• last year
On this week’s show, Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall cast their eye in the direction of Leeds United and wonder whether manager Daniel Farke should consider making a number of changes and freshen up his squad following their defeat at Preston North End. 

The clash between Rotherham United and Middlesbrough produced a surprise and priceless win for the Millers, with Boro left to wonder what should have been given their domination of the game at the New York Stadium.

Are Bradford City turning themselves into genuine League Two play-off contenders under Graham Alexander and how much damage has been done to Sheffield United’s Premier League survival chances after seeing leads surrendered in their respective games against Aston Villa and Luton Town. 

PLUS the contrasting fortunes in League Two of Bradford City and Doncaster Rovers

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Sports
Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:12 Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members of our football writing team.
00:20 On this week's episode we're joined by Chief Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wopshall, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs.
00:30 Don't forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging onto our website at yp.sport@nationalworld.com, as well as checking out our various Twitter feeds, the main one being @ypsport.
00:43 If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well.
00:49 And if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter at the Football Talk podcast at yp.sport@nationalworld.com.
01:00 YorkshirePost.co.uk
01:03 As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week we're joined by Chief Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wopshall. Good morning guys.
01:11 Morning.
01:12 Hello.
01:13 Morning.
01:14 And this week we saw Barnsley claim victory over Stevenage and Port Vale. Harrogate come away with all three points in their games against Groomsby Town and Acklington Stanley.
01:27 Sheffield Wednesday fought successive defeats against Cardiff City and Coventry.
01:32 However, this week we start with Leeds United who claimed a 4-0 win over Ipswich, which was followed up by a 2-1 defeat when they paid a visit to Preston North End at Deepdale.
01:45 The game also saw Ilan Milje sent off for an altercation with winger Milutin Osmicic.
01:53 What was your assessment of the game and what do you think Leeds United will have to do in their upcoming game against West Bromstewart?
02:03 Well, I think it was just the championship in a nutshell really, wasn't it? The last couple of games for Leeds United.
02:10 I'm not being wise after the event, but after the 4-0 game against Ipswich I asked Daniel Farke about if he'd have to be on his guard for whether they were in the right frame of mind for the next game.
02:29 Because it's just the nature of the championship. You never seem more vulnerable than after a good result.
02:35 And Saturdays against Ipswich was an absolutely tremendous result.
02:40 Not only to win, but to win in the manner they did. Basically putting the game to bed in the first half and conserving energy, which is a big deal at this time of year when you've got games coming thick and fast.
02:52 So everything seems well set up. But as I said, whenever everything seems that well set up in the championship, it's probably the time to worry.
03:01 Because just bonkers things happen all the time. I didn't see the game, I just caught snatches of it in the press room at Bramall Lane.
03:12 But certainly Melies' red card looked very harsh. A bit of a pathetic thing to get sent off for.
03:20 I suppose the plus side for Leeds is that there can't be many better number two goalkeepers in the division than Karl Darlow.
03:29 So it's not exactly a major panic being without Melies through suspension.
03:37 That said, I thought Leeds' penalty was harsh on Preston as well.
03:43 It just seemed like one of those days. Leon and I both talked quite often this season about there's no need to panic.
03:52 Leeds are in good hands. One good result isn't a crisis. That's certainly still my feeling. I don't know about Leon's.
04:00 My only concern about Leeds at the moment is that it was an unchanged team again. I mentioned it a bit in the last few weeks.
04:11 I think for their own good, they could do with freshening it up. Not just to put a bit more energy in that team when they've got such a big bench.
04:20 But also just to push those players who have been so well established a little bit more. Make them feel a little bit less comfortable about their place.
04:31 I saw them destroy Ipswich Town, who probably had one of the best 20/23s of any club in England.
04:42 Having seen that, it's hard to be too critical or too panicky of them.
04:48 These slip-ups, we do keep shrugging them off. But you don't want too many of them when Leicester in particular, and Ipswich to be fair, are set in such a ferocious pace at the top of the table.
05:03 It's a little bit of a bump, isn't it, Stuart? Unless things do go seamlessly for you at the top and you run away with it, you're going to have these little spells.
05:20 Obviously, they're brilliant against Ipswich and much needed. One win in four, that can happen at this level. I totally agree with what you said there, Stuart.
05:33 I think the time, I think Farke's instinct is to keep a settled side, a spine.
05:41 I just think with the roster schedule, Saturday, Tuesday, Friday and Monday, that's four games in under a week and a half.
06:03 It will be fascinating to see how he goes in these next two games as players of calibre knock on the door.
06:13 Patrick Banford's in the world, I think his last 14 or 15 games have been from the bench. He obviously brought on Matthew Joseph as well, he brought him on Boxing Day.
06:28 He's just pressed him up, Jadon Anthony as well. It's something that Farke can sense, he's not keen on it. I just think the schedule will dictate in terms of keeping everybody fresh and on their toes.
