Barnsley glad to hit the road, Leeds United marching on, Sheffield Wednesday stun high-fliers - The YP FootballTalk Podcast
In this week’s show, YP football writers Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall discuss why Barnsley might be glad to hit the road for this weekend’s derby clash at League One rivals Huddersfield Town, given their struggles so far this season at Oakwell.
How satisfied will Leeds United be in the Championship after they followed up a resounding 3-0 win at home to Coventry City ahead of a 1-1 draw at manager Daniel Farke’s former club, Norwich City.
Injuries to key players hit Huddersfield and Leeds, while Sheffield Wednesday pulled off a major coup by beating early-season leaders West Brom.
How satisfied will Leeds United be in the Championship after they followed up a resounding 3-0 win at home to Coventry City ahead of a 1-1 draw at manager Daniel Farke’s former club, Norwich City.
Injuries to key players hit Huddersfield and Leeds, while Sheffield Wednesday pulled off a major coup by beating early-season leaders West Brom.
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SportTranscript
00:00Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:14we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:17of our football writing team. On this week's episode, we're joined by Chief Football
00:21Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post,
00:24Leon Wattrell, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs. Don't
00:29forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond
00:32by logging on to our website at yp.sportatnationalworld.com, as well as checking out our various Twitter
00:38feeds, the main one being at ypsport. If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire
00:43Post Football, or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well. And
00:48if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter
00:51or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter as Football Talk Podcast
00:55at yp.sportatnationalworld.com. YorkshirePost.co.uk.
01:02As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week we're joined by Chief Football Writer for
01:05the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wattrell.
01:09Good morning, guys.
01:10Morning.
01:11Morning.
01:12Right. This week, starting in the Championship, we saw Hull City celebrate their 120th anniversary
01:17by claiming all three points in their convincing 4-1 victory over Cardiff City. Sheffield United
01:23had to settle for a point in their 0-0 draw at Portsmouth. Middlesbrough claimed a convincing
01:282-0 win over visiting Stoke City. And in League 1, Huddersfield Town left their game against
01:34Reading empty-handed after falling to a 2-1 defeat. Rotherham United shared the points
01:40in their 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury Town. Barnsley also had to settle for a point in their 1-1
01:45draw but with Stockport County, and we'll be covering them a little bit later on in
01:50this episode. And in League 2, Harrogate Town claimed another victory against Yorkshire
01:55opposition, this time in a 2-1 victory over Bradford City. And Doncaster Rovers fell to
02:02a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Chesterfield.
02:05However, let's start this week with the clash between Barnsley and Wickham, which
02:09saw the types play out a 2-1 draw when they welcomed Wickham Wanderers to Oakwell. What
02:15were your thoughts on the performance, and how do you see them going into their upcoming
02:18clash with Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town, Leon?
02:48Top and bottom of it, really, is that Daryl Clarke doesn't really know his best side
02:52at the minute. He tried various things on Tuesday night. It's funny, for the second
03:01year in a row against Wickham, there was some late, late drama. Actually, Barnsley had a
03:07bit of a fill of it on Saturday with the late goal from Stockport. At Wickham's, I looked
03:12at their numbers, their record in the final 50 minutes of games is incredible. I think
03:18they scored seven before Tuesday night. They scored another one to go in front, but happily
03:25Mark Roberts saved the day. He said before the game, Daryl Clarke, that he's searching
03:32for answers with his side. He tried three or four formations on the night, and thankfully
03:38they got something out of it in terms of a point. But it's just not going particularly
03:46well for them at home. There was a bit of angst there in the first half. To be fair,
03:52they brought on Stephen Humphies and Young Jalloh, and that did change things when Wickham
03:57were in front. It was a bit more urgency and a little bit more tempo. But a lot of it was
04:02dissatisfactory. To me, it was a bit square pegs, round holes. He started off with a 4-4-2.
