Welcome back to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast! This week, we’ve got an action-packed episode featuring recaps, reflections, and previews that will keep Sutton fans on the edge of their seats. Joined by Mark and Joe, we dove into Sutton United's journey, including a hard-fought win over Braintree and a highly anticipated FA Cup clash against Birmingham City.
Sutton Podcast: Hello and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. It's the Sutton podcast in association with Lucky Sajin. I'm your host Mike as always and with me on our panel today we have Mark and Joe. In this episode we're going to cover the exciting trip to deepest darkest Essex at Braintree and we're going to look forward to the visit of Birmingham City in round 1 of the FA Cup which is a week Away, not on Saturday on Sunday, which is ruined my weekend, but hey, we'll discuss that later. I'm sure And don't forget
01:29 - 01:47
Sutton Podcast: love hearing from you like all the likes shares retweets thumbs up business so let us know what you want to hear on the show what you like what you don't like and we'll try and include as much stuff as possible and we're gonna jump in joe in a couple of weeks for you I don't know how many but how have you been
01:47 - 02:18
Joe: yes mike I'm good thank you Been a busy few weeks with uni applications, so starting to get all that in. But yeah, good to get back to the football. Had a bit of a break. Hadn't been to 1, well, I went to Oldham last week, I hadn't been to 1 since Boston. But my National League TV comms debut last weekend, got some stick from a random Oldham fan on Twitter, who then got replied to by 4 other Oldham fans saying, don't know what you're talking about, sounds fine to me. Which is nice to see. But yeah,
02:18 - 02:19
Joe: all good with me, Mike.
02:19 - 02:30
Sutton Podcast: Excellent. What the reply needs to be there is if you're watching on a legal stream you can choose your audio if you're watching on an illegal screen you will you give her and shut
02:30 - 02:31
Joe: up about it.
02:33 - 02:34
Sutton Podcast: Mark how have you been?
02:35 - 02:43
Mark: Yeah I've been good yeah I've been out today enjoying the sunshine. A nice little trip down to the Isles of Scilly earlier in the month.
02:43 - 02:50
Sutton Podcast: Excellent. And you were up, was it Shoreditch I saw you in? No.
02:50 - 02:55
Mark: Not been to Shoreditch recently. I've been around various bits of North London though.
02:56 - 02:56
Sutton Podcast: Right, fair enough.
02:56 - 02:58
Mark: Visiting public houses.
03:00 - 03:01
Sutton Podcast: Working, working.
03:02 - 03:02
Mark: Right, I-
03:03 - 03:23
Sutton Podcast: Research. Yeah, exactly. I set this very late for you both because I was really badly organized and I sent the link about 10 minutes ago. So I gave you a slightly different question to the 1 I've written down. But let's try and play the knowing me knowing you and you can answer the question I forgot what it was
03:37 - 03:39
Joe: It's growing on me. Right.
03:39 - 04:01
Sutton Podcast: Good. Excellent. I still got to find a bloody question. Hang on. Super organized this. I'll probably take this out once I put the proper thing in. So what is your proudest, there we go, what's your proudest moment as a Sutton United supporter? Mark, we'll start with you.
04:03 - 04:22
Mark: There's a question. Probably various things I could say. I haven't given this any thought because I hadn't seen the question prior to you just popping it there. So I'll just say, I'll say this because I know Mark, I was up at the 9-0 win at Gateshead back in September 1990.
04:24 - 04:24
Sutton Podcast: Yeah, we
04:24 - 04:37
Mark: were a strange game, but the team involved a very small crowd. But you know, whenever we lose to Gateshead, I was reminded of that particular match, 9-0 record away winning the conference at the time.
04:38 - 04:43
Sutton Podcast: Yeah but it didn't mean a huge amount in the grand scheme of things at once.
04:43 - 04:48
Mark: No we ended up getting relegated that season, James had stayed up, he's a holly.
04:50 - 04:54
Sutton Podcast: Lovely, Joe what about yourself, What's the proudest you've ever been as a Totten United supporter?
04:55 - 05:27
Joe: First match I watched, well, proper John's final, but the context was slightly weird. I was at, on holiday with my parents and we booked it long before so I really I would have loved to be at Wembley but we're watching it in a massive sports bar and with other big games going on Tottenham West Ham I think Chelsea Arsenal that day there were 3 big screens Chelsea Arsenal Tottenham West Ham and Sutton Rotherham in the middle with me in a Sutton United shirt and no other Sutton Rotherham fans in that bar. But everyone was watching the
05:27 - 06:01
Joe: Sutton game. They could tell there was a 15 year old boy who was very, very, very happy. And the cheer when Eastie scored the second goal, as people come around, buying free drinks, buying me food, a bit of a weird 1. And then the collective groan when they scored in 1936. And then the amount of over the next hour or 2, as we just ended up watching the rest of the sport and just sat there and kind of a stupor, the collective people were like, that's football, isn't it, mate? Just like as if giving their their
06:01 - 06:17
Joe: words of wisdom and after being another 2 3 years on after that I really do know that it is football and you know I've got a lot more kind of a lot more experience of dealing with difficulties as a certain United fan but never would change it for the world.
06:17 - 06:52
Sutton Podcast: Yeah I mean there's so many moments you can all pick out. A lot of mine revolved around the sort of the fans and it's a real dad thing when people praise the fans and really enjoy us going back like Wigan, they loved us up there. Apparently there were little pockets of Sutton fans all over the place and they were taking a little wings by Wigan fans since we were celebrating in Wigan. But that happens in loads and loads of games. People always seem to love Sutton fans, except Leighton Orient. But anyway, don't like them.
06:53 - 07:18
Joe: Oh, no, another problem. People like your stewards. People really like our stewards. I get messages a lot of the time saying, oh, your stewards were classed today. And I was like, yeah, I'm not really sure if they're all Sutton fans because they really do vibe and they're different stewards a lot of the time but they make the atmosphere for away fans which is nice because stewards can be really difficult. MK springs to mind just being an annoying bunch.
07:19 - 07:24
Sutton Podcast: At MK I could see them gathering around watching you lot and I was like no
07:24 - 07:24
Joe: they're all right They're just
07:24 - 07:32
Sutton Podcast: here for a great time. And then 1 of you little so-and-so's let off a flare. And I'm like, oh, I just said you little all right.