06:49 We'll see how he goes on Friday, but I don't think there's too much need to panic, that's fair.
06:57 You can see what it seems like, for example, Huddersfield or Rotherham might be reluctant to do it because they've got so many injuries at the moment.
07:05 It means a drop-off in quality, but as Leon's just outlined, the quality of players' leads they've got on their bench, A, is very similar.
07:14 B, you add in the fact that they're fresh and they've got a point to prove, there's every chance they'll actually play better.
07:21 It's worth it from that respect, it's worth it in terms of players like Willy Nonto showing whether they can be counted on the second half of the season,
07:33 not in terms of their ability, but in terms of their attitude and their willingness to play a part.
07:38 It might send a message to one or two players that, "Look, I haven't forgotten about you, you've still got a part to play here."
07:45 There's all sorts of reasons for doing it, but I do think a lot of top managers can be quite pig-headed at times.
07:52 The more Parker gets asked about, "Do you need to rotate the squad? Do you need to make changes?"
07:59 perhaps the less likely he is to do it. It's been a very settled side.
08:04 We can be a bit hypocritical at times, sometimes we'll praise managers for keeping a settled side,
08:11 but it just feels like in these circumstances, with this fixture list and this deep squad available,
08:18 it's in Leeds' best interest to shake things up a bit.
08:25 It's certainly not desperation measures, it's certainly not, "Oh, he needs to make five changes for the next game because things are going horribly wrong."
08:32 It's just, "What's the best way to keep things ticking over?"
08:37 He has the advantage, we don't. He sees how these guys are training.
08:41 Maybe some of these guys on the bench just aren't justifying selection with their performances in training.
08:46 But from what we can see, it looks to me like they could just do with a little bit of freshness, a little bit of spark.
08:54 Because you saw the spark there when they played Ipswich in a really big game.
08:58 West Brom's a fairly big game as well, to be fair, but that spark doesn't always come from their profile of the game and the opposition.
09:07 Sometimes you've got to find it from elsewhere.
09:09 Yeah, it just sums up the Championship. I think they lost 5-1 in the previous home game, didn't they?
09:15 Obviously, they turned it around. They're a handy side as well.
09:20 I saw them at Huddersfield recently and I know they've been on a bit of a bad trot after flying out of the tracks.
09:28 But I was quite impressed by them tactically and they looked a very fit side as well.
09:32 So, yeah, not one to overly beat yourself up about.
09:38 Stewart's right to say, and we'll probably go on to speak about it with other clubs as well, that's clubs from Yorkshire.
09:45 That is the Championship in a nutshell, really. Nothing is taken as a given.
09:51 So, yeah, it'll just be interesting to see what he does in the next two games.
09:54 He's the sort of guy, you'd never second-guess him.
09:57 He might be looking a bit further down the road and thinking, "Well, I might change it for these."
10:02 Obviously, they've got a cup game with Peter.
10:04 But who knows? But as Stewart said, they have got options there of pretty good quality at this level.
10:13 So, I'll change it around a bit if need be.
10:17 And the players are showing the attitude in day-to-day training, because it seems to be Barker's very big on that high standards.
10:26 On a daily level and players being at it every day of the work you can do.
10:32 I mean, he has said a few times, or I did say a few times in press conferences last week,
10:37 "I probably won't play." Well, I think he might have gone as far as to say, "I certainly won't play the same starting XI four games running."
10:44 But, you know, given that that's the case and given the number of players he's got,
10:48 it would seem more logical to make a couple of changes every game than to do them all at once.
10:55 But, as I said on last week's podcast, he's the one who's won a couple of Championships.
10:59 He certainly knows more what he's doing than us three idiots.
11:03 So, if that's what he thinks is the best way, then if I was a Leeds fan, I'd be trusting him, to be honest with you.
11:09 Yeah, he certainly earned the right to trust him.
11:12 Yeah. And next, we turn our attention to Rotherham United, who welcomed Middlesbrough and claimed a 1-0 victory over their visitors,
11:21 which now leaves the Millers eight points from safety and Middlesbrough three points from the playoff spots.
11:27 What were your thoughts on the game from both teams, Leon?
11:33 It was certainly a bizarre, strange game.
11:37 If you look at the statistics, you know, Middlesbrough had 19 goal attempts.
11:45 Rotherham had, I think it was two with one on target.
11:49 And the goal itself was slightly fortuitous with it, obviously.
11:57 It shanked off Coen Bramwell and looped over.
11:59 To be fair, Tom Glover wasn't ideally positioned.
12:04 But, yeah, it was a game where there wasn't really...
12:08 You know, Borough were in control, 71% possession.
12:13 They actually played reasonably well up until the final third.
12:21 Fair play to Rotherham. I did a very similar game there six or seven years ago,
12:28 when Neil Warnock came in on his white charger and they performed the great escape at the back end of 2015/16.