04:10Clarke basically had four central defenders playing across the back line. He had Josh
04:18Earle at left back, he had Male, Dick Avivni at right back. There were problems playing
04:25out from the back. It was the goalkeeper as well that didn't look particularly comfortable
04:31in doing that. They looked a lack of width. They had Barry Cotter on the right, who can
04:38fly and he's got a bit of pace, but you wouldn't really call him a natural winger. On the left,
04:44they had Young Lofthouse, and he never really got into the game. There were issues really
04:49until the substitutes came on all over the pitch. Even in midfield, Stuart has spoken
04:54about Barnsley's midfield and how strong it is. I didn't think they were particularly
04:58good on the night. I thought the best midfielder on the show was Josh Scowan, who used to play
05:04for Barnsley. So there were clear issues at home. He's wrestling with it, Daryl Clarke,
05:14and one win in five home games. OK, they've only lost one, but it's not really what the
05:18doctor ordered. The fans are understandably getting a little bit grumpy. It's a historic
05:25issue heading back towards the start of the new year. He doesn't really know. He was probably
05:33relieved when they lost, but two points from two home games. They offered plenty beforehand,
05:41didn't they? Stockport on Saturday. This game against Wickham is pretty below par,
05:47isn't it? They'll be glad to be away from home at Huddersfield on Saturday.
05:55It's been a bit of a mixed start to the season for Barnsley, I think it's fair to say,
05:58although their position is still pretty handy, really.
06:03Yeah, I mean, just looking at the results, it just shows you how bitty it's been.
06:09I mean, if you just look at it in league terms, the longest winning streak is two games,
06:20but in terms of defeats, they've not lost two on the trot. It feels like a group still searching
06:28for its way. I mean, it's understandable. You've got to remember, this is a new manager working
06:33with a new group and every season somebody like Sunderland or Birmingham kid you into thinking
06:40it's easier than it is to bring this together. They should still be struggling for a way in
06:47many respects, but that's no consolation to Barnsley fans, particularly as Leon says,
06:54when this is a pattern that's actually been going back over the year.
06:59Yeah, it does feel like a manager more than anything just struggling to find his way. It
07:07might not be the worst thing in the world that, again, Barnsley are due to lose their
07:14fixture due to international call-ups, because I say looking from the outside, it feels like
07:19that is a group that could do with some time on the training ground to just figure things out.
07:26As Leon says, again, it's probably a bit of a bonus that the next couple of games are away
07:31from home, just away from those particular pressures, but they just need to work things
07:37out. They've got a manager who's been around the tracks. This isn't someone who's new to
07:43management, but experienced or not, it still does take you time to find the right combinations.
07:51I say that it seems that that's where Barnsley are at the moment. On the back of the disappointed
07:58end to last season, it kind of adds a bit of negative momentum to things, but they are still
08:06amongst it because that bitterness brings points along the way. It could be the platform to
08:14something better, but at the moment, I think we're just waiting to see where this goes.
08:19I think they're wrestling with home format. You're going to have to wait to see how it goes.
08:25It could be one of those where the first half of the season, they're obviously trying various
08:31things to prove themselves to be adaptable, but it might take until maybe the new year,
08:37maybe address one or two things in the window and they just have to try and not eke it out,
08:44but just be reasonably short term and just try and get themselves in a decent position.
08:49Then they can tailor a few things in the new year. I think the lack of width,
08:56sort of recognised wingers is certainly an issue when you look at the work they've done in the
09:03transfer window. That's something that to me they're going to have to clearly address.
09:08In January, I suppose there's a bit of making do and mending really, isn't there?
09:13Before that, it's the same. To be fair, there's a few teams who were in the same boat.
09:23Looking at Barnsley, obviously he was a big signing, Davies, Keeler, Dunne. He played him
09:28pretty much up front with Sam Cosgrove last night. I think in terms of getting the best out of him,
09:35I think he's a player who is adaptable and he's capable of playing there.
09:39I think he's better as a number 10 and just trying to fit something around that.
