Hello and welcome to another episode of the Sutton Podcast! In this instalment, I’m joined by Finlay to deconstruct a bittersweet Saturday afternoon at Gander Green Lane. We’re diving deep into the 1-1 draw against Brackley Town, exploring everything from the tactical shifts to the individual performances that defined the day for Sutton United.
Mike Dowling
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. It's the Sutton podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host, Mike. And joining me today, we have Finlay.
Mike Dowling
And as always, if you are a regular listener, thank you so, so much for joining us again. If you're brand new, I hope you enjoy it and you will come back again for another one and become a regular listener. We love hearing from everyone. Join the conversation, give us the likes, thumbs up on YouTube, all those other things that really do help the podcast grow and get it into more eyes of Sight United fans.
Mike Dowling
And thanks to everyone who already engages. I really, really do appreciate it, every single one of them. I'm not going to say late substitution because it was more, well it was about 24 hours ago, but I caught up with you after the match yesterday and unfortunately you couldn't run away quick enough and I was going to sign up and say yes you'll come on. How are you?
Mike Dowling
How have you been?
Finlay
I'm very good, Mike, and the inner commentator self came out of me. I got a statistic. First time I've been on since Telford, so delighted to be back, and very happy when you asked me. And I will say, I did my best to try and get Paul, the photographer, to come on, and even Ryan as well, but they both politely declined.
Finlay
So apologies. I did try my best, though, Mike. Yeah.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Mike Dowling
Well, at least they were polite to you.
Finlay
Yeah, that's true.
Mike Dowling
They're not often so polite to me when I've asked in the past, but a family show and all that. Right. Lots of club news, there's various players coming in. and different loans going out, but the main topic I think is the transfer of JT.
Mike Dowling
I said to you just before we started, I've known him since he was a little boy, but then I clarified and said since he was a younger boy, because I don't think he's ever been little, but it's a bit weird because I did get a selfie with him yesterday because he was at the game, but what are your thoughts on the transfer and the timing of it and all the rest of it?
Finlay
Well, firstly, a big congratulations to him. It's a big move going back to the Football League. The deluded self came out of me yesterday because I saw him and I thought, oh, he's changed his mind. Brilliant.
Finlay
Fantastic. But no, it's a big credit to the Academy. I will never forget his goal he got against Gateshead this season. No idea where that burst of energy came from in, what, the 92nd, 93rd minute.
Finlay
And I'm sure in a moment he won't forget being that close to the fans. But full credit to the Academy. If I was a footballer, I would want to play in that Sutton Academy. The staff there, from the kit man of Dylan, the goalkeeper, Coach Clive, Glenn and Jimmy, they've done such a fantastic job.
Finlay
And they've made it such a comfortable environment. And it's like in school, if you get on well with the teachers and you have friends, you're going to learn and you're going to get good grades. And it's the same in football. If you're around good players and good coaches, you're going to feel comfortable enough to play.
Finlay
So full credit to the academy. And as much as I would have loved him to sign a contract that meant he was here till he retired, it would be the wrong thing to do. He needs to go and get to that next level. having a look at Stevenage, they're actually only a point off the playoffs in League One, so potentially he could be a championship player next season, but all the best.
Finlay
I know he was moving up there today, so I hope the move went well, Jack, and thank you very much for everything. You won't be forgotten, that's for sure.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, he's just a lot to take in. He's been with us. I think he's the last of our players who have played in the Football League to now leave us, so we haven't got any players who played in the Football League before. I'm 90% sure Junior didn't come on, but it's a good move for him.
Mike Dowling
I was a bit sharp online the other day with someone when I said we didn't get an offer that matched our valuations last year, but I believe that we didn't get an offer. in the last summer and as you said he was out of contract and we run the risk then of tribunal and the ones that I've known at tribunal we've we've got stitched up so many times so it's like let's let's not do the tribunal we're going to get a good um a good fee and more importantly I think it's the sell-ons obviously we don't know any of the details I would imagine there's going to be some good bonuses. But yeah, a good club for him to go to.
Mike Dowling
They've been in and around that top six, seven the whole season.
Finlay
You've done that joke again.
Mike Dowling
Oh no, I didn't mean to do that one. Oh no, that was a bad one. That was awful. But yeah, when we were in the football league, I followed one of the Stephen Mish fans who came on the show.
Mike Dowling
He's very enthusiastic, Matt Farley. And he's obviously over the moon, but I keep seeing his messages about how well they're doing. So as you say, he could easily find himself going up another level next year. Chris said that he knows the staff at Stevenage, and they're going to really look after him.
Mike Dowling
He said they're actually superb centre-backs. So it's probably got an awful lot to do with the decision. And Chris, again, in his interview and in the hospitality before the game, he gave great credit to the academy, as you've just done as well. But he also gave credit to Morrison, Steve Morrison, for putting him in the side, putting his faith in him.