12:38 There were a lot of similarities in the game. Middlesbrough were on top, chances galore.
12:44 Couldn't take that chance and Rotherham punished them at the end.
12:47 So, I think with everything that's gone on at Rotherham this season,
12:51 they've had some really rough calls at the hands of officials and all manner of injury problems.
13:00 It's a bit churlish to have a go at them, really.
13:06 They certainly earned that win with the sheer luck and spirit and sticking in there, to be quite honest.
13:15 They could have easily gone under. The lads at the back there, Sean Morrison in the middle.
13:22 There was Yung Ruvan at the side of him on the left, not his natural position.
13:28 Hacking of a dolphin as well. It's a midfielder who's been pressed into service
13:33 at the heart of the defence. They were throwing bodies on the line, loads of spirit.
13:42 They just refused to go under. Middlesbrough just couldn't.
13:47 They lacked that killer instinct in front of goal. It's a little bit frustrating for them.
13:54 They've had some issues more defensively, really. We've spoken about the clutches of goals they conceded.
14:01 They managed to get back on an even keel in that respect.
14:06 They're actually suffering at the other end of the pitch.
14:10 They play some delightful football. They get behind teams, but they just look a bit toothless in attack.
14:18 On Boxing Day, they had Sam Silveira up front and he's really a winger who's been asked to play in a numbered-Ime position.
14:29 They had a lot of people injured. They just do a little thing at the business end centre.
14:37 There's Yung Coburn as well. I think he's had a bit of an issue with a hernia.
14:44 When you look at them last season when they had that charge with Tew Barak getting in amongst the goals,
14:53 now Archie coming in in January, it's not like it took a rocket scientist to show what they will need in the January window.
15:05 It was just so frustrating from their point of view. They had more than enough chances to win not just one game but a couple of games.
15:15 I think they had the issue on Saturday when they beat West Brom 1-1-0 but missed a lot of chances in that game as well.
15:22 That's the concern at the minute. I think in general play they looked pretty good.
15:29 They're one of the stylish sides in the division, but at the end of the day,
15:33 Championship games are decided in both boxes. Fair play to Rotherham, given everything that's gone on there this season.
15:44 They were overdue a bit of fortune.
15:48 As Leon says, great for Rotherham because they really needed that.
15:54 This winless run they were on, I think it was 11 games, was really starting to get concerning.
16:01 I think there's a big contrast between the two teams.
16:05 I think Middlesbrough are a bit like Hull and some of the other more stylish teams.
16:13 Sometimes outplaying teams is not enough for them because they just lack that cutting edge at times and make those defensive errors.
16:22 Rotherham are very good at grinding out results, at home at least, in games that they're not even really in.
16:31 I think it was pleasing as well to see, I know he only got them very late, only got a couple of minutes,
16:37 but to see Carfax come off the bench, that will give them a bit more in that respect.
16:42 Just because of his set-piece deliveries gives them another weapon.
16:48 Obviously, the problems they've had, the more players they can get back from injury, the better.
16:54 For Middlesbrough, it's a season that's never really got going.
16:58 There was that seven-game winning streak when you thought, "Right, this is it. This is take-off."
17:03 After the non-start to the season, almost.
17:07 It's just been really bitty since.
17:09 We've seen flashes, we've seen isolated wins.
17:12 We saw three wins in a row coming up to the Rotherham game, but that seems to be about the limit of the consistency they can muster.
17:21 It just feels like, again, we've talked about it quite a lot this season,
17:26 the goals they've lost have just taken so much away from them this season.
17:32 When all's said and done, you can create all the chances you want.
17:37 As Leanne says, you can create the chances to win two games.
17:39 If you've got no one to put them in the back of their net, you're going to struggle.
17:43 It's certainly doable, but it's going to be difficult to find a player who you can hang your hat on in that respect in January and get into the club.
17:55 It might be that it needs to be someone in the loan market who maybe is a young player who hasn't proven it,
18:03 but goes to Middlesbrough and shows that ability.
18:06 As things stand, there will be other clubs in a better position to attract those sorts of players,
18:13 other clubs with more realistic or better play-off chances.
18:18 It's really important that they try and find this, because it's turning into a bit of a difficult second season for Michael Carrick.
18:26 Not a disastrous one. We're absolutely nowhere near the 'it's time for Carrick to go' territory or anything like that.
18:34 Just a sticky season to get through.
18:38 For Rotherham, I'd say, it's just some much-needed hope.
18:42 Obviously, we've seen QPR pick up some results recently. We've seen Sheffield pick up some results.
18:47 Huddersfield win on Boxing Day. It's really important that Rotherham joined the party and got going again.
18:54 I'm pleased they did that with some really important games coming up.
18:59 Yeah, they've just got to try and hang in there. I think for Liam Richardson as well.