09:44From when I've seen him, I've seen bits of him at Mansfield as well,
09:49he looks more dangerous, deeper and he sees things and he can get on the end of
09:55things and create. I think offensively, that's one thing that I really will be trying to do,
10:01just trying to get some sort of system that gets the best out of him. It was obviously a big
10:08money signing comparatively for Barnsley. They obviously placed a hell of a lot of stock in
10:14getting him, I know Daryl Clarke did so. If I was in Daryl Clarke's shoes, that would be
10:19certainly, in terms of offensively, that's what I would be really focusing on.
10:26It's an issue Sheffield United had as well and they've addressed it rather better,
10:30but when you think for all the different managers over the last few years, Barnsley tended to be a
10:35back three team. So over the years, you kind of accumulate a squad with lots of wing-backs
10:41and no wingers and they did start off this season playing a back three. Because of the
10:45defensive problems they had in that horror week, they've rejigged things a bit and suddenly you
10:52play a formation with wingers and surprise, surprise, you haven't really got many wide
10:57players to do it. So that's part of the juggling act. When Leon talks about finding a formation
11:04to get the best out of Keeler Dunn, it's the same in terms of the wide players as well.
11:09You know, maybe that's something they'll have to look at in January to give
11:13Clarke the options to actually play other formations. But for now, it's about getting
11:22through to there and making the most of it. They're not going to catch Birmingham City
11:26after a start like that, but that was never the expectation for Barnsley. That's the good thing.
11:33Whilst fans are frustrated at the moment, I think the expectation is that Barnsley are in
11:39the play-off mix, not that they're setting the pace. The situation is retrievable, but I think
11:47we'll only know how good the start to the season has been when we look back on it a few months
11:52later and, as I said earlier, see what happens after it. I think defensively as well. They've
11:58not been too convincing defensively and I think part of Clarke's probably thinking as well when
12:04you maybe don't have a two that you can rely on, it's probably safer to play three, isn't it?
12:11And that's probably coming to his thoughts as well. But I just think for the well-being going
12:18forward, they're just desperate. They've obviously got the next few games away from home, but I think
12:25a convincing home win where they're defensively in order and they're consistent in their attacking
12:33patterns and they're in temp throughout the 90 minutes and they get a decent win,
12:37that's going to be so important for Barnsley going forward because it's been pretty
12:43unsatisfactory for a while there and you can feel that the tension is building.
12:49Any new manager, same with Michael Buffer at Huddersfield, you need those good first
12:54few home performances, don't you, to just settle the fans down and reassure them that this change
13:00is going to work? Yeah. And now let's turn to Leeds United who claimed a commanding 3-0
13:06victory over Coventry City and with this victory the Whites kept up the pace with those at the top
13:11of the division. This was then followed by a 1-1 draw when they travelled to Norwich City.
13:16Now, what was your assessment of the two results that Daniel Farker's side produced, Stuart?
13:21Well, to be honest with you, the result's good, but more than anything I think it was about the
13:30performance. I think Leon and I have talked about this before, particularly against Coventry City.
13:41Sorry. Yes, Coventry didn't play great. Leeds would argue that they barely got out of the
13:55final third for 50 minutes because Leeds did such a good job of pinning them in there,
14:00as they did against Cardiff City. That's my excuse for getting mixed up.
14:03But yeah, it was more the fluidity of Leeds' front line that I really liked in that Coventry
14:11game. Ramit Zalani and Nonto in particular, Aronson to a lesser extent, constantly popping
14:18up in different positions. I spoke to Daniel Farker afterwards and he said, you know,
14:22I'm quite happy for them to both appear on the same wing at times. They both regularly pop up
14:30in the number 10 position and it just makes it harder to defend against. When teams particularly
14:35are playing with a packed defence, it's a lot easier if you know where the player's going to be,
14:39obviously. You don't need a UEFA Pro licence to know that. And the goal that they scored against
14:45Norwich City was very much of the same order. Nonto popping up in the number 10 position to
14:52lay it off for Ramit Zalani. So that was a really good aspect and it just seemed like a more,
14:58frankly, it was more entertaining performance because we've been saying before that the
15:02results have been decent, but the style hasn't been great and not great for convincing people
15:10that this is really going to succeed going forward. The Norwich game, not of the same level
15:18in that respect. So again, we'll have to wait and see if that was a bit of a one-off, right time,
15:23right day or not. But if you just think back, it's only a few weeks ago Sheffield United were
15:29getting a few pelters for only drawing 1-1 at Norwich City and then went on to win the next
15:35three games without conceding a goal. I don't think a point at Carrow Road, particularly in
15:40a week like this where you can just look at all of our teams' results and very few teams win on
15:48the Saturday and the Tuesday. So yeah, I don't think it was the end of the world. The Norwich
15:56one, they had a few chances without sort of battering them, for example, the Burnley home
16:03game. But yeah, I think overall a good week, potentially a good foundation going forward
16:12because they need to find something a bit different. They've been good, they've been
16:17solid, they've been reliable, but they just needed that little spark. I said the Burnley
16:23defeat really highlighted it, but so did some of the wins like Cardiff away, for example,
16:29and things like that. They look like there's the potential for Ramzani and Nantes to really give
16:36them something different in a different way to how Routier did last season in Somerville.