07:32 - 07:35
Joe: It was like 3 feet away from me. I just stood there and
07:35 - 08:06
Sutton Podcast: I was like... Literally, you could have waited more than 60 seconds. The conversation wasn't even over. But yeah, the stewards, it's a decision. We have said, I think Tim said it on 1 of the interviews, was we've made a choice and we've asked that company to say we want Sutton United to be 1 of the things that people go, yes, let's go back there and Stuart's a massive part of that day. So they are, I know There was a lot of stick with the Bradford 1 where he was singing but As you said it it makes
08:06 - 08:39
Sutton Podcast: it part of it. I think the problem there is we tweeted it out Rather than kind of wait. Okay. Thank you But anyway, never mind right club news, ladies 1 for 1 today, We're gonna remember that score line and we'll come back to it a little bit later because it might be important. But I haven't really paid any attention to anything else, so I'll move on quickly. Mark, I know you had some thoughts and you'd mentioned some things on the forum about the build up to the game and the lack of players. What was your kind
08:39 - 08:46
Sutton Podcast: of expectations going into the match and how did you think we would line up and how did it compare to what you thought?
08:48 - 09:29
Mark: Despite the number of missing players, I was actually quite confident that we'd get a good result there. It wasn't rocket science to work out that Suju Odalese would start in central midfield, because he was the only regular central midfielder available. The others were either suspended or injured. So he did indeed start. Perhaps a bit of a surprise with the defensive lineup with Josh Coley and Jeremy Sivian sort of wing back positions, actually dropping back quite a lot because they had white players in front of them. And then Dylan De Silva I think got his first start
09:29 - 09:47
Mark: since the opening day of the season. So yeah, a few surprises there. But because we had so many players out, I didn't try and second guess or work out what the likely starting 11 was going to be. I just turned up and, oh yeah, interesting. OK, make a note of that. See how we go.
09:48 - 09:54
Sutton Podcast: Yeah, it was a bit of an odd 1, Joe, when the lineup came out, it's like, okay, I still can't figure
09:54 - 10:24
Joe: it out. Like, I didn't have a clue. I was trying to think I thought it was a 5 back at first. I thought I thought I can't remember where it was you think like 10 minutes I think wing back somewhere and I knew he could play wing back from just time at Harrogate or something but it didn't really make sense obviously we've only seen him but having De Silva, Sivy, Vaz, Kohli, Naderzhan has been playing on the on the flanks quite a lot all in a lineup it just seemed like Willem seemed to just be in
10:24 - 11:01
Joe: the middle just there to try and head the ball in. And, I mean, it kind of worked. But yeah, it was a good line up. Happy to see Jack in goal. Obviously, love Arnie, but last time I was on him, I thought probably November, December time, I think, I thought there'd be a bit of a changing of the guard and he's making that spot his own and I'm happy to see it because I think Arnie's a great experienced heading goal but I just think, although there were a few nervous moments yesterday for Jack, he was good
11:01 - 11:04
Joe: the last few games and he deserves that number 1 spot.
11:04 - 11:22
Sutton Podcast: Well, 1 thing he didn't have to do is face a penalty, which he's done in every other game that he's played so far, which is good. But he had to do something to return to his former club, so he had to keep it exciting for them, so we can't have a nice easy game. I didn't realise Will had played for them as well.
11:24 - 11:27
Mark: And Matt Rush too, was an ex-Gran Turi player.
11:28 - 11:30
Joe: Both last season as well, both first part of last season.
11:33 - 11:41
Sutton Podcast: You've mentioned the wing back, I just assumed, seeing Vaz, he's going to be left wing and then suddenly he played midfield.
11:42 - 11:42
Mark: Yeah.
11:42 - 11:43
Joe: You
11:43 - 12:04
Sutton Podcast: did alright. What did you think of, I mean there was a few players to sort of pick out on. I mean no 1 played badly but a few players. Vaz out of position, Josh and Sivih you mentioned already and I thought Tyler French probably had his best Sutton game so far. But What were your thoughts on the players out position, Joe, especially about the wingbacks and Vaz?
12:06 - 12:34
Joe: I think it shows the adaptability. I think if it was a more aging side, like we may have seen in previous years, I don't think that would have been possible. We had very, they're a very versatile bunch. We're very good on the ball. And the way we play, we've kept that way. There's kind of, I think, across the whole team, apart from Will Davis, every player can play in multiple positions. I'm just thinking about it. Like Tyler French can play center back and right back. Waller can play left back, right centre back. Kirk can play across
12:34 - 13:00
Joe: the back line. Vaz can obviously now we can play up, up kind of pushing up. Tidge can play as a DM or a more aggressive player. Coley can play basically anywhere. Nadezhan can play anywhere across the front line. And Will Davis just plays a striker and then Sylvia De Silva. De Silva on both flanks and Sylvia as a wingback or as a more aggressive winger. It's a really good thing to have, especially at this point in the season. Now we have got fitness issues, which I'm sure we'll touch on another time. We've got players missing, suspended,
13:00 - 13:25
Joe: kind of who's fit, who's not. But to have a team which can kind of, if you've got an idea of the players, you think, yeah, these lot have impressed me, these lot have been good in training this week, here's where I wanna start, and you can mold the team around that. So massive thing to have, especially when games start to come thick and fast in December time, because you don't have to think, right, I'm short in this position. We now know that Vaz can fill in there. We know Sivy can carry the ball forward and play
13:25 - 13:57
Joe: maybe, I reckon he can probably play midfield alongside them. Once you've got Harris, Simper, Barbrook back, you then have a thing where you're like, hang on, Edwina was actually really good in midfield, and he might be like a real problem. Because for some teams, having that kind of Stephen Duke McKenna, small, brilliant, really good dribbler, really good passer across from the ball, that's a real problem, especially for big national league defenders. And Braintree suffered for that a little bit yesterday and you know it's a it's a real thing which I think maybe you probably don't see
13:57 - 14:25
Joe: in lower leagues a lot I think you might see it like the mad cities of the world where John Stones can play, do DM, centre mid, centre back, right back, you can play anywhere you want. Whereas, kind of, you look at League 2, National League, it's kind of, you're a left mid, you're a left mid. Whereas, we're starting to have got a bit more versatility, which is really nice to see. And I'm sure it will actually come to benefit us. You know, we haven't been consistent yet, but it might start to churn out results, which will
14:25 - 14:27
Joe: be a nice thing to have over November.