Mike Dowling
on a team that was struggling and facing relegation, going, OK, we'll put this youngster into the side. And he said, that's really difficult for people to do. But he was there yesterday. We all had quite a bit of fun asking him, are you in the right place?
Mike Dowling
Have you forgotten where you're going? Someone did want to quote the classic Only Fools and Horses of, you don't live here no more, Rodney. But they decided not to. He even stayed afterwards for the supporters event in the bar, chatted to a lot of people.
Mike Dowling
I got a selfie and it's great. You can literally see him bending almost in half to fit into the selfie with me.
Finlay
He did also do an interview after the game, which I know hasn't quite gone out yet, but it's a really nice interview that he did. And I think it's just also such a great motivator to the rest of the Academy that if you do work hard, you are going to get the chances. You've got to be patient. And with the Surrey Senior Cup coming up, I'd expect a few especially with Neil saying, sorry I'm going to plagiarise what Neil said, it's such a conveyor belt of talent, because it really is.
Finlay
And I know someone that I'm lucky enough to work with the Academy, I can assure you it won't be the last Academy player that gets promoted.
Mike Dowling
But it's also, as you alluded to earlier, the fact that it's a good advert to say, right, you can move on. The thing about Sutton United over the years, we've never really stood in a player's way. If they want to move on, we've always helped them do that. Sometimes to our detriment, and we do need to be a bit smarter about it to say, actually, OK, you can move on.
Mike Dowling
But we need something in place to make sure we're getting some benefit out of this down the line. But it is a great advert to say, look, come to Sutton. Join Sutton. You can always move on.
Mike Dowling
And one of the signings that we've made, Jermaine Francis, sounds like that's exactly what the plan is there. Come here, shine. move on. You get your form, you get your chance, shine.
Mike Dowling
And even he said in his interview, there's some things he wants to learn and make his game better. And he's been told we will be able to do that. He's playing with his back to goal and stuff like that. But it does sound like he's coming with an eye to use this as a stepping stone, which is fair enough.
Mike Dowling
It's a good sign.
Finlay
Like you said, Mark, if you see Sussman as a club that you can go and grow, then it's going to attract loads of players, which in the short term is great for us.
Mike Dowling
Absolutely. But on to yesterday. Ahead of the game, there was a lot of confidence. We've done well the last few games and we're at home again.
Mike Dowling
Brackley, not great form. We aren't either or we weren't either. But what was your expectations going into the game and did the lineup throw any curveballs for you? Was there anyone you were surprised to see or not see?
Finlay
Well, going into the game, as you kind of alluded to, Mike, we were in good form. First win of 2026 away at Tamworth, Rodari, getting his first of the club a clean sheet, adding on to the draw with Forest Green Rovers, which a team that could be in the Football League next season, we put up a really good fight. So going into the game, especially, I'm just looking at some of my commentary notes, Brackley have only got a 0.9 expected goal rate. So from that perspective, you kind of thought with the amount of goals that Sutton are capable of scoring, I thought it might be a bit of a mismatch, but God was I wrong.
Finlay
In terms of the line-up, three changes. In terms of the back line, I was pleased to see Will Tisard come back in. Nadasan in for Nduku I was pleased with. I think I said to you after the game, Mike, it's extremely strange to see three fit strikers that Chris can choose from.
Finlay
And then obviously the big one, Jermaine Francis coming in for Jadon Harris. I expected him to, more than Donkor to start, as Donkor only trained on Friday, so it was good to see Francis come in. The one player I was surprised to see out, and I know it was all over the forum, was Eze. Uh, not really sure if that was due to an injury.
Finlay
Uh, I didn't hear anything, so it was an odd one, I think, because he was a player that could have made a difference yesterday. But even just looking at the bench of Sutton, Rodari, Nduku, Bell, Harris, it seems like a nice full bench. A couple of games ago, it was, if the starting 11 doesn't do the business, we're in trouble. But at least we had the option.
Finlay
So, so yeah, going into the game was positive and, and yeah, a good lineup overall.
Mike Dowling
I've not heard anything about Isaiah either, but the fact is, as Chris has said in his pre-match, I think it was, we're now in a position where a player you might expect to start might not even make the squad. We're getting there with the blocks that he wants. He did make me laugh when he was saying that when I first came in, I thought there was way too many players. We had this horrible injury list and we seemed like we only had five players all of a sudden.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, he's getting to kind of where he wants, this solid group and each place being fought for without a loss in, perceived loss in performance. So yeah, there will be times where there'll be players not even making the squad, that everyone will be scratching their heads going, what the hell is he doing?
Finlay
And I guess that's a good thing in a way, because it can improve training sessions. If you're fighting for your place, no one's place is cemented. So I guess that can create quite a good environment.