16:42Yeah, I think it's encouraging, isn't it? I think it was obviously a smart bit of work
16:49getting Gonto to sign a new deal. That's given him some inspiration and he really seems to have
17:01taken on the responsibility of playing for the badge. He's going to be a talisman,
17:05isn't he? I mean, obviously they lost two huge players in Somerville and Routier and
17:10Daniel Farker's going to be asking a lot from him and Ramzani as well. He's shown
17:15some positive signs, hasn't he? He's got the lights against Cardiff and Coventry.
17:22And yeah, a decent point at Norwich. I think we'll probably want to speak about it a bit later. The
17:28big issue for Leeds is injuries, isn't it? I mean, it seems to be sort of one a game at the minute.
17:34Bad news regarding Ampadu, who was a real stalwart last year and they're obviously
17:41crossing the fingers regarding Groove as well. And there's others out, isn't there? There's
17:46James and one or two others as well.
17:50Max Nuland as well, yeah.
17:52Yeah, so difficult in that aspect. And then they've got obviously a big game coming up at
17:59Sunderland. So, yeah, I think that Daniel obviously doesn't like this sort of thing,
18:07but if any manager's prone not to panic with adversity on that cam, it's probably him,
18:15isn't it, really? I'm not saying he particularly likes being in this position, but I think he just
18:20deals with the cards he's dealt with and he'll try and come up with contingencies. But he will
18:27be tested certainly at the back if Leeds get one or two more. But the encouragement is Gonto and
18:35Ramazani and some of the combinations that they're sort of coming up in the final third.
18:42I suppose in a minute it's a case of Farka just thinking, well, we can just get the ball
18:48to those two and Joes, just let them do, almost do their own thing in a way and we'll just try
18:53and keep it somehow, put a sort of elastoplast at the back and try and keep teams out with the
19:00personnel we've got, really. So, yeah, considering the sort of early season issues they had with
19:08creation and losing the players we mentioned, I'm pretty encouraged by development at Leeds in the
19:15past few games or so. So, yeah, a big tick in the box in that regard, but problems elsewhere at the
19:21minute, aren't they? Yeah, I think they're in a similar-ish box to Daryl Clark in that they're
19:28still trying to find the best use of those players. I mean, with Leeds, they kind of had the results to
19:34paper over the cracks to quite a large degree, but as we say, it was the performances. When you lose
19:40players like Routier and Somerville as a championship club, you're always going to
19:45struggle to get like-for-like replacements. So, it was about finding a different way of
19:51causing problems. And I say that that game is a one-off game, sort of pointed to where they could
19:59do it. The issue now is that it doesn't become a one-off game and they're able to build on it. But
20:07yeah, it did look like a good sort of signpost is the way ahead attacking, as Leon says,
20:12that's only half the issue for them at the moment. But, you know, as a unit,
20:17they have been pretty reliable defensively for most of Farquhar's time.
