a draw with goals, which I think given yesterday, I think I'd probably take at this stage just to sort of, you know, to steady the ship a little bit and get a few players back and through suspension a little bit further. But I also wouldn't be surprised if we were to win, because, like I say, you've got to look at the line-up and say, we are a good team, we're at home. It's almost, OK, fine, the home team is expected to win, but there'll be expectation on them as well from their fans to keep the run going and to take points off of a team that's having a terrible month.
Nick
So I think, you know, I don't think it's to be dreaded, as one might think. And I think we could win. I think we could do it. And I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case.
Mike Dowling
I'll ask for a prediction. Now you're top of the prediction league, so I'll make it clear this, you're not limited to this prediction.
Nick
I haven't actually updated it for yesterday's, but you're like five points ahead.
Mike Dowling
So unless someone's predicted a 4-1 loss, it's pretty unlikely. So an early prediction, but this doesn't limit you.
Nick
I'll go. I'll go to to to to. Okay.
Mike Dowling
Well, AI, which I'm pretty convinced is just looking at who scored our last goal by now is saying that we'll tease out will score in a one one draw. I'm going full full mental and I'm going to go David's going to score first in a five one win because we're going to suddenly snap out of it. full of Christmas joy and spirit and we're gonna get everything right. That's it.
Mike Dowling
You heard it here first every week, but hopefully we'll get that win. We're gonna wrap up this episode of Sutton Podcast. We appreciate everyone's attention and feedback, so get involved, let us know what you think, share, like, comment, follow at Sutton Podcast across all socials. Big thank you to our sponsors, Lucky Star Gin.
Mike Dowling
A very big thanks to Nick and to Johnny for joining us because they answered the call yesterday. Was it yesterday or Saturday? I can't remember. I think it was Saturday, actually.
Mike Dowling
But thank you very much, gents. And take care, everyone. We'll catch up soon.
Speaker 4
Bye-bye.
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