Darren Moore has already experienced the good and the bad from his Huddersfield Town side, ahead of this weeken d’s return to former club Sheffield Wednesday, from where he surprisingly departed in the summer after steering them to promotion from League One via the playoffs.
The Yorkshire Post’s Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall also discuss the promise being shown by League One Barnsley and Grant McCann’s Doncaster Rovers in League Two.
**This podcast was recorded BEFORE the managerial changes made on Wednesday night (October 4) which saw Xisco Munoz sacked by Sheffield Wednesday and Mark Hughes depart Bradford City.**
The Yorkshire Post’s Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall also discuss the promise being shown by League One Barnsley and Grant McCann’s Doncaster Rovers in League Two.
**This podcast was recorded BEFORE the managerial changes made on Wednesday night (October 4) which saw Xisco Munoz sacked by Sheffield Wednesday and Mark Hughes depart Bradford City.**
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:14 we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:17 of our football writing team. On this week's episode we're joined by Chief Football Writer
00:21 for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon
00:24 Wattrell, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs. Don't forget,
00:29 you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging
00:32 on to our website at www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport as well as checking out our various Twitter
00:40 feeds, the main one being @YPSport. If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire
00:45 Post Football or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well. If you have
00:50 any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook
00:53 pages, or email us directly with a subject matter as footballtalkpodcast@yp.sport@jprnews.co.uk.
00:58 Now, this week we saw Sheffield United fall to a 2-0 defeat against West Ham United. Patrick
01:10 Bamford returned for Leeds United in their 3-1 defeat against Southampton. Bradford City
01:15 suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Walsall. Harrogate Town were able to claim all three
01:20 points in a 1-1 victory against MK Donza and followed that up with a 1-0 defeat against
01:26 Wimbledon. Doncaster Rovers fell to a 3-2 defeat when they clashed with Barrow before
01:32 claiming a 2-0 victory against Crawley Town, which we'll cover later on in the episode.
01:38 Hull City played out a 1-0 draw against Plymouth Argyle before recording a 3-0 defeat against
01:43 High Flying Ipswich. And Middlesbrough played out a 2-0 victory when they welcomed Cardiff
01:49 City. But firstly, let's start in the Championship with Huddersfield Town, who claimed a 1-0
01:55 draw with Ipswich Town, which was followed by a 4-1 defeat against Birmingham City. This
02:01 means that Darren Moore's hunt for a first victory as Terriers boss continues. What did
02:06 you think of the displays by the team? And what kind of game could we see when they actually
02:11 meet Sheffield Wednesday, Leon?
02:13 Well, he's seen the good and the bad really, hasn't he? And the batting, I suppose. He
02:20 made a shrewd change in his first game against Coventry and bringing on Sauber-Thomas. And
02:27 he was a lot better in the second half and got a good point. And I was there on Saturday
02:34 against Ipswich and it was a cracking game. Two sides who really showcased themselves
02:41 well on the day. I think if you'd have said to the Huddersfield supporters before the
02:47 game, if you could take a draw, would you? I think the vast majority would. But the way
02:53 it went, it was obviously disappointing with Ipswich scoring at the end. But I sort of
03:00 put in my match report that there was a lot of it came back to nil. But he spoke a lot
03:07 about in his time at Huddersfield being happy with the first 11 and not necessarily wanting
03:14 to swap them with most of his championship rivals. But it was what sort of beneath in
03:23 terms of the squad options. With no disrespect to some of the Huddersfields fans, they've
03:29 got some promising young players who are coming through, but they do still need some wool
03:34 on the back at this level. And that's ultimately what for me decided the turnaround in the
03:41 game on Saturday. Ipswich's substitute just had that bit more. I just look at Huddersfield
03:48 and when they have one or two key injuries in games and one or two out, they just look
03:52 a bit thin. Jonathan Hogg, he came off, I think it was about 71, 72 minutes. He'd had
04:00 a really good game. Typical Jonathan Hogg, putting himself about in midfield and always
04:07 there snapping at the opposition and getting Huddersfield round the park and enabling Rudonion
04:17 Wiles to sort of bum around. There was a big hull when he came off and Josh Garoma came
04:24 off as well. I think he'd just given everything really. Especially in those three games, the
04:29 Huddersfield have been in one of those three game championship weeks, it does sort of find
04:33 out your squad depth. He obviously went to Birmingham, Hogg wasn't available, Mo felt
04:40 he had to freshen it up and he gave Garoma a rest. He put Mew to Nakayama in midfield
04:48 and that counts with Hogg not being available. It's just having that sort of no disrespect
04:53 to Nakayama, I think he offers a lot of versatility, but primarily he's a defender. He's a defender
05:03 isn't he? A full back, wing back. So he's having to have a little turn in midfield.