20:21When you lose those players, Somerville and Routier, there's going to be disruption,
20:25isn't there? But it's all about minimising it, isn't it really? And I think the Leeds
20:31supporters understand that as well. Now, I just wanted to quickly touch upon
20:36the injuries that you mentioned there, Leon, but the injuries specifically regarding Lee Nicholls
20:42of Huddersfield Town and Ethan Ampadu for Leeds United. What impact do you think that
20:47their absences could have for their clubs? We'll start with Stuart on this one.
20:53Well, obviously, you know, Leon's just touched on the Leeds issue defensively. I mean,
20:58it's one of those sort of strange quirks that Ampadu's been playing in midfield, but actually
21:03the biggest loss in terms of getting injured is defensively because, you know, with Wobo
21:09having surgery as well, you're basically one injury away from a bit of a centre-back crisis.
21:16They've got Yung Dabai who, he's a 19-year-old lad who's not played a minute of senior football
21:22yet. So whilst he's got a lot of potential, you know, you want to ease a player in like that.
21:28I think in some strange respects, I think this has the potential, and I'm not sure it'll be
21:36fulfilled, but I think it has the potential to actually be a positive for Leeds. And the reason
21:41I say that is that this time, well, not this time last year, Christmas last year, they lost Pascal
21:47Stroik who was a big player for them for the rest of the season. And you, of course, would not want
21:53that to happen, but it kind of forced them to find a better blend, dropping Ampadu back and
21:59changing the midfield picture. And I think there's the potential for that. We were talking on previous
22:05podcasts about how we didn't, or certainly I was saying I didn't feel the midfield blend was quite
22:09right with Ampadu and Gruev. This forces them to look at something different. Now, I'm not certain
22:17this is going to pan out in a positive way because Tanaka is the player we were sort of talking about,
22:23about how he could bring something different and certainly Rothwell can as well. The reason I'm a
22:28bit reticent to sort of jump on the glass half-full respect to this is that Tanaka actually
22:35came in and in the last two performances, he's played in the holding midfield role where he's
22:40been very good. He played a brilliant pass to Nanto for the third goal against Coventry.
22:45But that's the sort of things Ampadu was doing. I think if Gruev was to play a bit deeper and
22:51Tanaka and or Rothwell were to be getting up and down, I think that would add a different
22:55dimension to Leeds that could potentially make them a better team. But the flip side of that is
23:05you are just one injury away from a problem. As Leon says, Gruev getting injured against Norwich,
23:10if that turns out to be significant and then you add that into the mix, suddenly there's no way of
23:16glossing it. That's definitely bad news. Obviously, Ampadu in his own respect, he's the captain of
23:21Leeds United. He's one of the best players in the division. There's obviously going to be a drop
23:26off there. But I do think there were times last season where Barker, and this isn't a criticism
23:33of him as manager because it happens to a lot of the best managers, that it almost forced him into
23:38finding a better solution sometimes, circumstances. When you think early season, you had Archie Gray
23:43and Ampadu in central midfield. They looked like a really good pairing. You had Routier at number
23:48nine and by the time the season went on, Routier dropped into 10, Gray to right back, Ampadu to
23:53centre back and suddenly the balance looked better. I think there's a possibility this could happen.
24:02But as Leon says, the potential pitfalls and the downsides are massive. So you're really keeping
24:10your fingers crossed with regards to that. As for Nicholls with Huddersfield, I'm more concerned about
24:17that one because we were talking last week about the need for leadership, on-field leadership at
24:23Huddersfield Town. They lost Hellick last week who falls into that category. The flip side of that is
24:30that it at least brought Matty Pearson back in, who again has those sort of qualities. But Nicholls
24:35is another one of those. Chris Maxwell filled in well for him last season, but he's just getting
24:42back to fitness now. Jacob Chapman's had the job. I just think Huddersfield need as many leaders as
24:48they can on the pitch. The reason I'm so reticent to talk about league tables at this time of year,
24:55we were saying last week, for all the problems, Huddersfield are fifth. Seven days later,
25:00they're 15th. They're in a difficult period of time and they need as many of those players as
25:07they can to drag them out. The challenge is for other Huddersfield players who may not be as old,
25:15people like Brodie Spencer, David Kuzma, who's fit again, to stand up and be those leaders.