14:27 - 14:52
Sutton Podcast: Absolutely. And Mark, it must be, I mean, for other teams, it must be a bit of a kind of like what's going on because when they see players who are available they won't know whether the VAS is going to be left back left wing centre mid so it's a bit of an advantage yeah but I'm gonna get you to be the grumpy old man and kind of say, well, it is Braintree. So does that make a difference to you?
14:53 - 15:27
Mark: I think it does. I mean, Braintree were possibly the worst side we've played this season in the league. They worked hard, plenty of endeavour, but they worked technically. They weren't they weren't great. And obviously, we had, as we discussed, a rigid side of players after their normal positions, but we still looked pretty much in control for the most part. It wasn't a game where at any point I felt we were likely to lose. And I think Vaz, you would not see him playing in Central Midfield before, but he didn't look out of place there at all.
15:28 - 15:41
Mark: And equally, you know, Sidi and Kohli in those slightly more defensive, wide positions didn't look out of place either. So it's all part of the versatility, the flexibility that Joe was talking about just now.
15:41 - 16:02
Joe: I think it's also a testament to Josh Coley, how much he's improved over the last year because people saying I remember he just doesn't defend and Matt really wanted when he was obviously in charge at the start of last year Amari and Josh he always when we had the likes of Will and David they would come back and defend and Josh and Amari weren't, didn't really provide that
16:02 - 16:03
Sutton Podcast: for the banks.
16:03 - 16:26
Joe: To now be able to actually play in a defensive role and do a really solid job and get an assist, that shows how much he's come on and like if I can remember people coming out in October, November time last year and now you look at him and I'd say he's probably arguably 1 of the best wings in the National League. I know it's a step down but he could easily fit into a League 2 side at a really high level so it's all testament to kind of how much he's worked on it and how much
16:26 - 16:34
Joe: Steve and John and Anthony have got the most out of him which is it's really nice to see him enjoying his football because it's a world away from where he was a year ago.
16:34 - 16:37
Mark: I think he's been our best player this season overall.
16:39 - 17:11
Sutton Podcast: Definitely, it's him and Lewis. Yeah, it was strange because I kind of figured out obviously the wingback thing and I was like okay well I wonder how Siffy's gonna play and I wonder how he's gonna cope with that and I never crossed my mind to go I wonder how Josh is gonna cope because it was just like okay well Josh get on with it so you're quite right it's those expectations have kind of risen with his performances. Not sure he loves everyone, he keeps wanting the more experienced players in the team. I think I'll probably have
17:11 - 17:14
Sutton Podcast: to take some blame for that because I started that. But anyway.
17:14 - 17:16
Joe: How old is he? 26? 26.
17:16 - 17:17
Sutton Podcast: 27, yeah.
17:18 - 17:23
Joe: That's ridiculous. He's the star walk. Him and Steve are holding down the ship.
17:24 - 17:31
Sutton Podcast: He's also of our current squad the highest appearance holder and the highest goal scorer because no 1 else has been there
17:31 - 17:32
Joe: that long.
17:33 - 17:53
Sutton Podcast: So first half, there wasn't a huge lot going on. There were some attacks, solid defence, but we sort of came in nearly, I didn't really pinpoint anything. Was there any points that you guys wanted to mention on that first half or happy to move on to the second Joe I can see your face it's fine. Mark was there anything you wanted to mention?
17:53 - 18:29
Mark: Well there was the disallowed Brantley goal wasn't there quite early on. I'm not sure whether it was ruled out for a foul on Jack Simms or whether there was an offside there, the Rinesman's flag did go up, but I think the ref might have spotted something and another infringement. Anyway, whatever the reason, it was ruled out. And after that, Braintree didn't threaten a great deal. There was 1 slightly annoying moment where Will Davis did really well. He took the ball off the defender and Luccici was about to round the keeper and then opened it in front
18:29 - 18:41
Mark: of him. Then he kind of lost control of the ball and sort of almost fell over and then he lost possession. Which was slightly galling but it was he made up for it later by scoring the goal so I'll let him off for that.
18:41 - 19:12
Sutton Podcast: Only thing is, from a little bit of stick last week, we're missing that really good chance against Gateshead And it was described as a really easy chance and then the the peach side camera picked up and it was actually a really good block So you had shot and all you hadn't missed it into a while. It was it was actually really really good block So yeah, I think we've got a chance to watch it back at that angle with that oh okay that's what but yeah like you said he did score mark early in the second
19:12 - 19:20
Sutton Podcast: half as mentioned by Joe assist by Josh Coley What was your guys view of that? Was that in front of you or was that at the other end? I can't remember.
19:20 - 19:21
Mark: It was far end.
19:21 - 19:25
Sutton Podcast: Far end. Okay. So did you see it properly or did you watch it?
19:25 - 19:31
Mark: Not really. I mean he was always sort of toe poking wasn't it from Will. I mean he just flicked it past the home keeper.
19:32 - 19:38
Joe: He just came across him and it was smart because he kind of flicked in his back foot which was a nice finish.
19:40 - 19:41
Sutton Podcast: That's what we need up there.
19:42 - 19:42
Joe: We don't need
19:42 - 19:56
Sutton Podcast: someone doing the pretty stuff. We need someone just sticking their knee, shin, ankle, whatever. It doesn't matter. How were you feeling at that point, Mark? Were you like, right, we're comfortable here, they're never gonna score, or did you think, oh, here we go, onslaught coming?
19:58 - 20:11
Mark: I didn't think an onslaught was coming. I thought we deserved the lead, and I was fairly confident at that point we'd go on to get at least a draw I know I was fairly confident we could win the game which we
20:11 - 20:18
Sutton Podcast: did And Joe, how was your view of the goal and the movement and how were you feeling at that point?