05:09 I just look at Huddersfield's squad depth and it looks like it can find them out a little
05:15 bit. They certainly need another forward I would say and I think somebody to act as more
05:23 sort of cover for Hogg. They've obviously got David Kusuma but unfortunately it's difficult
05:27 to get him on the par for a consistent run, he's suffered a fair bit with injuries. So
05:33 yeah, they found out a little bit at Birmingham and he saw the bad side of them at Darrenmore.
05:41 By all accounts a pretty rough display even though Birmingham to be fair, I think they're
05:47 a better side this season certainly than they were last. So yeah, they go into the derby
05:55 at Sheffield Wednesday, there's going to be a hell of a lot made of Moore going back to
05:59 his old club. I'm sure he'll just keep focused and deflect that. Huddersfield need a response
06:05 regardless of Moore going back to his old club. No club, especially after a low in midweek,
06:13 wants another one going into an international break. So he's finding out about his players
06:19 and he's probably found out more against Birmingham than he did in the previous two games. So
06:25 yeah, it's just that squad depth issue that's a little bit of a worry for Mick Huddersfield
06:32 wise.
06:33 Yeah, I think that was one of the issues that clearly grated with Neil Warnock towards the
06:38 end. He wanted more signings to provide that depth, didn't he? As Leon says, he knew the
06:44 strength of his starting XI. He was a bit worried about the depth and that is something
06:50 they're going to have to address in January. But until now, it's a matter of finding solutions
06:56 from what they've got.
06:59 In terms of the bigger picture for them, obviously for everything we've talked about, Sheffield
07:04 Wednesday, they'll go to Hillsborough really wanting to take something. There can't be
07:10 many better times to go to Hillsborough in terms of the state that Sheffield Wednesday
07:16 are in and the toxicity around the club. So if they can get that response, obviously it's
07:22 massive. They've got two points from Moore's first few games. If they can make it three,
07:29 ideally five, then I think they're in good shape going into the international break,
07:33 which is really the big time for Darren Moore. He's a manager who always talks about how
07:38 he loves to spend time on the training ground. So to have two weeks to really get his ideas
07:44 into the team is essential. And then if you look at what they've come out of, they've
07:51 got three home games of the next four, all five games between now and the next international
07:56 break are actually in Yorkshire one way or another. That's the period they really need
08:01 to kick on and show this training ground work. So I think for now, it's more about just
08:08 making sure as Leon says, they don't go into the back of it on two really damaging results
08:13 and two really damaging performances so that they've got a good basis to do that work.
08:19 But yeah, I mean, it is the nature of the championship. We saw it with Leeds United
08:26 at Southampton the other day. We see it every week, particularly every three game week where
08:32 you just get these results out of nowhere. And it really is an important quality of championship
08:37 players that you have to have the mental resolve to just park one bad result, learn the lessons
08:42 and move on very quickly. And that's what Huddersfield are going to have to do. But
08:47 I've been encouraged by the two games preceding it. I talked earlier in the season about how
08:55 they'd had sort of uncharacteristic mistakes from really key players in the first few matches
09:02 of the season. Both the Coventry game and the Ipswich game were notable for outstanding
09:08 saves by Lee Nicholls. He's a player you can bank on. The one positive of Birmingham was
09:16 that Tom Leeds' name was on the team sheet again. More to work with him at Sheffield
09:21 Wednesday. He'll be delighted to have him back in the fray. I think there's more positive
09:26 than negative. But obviously a bad result at the weekend will, as it always does, change
09:34 and shape perceptions in a different direction.