Mike Dowling
Yeah. I mean, one thing I remember Mauro saying, a lot of credit for this, was you're not paid to play football, you're paid to train. Playing the match is like a bonus at the end of the week. So, it's like you're paid to train.
Mike Dowling
You put it in at training and then you'll get a chance. But, we got started, got out of the blocks quite quickly. A bit of Bit of an interesting one, because by his own admission, Germain messed up, but then recovered quite well, I believe, for Nader's goal. What did you see as, first of all, the assist by Germain and Nader scoring a goal for the first time in a long time, seeing him back out there as well?
Finlay
Yeah, the first since Morecambe in November, Mike. Really pleased for Nadesan. It was a really lovely move. I actually watched the game back this morning, even though it was quite painful.
Finlay
I remember Neil always said he watched the game back and it's a really good idea, because even though you're on commentary, it's actually crazy how much I missed, which you can look at that in two ways. In terms of the goal, starting with Junior, he did really well to win the ball back from Pendleton, as Brackley did have quite a dangerous break on. and then from there Sim put a lovely ball into Kai. I will say the only criticism for Nadesan, that cross from Kai was so good, I actually thought if Nadesan took an extra few yards he could have actually got on the end of that cross first time, but he got there in the end.
Finlay
Francis, the pliability he had on the floor to be able to flick it round and then Nadesan, well, Probably one of the easiest finishes of his career. But really good to see him back on the score sheet because I'm sure we'll talk about him more. It seems he had a point to prove in the first two minutes. He made a couple of fouls, a couple of shoulder barges, almost trying to show his intent that he was up for the game.
Finlay
So yeah, really pleased for him. And potentially this could be a new turning point for Nadesim, maybe for the second half of the season.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, well, I sponsored him and I did kind of say that he needs 30 goals to pay it back. So he's only got a few more to go for me. Yeah, but I said, I was this close to tweeting and I just thought, you know what, that might not be taken the right way. It was such a good assist from Jermaine that even ladders couldn't miss.
Finlay
I was like, no, let's not do that.
Mike Dowling
Let's not do that. That's a confident, that's when a player's on full confidence, you can do that. You can take them down a little bit, but not that. But yeah, it was fantastic and honestly great to see.
Mike Dowling
I didn't know this until Chris had mentioned it a few weeks ago, that Simpa, for example, doesn't score assist. if Nadas isn't on the pitch. And it was like, that can't be right. And then the guys in the back office, they checked it and they were like, yeah, it's right.
Mike Dowling
If Nadas isn't on the pitch. And so he's where he's drawing players. So he's not getting the rub of the green, but he's still drawing players out and stuff. So he's a big, big player for us.
Mike Dowling
Watching the game back is really good to do, especially when you know the result, because there are so many things that
Finlay
You watch like that because I don't want to see this.
Mike Dowling
But then when you watch it back, you're like, you know what it was always, you don't really care. Then you can notice a lot more.
Finlay
You don't have emotions. The Dizone subscription is finally coming in handy. Worth the money now, just for that.
Mike Dowling
So, defending the lead, 11 minutes. I mean, it's difficult. There's obviously some criticism about the way we play, which we're actually going to talk about a bit later with the playing out from the back. But how were you feeling at that time?
Mike Dowling
I mean, it did seem as though they had a few a few test runs, a few rehearsals ahead of it, but how were you feeling at that point of they've actually scored now?
Finlay
It hurt, I think because we'd had, and I'm sure we'll go into this in more detail, there were warning signs that us playing out from the back wasn't working. I mean, the first two minutes, Jake Taylor giving a corner away, which I actually scored from, but fortunately it was disallowed. And Brackley, they smelled blood. They deserved their goal.
Finlay
And I really liked what Chris said in the post-match interview, because as much as everybody will look at it as It seems that's given the ball away. The movement from the players around him, in my opinion, wasn't good enough. Because when I'm watching it back, I've seen Tizard pointing to the center of the pitch to Simms saying, right, I want it there in the middle. It's too risky a pass to play because there's too many ifs and buts.
Finlay
Sims is then relying on Tisard to go and meet that ball in the middle and obviously it's gone straight to Scott Pollock who still has work to do and he slotted it away nicely but Brackley deserve their goal because Sutton just didn't seem to see the danger really.
Mike Dowling
well, brief, brief, brief chat with Simo afterwards. And so I had a longer chat with his dad. And what was funny is when I was talking to his dad about different things is he'd said that he could, Jack couldn't understand the praise after his save last week. Going, I've made better saves than that.