20:19 - 20:53
Joe: Similar to Mark, I think we deserved it. They had moments, they had a really good block, really good tackle last few minutes, which he deserved. Tyler French was good in the corners because sometimes it can look a little bit like with Braintree big side, like properly, you know, they call themselves the pub team from Essex all over Twitter. So they really, they really, they did embody pub team at times with John Akinde up top and like just big players. But we were good. I was a bit nervous because it just had a feeling of a one-one
20:53 - 21:22
Joe: draw last minute bundled in by John Akinde. There were a few corners at the end but the final we counted and Civi probably could have had 1 at the end. But it was a good save. Their keeper was quite good. They made some good saves. It could have been 2 or 3. They could have had 1. But I think 3 points doesn't matter. So It was a hard, grounded out win, but a win that you need to get if you want to be challenging for players.
21:22 - 21:50
Sutton Podcast: Well, you mentioned 1 of the things there is Tyler French, I said earlier, I think he probably had 1 of his better games and he had 2 big strikers to deal with at times. It was a battle. What did you kind of think about Joe? Were you worried with some of the things that, I don't know whether his confidence had taken a knock, but he definitely would have been jumping with joy yesterday. What did you think of his battling performance?
21:50 - 22:31
Joe: Yeah it was really good. Effiong, Jermain Francis and then John Akinde when he came on. They're 3 just handfuls and he did really well and he's had a rocky start, the whole defensive line has. The only standout defender I can really throw to, stand out defenders I can think of that have kind of been relatively consistent are Akoli and Waller. Just being pretty solid. Waller's had a few difficult games recently but just Tyler's obviously being captain, first captaincy job, it feels like some people were saying to me it doesn't really feel like he's captain. Do you
22:31 - 23:02
Joe: know what it feels like to me, which I think is not a bad thing at all? It feels like the whole team is accountable for 1 another. Which is like, we saw with Gateshead on Wednesday night when the Gateshead players were a bit in that last minute and Waller and Coli and they all started to get a little bit heated. It feels like it doesn't necessarily rely on Tyler to get the team going. It feels like, you know, they're always going to be A21 or 2 characters on the pitch. Like Whenever Jaden Harris is on the
23:02 - 23:25
Joe: pitch, French is straight over to him whenever he's getting at the ref or he's getting at another player. I saw that on Aldum last weekend. And there's about 4 or 5 occasions when French was straight over just saying, go away, because you're going to get yourself in trouble. And he will get himself in trouble. And that's French's role. But when it's actually like trying to keep the team in check it could be anyone and that's a really good thing to have because it just shows leadership and kind of taking responsibility for your teammates which is means
23:25 - 23:46
Joe: that probably the pressure is less on Tyler and he can focus on his defensive duties which is which is a nice thing because I think actually the person who's most vocal was Arnold. He's kind of the 1 directing the back line and now it seems a little bit more Tyler, a bit more in control, a bit more kind of assured of himself and the performance yesterday will definitely increase his confidence.
23:47 - 23:57
Sutton Podcast: What about yourself Mark? I mean is it, does you have a point that we've got like, is it just a captain almost like we have to name a captain and everyone has got the responsibilities?
23:58 - 24:31
Mark: Well, we don't have many players out of the age of 25. So the captain's probably going to have to come from 1 of the younger cohorts. I think Tyler's bearing into the captain's role. Maybe he feels more comfortable playing in a back 3 rather than just playing as 1 of a pair of centre backs because he has played it right back as well. But I thought, you know, the K, Brentree weren't great, but as Joe said, I mean, they got some forward who are quite tough to handle. Maybe Edie Effiong, who scored against us for other
24:31 - 24:44
Mark: clubs in the past. He had quite a subdued game I thought. But I thought that back that 3 of Waller, French and Kirk actually played well as a unit and were rarely in any trouble.
24:45 - 25:18
Sutton Podcast: Perfect. Well I think as I've said a couple times with different games it's 1 of those games we've got to kind of get through, tick off, and it's good to have that bit of a battle, bit of a backs against the wall, makeshift team. As you said, it proves that other people can play in different positions. So I think it's actually really good, and it stopped the bad run. But there was some bad news with Will hobbling off. What did you make of that at the time? I think he tried to carry on and then went
25:18 - 25:26
Sutton Podcast: down again. So Mark, what were your thoughts on that? And I don't think it's been announced. Has it any effect on Birmingham or not?
25:27 - 26:02
Mark: I saw a suggestion he'd taken a knock to the knee. It did look a bit like that at the time. I just had to wait to see. But it didn't look terribly serious. But Ninox, they can take a while to get resolved. So he could be out for a little while. So that obviously is a concern. Matt Rush came on and did okay. But yeah, he's now I think our joint leading scorer, isn't he, Will, with Josh. So you know, if he's missing next weekend, which I'd say is quite likely, that is a bit of a
26:02 - 26:02
Mark: concern.
26:03 - 26:05
Sutton Podcast: And Joe, how do you
26:05 - 26:37
Joe: see it? Yeah, I think Will Davis deserves his day in the sun. He's actually had, like, because people were saying, I remember just after Tamworth, people were like, he's not the number 9 we need and I'm like I actually think he is he's I think he's a pretty good number 9 he holds the ball up he battles he's not a bad parter of the ball he's got a pretty good first touch and he's got a pretty good eye for goal and he if he's not for Berlin which I agree with Mark I think the injuries, you
26:37 - 27:07
Joe: don't want to rush into blow. Because I don't think Matt, and I don't even think Ashley provides what he provides with his physicality. I think Ash is a very good striker, but he's quicker than Will, and he's not the right, he's a real threat, he makes those runs, he's smart with the way he does it, and he hassles them. Will leads that press, and is that focal point, and he needs, he has to be kept quiet, otherwise he's just allowed to run, and then he links up with Josh or Dylan that's where the problems come so
27:07 - 27:22
Joe: if we don't have him next weekend it's hopefully he's not out for a long time because he's you know he's becoming a fan favourite very quickly so I'd hope he's okay for next weekend but if he's not then just getting back for league action.
27:22 - 27:46
Sutton Podcast: Okay well on the sort of fan sentiment type thing, points of views, again when it's a win it tends to be very quiet and not much to pick up on. Most of the comments tend to be around that, oh, at least we've got 3 points. It's the minimum expected. It's only Braintree and blah, blah, blah. And we'll finish up with the good, the bad and the funny. So Give you a few seconds to think of
27:46 - 27:47
Joe: them. Mm-hmm.
28:03 - 28:06
Sutton Podcast: So Joe, what was good about the day yesterday?
28:08 - 28:11
Joe: We won and I'm taking it because it's in a way though, so we won.