19:05 Obviously, he lost in the previous two away games at Plymouth, where they were very unfortunate.
19:14 Deep in stoppage time. By all accounts, they competed quite well at Leicester as well for the first hour or so.
19:23 You sense that he needed that and everybody connected with the supporters.
19:29 The players as well, first and foremost. You have to give them that little bit of hope.
19:35 It's good in the respect that they've got the three points on Boxing Day and they've got another home game very quickly coming up against Sunderland.
19:45 I think it'll be a very similar sort of challenge. Sunderland are a good football side with good young players.
19:53 Probably a similar sort of occasion as well. One for Rotherham to look forward to now, given what happened against Borough.
20:04 You spoke earlier, Stuart, about the Championship being just bonkers.
20:08 You just look at Middlesbrough, they've beaten Leicester, they've beaten Sunderland, they've beaten Southampton.
20:15 I think against the bottom five, they've only took something like two points.
20:19 They lost at home to QPR, lost to Millwall, lost to Rotherham.
20:23 Only picked up draws against Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday.
20:27 It just shows that if you're just not quite at it in some departments, you will get punished.
20:37 Middlesbrough have got a similar-ish sort of game at Huddersfield on Friday.
20:46 They'll be obviously desperate to put things right. It has been a funny sort of season, a little bit of feast of famine, hasn't it?
20:55 Yeah, and they'll be approaching things in a completely different way.
20:58 Rotherham are a bit like that as well, really.
21:01 I remember Matt Taylor saying that, I can't remember if it was after the Ipswich or Leeds game, he felt they played better against those sorts of teams.
21:09 The caveat is of course only at home. We know how dreadful their away form is.
21:15 When the onus isn't on them to win, when they're able to mentally and physically dig in, I think that sort of game suits them.
21:25 Middlesbrough and Sunderland are back-to-back home games over Christmas and not the daunting matches that maybe they ought to be in some respects.
21:34 I hope this could very well be proved completely and utterly wrong, but I hope that facing a team like Sunderland brings the best out of them.
21:44 Things can start to get a bit of momentum because a new manager is like a new striker, you just need to get off the mark and get the ball rolling.
21:55 That was a really important day for Liam Richardson.
21:58 Bradford City is where our attention turns to now.
22:03 The Bantams firstly claimed a come-from-behind victory, which was then followed by a 2-2 draw when they welcomed Morecambe to Valley Parade.
22:14 What was your assessment of those two games and how did you assess Doncaster Rovers' performance in the game against Bradford, Stuart?
22:23 To watch that Friday night game between Bradford and Doncaster was to be really encouraged about the way Bradford are going about things at the moment.
22:33 I'm just really concerned that Doncaster just can't get out of this fog that they've been in for two or three years now.
22:42 It feels like there's lingering problems there.
22:46 From a Bradford perspective, it was the sixth win on the trot. They'd only conceded two goals in that time.
22:57 To be honest with you, when I saw that they were 2-0 down at home to Morecambe, you kind of worried that that momentum was going to be lost.
23:07 But the fact that they fought back and got a draw against a good side like Morecambe, I think it just shows that they're in a good way at the moment.
23:17 They went behind early against Doncaster and it probably took them 10 or 15 minutes to almost get warmed up in the game.
23:25 But as soon as they did, and as soon as Andy Cook in particular found his feet, he scored two goals and made one.
23:33 They cruised through really in a low gear. They look like a really well-organised, well-drilled side now,
23:41 which is a big tribute to Graeme Alexander, considering how little time he's had working with them since he came in.
23:50 It's absolutely crucial for them that Andy Cook is in good goal-scoring form. He certainly is.
23:59 That's six goals in the last seven games for him. He's well and truly up and running after a slow start to the season.
24:09 They just look like they're moving in the right direction. We know they've always got the scope to do something significant in the January transfer window.
24:20 But I think, from what little I've seen, less is more in terms of recruitment.
24:26 It's probably more about thinning out the squad a bit and just focusing it a bit more,
24:32 rather than the complete overhaul that we seem to see in almost every transfer window with Bradford City.
24:40 I think things are going in the right direction for them.
24:46 Same as we said about Leeds, in the opposite way with Bradford, it's important not to get too carried away,
24:52 because that's when you can be your most vulnerable in the division.
24:57 But there seems to be a steadiness, a real good, common-sense approach about them
25:05 that seems to have really been building since probably half-time in the Notts County game that Leon covered about six weeks ago.
25:15 Doncaster, it just felt a bit same old, same old.
25:19 There's been times this season where you feel like they're making progress.
25:23 They've got two really good strikers, we've said before, in Joe Ironside and Mo Fowle.
25:28 It just feels like it's built on sand.
25:31 On the back of the 5-0 home defeat at Morecambe, it feels like there's a bit of apathy,
25:39 a bit of air of resignation around the stadium.