Mike Dowling
I don't know what all the fuss is. And then he's absolutely beating himself up about this. And it's like, Never too high, never too low, Jack, come on, you can't do that. But a couple of other players to mention, Jermaine Francis, we've already mentioned him, but as a debut, his first 90 minutes for an awful long time, and that's one of the one of the reasons he wants to join us or one of the reasons he wanted to leave
Mike Dowling
his last two clubs is he wasn't getting a chance to play, a chance to prove himself. How did you see his debut overall?
Finlay
Yeah, I really like him. I really like him. I won't lie, I had a bit of hatred in my body before he played due to the goal he scored for Hartlepool against us in October and that was a horrible late birthday present. Apart from the one mistake he made 12 minutes in, which actually led to Brackley hitting the post, I thought he had a good debut.
Finlay
probably wasn't overly involved, but he was sharp. He was chasing balls down, winning balls back. And obviously the assist we've spoken about him just not to give up on that chance and keep the attack alive. So I'm really excited to see him keep developing.
Finlay
And obviously you can see the trust that Chris has in him to play him 90 minutes for his first win. So definitely there's more to come from him, but a solid start, that's for sure.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I believe he was described as chaotic in a good way, as you don't know whether he's going to pop up on the left, the right, in the middle, up front, centre mid. And if we don't know what he's going to do, then the opposition has got no chance of knowing what he's going to do. But as you say, I think as a starting point of just running that ball down, just chasing everything, being there is going to be so important because that kind of tells other players oh i'm gonna have to do this as well because i can't just let him be the only one doing it so they i'm not saying they weren't doing it but it's just that tiny sort of it's that reminder extra yeah a little bit extra the small gains over the whole team will be huge um and the the right back donkor um described as
Mike Dowling
pretty quick And I, again, in hospitality, Chris said he leaves Junior for dead in a footrace, which... That's a statement. Yeah, pretty, pretty fast. I know he came on only 20 minutes to go, but what did you think about him?
Mike Dowling
How do you see his signing for the future as well?
Finlay
Yeah, I like him. I think Chris described him to me as a monster, so I was quite scared at that point. But no, you can see he's quick and actually watching him when he came on, Junior seemed to slot into that back three. But it also gives Junior a bit more freedom.
Finlay
You could see when Donker was on that right, Junior was really getting forward that little bit more. And as you said, he only came on for 20 minutes. Wasn't overly involved, but you can see he wants to carry the ball. He wants to run down that line.
Finlay
So another solid signing. And probably with both of them, it's just more squad depth. You know, Junior can afford to have a bit of a rest. Jadon Harris can afford to have a rest.
Finlay
And probably the best thing for Donkor was he got a free ticket down here to Sutton. Got on the bus after Tamworth, so at least he got some free travel into South London. But no, I'm hoping, you know, we know with the Surrey Senior Cup how seriously Chris takes it, so hopefully we could see him getting a few more minutes from Tuesday. But another good signing and a really good investment as well.
Mike Dowling
and so almost super sub david came on had a glorious chance and the kind of chance that you would well i'm fairly sure he's going to dream about it but not in the way you'd want to dream about it How do you, I mean, how did you see that? How were you dealing with that live? I haven't heard you back, but how were you dealing with that live?
Finlay
You don't want to hear me back. It was Sutton's best chance of the half, full stop. As Chris said, the subs made, they made a good impact. Obviously, alarm bells for Brackley, the amount of space that Njugu had in the middle.
Finlay
and it's a lovely way to pass and you can see what Radari is trying to do he's just trying to drill it into the bottom left corner just a poor execution and I personally think if that was Nadesan on that day I think he would have put it away because I think Nadesan was crying out for that type of chance but yeah the best chance of the half and after the goal he got against Tamworth I would have thought he would have put it away but it wasn't to be
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I think he's just almost lost his bearings a little bit. He took the shot and was like, oh man, that didn't work. But he didn't let it bother him. This is one thing that I always love about players is if that was me, literally the ground would be swallowed me up and I'd be like, I can't carry on.
Mike Dowling
I'd be in my bedroom crying. Crack on, move on, next one. I'll miss more, but I'll score again. It was, I mean, we seemed to get a few yellow cards, I think three yellow cards.
Mike Dowling
Were we that combative? Was it just
Finlay
Was it about normal?
Mike Dowling
Because when we do seem to be getting yellow, we seem to have luckily got over our reds phase, but we seem to be getting quite a few yellows. But is it just a case of that's just how it is? Or do you think there's something more that we could do on that?
Finlay
No, it's difficult. The one that I remember clearly is Simpa's one and it was sort of kind of a heavy, heavy touch and the player got away. So it's just an outstretched leg. I think it's just one of those fouls that players up and down the country sort of make.
Finlay
As you said, discipline wasn't terrible yesterday. Yes, it was three yellow cards. Yeah, we seem to definitely got over that red card phase. Thank goodness for that.