28:13 - 28:15
Sutton Podcast: Excellent. Mark, what of you was
28:16 - 28:46
Mark: good? Well a few of us had a nice little trip out to Halsted before the game to visit a couple of pubs. That was a place I'd not been to before. Hopped on the bus from Braintree and then came back in time for the game. But yeah, I just think as we touched on earlier, I think that the whole performance, albeit again not a great side, was very professional. I think the depleted team just showed their professionalism in that game yesterday and they got their just desserts. They got the 3 points.
28:47 - 28:49
Sutton Podcast: Excellent. And what was bad for you that day?
28:51 - 29:25
Mark: Well, obviously the injury to Will Davis which we've already discussed. There was 1 other thing I could mention that I think We've now had 4 players this season suspended for 1 game because of accumulated yellow cards, 2 of them yesterday. And I don't know how that compares with other clubs in the National League, but I suspect there aren't very many that have had 4 of those suspensions already. So, you know, obviously we had no red cards this season, which is good. We had kind of a few last season, but yeah, we do seem to be picking
29:25 - 29:34
Mark: up rather a lot of yellow cards. Some of them are probably debatable, you know, decisions by the refs in question, but that is a slight concern.
29:35 - 29:36
Joe: Fair enough.
29:36 - 29:38
Sutton Podcast: Joe, what was bad for you?
29:41 - 29:53
Joe: I went the long way round, walking from the station. It wasn't very fun. I went on the B1256 and into Beazley Road. It wasn't very fun. And then I got lost on my way back.
29:54 - 29:58
Sutton Podcast: Okay. We know what Mark's funny is going to be. Joe, what's your funny?
30:03 - 30:16
Joe: What? I'm trying to think. Oh. This isn't really funny, but this is something. Where's the green goalkeeper kit at?
30:18 - 30:18
Sutton Podcast: I want
30:18 - 30:35
Joe: to see the green goalkeeper kit. The pink one's nice but I feel like the purple kit and the white kit went to the effort. I want to see, I feel like green would really suit Jackson's. It's just a thought that came across my mind. I just want to see it. Sorry. Okay.
30:36 - 30:38
Sutton Podcast: Mark, what was funny for you yesterday?
30:40 - 31:07
Mark: I had to wrap my brains a little bit for this 1, but I'll hark back to when we used to go play Braintree in the Eastern League, National League South, back in the noughties. And as you know, a few of us like to go for a few beers before and after the game. And we worked out 1 of these trips that Braintree is an anagram of beer train so that joke was resurrected dusty old joke resurrected yesterday yeah well the beer train
31:08 - 31:30
Sutton Podcast: perfect beer train town perfect lovely right so gonna put an interview with the Birmingham fan here I did try I didn't manage but I did try to see if I could get Charlie Lakin to come on and line up with his Birmingham fan but it didn't work out because I thought that would be funny just introducing him as a Birmingham fan when everyone goes
31:30 - 31:30
Joe: hang on. Hang on,
31:30 - 31:57
Sutton Podcast: do you know who you just spoke to? So time for my very famous slash not very famous free Q preview. We're gonna get the thoughts of Sam who is from Blues Focus podcast and he's gonna talk to us about Birmingham and give us all the hints we need to exploit and win. So Sam, tell us a little bit about yourself, your Birmingham history and a little bit about the podcast as well.
31:58 - 32:25
Sam (Blues Focus): So yeah, I've been doing this podcast now for around 18 months. The challenge has been going for a while now, but I hopped on start of last season. And to be honest, it was a pretty eventful season to hop on because the fact that we had all the different managers that we had got relegated and yeah, just absolute chaos with the new ownership taking over as well. So a lot's happened in the last 18 months at Birmingham. And we find ourselves now in league 1 for the first time in 30 years. And it's all a bit
32:25 - 32:47
Sam (Blues Focus): different, you know, visiting these different grounds, including yourself, you know, being in round 1 of the FA Cup now for the first time in 30 years as well. So it's all different experiences and so far so good in terms of our results, because we're first in the league at the moment, 9 wins, 2 draws and a loss. So yeah, going pretty well in the league at the moment. And yeah, enjoying it so far and enjoying the game that's gonna come up next week against Sutton.
32:47 - 33:16
Sutton Podcast: Yeah, that's the thing when you get into league to unexpected steam is going, you know what? Let's enjoy it. Let's be fun. Let's let's let's go with it. We've had it many times where people have come down to the National League and they're like, right, this is awful. This is terrible. You're stuck here for a while. You might as well try and enjoy it. Yeah. Wrexham was stuck there for like 18 years or something stupid. But what were your expectations for the season? How's it gone compared to those expectations? And is that in line with the
33:16 - 33:18
Sutton Podcast: fan base generally?
33:18 - 33:44
Sam (Blues Focus): Well, I think there was quite big expectations because of the amount of money that we spent in the summer. It's been well documented, you know, the amount of money that we spent, and we spent more than Man City, which is just ridiculous to think. In being a League 1 team, and obviously the deadline day stuff, 15 million pounds for Stansfield. So yeah, a lot of expectation. I think the bare minimum was to get automatic promotions and we find ourselves now first place in the league. And yeah, going pretty well so far. Chris Davis is the man
33:44 - 34:08
Sam (Blues Focus): in charge, is actually first proper managerial job because he's 1 of those people that's worked behind the scenes a lot. You know, being assistant to Andriy Postokoglu and Brendan Rodgers, but now he's the main man in charge. And he's implemented a kind of new philosophy at Birmingham, something that we've not seen work in a very, very long time where we're actually playing possession football. And it looks good on the eye and it's also getting results as well, which is something that we struggled with in the past. Perhaps we played good football, but it's not got the
34:08 - 34:13
Sam (Blues Focus): results. But now it seems to be a combination of the 2 of a lot of young talent coming through as well.
34:13 - 34:27
Sutton Podcast: Excellent, excellent. And what do you see as the team's main strengths and weaknesses at the moment? And are there any players that we should be looking out for for £15 million signing? Not sure if they're
34:27 - 34:28
Joe: going to be putting out
34:28 - 34:31
Sutton Podcast: a full team or Is it going to be a mixture?