09:37 It's just hard quickly, Stuart, isn't it? I think the Huddersfield, but certainly more
09:44 especially Rotherham, those three game weeks, they just ask so much of you, don't they?
09:49 In terms of being able to stay fresh and mentally attuned and physically strong for those three
10:00 games in a week. Such a big test. Rotherham, they'll be finding that out. They had a Wednesday
10:08 Saturday recently, didn't they? Going from Millwall away to Preston. They've got another
10:14 this week and I think they've got another one a little bit further down the line as
10:17 well. With respect for clubs like Leicester and Leeds who have got the better squad resources,
10:27 it's not so much of a problem, is it really? It's just trying to find the right start
10:31 at XI for Huddersfield and definitely Rotherham who have been suffering from injuries as well
10:39 on top of everything else. It is so hard, isn't it? A real additional thing to contend
10:46 with if you can, especially this autumn/winter, when it gets into the grind of the season.
10:52 If you can cope with that, it can set you up for the second half of the season. But
11:01 I think when you have respect for Huddersfield and Rotherham, you're going to get the odd
11:06 bump in the road, that's for sure.
11:09 They're particularly hard for players like Jonathan Hogg, Liam Cooper, Jonny Howson.
11:16 Players who have got a lot of miles on the clock but are really important to those teams,
11:22 that's the difficulty, isn't it? You'd like to be able to dip a player like Hogg in and
11:27 out but as Leon's just emphasised, particularly when David Kuzun is injured, but even when
11:31 he's fit, it's such a big loss when you suddenly take Hogg out of that team, even though there
11:39 are other leaders. He's so key to that team and that's the luxury that Leon says that
11:46 some of the big clubs have in that they can bring players in like that. If you're, as
11:52 Leon says, a Rotherham or Huddersfield, a low-budget club, it's really difficult to
11:57 replace that quality and leadership like for like in one go. That's why you get all these
12:04 freak results in these three game weeks and that's why having that depth is so important
12:12 to a team.
12:13 When you're having two of the three away from home, Stuart, as well, I spoke and defended
12:18 on the opponent, you can almost try and be cute and get away with it a little bit if
12:22 you've got two home games but when it's two away, it can be different.
12:27 Now we turn to League One where Barnsley fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Blackpool
12:31 when low-knee Jordan Rhodes slotted away a 24th minute penalty. That isn't to say that
12:36 the home side didn't have their own chances. John McAtee saw a shot blocked inside the
12:41 first ten minutes of the game. He also saw a shot blaze over the bar with 14 minutes
12:47 of the game to go. They managed to bounce back, however, with a 4-0 victory against
12:52 Cambridge United, which was their fourth consecutive League One away victory.
12:57 What was your assessment of the game and what could we expect in their game against Exeter
13:04 City, Stuart?
13:05 Well, I think I was at the game against Blackpool and they were okay. It was kind of my assessment
13:15 from it. They weren't brilliant but as you pointed out, they made quite a few chances.
13:24 They just needed to be a bit more ruthless in terms of taking them. It wasn't a game
13:28 you walked away from and thought, 'Barnsley are in a whole load of trouble here' but neither
13:34 was it a game where you walked away and thought everything's where it should be. That's four
13:41 defeats at home already and they've all been, we've talked in the past about how League
13:47 One has basically been a division of two divisions. They've all been against top division teams
13:53 if you see what I mean. Teams you'd expect to be at the top end. So there clearly is
13:57 a problem there and I suppose the issue is that that problem doesn't get into their heads
14:04 and they don't go into games against the likes of the Boltons and Derbys of this division
14:09 at home, sort of fearing what's going to happen. But then the flip side was midweek and you
14:19 just look at things and you think they seem to be in a really good shape away from home.