Mike Dowling
One of, I mean, I know we're talking about injuries and suspensions, but Pruti did marvelously. He got suspended and injured. That's really great. Great going there.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, exactly. I mean, we spoke about some of the substitutions. He said in his post-match, I don't think I could have been more attacking in my substitutions. I mean, is that a danger chasing the game that late?
Mike Dowling
lost it? Is that a gamble worth taking for you?
Finlay
Yeah, I think so. If you're going to invest in those attacking players and you've got them on the bench, which I think for the first time in Chris's career at Sutton, he's actually had those options, why not go for it? Yes, there was a risk. Obviously Braintree had a result yesterday and Boston as well.
Finlay
But it's 1-1, you're at home. You may as well go for it. And as we've said, the subs did have a good impact and it nearly paid off with Radhari. And it's a shame that we couldn't get the win because with Autrium losing to Carlisle, it would have taken us up a place on goal difference.
Finlay
But the draw yesterday, I don't think any alarm bells will be ringing. We've got two games in hand on Braintree. Our goal difference is the best within that bottom eight as well. But yeah, if you've got the attacking players, why not go for it?
Mike Dowling
And you've mentioned three strikers fit, and we've got good wingers. We are missing still that just killer instinct. Absolutely. I mean, we beat Tamworth, big, big result, but it was only 1-0.
Mike Dowling
And we're scoring, earlier on in Chris's matches, we were scoring twos, threes a match. Now we're struggling for the ones. Neither of us are a manager.
Speaker 1
Neither of us have a football field.
Mike Dowling
But what do you think we're missing? Is it just rebuilding that confidence again of the players to go, look, just go and have fun, score the goals?
Finlay
To be honest, you probably want to give Chris a quick call and get him to come on because I'm the last person to ask. It's difficult, as you said, I think in his first few games, what we had the 3-3 with Farnham, the 4th, the 3-2 with Farnham then, the 3-3 with Hartlepool. It's a difficult one. I'd say now that with these new signings, with Eze, with these new attacking players, I'm starting to expect more goals to be scored, especially with the attackings of Don Cor as well on the wings.
Finlay
But it probably is just that rebuilding of confidence, because I think since the Shrewsbury defeat, it hasn't quite been the same. But now, free unbeaten, hauling on Tuesday a chance to get back to winning ways and get into a semi-final. Hopefully that can be a positive step to rebuilding the confidence. But no, I do think it is just rebuilding confidence.
Finlay
And I do personally think if we hadn't lost that Shrewsbury game, I have a feeling we wouldn't have had this dip in form. I still say that.
Mike Dowling
And it's mad because so many of the games, Shrewsbury, the Solihull game, we're talking, we were not outmatched. It was just a five, 10-minute spell where we kind of just went, oh, I don't know what to do, and just gave it up. I mean, Solihull scoring four in that 10-minute spell is insane. The rest of the game, you wouldn't really necessarily know that one team was going to lose 4-1.
Mike Dowling
One thing I've wondered, did we underestimate Brackley? I know as a fan, people kind of hear Brackley and they're like, okay, we're going to beat them. They're ahead of us in the league. Well, yeah, they were ahead of us in the league.
Mike Dowling
The manager left. The new manager is an interim manager. He wouldn't have had a lot of time before to kind of change things. So did we maybe just kind of go into this thinking, oh, well, all we got to do is turned up, not just the players, the fans as well, which is the next point, but do you think there was a certain element of underestimating them slightly?
Finlay
Yeah, I mean, I was a victim of that myself. I mean, as I said at the start, they only had a next year of 0.9. They've lost their manager and he had a good result with Shrewsbury against Barnet. Obviously, their current centre-back decided to take the reins, who had been playing a lot for them this season.
Finlay
you instantly think, oh, you're in trouble, one of your centre-backs is missing. And yeah, I guess being at home as well, you just expect Sutton to win, you know, with their manager leaving with such short notice as well. So yeah, I think that was definitely an underestimation there.
Mike Dowling
And the reason I kind of say it is, I'd spoken to a few people, and before the match, even when we were winning for that 10-minute spell, a lot of people saying, there's something about the atmosphere. It just felt nervy. Again, this isn't a criticism. I massively praise everyone who does things with the atmosphere.
Mike Dowling
But it just felt like all of us, me included, there was a little nervy factor which just seemed odd and I'm wondering did that transfer itself to the players? Did you notice that? Did you think there was something strange or did you... it's only now in hindsight that you kind of...
Finlay
Yeah, I mean, even I was on radio commentary yesterday and I even said, you know, it doesn't seem to be this kind of huge atmosphere which the Sutton fans are so good for having. So as you said, Mike, it's not a criticism to the fans. It didn't just seem, it wasn't that excitement or that buzz where when we got the goal, you know, that away into the right just goes absolutely bonkers. It just didn't have that same tenacity about it yesterday.