34:31 - 34:58
Sam (Blues Focus): Well, Stansworth actually is going back from an injury. So I don't know whether he'll feature for the full game or not, because he made a kind of cameo against Mansfield. He started that game, but just didn't quite look like himself. So I don't imagine he'll start for the game against Sarsen. But in terms of strengths and weaknesses, I'd say strengths is actually controlling games in terms of the possession that we have and dictating the tempo. That's something that I've never really seen in a Birmingham team before because before it would just be like, you know, 4-4-2,
34:58 - 35:23
Sam (Blues Focus): suck up the pressure and hit the team on the counter attack with a big man up front, but it's all a bit different now. And as I said, with Chris Davis trying to kind of change the philosophy and get us to play more attractive football. So I'd say controlling games and having possession is our strengths, but a main weakness so far this season has been set pieces. You know, we've looked really vulnerable, whether it be from corners or free kicks or giving away, you know, silly fouls in and around the penalty area. So yeah, I'd say
35:23 - 35:42
Sam (Blues Focus): set pieces is a real weakness and it's something that I reckon Sutton could exploit, you know, being a non-league side. I imagine you've, you know, got a lot of battlers in your team and we saw against Mansfield yesterday, we struggled in that game in terms of dealing with their physicality and Mansfield scored direct from a free kick as well. So I'd say set pieces is something you guys could really capitalise on.
35:43 - 35:59
Sutton Podcast: Excellent, excellent and How do you see the match going on? Do you see the team taking it seriously or do you see them putting out a young side just to get through the rounds? And what kind of game do you think it's gonna be?
35:59 - 36:22
Sam (Blues Focus): I imagine Chris Davis is gonna take the game seriously. We can't underestimate any opponent because earlier on this season in the Bristol street motors trophy, we played Warsaw who were the league below us. And although we drew them in normal time, we actually lost on penalties against them. So that was a bit of a wake up call to say, you know, just because we spent all this money doesn't mean that we're going to walk over teams that are below us in the leagues or whatever. So I'd say we are going to take it seriously. And also
36:22 - 36:43
Sam (Blues Focus): because of the depth of we've got now in our squad, there's a lot of players that Chris Davis has got to try and keep happy. So with all them new signings that have come in, I imagine a few of them will get some minutes in this game, the ones that have been perhaps a bit underused and thought they'd get more minutes to start off with are really going to try and stake their claim now in the starting 11 by starting these games in the FA Cup in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy to say to Chris Davis
36:43 - 36:57
Sam (Blues Focus): that they're capable of starting in the starting 11. So yeah, I imagine there will be a few alterations, but not wholesale changes because he wants to keep that core of the squad together because we signed what 17, 18 players in the summer. So they're all still trying to gel with each other.
36:57 - 37:00
Sutton Podcast: It's really hoping you're sending the under 18s is what I was hoping for,
37:00 - 37:03
Sam (Blues Focus): isn't it? No, not quite.
37:05 - 37:11
Sutton Podcast: And finally, the headline for the programme, what's your score prediction? Obviously it's a week to go, but what's your score prediction?
37:14 - 37:42
Sam (Blues Focus): I will say three-one Blues. I reckon you guys will get a goal. I imagine you guys are going to create a great atmosphere at your ground. You know, Sutton United having the FA Cup history that you've had, you know, you've upset some big teams in the past and beat leads in the FA Cup. That's 1 I actually remember watching. And the guy that scored that penalty in the game, Jamie Collins, I actually played a football match against him before. Weirdly enough, yeah, it was a players versus parents and coaches match. And it was at my local
37:42 - 37:44
Sam (Blues Focus): stadium and he was actually playing for the parents coaches team because
37:44 - 37:45
Joe: he was friends with 1
37:45 - 37:56
Sam (Blues Focus): of the coaches. And yeah, we lost that game on penalties, but we took him to a 3-3 draw so not too bad and yeah someone that I've actually played against that has a bit of Sutton United history so I thought I'd drop that little funny back.
37:56 - 37:59
Sutton Podcast: Yeah lovely, did he have a point in his hand while he was running around?
37:59 - 38:08
Sam (Blues Focus): Possibly, Maybe not though because we were like what 16, 17 so it was still like kind of youth football. But yeah, I don't think he was holding back.
38:08 - 38:23
Sutton Podcast: No, yeah, oh very good. That's nice. Well, thank you very much. Obviously good luck for most of the season, Bad luck on Sunday. Thanks for providing those insights. And anyone listening, do listen to Blues Focus. Are you going to do a preview of our match or?
38:23 - 38:42
Sam (Blues Focus): Yes, yeah, we will be doing a preview of your match. I'm also going to recap some of our most famous FA Cup goals in a tier list. So We're kind of doing like a new kind of video. Me and Tommy will be taking you through that. So yeah, really looking forward to this game and going to be a new experience entering round 1 of the FA cups. So yeah, looking forward to it. And as you said, you just got to enjoy it. Haven't you?
38:42 - 38:58
Sutton Podcast: Exactly. Perfect. Thanks a lot, Sam. Take care. What do you, how do you sort of see it going? I mean he he said that They're gonna be taking it quite seriously With they've got a lot of players you mentioned if they signed a player for 15 million pound
39:00 - 39:01
Joe: It's just a
39:01 - 39:13
Sutton Podcast: great but they're coming back from injury and he does think that it's going to be Rune players mostly who are waiting to break into the side not Academy players so Joe how seriously do you think they're going to be taking it?
39:15 - 39:56
Joe: Pretty seriously. To lose with all the hype they have about being rich, Tom Brady, winning league 1, we're waiting for this, not dissing ourselves, but if they lose little old Sutton United on ITV1 on Sunday, 12.30, That's a horrible look away from home if they like Jim they have to put out they've got some They've got some names Lytton Dyches is like start of Scotland starting striker against England in the Euros They've got some property. I've said what Bailey Peacock Farrell was like a Northern Irish international. They've got some Japanese sensation, I don't remember his name.