25:42 I think most fans, because of his history with them and other clubs as well,
25:47 believe that Grant McCann is the person to turn them around.
25:52 But it just feels like there's this losing culture at the club that is proving really hard to shift.
25:59 McCann was absolutely flummoxed after the game, just the lack of energy from his side.
26:05 He said he was really surprised at how much he thought the Morecambe game had taken out of them mentally.
26:13 There's a change of chairman there now, so hopefully that will revive things.
26:18 It feels like a bit of a shuffling of the pack.
26:22 It's one of the majority shareholders stepping up from director to chairman.
26:28 It's not exactly a new broom.
26:30 It feels like something quite drastic has got to change there.
26:34 I can't really put my finger on what it should be, because we've seen managerial change,
26:39 we've seen a lot of changes to the squad.
26:42 I think sometimes, and this isn't a criticism of anyone, these deep-rooted problems
26:50 almost come from the terraces and the long-serving employees.
26:55 I'm genuinely not having a go at anyone, but you can see why someone who really cares about the football club so much
27:05 can get into that mindset of, "Oh no, here we go again. I've seen this script before."
27:11 It just feels like there's a bit of that feeling around the EcoPower Stadium.
27:20 It's difficult to shift. It can obviously only come from a sustained run of results,
27:28 but it seems like every good one is quickly undermined as soon as things go badly for the team.
27:37 Yeah, they're doing it tough, aren't they?
27:41 It's a grim only feat to Morecambe.
27:46 They have particular issues at the back. It's never really been settled there, has it?
27:52 They obviously brought Richard Wood in and he looked like the defensive leader that they needed.
27:58 Unfortunately, he's had injury problems and he struggled to get a run of games.
28:05 He obviously got a heavy defeat at Notts County, to be fair to them.
28:10 I know the form he took to Liverpool. They're one of the top footballing teams in the division.
28:17 He's spoken as well, in fairness to Graham McCann, at times he's had to cope with all manner of injury problems.
28:26 He's had no luck at all. He brought both centre-halves up as they came up at half-time.
28:32 He said it was for injury issues in Anderson and Oliver Woo.
28:37 That's the last thing you need, really, isn't it?
28:42 He lost 5-0 at home, conceded 3 against Bradford.
28:47 There's just real issues there. Stuart's right to point to the culture thing as well and the mood of supporters.
28:56 They'll be thinking, "Here we go again." In fairness, not too long back, there were little signs of Rovers getting it together,
29:05 getting one or two players back further up the pitch.
29:10 We've spoken about Ironside and Fowler. I know he's been at Notts County, but he's been a pretty regular scorer of goals.
29:22 Fowler's shown promise. It's worrying times there, isn't it?
29:31 I listened to Graham McCann's interview after the loss at Notts County and he just sounded really flat.
29:40 A touch despondent. They've obviously got another tougher away game coming up at Mansfield,
29:47 one of the strong, serious sides in that division.
29:53 The pinpointing areas of the pitch, the defence, is a particular concern at the minute.
30:01 At Doncaster and on to Bradford, you look at the run they've had, I think it was six successive wins in all competitions.
30:15 So that to be 2-0 down, digging and get a point against Morecambe could well be one of the most significant of the lot.
30:26 Obviously a big holiday crowd at Bradford that's turned up in the thousands.
30:31 2-0 down, there's probably been some grumble, some people who've not been for a while.
30:38 Typical City, probably some cries like that. They've dug deep and got a late equaliser which will have felt as good as it would in some respects.
30:50 It keeps that momentum going. Stuart's right, Andy Cook getting in the goals again at Doncaster, that was good to see.
31:01 I think they're just chipping in as well, aren't they? One or two others, obviously. Brad Halliday who's been playing,
31:09 he's been one of the top players under Graeme Alexander, good to see him on the score sheet.
31:16 Clark Cador as well, he came in and got a goal as well. So they're just sharing those goals around a little bit more at the minute,
31:24 which is obviously good to see. So, yeah, you've got to say hats off to Graeme Alexander for what he's done at Bradford in his short time at the club so far.
31:39 Even though it's disappointing not to get three points, they're still well in the game there when you look at the top eight
31:48 and hopefully having a bit of a charge in the second half of the season. I don't think they have to do too much in the market.
31:54 It looks like they've got enough firepower there. The likes of Smith, obviously Cook we've mentioned, Oliver.
32:04 I think the one of the main hopes will be just keeping Jamie Walker and Alex Patterson, they've got goals in them.
32:12 Keeping them hitting five in as well, that could be as big as anything for them.
32:18 But yeah, it's definitely glasses half full at Bradford at the minute.
32:23 Yeah, I'd say it's worth mentioning that Tyler Smith's into double figure goals and he looks like a good foil for Cook,
32:30 who had a very successful season last season playing up front on his own, but they're working really well as a front two
32:39 and as Leon says, plays behind with everyone. We've talked about it with Rotherham, we've talked about it with Doncaster.