Finlay
And yeah, I guess that would transpire to the players. As Chris always says, the reason why we score so many goals is due to the fans. So you do wonder if that would have rubbed off. And really the fans were frustrated yesterday, rightly so.
Finlay
You could hear the groans when they started playing, the goal kick short. So it was probably just nerves as well. I mean, I remember when I went to Wembley to watch City Arsenal in the FA Cup and it was when Man City had Claudio Bravo in goal. So I kind of feel old saying that now.
Finlay
And every time he got the ball, he was always very nervous with his feet and you could hear the nervousness in the fans, which obviously translates to the players. So yeah, definitely, I think it would have rubbed off on the players.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, it was a bit weird. And it's a funny one, because obviously at the end, there's a frustration that we didn't win the game. But it's a different one, because it was a 1-1 draw, same as we had with Forrest Green. But Forrest Green, it was like, oh, we got a 1-1 draw.
Mike Dowling
This one's like, oh, we got a 1-1 draw. It's still the same point. It's still the same scoreline. Chris said it was a fair result.
Mike Dowling
Do you think it was a fair result overall, especially when you watch it back? I will never say it's a fair result. We were always supposed to win. We have a divine right to win every single match of football.
Mike Dowling
But do you think it was a fair result on reflection?
Finlay
Yeah, I think just going back to the Forest Green point first, yes they're two draws, I guess they're, well firstly there was so much going on in that Forest Green game that these fans were just already electrified by the amount of disgusting challenges that were produced and I guess it was a point against a team fighting for promotion and with Forest Green favourites into that game, immediately, Sutton, you feel like you've won it because of how good Forest Green are doing. But yesterday, in my opinion, the first half, it's two points dropped because of the mistake, and Madison did have a couple of other chances. Second half, it's definitely a point earned.
Finlay
Brackley had another goal disallowed at the start of the second half. And apart from Madari's chance, I think Harris had a shot that went wide, but that was really it. See, I'd say a draw is a fair result. As Chris said, neither side really did enough to win the game, but On another day, if Nadas puts a couple of chances away, if we weren't having that nervousness playing out from the back, we'd probably go and win that comfortably maybe.
Mike Dowling
So we are unbeaten in three. I'm wondering if someone had told us ahead of those three games, you're going to end up with five points. Would we have gone, actually, that's not bad. That's a draw against Forest Green, a draw against Tamworth, and a win against Brackley.
Mike Dowling
Oh, the five points over the three games don't seem too bad when you say it that way around. It's unfortunately the other way around. But what do you think? The five points over three games fair?
Mike Dowling
Or do you think you would have taken it beforehand? Would you have wanted to say that?
Finlay
I definitely would have taken a draw against Forest Green, that's for sure. The win against Tamworth, a really impressive win. If we had beaten Brackley, I'd say, yeah, you know, seven from nine would be really nice. But the five, I think if those, if Forrest Green and Brackley were both away from home, I think the fact, you'd probably more accept the five points.
Finlay
But because of, you know, we've only lost one home game with Chris at home in normal time, including the West Ham babies on penalties or anything. Can't say that. Sorry, sorry. Yeah, I think because of how good our home form has been, you probably would have expected a little bit more maybe.
Finlay
But as you said, Mike, you look at it from the perspective of it's three games unbeaten. We are out the drop zone still, albeit on goal difference.
Mike Dowling
So yeah, I think it's okay. Okay, so let's talk about the, I said there was only one, but it's two talking points that are on social media, similar, both of them. We'll start with the first, the less controversial one, corners, leaving no one up front from a corner. Now, this isn't new.
Mike Dowling
We've had this conversation on the map. We had it on the morrow. We're now having it under Chris. What are your thoughts on that?
Mike Dowling
I know that the big clubs at Man City, I don't know if Arsenal do it as well, and I know Liverpool do it where they don't leave anyone up. They have everyone back to defend and then defend the next phase.
Finlay
What are your thoughts? Yeah, when you said the question, Mike, I thought I recognised this topic from previous podcasts before, which is proof I do watch the podcasts. I don't understand it, probably because of the pace that we do have up front. You know, now we've got Donkor and Brandon and Harris, I do think we should leave someone up there.
Finlay
Just because if Sims gets it, it's one long ball forward and the pace we have up front, we may as well make the most of it. Yeah, it just creates quite a negative approach. But then at the end of the day, it's another body back to defend. But like we said at the start, we're not managers.
Finlay
I'm sure Chris has his reasons. But if it was me, I would leave someone up front, just in case.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I mean, there's got to be a reason that we're all missing, because people are screaming for it. It does feel like it's inviting some pressure on, and Brackley left someone up when they had a corner, which meant that we had to leave people back. to cover that as well, so it's like, what's going on there? I like the fact that you said it's just a long ball from Simo and we could be on the attack, which leads nicely on, very smooth, very smooth, nicely on to the long ball from the back.