25:21But I think that as much as anything, Nicholls is one of the best goalkeepers in the division,
25:27so I'm not downplaying his ability. I think when they had that really good start to the season,
25:33Nicholls was papering over a few cracks with some really good saves, but I think it's his
25:38leadership more than his goalkeeping. Yeah, it never rains but pours, does it?
25:45It's a classic sign of a side who are doing it tough on a bad run of form that injuries
25:53get thrown into the mix. To be fair, they've had quite a few issues this season. Huddersfield
26:00have had players out for three or four weeks. Herbie Kane came in, Kuzma was out as well,
26:09and we've seen ongoing problems with Healy as well. They've got even injuries from pre-season,
26:15like St Balka, who's not going to be back on deck until the new year. But yeah,
26:23Michael Duff needed those two injuries, like a hole in the head really, Lee Nicholls and
26:28Healy Kane. Healy's going to be out for a while as well. It's a fairly serious hamstring injury,
26:34apparently. It's probably the kiss of death from moi as well. I wrote a story a couple of weeks
26:39ago saying that the best piece of business at Huddersfield was arguably keeping hold of Healy
26:45and Nicholls, and lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, they're in the treatment room for
26:49most of the autumn, so I'll have to put my hands up for that one, really. So apologies there.
26:57Yeah, I just think two big players in the dressing room, big players in the spine of the team,
27:04and you fear that if Huddersfield lose another one of those in the situation that they're in,
27:10then they're really, really going to have to man the barricades. In fairness to Michael Duff,
27:17he's one of those managers who won't particularly moan about it. He's probably a bit like Farka in
27:22that respect. He's a problem solver and he'll try and get out the elastoplasm, as I said earlier,
27:30but it's certainly not what he needed because they were the two of the bigger players for
27:37Huddersfield last season, but it seems to be common with a lot of teams this season. There
27:42has been these spates of injuries. You look at Bradford, don't you? They've had to go out and
27:47bring in an experienced defender in Paul Huntington to see them through until
27:53January. I think they've got three or four central defenders who are out of action. So,
27:59yeah, it just seems to be one or two of our managers are dealing with this sort of thing.
28:03I suppose that's the art of management in some respects, isn't it? It's okay when everything's
28:09going well, but they really earn the money when they're having to come up with solutions on the
28:15job. I think Maxwell, to be fair, is a pretty experienced number two. He's been around the
28:23block with Preston and various other clubs. They've got a young keeper in Chapman there,
28:28but I think Michael Duff will certainly be keeping his fingers crossed in that regard.
28:34He's only just come back himself, Maxwell, hasn't he? He had a slight heart issue linked to a viral
28:45infection. He's obviously served a bit of a protocol and he's back into the fray. He was
28:52on the bench for the game at Birmingham on Tuesday. They're just having to rally round
28:58Huddersfield, aren't they? They've obviously got a big derby against Barnsley on Saturday,
29:04a little bit all hands to the pump. If they can manage to dig out some sort of result there,
29:09it'll be huge for their morale, won't it? Sometimes you have to do that, don't you?
29:16I mean, hit the nail on the head, it never rains but it pours. These things follow you around when
29:20you're having a bad time, don't they? We see it every season with clubs up and down the division.
29:26I think it's probably not the right time to get involved in that debate, but the fact that there
29:31are all these injuries cropping up, they do have to look sometime about how much we're asking of
29:36players in terms of the games that they're playing. But yeah, that's for another day,
29:41I think. For now, it's just a matter of, as I say, other people emerging as leaders.
29:51Leon's quite right to say that Michael Dove's a good person to deal with it,
29:54but ultimately there's only so much he can do once the whistle blows.
30:00Next, let's turn to Sheffa Wensley, who played out a 3-2 victory over West Bromwich Albion.
30:05This was a much-needed victory which helped the Owls stop their slide in terms of results,
30:09and also put some separation between them and the relegation places. How do you think Danny
30:15Rowe will build on this result as they head into their trip to Bristol City, Leon?