32:47 Injuries are just so crucial and that is a big thing undermining Doncaster at the moment, just the sheer number
32:54 and the fact that they seem to be happening in the same positions.
32:58 The fact that it's leaders as well, people like Richard Wood, Jamie Sturry, people like that, the sort of characters you want.
33:04 But on the Friday, it was just disappointing to see how little those that were on the field were able to produce.
33:12 But if you look across the board, not just at Yorkshire, there's so many injuries this season.
33:18 It's so worrying, it's something that the authorities really need to look at, that it really is having a big bearing on team seasons.
33:27 When teams like Bradford, we mentioned Leeds before, are doing quite well in that respect,
33:32 it's important that they make the most of it and they really use that to drive competition within the squad,
33:39 to get the maximum out of players by asking short bursts of them.
33:44 But yeah, you do feel sorry for McCann in particular after he really overhauled that squad in the summer
33:50 and he's never had full value out of his signings because of so many injuries.
33:56 Just that night on Friday, it just felt like the issues went beyond that.
34:03 Hopefully I'm wrong and I just caught them on a bad day in that respect,
34:09 but it does feel like it's a big ship to turn around there right now.
34:14 And next we turn our attention to Sheffield United in the Premier League,
34:19 who played out a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, which was then followed by a shock 3-2 defeat against Luton Town,
34:26 which now leaves the Blades seven points from safety.
34:30 What does Chris Wilder have to do to help his side close that gap as we go into the New Year, Stuart?
34:37 Well, I think they saw angry Chris Wilder for one of the first times.
34:41 The new signings after the Luton game, I mean 96 minutes in at Villa Park,
34:50 it was shaping up to be a decent Christmas for Sheffield United,
34:56 but things really took a turn. It wasn't just Aston Villa equalising.
35:01 You can kind of shrug that off with Aston Villa's home form this season,
35:05 but the fact that then Burnley and Luton both won on the Saturday.
35:09 And then to really throw things away against Luton.
35:14 I mean, the first half was fairly even, Luton slightly the better and certainly the more clinical.
35:21 But Sheffield United made a tactical change, really got themselves back into it.
35:25 They were 2-1 up. I'm sure you can both imagine what Brownell Lane felt like once they'd done that.
35:33 So to then concede two own goals, and you can say, well own goals, that's just bad luck,
35:40 but Chris Wilder was having absolutely none of it. I think he was right in that respect.
35:45 He absolutely dissected the poor defending, which created those things.
35:52 The sitting too deep, he's talked a lot about bravery since he came back.
35:57 He wanted his team higher up the field, simply so that Luton were further away from their goal.
36:03 But there was that sitting back, the inviting errors.
36:07 The first goal had been a really poor one to concede,
36:11 because Heyman were really weak defending it out on the wing.
36:15 And then really poor goalkeeping for Fodring to be beaten at his near post.
36:19 It just feels like, I've lost count of the number of times Leon and I have mentioned that Luton game in the podcast.
36:25 It's been on our minds for absolutely months. This is the one, this is the one.
36:29 They really have to do something. Well, that's Burnley away.
36:33 They passed up spectacularly and now Luton at home.
36:38 Hopefully they'll prove me wrong, but it just feels like there's a lot of spirit there.
36:44 It takes a lot of spirit to come from 1-0 down against your big rivals to get 2-1 up front.
36:49 But in all honesty, particularly with key players unavailable, people like John Egan in particular,
36:57 I'm just not sure that the ability is there to get out of this mess.
37:04 The fact that Nottingham Forest won on Boxing Day was another kick in the proverbials.
37:11 They were a team who looked like they might be able to get sucked into it.
37:15 But in all honesty, although they're not one of the best Premier League sides by a long shot,
37:21 they look another level up from Sheffield United and it's going to take a lot to turn that around.
37:28 They are at least fighting, which was the big disappointment in the last couple of games of Paul Heckingbottom's reign.
37:36 They've at least got that spirit back. They're at least competitive.
37:39 But this is the best league in the world nowadays. Competitive on its own just doesn't cut it.
37:46 I'm afraid I don't think there's enough talent there to go with it and I can't see the money being put up in January
37:53 and the signings being attracted to actually change that.
37:58 It's just so frustrating, isn't it? You go back to the win against Wolves not so long back,
38:05 you've got the draw against Brighton at the international break, you're just thinking,
38:10 "Well, they might be getting somewhere here." So we had the Bournemouth and Burnley defeat.
38:17 Chris Wilder coming in, you had the big Philip, seeing Bramall Lane rocking again,
38:24 and a good win against Brentford.
38:28 It just seems, as we've mentioned it before on the podcast, that I just thought last summer they were light defensively.