Mike Dowling
Chris did hint in his post-match that with the pace that we've got, sometimes it is okay to stretch the defence. I know he's set on his playing out from the back. I know that's what he wants to do, that's how he wants to play and as much criticism as we have for giving away the goal, he rightly points out the goal we scored was also from playing it from the back and how many times have we done that. I couldn't tell you because I do cover my eyes and think, Christ, just get rid of it.
Mike Dowling
But it is something that happens. What are your thoughts on the playing out from the back in general?
Finlay
I think the person we should blame is Pep Guardiola, really, for bringing this philosophy over to England and proving it can work. I like it. I know people on the forum and everywhere are always going to have opinions, both positive and negative, because when it works, it's really attractive to watch. I remember against Shrewsbury, apart from their goal, we were toying with them.
Finlay
We were toying with a League Two team that passes. Shrewsbury couldn't get anywhere near us. And it proves that it can work. But yesterday, it was just the decision-making from...
Finlay
There were a few moments before we even scored where Tisard and Muller and Topolage, they didn't even want to receive that short ball. And their body position wasn't even in a good place to receive it. And when they did, they were in a position where they couldn't pass it back to Sims because of their negative positioning. They had to kick it out for a throw-in that led to a Brackley chance.
Finlay
So it's probably the decision making off the ball that needs improving, of giving, supporting your players. But then equally, when we played Nadesan yesterday, we probably could afford to go long more because he offers something different to Brandon in terms of height and strength, especially with the pace that we've got now with Francis and all the new signings. I quite like playing out from the back. And the thing is, in a way though, There are times where you may as well just kick it long because even if you lose the ball, at least you're losing the ball in the opposition's half rather than in your final third.
Finlay
But look, I'll always support Chris's ethos because when it works, it is really nice to watch.
Mike Dowling
Absolutely. And it is how he wants to play football. And at the end of the day, he's the manager of the side. He decides.
Mike Dowling
I mean, there's little bits. I mean, where some of the voices I'm seeing complaining about playing it nicely out from the back are the same voices I saw complaining about when we just lumped it forward. And all that was happening is the opposition were getting the ball, recycling, and coming straight back at us. And it was like, we need to do something different.
Mike Dowling
Well, now we're doing something very different. It's like, can't we just lump it forward and get rid of it? In an ideal world, yes, your defenders would get rid of it to the halfway line, and therefore your midfield would pick it up. But it's not always going to happen.
Mike Dowling
You've run that risk of the turnover and the ball coming straight back at you. But as you said, there's no point in passing it out to someone who then just does the same thing. I don't know how you can recreate that and get people to make better decisions because you can't recreate the match. It's very, very difficult to do that.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I don't know what I would like, but we know what Chris likes. And as you said, you just got to support the way he wants to play. There's no point groaning, because it doesn't help anyone. I do get it.
Mike Dowling
And I get the whole, this isn't how we want it. It's not non-league. But a lot of teams play like this now. And it helps, as he said, beat the press is where you can pass the ball around people, tie them out a little bit.
Mike Dowling
But would you Would you be interested in seeing the ball just lumped down to the channels? Yeah. A hybrid, almost.
Finlay
Yeah, it would be.
Mike Dowling
Maybe pretty up that end.
Finlay
Yeah. A little bit down this end. That's the thing. Like we said, if you lose the ball in the opponent's half, it's not too much of an issue.
Finlay
It's if you lose it in your own half. And with the signing of Radhari as well now, and when we play Nadesan, at least you have that physical presence that has a better chance of winning the ball. And yesterday, Brackley, their number 12, Michael Nottingham, was winning every aerial. I think he's about six foot six, so a very tall player on the pitch.
Finlay
And as we said, we've got the pace either side of the channels, Junior, Donko, of Bonner as well, so it would be interesting to play it longer, or just have a bit more variety during the game, not just sticking to one. So yeah, but at the end of the day I always support playing out from the back, even though I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack and there's no defibrillator anywhere, it is really nice to watch.
Mike Dowling
Oh there is, well not in the commentary box. and also everyone who would normally be listening maybe is at the match and there's not really many people to go oh shit we better go and help him we didn't even know but yeah no I remember years ago on a Sunday team I had a centre-back who loved just running forward with the ball and I just it was great I kept saying, look, if you lump it forward 60 yards and we lose it, you're in position. When you run forward in 60 yards and lose it, you're out of position.
Mike Dowling
I need you back here.
Finlay
But I'm a very cautious, get rid of it first.