30:20Yeah, it was a deserved victory for me, and I think the manner of it as well. They're obviously
30:252-0 up from the first half. West Brom in fairness came back and brought some of the heavy artillery
30:32on. But yeah, the fact that West Brom scored another late goal against Wensley, thinking
30:39about the late goals that QPR scored and Luton, albeit a bit more controversially. It was a big
30:46blow to them psychologically, Sheffield Wensley potentially. Third game in a row,
30:51potentially dropped points with another late goal, but fair play to them to piece together
30:57an excellent winner from Masaba. He was, speaking to him afterwards, Danny Rowe,
31:03sort of said, could this be potentially a big moment in this season? He was pretty
31:10circumspect and probably right to be as well, to be fair. They've obviously got the two away games
31:16coming up against Bristol City and Coventry. They've got a tight turnaround from one to the
31:21other. I think you'll sort of know that Wensley are back on track and a bit of an even keel when
31:30they do get an away result. Obviously, you think of their away form in the opening half of last
31:37season. It was awful, wasn't it? In fairness to Rowley, he did sort it out a bit in the second
31:42half of the season. They got some big wins, didn't they? But yeah, I think for everyone's peace of
31:48mind, they could just do with an away result and a convincing performance somewhere because they've
31:55shown a bit of susceptibility from set plays. Obviously, they brought a new set piece of
32:00coaching, conceded six or seven goals from set plays. So, they need some continuity away from
32:07home. But yeah, it was just an important win for them on Saturday. They've not won since the first
32:13weekend of the season. The manner of it and coming from being 2-0 up to 2-2 and having the
32:21wherewithal to get a winner. There was some good work, I thought, from Wensley. I thought it was
32:25quite a smart performance. I like them in the middle of the park. The combination between
32:31Bannon and Charles looks pretty promising. I've not seen too much of Charles Stewart. I've probably
32:37seen a bit more of him than me. But he looks a bit of an old head on young shoulders. He holds
32:41his ground well. His decision-making is good. He's got a good engine and he sort of retains
32:48possession nicely and allows Bannon to be a bit more creative going forward. Bannon had a part in
32:56the first goal and the third goal. So, that was encouraging. I thought they were decent at the
33:04back as well. The fame was very strong. A terrific ball for the second goal from Josh Windas.
33:11Yeah, I thought it was a pretty smart performance. The pressing triggers were good.
33:16The management of the game. I think they were helped by the fact that West Brom Central
33:23Midfield didn't get in the game at all in the first half. They had a lad on debut and another
33:28lad next to him. It was only his second league start and it took Alex Mower to come on to bring
33:33a bit of order for them. Yeah, a well-deserved win for Wednesday but they need to start sorting
33:41out this away form and I think Roel knows that as well. A tough turnaround but he wasn't looking
33:49for excuses. I think they've got less than 72 hours before the Coventry game but similar to
33:56what we mentioned with Farka and Michael Dove. He's not going to whinge about it. You've got
34:03to play the cards that you dealt with ultimately. Yeah, definitely. Much needed for Sheffield
34:09Wednesday. I think the midfield balance has probably been the key for them in the early
34:14weeks of the season. I was raving about them. One when Ingleside and Bannon played together
34:19but in some of the other games we'd have been under a bit more pressure. That midfield was
34:24left a bit open. It has been for years at Sheffield Wednesday and hopefully it continues
34:31to be for a couple of more years. It's just finding the combination that gets the best
34:34out of Barry Bannon really, isn't it? He's such a quality player. With any player, regardless of one,
34:43in the later years like Bannon, there's always things they can't do and you've got to find
34:47someone that covers that up and complements it. So perhaps Charles and Bannon is going to be the
34:55way forward. They've played well in the last couple of games with the buts, as Leon mentioned,
35:01those controversial late goals but you can only do that for so long. You have to ultimately make
35:08the difference. To do it against a team that had such a good start to the season as well,
35:14that will do wonders for their confidence. As Leon says, now the big leap is to really
35:21crack things away from home. They've got to build on that.
35:26Finally for this week, I look to Stuart for his choice of team of the week before turning to Leon
35:32for his player of the week. So Stuart, who's caught your eye this week?