14:24 Four wins in a draw, 11 goals scored, only two conceded. They look really well set up
14:34 to do the job away from home. You've got to be frank, to be okay at home and great away
14:44 will possibly just about get them where they want to be. It's just naturally, the whole
14:54 point of sport is you're always looking to be better and just nailing down that home
15:00 record is just an area they need to improve. They have been over-reliant on Devante Cole's
15:09 goals at home. They need some of the other forward players to chip in and hopefully Max
15:16 Watters scoring in midweek can kick-start him. I thought Sam Cosgrove's performance
15:23 at the weekend was very good but it needed that goal. Same with John McAtee. I thought
15:28 in the first half when Barnsley were pretty below standard he was the brightest light
15:35 but then he missed possibly the best chance of the game. If a couple of those lads can
15:41 just break the duck and get scoring again, I think Barnsley could be a different prospect
15:48 and go up another level. But it's a long way from panic stations. We're talking a lot today
15:53 about teams who are at the wrong end of the table and have got problem upon problem. Barnsley
15:58 is more a case of fine-tuning. It's not anything to panic about. This is a new manager and
16:06 like most teams he's still got new signings he's bedding in. I think things are generally
16:12 going in the right direction. It's just a case of pressing the accelerator a bit harder
16:17 at home.
16:18 The Wave 4 have been outstanding all year. I think they've only lost a couple haven't
16:24 they this calendar year? One of them pulling up at Exeter in that rearranged game. That
16:33 would be nice for those players who were part of that side who lost it. That's a nice little
16:40 incentive going into that particular game. With the Pismoven in the international break
16:46 they're on a run aren't they of three away games now? One at Cambridge, one at Exeter
16:53 and I think the other one is Orient isn't it? I don't think at the minute Neil Collins
17:00 and the players will be too fussed about that. They're confident away from home and that's
17:06 something that they were for the vast majority of last season, not just this year. They were
17:13 hard to score against away from home, they kept a tight ship. I can't remember the exact
17:21 statistics but they went for a long spell without conceding in the second half of away
17:27 games. It was about this time last year, a heck of a long spell. They got a lot of clean
17:36 sheets but it's a good, as Stuart said, it's not first world problems they're having. It's
17:44 one problem in a season if they can manage to sort out their home form a little bit.
17:52 I listened to Neil Collins, he was saying they've obviously lost four at home but they've
17:57 suffered from conceding penalties. That might point to a bit of a disciplinary issue, just
18:05 in concentration. That's one thing they can actively do to try and help themselves. Let's
18:14 not forget as well, Barz is home from last season, was strong as well. The vast majority
18:20 of the players who were still here should have that in the back of their mindset. It
18:27 could be one of those where it just takes a good, strong home win against hopefully
18:32 one of the better sides to start arresting that. As Stuart said, there's not too much
18:40 fundamentally wrong with Barnsley and they've got one or two players to come back into the
18:46 squad as well. I don't think Barnsley have played one or two of the better sides in League
18:53 1 but it doesn't to me have the feeling of being quite as strong as it was last year,
18:59 even though some teams have improved. Portsmouth are going well, the likes of Oxford and Peterborough
19:07 are always a threat and they've all managed to win it at Barnsley. I think it's a competitive
19:13 division. I don't think it's ultimately as strong. I don't think there's going to be
19:21 an Ipswich on the scene or even the Sheffield Wednesday who were extremely strong. They
19:26 were two thirds of that season plummet as well. I think it will be a bit more open this
19:31 year and one or two problems on home soil to arrest for Barnsley but they're not major,
19:39 huge fundamental problems.