Mike Dowling
But yeah, it's making people want to watch something united. And like it or not, bums in seats or feet on stands is what we really need people to do it.
Finlay
And I guess the other pro of playing it long is at least then we can push up the pitch to press them and kind of box them in, which is what Brackley were doing to us, or be it by our own fault. So that's another pro of hitting it long.
Mike Dowling
But it was interesting to hear Chris say the option is there for the players. So it's not a case of, yes, he does want them to play it out, but the option is there. So it's that decision-making again of knowing when to do. One of my favourite phrases, I've said it often, is Glenn Hoddle, there's no short ball or long ball, there's the right ball or the wrong ball.
Mike Dowling
That's it. Basically, you play the right ball, it doesn't matter whether it's long or short. But looking ahead, as you've mentioned, we've got the Surrey Senior Cup and we are at home Now, Chris says this is an important game. Again, this is one of those funny ones.
Mike Dowling
I've got a long-standing grudge against REFA, but it doesn't count as a first-team fixture. So, for things like disciplinary, this doesn't count. Obviously, if someone gets sent off or anything in this, it does count, which is a bit unfair.
Finlay
I was going to say, otherwise it's just going to be a fight.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, but what kind of team, if you were picking, would you be looking to go with for this? Would you go all out strong or would you have that good mix of academy youngsters as well?
Finlay
Yeah, I'd probably, I think it would be unfair to not have any of the academy people in the squad. We know that Chris involved the likes of Bobby Sheargold in the Croydon game. and definitely some of the academy players deserve a chance. I still think we should just promote Dan Irpin simply for his long-throwing ability because I think we need some of that.
Finlay
But the competition, there are some really good teams left. I didn't really give this competition much thought because I thought, oh, it's lost its prestigiousness. You've got Farnham in there, which it's fair to say we know decently well. We've created a bit of a rivalry with Cobham, who are in the same league as Guildford.
Finlay
They're 22 points clear at the top. Hawley, they're seventh, only a couple of points off the play-off. So again, there are some really good teams that could make a really interesting semi-final and the final. Obviously Chris has said, I'm going to pick the team that's best suited to win the game, so expect the majority first teamers, but hopefully some minutes for the academy because they deserve it and they've got the quality to prove themselves.
Mike Dowling
It is interesting to think, oh we could be going for this because I have my dilemma of
Finlay
Do I want to turn up?
Mike Dowling
No, I don't. Last time I did that and I broke my dilemma. I was like, nah, do you know what? It'll be fine.
Mike Dowling
I'll go to one. I think we lost 4-0 to Godalming or something. So I'm like, I'm definitely not going to it. If it happens again, that's it.
Mike Dowling
Further ahead of that, we have Boston away. You do the prediction league. So just remember, this doesn't count towards your prediction. How do you see that game going?
Mike Dowling
and what's an early prediction for that.
Finlay
Yeah, I think we had a, was it a 1-1 draw when we played the McGandegree lane from memory. So every away game is difficult. I think we had a really good result at Boreham Wood yesterday. So it'll be a tricky game, but as we said, we'll go into it three unbeaten, hopefully four unbeaten, and a place in the semifinal as well.
Finlay
So spirits will be high. And hopefully, I guess, talking about everything we've spoken about, about decision making, that's going to come with time when the players will start to gel. So hopefully by the Boston game. Players have had a really good chance to get to know each other because it's not easy.
Finlay
We've had four or five new players that have come in in the space of a couple of weeks, so hopefully they're going to get more used to each other and potentially some of them can get off the mark against Hawley. Perfect. Prediction? If I go negative, I'll probably be sacked from commentary and probably never allowed on the podcast.
Finlay
I can't do that. I'll go 2-1 to Sutton and I'll go with Eze to score first. Why not? Okay.
Mike Dowling
Well, I'm going to go 3-1 and I'll put Jermaine to go to open his scoring for us.
Finlay
What about Gemini? What's Gemini going to go for? I didn't actually put it through Gemini yet. So, yeah.
Mike Dowling
It will probably say 1-1 when Nader's to score because it seems to be recently just going on the previous result and just saying, yeah, I'll go with that one.
Finlay
Well, it's better than a player that doesn't even play anymore, like Louis John.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a great phase going, oh, definitely Craig Eastman's going to score. OK, Marfus, I suspect you won't, but OK, that's great to know. Right, we are going to wrap up this episode of Sutton Podcast.
Mike Dowling
As always, we appreciate everyone's attention and feedback. Follow, like, share this episode. That's on podcast and all social medias. Like, subscribe, thumbs up, and leave a review if you like.
Mike Dowling
As always, thank you to our sponsors, Lucky Star Gin. Big thank you to yourself, Finlay, and thanks to you for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Sutton Podcast. Take care, and we'll catch up soon.
Mike Dowling
Bye-bye.
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