35:36There's been quite a lot of good team performances in themselves. We've just
35:42talked about Sheffield Wednesday. Once bitten, twice shy. I'll hold off on them,
35:46given that we're talking before their midweek game, rather than get carried away with that.
35:54Rotherham, massive for them to finally get that monkey off their back away from home. Obviously,
36:03a huge win. We mustn't get blasé about the fact that they keep doing it. Huge win for them
36:07against Bradford. But in both cases, they were the one off in the week. Harry got past midweek,
36:15Rotherham had dropped points on the Saturday. Likewise with Leeds, good performance. But then
36:19they dropped a couple of points at Norwich City. So I'm really looking to the teams who backed it
36:26up. Hall seemed to have found some much-needed momentum. That's three wins on the trot now.
36:35Hopefully this can be the start of that patience we were talking about with Barnsley and others,
36:42just coming together and really paying off. We'll wait and see. But I'm going to go for
36:47Middlesbrough, who've tested their fans' patience at times with a start to the season that's maybe
36:54offered more than it's delivered. But wins over Soap City and West Brom, hopefully that's really
37:02going to kick-start Middlesbrough and it turns out to be a really good period for them.
37:07And Leon, who has made your Player of the Week contender?
37:12Yeah, there's a few names. Obviously, before a couple of games on Wednesday as well,
37:25we mentioned Barry Bannon and Charles and they certainly caught the eye against West Brom.
37:32Sheffield United wise, Michael Cooper, I thought he made a couple of brilliant saves from what I
37:35saw at the highlights there at Portsmouth and he looks a really sound acquisition, doesn't he?
37:44He's done a lot of good work in his time at Plymouth. He was ready for the step-up. He's
37:48a good age, what, 24, 25, to take on the next challenge. I remember when Chris Wilder signed
37:55him, I've had all the good references from people who were respecting football and he looks a real
38:03calm and solid influence and I've been impressed by that signing and Soutar as well.
38:09A few names there, Stuart mentioned Hull, Bellumi as well, he backed up the performance
38:17against Cardiff when he got a couple of goals and had a good influence at QPR.
38:23Bedia as well, up top. I saw the clips he gave Rodolphe Riel, a bit of a do-it-over,
38:31didn't he, in that game at Leeds even though Leeds won. He's obviously got his first goal from
38:42open play against QPR and he looks like he can do a bit of damage. We mentioned earlier,
38:51Ramazani and Gonto were having a bit of fun and merriment together. Probably mentioned
38:58Barnsley-wise, Mark Roberts, he was throwing his head and body on everything
39:09against Stockport by all accounts on Saturday and he did the same on Tuesday against Wickham
39:17and he got a goal into the bargain and it was a real performance of leadership there.
39:22But yeah, probably doubling up with Stuart. You can't really ignore Middlesbrough,
39:29especially given the fact that it was a statement win, wasn't it, at West Brom,
39:36winning at the Hawthorns. I'm not quite sure what the figures are but
39:40I know they haven't been beat at home for ages but I don't think they've hardly conceded a goal.
39:44I was going to say, it feels like they haven't conceded a goal for them.
39:46Yeah, so a fine win for them. I'd probably say, if not for one player, go for Hayden Hackney
39:56because I think his first season under Michael Carrick he made a real breakthrough, didn't he?
40:03One or two injuries and form issues sort of stymied him a little bit last season but he looks
40:09to be back to his best. He got a great goal against Stoke and he got the winner against
40:16West Brom and obviously doing it in the absence of Johnny Houston as well. I don't think I've
40:21forgotten anybody else but if I have, apologies. But I probably will go for Hagen Hackney this week
40:30more so given the fact that they were going to a side right up at the top of the table in West
40:38Brom and got a win. So he just edges it out ahead of the whole duo.
41:00Soon for more discussions on the Yorkshire football scene but don't forget you can keep
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41:22with a subject matter as Football Talk Podcast at yp.sportnationalworld.com. As ever, many thanks
41:28for listening, look after yourselves and bye for now.