39:56 - 40:31
Joe: They've got Alfie May, who's like 1 of the most prolific goal scorers in the Football League behind Ireland, Ireland Harland and Andy Cook. I don't think they'll play their best team, but I think they'll put out some some propaganda. They got Jay Stansfield who was like the 50 million pound player and I just... I'm really interested to see what they do because I think actually, I don't know, I'm interested in what we do to counter them because I think they'll be playing quite technical football, they'll be playing kind of, I feel like with all the money
40:31 - 41:01
Joe: they've got they'll be like trying to play an attractive style of football and We play quite attractive football. It's just not very effective sometimes and it means that we just always got space at the back I have I have a thing that has potential to be a to be a real open game where it could just rely on the fact that they're probably more, a lot more technically better and they can score more goals and put them all back in the net. Which, you know, for the TV viewers and for the neutral will be wonderful. But
41:01 - 41:25
Joe: I can see like a 5-3 or a 5-2 to them but then again it could be really done and we nick it I don't I don't see a world where that doesn't happen because you know we've got good runs in the cup and we're at home the ground we're packed and yeah I just I think they'll take it seriously because it's not in their interest to make themselves seem bigger than they are.
41:27 - 41:41
Sutton Podcast: Well Mark, Joe covered some of the points that Sam made earlier, they do try to pass the ball around in technical football, How do you see it going? Do you see them being serious or do you see them just going oh it's a little off-sum and don't worry about them?
41:42 - 42:14
Mark: Well the fact that they're not going to put out their strongest 11 gives us a chance but you know obviously their priority is getting promoted back into the championship and they won't perhaps want the diversion of a long cut run but I would imagine they they quite fancy getting to the third or fourth round maybe playing a Premier League side and going out at that stage. They'd much prefer that than going out in the first round to a non-league side. So I imagine that their manager will think a team of fringe first team players will be
42:14 - 42:40
Mark: good enough to win the game. Obviously there'll be no replay this season so if it is level after I see an extra time when we play it after the 90 if it's level it goes to penalties who knows. But yeah I feel Birmingham will win with a bit of despair. But as I say, if they've not got their strong 11 out, we have got a chance.
42:41 - 43:15
Sutton Podcast: Yeah, I mean, Joe mentioned 1 of the players, I think Dan tweeted out saying, Alfie May scored against us in about 5 minutes in a 10-point trophy. What the hell is he going to do when it means something? You mentioned, Joe, that the place is going to be packed. We've given them quite a lot of tickets. What do you feel about that decision? I mean, I think it's 1500ish, it's ringing a bell. What do you think about the decision, Joe? Do you think that's the right decision or should we have tried to sell ourselves?
43:19 - 43:45
Joe: I think it's difficult because they're going to finish, they'll get 50 under easily, they're bringing loads to away games. But I think The people that want to come and see Saturday Night in the first round of the FA Cup against Birmingham City will have bought their tickets and they will get a ticket. And the people who might not get it, for these bits of a Birmingham fan, are the people who turn up on the day and be like, maybe should I go? And kind of for a game like this, you want to have the people who
43:45 - 44:17
Joe: really want to see it, if you know what I mean. And apologies to all the part-time Sutton fans who might be like, oh, should I go to the Sun? But for us who are like as many games as we can get to and we love the club and we bleed Sutton, It's like I can understand it and I can get it for Birmingham. It's the FA Cup. You want to see it. It's the first round. You're on ITV1 and that's huge. And it will be a lot of people's, I don't know, bacon-butty morning cup of tea
44:18 - 44:28
Joe: and they'll be sat lounging on the sofa and I'm sure those people can watch it on telly and they won't mind because they don't have to take the kids out. So, you know, if they don't get a ticket, watch it on telly. Well, there's
44:28 - 44:30
Sutton Podcast: lots of other certain games they can come to as well.
44:31 - 44:34
Joe: Come to Maidenhead United at home, aren't they quality guys?
44:35 - 44:44
Sutton Podcast: Mark, what do you think about the ticket allocation? Do you think it's the right thing? As Joe said, it's unlikely we would have sold 4, 000 tickets at our end.
44:45 - 45:16
Mark: Yeah, I mean our average gate this season the leagues around about 2 and a half thousand isn't it? So obviously some of those are away fans, but you've got a course up and support of 2 to 2 and a half thousand So if you've got 3 and a half thousand for the home fans That's a Thousand plus fans who wouldn't normally come to decide the game. So you will be able to get that game which doesn't seem unreasonable And you know, I think a big bigger way following their 1500 or so Craig quite a good atmosphere
45:16 - 45:22
Mark: good for the TV cameras So yeah, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
45:22 - 45:37
Sutton Podcast: Yeah, I mean Sam was saying that obviously with this season, they've gone down, so they're going to smaller grounds, so they're actually quite well set up for less tickets because some of the grounds just can't take what they've got so they're actually really really set up.
45:38 - 45:50
Joe: I was just doing some research so they played Mansfield yesterday and they drew 1-1. We drew with Mansfield in Steve Morrison's second game, first game? I think it
45:50 - 45:51
Mark: was his second, first game
45:52 - 46:08
Joe: was Barrow at Home. So if we can draw with I was in the best care and need to last season. I reckon we can get our results in to Birmingham. That's my logic. They drew with that, so did we.
46:09 - 46:13
Sutton Podcast: Supposed to start taking drugs after you start university, but not beforehand.
46:14 - 46:17
Joe: When we win, come back to this moment.
46:18 - 46:32
Sutton Podcast: I'm not saying that we won't win. I'm just saying the logic is flawed of how you got there Also 1 of your current which 1 mentioned about them We're not wanting to lose in the first round of cups actually 30 odd years since they played in the first round of the FA Cup.
46:33 - 46:34
Joe: They might be scared.
46:34 - 46:35
Sutton Podcast: We're a
46:35 - 46:44
Joe: very scary bunch of suns. They can see us and we'll just be shaking in the back. Alfie May can see the colour. They can see Mike in the podcast going, I don't want to face that.
46:44 - 46:45
Sutton Podcast: I don't know
46:45 - 46:47
Joe: what he just said to me, but I'm crying.
46:49 - 46:55
Sutton Podcast: So, Elio, big question. What are you doing with your time on Saturday? Joe.
46:57 - 47:08
Joe: It's cool, Ag. Because I'm meant to be doing it, I would be doing it on Sunday, roughly to get it in for Monday, but day like after, after and so I'll be doing it on Saturday. It's really boring.
47:08 - 47:12
Sutton Podcast: You've got Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm just saying, you could do it early.