38:37 I know they've been a bit unfortunate with the Egan injury, but they just sort of lacked something else.
38:46 Premiership ready, centre-half, and a big thing for me for Sheffield United has been the amount of goals they've conceded.
38:55 Late on I had a quick look in the morning and it's 16 in the last 15 minutes of games.
39:02 They've played 19 games, that's almost even it out, nearly one every game, isn't it?
39:12 When you're conceding so many late goals in that vein and you're down amongst the dead men at the bottom,
39:19 you've no chance when that's happening on a regular basis. Stuart was there on Boxing Day,
39:27 Chris Wilder, just imagine his fury and his angst. You can almost visualise him on the touchline saying,
39:35 "Pushing his team on, get up the pitch."
39:39 For me, that's been an unfortunate theme of the season so far for Sheffield United,
39:44 being fit for purpose defensively, even though they've had one or two untimely injuries.
39:51 It looks like it could well be the defining theme of the season.
39:58 I think really for me, the way I look at it is that Sheffield United just have to max out between now and May.
40:05 So long as they've done that, then whatever else happens, that's okay in my eyes.
40:11 Obviously, we all want them to stay up, but if they're not good enough but they've given everything,
40:17 that's the main thing. I think if they go with a whimper, if they start feeling sorry for themselves
40:23 about these late goals and these own goals and all this sort of thing, and really get into that cycle,
40:29 it could really inflect things. Just talking about Don Caster, create that sort of mindset that might well linger on into next season.
40:38 If they give everything, it might be that it keeps them up, it might be that it doesn't.
40:44 But at the very least, Sheffield United fans can be proud of their team.
40:50 I think that's the most important thing this season. In all fairness, that's what Chris Wilder had brought back a bit
40:57 after it just ebbing a little bit under Paul Heckinbottom.
41:00 I think that's how I would judge the rest of Sheffield United's season, more on that than actually their points tally.
41:09 It will in itself give them more chance of picking up points, so we'll see where it takes them.
41:17 But it just looks a tall order to me. A squad that came into the season really without the resources to compete.
41:27 I've no faith, given what's happened the last couple of years, given that we've still got the same owner in place,
41:34 that it's going to be any different in January. But who knows? I'm regularly wrong on this podcast, so hopefully I can be wrong again on that.
41:41 It's very similar to Rogerham, isn't it, in some respects? Stewart obviously, they brought Liam Richardson in,
41:48 and even though it's obviously praised them for the win the other day.
41:52 I think a lot of the pragmatists will be surprised if they do manage to get their way out of it,
42:01 but there seems to be correlations with where Sheffield United and Rogerham are.
42:08 If they stay up fantastic, great, deserve all the praise in the world,
42:14 but I think the bigger picture is about rebuilding the club in the manager's identity and looking at the bigger picture.
42:26 Yeah, I'd agree with that.
42:28 Finally for this week, we look to Leon for his Team of the Week before we turn to Stewart for his Player of the Week.
42:35 So Leon, who have you chosen for your Team of the Week this time round?
42:41 I'm actually going to go for Barnsley. You sort of looked at them at the end of November.
42:49 They were obviously booted out of the FA Cup in embarrassing circumstances, really.
42:55 Building an ineligible player, there were one or two, I think it was incredibly harsh,
43:01 but one or two knives being sharpened among supporters for Neil Collins.
43:07 He was criticised in a game at Lincoln and there were a few catcalls against him.
43:15 He's had to dig in and they've produced a good response this month.
43:21 I think it's four out of five that have managed to win.
43:25 You look at their away form, it's been pretty consistent all season.
43:29 Seven out of 11. I think the encouraging thing is they're starting to get one or two home results as well.
43:38 That was a bit of an Achilles heel in the opening third of the season.
43:45 So given what Collins has had to contend with in the round,
43:51 he obviously lost one or two big players, Let Barnsley in the summer,
43:56 Liam Kitchen went right at the end of the window, Barnsley's captain.
44:01 That was the last thing that Collins had needed.
44:06 Quite a few issues with injuries and the like.
44:11 Luke Connell missed most of the first two or three months of the season.
44:18 It's not been easy for him and I think he's done a pretty good job, all things considered.
44:24 They're tabling and they're in a pretty good order and in a healthy position.
44:32 I think they're doing even a little bit better than they were at this stage under last season, under Michael Duff.
44:38 What a story that was in the second half of the season.
44:42 I think it's a good result on Boxing Day, going away to Port Vale.
44:48 They've got the points there, they're at Peterborough on Friday night.
44:56 They're in a decent fettle, January will be a time.
45:02 Hopefully I don't see too many new players going in there,
45:06 but you just hope that they can keep most of what they've got.
45:11 There's obviously Devante Coles out of contract in the summer, Herbie Kane, Jordan Williams.
45:17 The Basley hierarchy have said it will only be crazy money that would tempt them to cash in.