19:41 I think with regards to the home record as well, one reason we're always banging the
19:47 drum about don't draw conclusions too early is because of course who you play in the early
19:52 stages does frame things and the next three home games, some of them quite a way off,
19:59 but Shrewsbury, Fleetwood and Carlisle, all good opportunities to put that home record
20:05 right and if they were to win all those three games as they ought to, if you just go by
20:11 the form table, then suddenly five wins and four defeats doesn't look so bad at home record.
20:21 As I say, it's important to keep everything in perspective with regards to Barnsley. They're
20:28 certainly not happy with where they are but equally no cause for panic.
20:33 Yeah, this time last year as well, I think they had a few early home defeats, hadn't
20:37 they? I think Wickham had gone there and won there convincingly. They lost to Lincoln.
20:44 By about mid-autumn of last year, they'd lost about three or four at home and then they
20:49 had some decent pictures and started to turn that around. So that's 12 months on, that's
20:55 going to be the aim again.
20:57 And finally for this week, we turn to League Two and Doncaster Rovers who overcame Crawley
21:02 Town in a 2-0 victory, which was their third victory in four games. Donnie opened the scoring
21:08 in the 27th minute after Joe Ironside picked out Modu Fall before Ironside got himself
21:14 on the score sheet through a penalty in the 62nd minute of the encounter. What was your
21:19 assessment of the game, Stuart, and how do you think Grant McCann's side will approach
21:23 their upcoming game against Stockport County?
21:28 With confidence first and foremost. I think what's happening at Doncaster at the moment
21:33 is a bit of a lesson to other clubs. Not every circumstance is the same but there were a
21:40 few things I came away from that midweek game against the Crawley team who were on
21:48 really top form. Five wins on the top of the table. A few lessons you came away with. You
21:57 mentioned three wins out of four. You've got to remember that before those three wins out
22:01 of four, they hadn't won a league game. They were bottom of the table. I think they'd only
22:07 got two points at that stage. They were really struggling. It shows the value of patience
22:14 when you've got a manager who is working towards something and you can just see signs
22:21 that it's coming. It's worth sticking to them. The other thing, talking after the game, Ironside
22:27 and Mo Fahle were both excellent for Doncaster. Unsurprisingly, as strikers in a struggling
22:37 team, their seasons have taken a little while to get going. Grant McCann was talking about
22:43 how he'd been showing Ironside clips of all his goals to put confidence in him. Then we
22:49 spoke to Mo Fahle after the game, a young player, 20 years old, from West Bromwich,
22:56 England. He was talking about how getting his first goal in League One football, which
23:01 was at Wrexham at the start of September, the big effect that had on his confidence.
23:08 Referring back to Barnsley now, hopefully Max Watters getting his first goal of the
23:13 season, that can do the same for him at Barnsley. Hopefully down the line, Sam Cosgrove can
23:19 follow down that route. It does show that we're all guilty, all of us in football. Just
23:25 reaching conclusions too soon. Sometimes it just does need a bit of time, particularly
23:31 when you're making big changes, as has been the case at Doncaster, to just get things
23:36 up and running. From a few weeks ago, you're looking at the league table and really starting
23:42 to worry about where things are going at Doncaster. All of a sudden, you look at that squad, you
23:47 look at that manager, you look at the last few results and you think, yeah, things are
23:53 going in the right direction. They'll be in good shape. You mentioned the Stockport game
23:57 specifically. A good thing about this run is they beat Gillingham at home, they beat
24:04 Crawley at home. They don't have anything to fear from teams of the quality of Stockport
24:08 County. They are a team that seem to almost do better against the better teams in the
24:16 division. So hopefully they can keep this run going. But regardless of whether they
24:21 do or not, it feels like a club that's found its feet after a settling in period, which
24:27 was inevitable really, when you look at what they went through over the summer.