47:12 - 47:47
Joe: No, but tomorrow I'm going to Twickenham for a day in a newsroom which is quite cool and then I'm going to Halloween party and then I've got things. My girlfriend wants to come to the saturday and she was like can I come to the Birmingham game and I was like no because you might lose and that's going to be very fun because you'll have a load of angry people around you? I said I was like mate the refu game's coming up maidenhood at home Tamworth at home Do they sound like teams that might interest you? And
47:47 - 48:03
Joe: she was like, I don't even know where they are. Filed at home? I said filed at home, and I said I don't think that's actually a place. And I said, no, it's actually a place. So I think she's going to file at home instead. I'll see her on Saturday afternoon.
48:04 - 48:05
Sutton Podcast: Mark, what's your plans?
48:06 - 48:20
Mark: I'm going to a brewery tap, Tatsfield in Surrey. A lot of these brewery taps are open to you in the week, so if you want to go at the news you've got to go on a weekend. So free Saturday, job done, heading out there.
48:21 - 48:31
Sutton Podcast: I'm considering going over to see if Dundo is going to be starting because they're at home when you will start playing so I might risk it that he's going to appear or something.
48:31 - 48:33
Joe: He plays literally every match.
48:33 - 48:36
Sutton Podcast: Does he? He won't next Saturday I can guarantee that.
48:37 - 48:43
Joe: I follow them on twitter and I just look at him playing like right center midfield I'm like come on dundo just keep going keep plugging away I
48:43 - 48:54
Sutton Podcast: did tell them that at 1 point when they were tweeting out pictures of the game I went you do realise if Dundo plays it's the law you've got to put a picture of Dundo out as well you can't not put Dundo out what's wrong with you people?
48:54 - 48:57
Joe: There's like 500 certain fans on Twitter just scrolling away where's the picture?
48:59 - 49:28
Sutton Podcast: Right so Prediction League there was no top scores this week There was a couple of sixes, but no 1 got the whole maximum Joe you're doing really rubbish because you've entered once Yeah, no you're way at the bottom mate and let's get you on now come on what's your prediction for the Birmingham match? I know you said a little earlier, 5-3, 5-2, 6-7. But,
49:28 - 49:28
Joe: what's your
49:28 - 49:30
Sutton Podcast: prediction in, come on.
49:31 - 49:33
Joe: Well, yours is gonna be... Sorry,
49:33 - 49:45
Sutton Podcast: Before you do this, I just thought, are we going to be able to play Voila and Madison? Because they're lone players, so I don't know if they're allowed to play in the cup.
49:46 - 49:46
Joe: Yeah.
49:47 - 49:50
Sutton Podcast: Well, it depends on the contract, doesn't it? The clubs, the clubs might say no.
49:51 - 49:53
Joe: No, I'm sure they are.
49:53 - 49:57
Sutton Podcast: That would be a real big consideration, wouldn't it? Yeah.
49:57 - 50:03
Joe: Bring Jay Williams back. Jay Williams to play at the centre back, just to make his debut for the moment. But now to chuck that
50:03 - 50:05
Sutton Podcast: into your head. What's your prediction?
50:07 - 50:17
Joe: I could go 2-1 like you every single week. But I'm not going to. I'll go 4-3 Sutton with a last minute winner from Jackson.
50:18 - 50:21
Sutton Podcast: Right, you're gonna have to say it again, because your micro is dipping in and out.
50:21 - 50:24
Joe: Right, 4-3 Sutton. 4-3,
50:24 - 50:24
Sutton Podcast: okay.
50:24 - 50:33
Joe: Jack Sengs scores in 90 plus 7, and Steve Morrison roars down the touchline towards the home fans and does a knee slide.
50:34 - 50:43
Sutton Podcast: Yeah he'll probably moan about the 3 goals we let in, I'll be honest with you, they'll be more angry about it. But Mark, what's your prediction?
50:45 - 50:47
Mark: I'll go 3-1 to Birmingham.
50:47 - 50:54
Sutton Podcast: 3-1 Birmingham, okay. Well, I'm going to go with a boring 1-0 to us. But hoping that... I'd
50:54 - 51:20
Joe: like to say I did the best thing I think I've ever done with terms of predictions. I saved this for the podcast, I set a reminder. So 2 weeks ago for the church see match I appeared on BBC Radio Surrey on Friday and Monday reviewing it. And I got, so I did it on the Friday morning and then in my I think politics lesson I got a call from the BBC Radio Surrey guy but it was on no caller ID so I was like am I being scammed? So I didn't answer it and they called me
51:20 - 51:46
Joe: 4 times in the next 5 minutes and my history teacher said to me, Joe you're being harassed and I'm like no I'm not. I said can I call and he said yes you can pick it up only if you put it on speaker to the rest of the class? Excellent. So then he said, hi, it's from BBC Radio, sorry, I'm like, go take outside, fine. And then he asked me to give a prediction for what would happen in the match. I kid you not, I said, Churchy will score in the first 5 minutes of the game.
51:46 - 52:02
Joe: We will be 2-1 up at half time and Josh Cody would have scored 1 of the goals and we will win the game 3-1 and we came back to the politics lesson next and now now I'm now I'm just psychic Joe it was so accurate I was so happy myself and
52:02 - 52:06
Sutton Podcast: I saved it for the podcast. You didn't enter it so...
52:07 - 52:13
Joe: Yeah but it still counts, I feel like I should get honorary points. Just to add a point for me. Oh you
52:13 - 52:24
Sutton Podcast: don't have to. Right, beautiful. We're gonna wrap up this episode of the podcast. I don't know why I got so close. As always, we appreciate your... Go on Joe, say it.
52:25 - 52:28
Joe: No, because I need attention.
52:31 - 53:24
Sutton Podcast: Get involved in the know me know you question, let us know what's your proudest moment as a Sutton fan. Follow, like, share, retweet, thumbs up and subscribe as well. We are back for Monday. I think it's ruined my weekend. Absolutely ruined it. So yeah, I think it's going to be Monday with Chalmers and Leo and they'll be talking to us all about the Birmingham match and we look forward to Rochdale because I'm going to ignore commentate on it. Yes as always thank you to our sponsors Lucky Star Gin, thank you to both of you for your
53:24 - 53:31
Sutton Podcast: time Mark and Joe and thank you to the listeners. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Stuntman podcast, take care and we'll see you soon. Bye bye.
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