45:26 I suspect the one that they might have to make a decision on will be Callum Stiles,
45:30 because he's been out of the side a little bit of late and been on the bench.
45:36 He's obviously got a summer tournament to consider with Hungary,
45:41 but if Basley can keep those other players that we've mentioned, maybe bring one or two others in to flesh out the squad a little bit,
45:50 I think they're in business. Fair play to Neil Collins, I think he's done a pretty good job in this circumstance.
45:57 I think all the excuses were there for Basley, weren't they?
46:01 Playoff hangover, change of manager from a really good manager.
46:06 They've missed key players at times. Obviously, there's been Luca Canel's illness,
46:11 could have been really damaging, but they've just got their head down and got on with it.
46:16 As Leon said, they had that difficult time in November as well, but like we talked about with Bradford earlier,
46:23 it's in the difficult times where you see the best and worst of people and they've really responded in the right way.
46:30 It's almost been like a business as usual season for Basley, which I say is not to underplay it at all.
46:38 It's great credit with everything that's gone on to how well Neil Collins has fit in and just hit the ground running
46:47 after basically doing his apprenticeship in coaching out in America.
46:52 He's adjusted very well to returning to English football. It's been really good to see.
46:58 Stuart, who has caught your eye for Player of the Week this week?
47:03 It's been a difficult one to pick someone out because, as we've alluded to with most of our teams,
47:11 it's often been one good result, one bad result, one good performance, one bad one.
47:16 I thought maybe we'd shine a bit of a spotlight on Glen Camara because, as is often the way with these things,
47:22 we often get caught up in the attacking players who've been scoring goals, who've been doing this and that.
47:28 I think Camara, in a very quiet way, has made himself a really, really important member of that United side.
47:37 He's certainly not the most flashy member of that team, but he's a big reason probably why Archie Gray has played so much
47:45 at right-back this season, the fact that Farka has been spoilt for choice in the middle of midfield.
47:51 He's a big reason why they've had that, notwithstanding the Preston defeat, that metronomic consistency about them by and large.
48:02 I think he certainly wasn't one of the summer signings that, I think it's fair to say, many people were over-excited about.
48:10 But he's just one of those sort of players that you really need in a team that's going to challenge at the top of the table.
48:17 He was very good against Ipswich Town, as obviously were quite a few players when you beat the second-placed team 4-0.
48:25 But, yes, I think it would be nice to give him a bit of credit this week.
48:30 I'll mention a couple of them just quickly in this spatches. Victor Johansen, he had an injury scare in the game against Middlesbrough.
48:39 The tough old Viking that he is, he sort of soldiered on. Perhaps a few of the new school players wouldn't and would have come off,
48:48 but he was obviously in a bit of discomfort with his knee. But he carried on and made a few saves.
48:53 He's obviously a massive player to love, and he's a big player in every way.
49:08 He got a goal against Blackman as well on Boxing Day. It's been good to see his renaissance, if you like.
49:16 I think he was in danger of his career being at a little bit of a crossroads.
49:20 Victor Johansen is obviously a much more high-profile player in terms of the position he plays than Kamara.
49:27 But he's another one that I think Rotherham fans are just so used to his excellence that it almost passes without mention sometimes.
49:34 It's a given really that Victor Johansen is brilliant. But that's not to say that we should ever ignore the fact or talk it up.
49:43 He's an absolutely outstanding Championship goalkeeper.
49:46 We saw a couple of years ago, Sauber Thomas was one of the best players in the Championship when Huddersfield made the top three.
49:54 So for him to be getting back to that form is so significant for the Huddersfield team, who really have needed those extra bits of stardust up front to create some goals.
50:08 So it's really good that he's picking up too. Some encouraging performances this last week.
50:16 Did you just talk to Rotherham about being able to keep Rotherham and Johansen in the middle?
50:20 That's always the worry, isn't it? I remember talking to Matt Taylor about it a few weeks ago, saying,
50:26 "Well, do you have to be careful about not talking him up too much? Because you always want to keep this secret within Rotherham."
50:32 But his attitude was, "Well, it's obvious to everyone what a good goalkeeper he is.
50:37 If he were to go for the sort of money he's worth, that would make a big deal to Rotherham United, provided they invested it."
50:45 Well, if you're a Rotherham fan, you'd much rather keep the man himself.
50:48 YorkshirePost.co.uk
50:51 Yorkshire Football News
50:58 Many thanks to Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobtrell, who will doubtless join us again soon for more discussions on the Yorkshire football scene.
51:04 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 yp.sport@nationalworld.com,
51:11 or if you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well.
51:17 If you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages,
51:22 or email us directly with a subject matter at footballtalkpodcast@yp.sport@nationalworld.com.
51:28 As ever, many thanks for listening, look after yourselves and bye for now.
51:32 [Music]

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