24:32 Yeah, I think they've had a bit of early season adversity. Obviously, for the players on the
24:41 back of, the ones who've been around for a bit on the back of what happened at the end
24:45 of last season, some of them even the season before, that was a real examination of character,
24:50 wasn't it? There was a big, you know, there's a fair bit of noise about Doncaster in the
24:54 close season. They've kind of come back, they've made quite a lot of new signings. And it fell
25:01 flat, didn't it? When the season started, lost the first game to Harrogate and a rough
25:08 old start. So one or two of the old questions were being asked. Tough as well for the lads
25:13 who've come in. Some of them have been in non-league and another chance in the league
25:19 and another opportunity and it didn't go the way that they wanted early on. In fact, they
25:25 endured a hell of a lot of injuries that suffered as well, which is never easy for a new manager
25:32 to contend with. I just sort of wonder how much that did the, when it was only a cup
25:37 deal, the Everton game, they were very unlucky to end up losing that really. How much psychologically
25:44 it must have given them that confidence to say, yeah, we can compete and we've got a
25:51 fair bit here in the building. I think the next game, the Drew, I think, was it Tommy
25:59 Rowe got sent off to play basically a second half with 10 men against Swindon and managed
26:05 to dig out a draw. So I think psychologically that as well, that's probably set them up
26:11 well and by all accounts, they went to Wrexham and were extremely unlucky not to get something
26:15 there. So yeah, McCann's not panicked as Stuart said. Some of the players have stepped up
26:24 to the front and don't forget as well, Richard Wood's not playing at the minute. But we've
26:29 had the Ben Closers, the Tommy Rowe's, Joe Ironside, who when Rowe was brought in in
26:38 the summer, he's a proven track record at this level. He's a good operator and he's
26:43 got one or two goals now to settle him down. And yeah, McCann can be pleased with the metal
26:52 that they're showing, but it's only a start, isn't it? Obviously got a tough one at Stockport
26:58 next up and that'll be a good examination given the couple of results against two of
27:05 the sides who've done well early in, Gillingham and Crawley. So yeah, hopefully Rowe's getting
27:11 back on the right track.
27:14 And you know, worth saying as well, we talk about new signings settling in as well. He's
27:18 signed some players, Neil's mentioned Richard Wood, he's signed some players who've really
27:24 been around the track a few times, but he's also signed a few who are stepping into league
27:30 football for the first time. And on that Tuesday, I was really impressed with the two outside
27:36 centre-backs, Owen Bailey, who's come from non-league football in Gateshead and Tom Nixon,
27:44 who was a young player at Hull City but didn't play any league football for them. Them, like
27:52 Mo Fowler, stepping up to league football for the first time. And those two centre-backs
27:58 were terrific. I mean, Nixon ran himself so hard. There was literally a moment in the
28:04 89th minute where he ran down to the byline, won a corner and just collapsed over the byline
28:10 with Crump. He just put so much running in. And it's really pleasing to see young lads
28:17 like that in an environment created for them by the likes of Richard Wood, the likes of
28:23 Tommy Rowe and even Joe Ironside, who's not exactly knocking on, but has played a few
28:29 games at this level. Just nursing these young lads through the sensible, not-get-carried-away
28:36 nature of Grant McCann, not allowing this difficult start to spread panic. And yeah,
28:45 it's good to see a club going about things the right way, holding its nerves, starting
28:50 to get a few fruits of their success. But as Leon pointed out, just as we didn't get
28:57 carried away by that poor start, so this has only been four games and three wins. We can't
29:02 get too carried away by this. It's not like they need to be booking the open-top bus now,
29:10 but things do feel as though they've turned decisively for them.
29:18 Many thanks to Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobtrell, who will doubtless join us again soon for more discussions on the Yorkshire football scene.
29:24 But don't forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging onto our website at www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport
29:33 or if you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well.
29:39 If you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages,
29:44 or email us directly with a subject matter as footballtalkpodcast@yp.sport@jplomedia.co.uk.
29:51 As ever, many thanks for listening, look after yourselves and bye for now.
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