In this week's show, YP football writers Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall join host Mark Singleton to discuss the latest news and developments in and around the Yorkshire football scene.
They start by looking the two games played by Championship leaders Leeds United in the past few days, beating Norwich City before battlking out a stale 0-0 with promotion rivals Burnley.
Have Hull City turned a corner following their 3-0 win over second-placed Sheffield United and can Huddersfield Town quickly stop the rot that has seen them lose their last two games and ground on the top two of Birmingham City and Wycombe Wanderers.
Doncaster Rovers maintained their push for automatic promotion by edging out Yorkshire rivals Harrogate Town ahead of Wednesday night’s trip to Barrow, but they have joined in the race for a top three spot by Bradford City, who boosted their own chances of getting out of League Two with wins over leaders Walsall and struggling Morecambe.
Could Yorkshire have two teams going up from the fourth tier?
They start by looking the two games played by Championship leaders Leeds United in the past few days, beating Norwich City before battlking out a stale 0-0 with promotion rivals Burnley.
Have Hull City turned a corner following their 3-0 win over second-placed Sheffield United and can Huddersfield Town quickly stop the rot that has seen them lose their last two games and ground on the top two of Birmingham City and Wycombe Wanderers.
Doncaster Rovers maintained their push for automatic promotion by edging out Yorkshire rivals Harrogate Town ahead of Wednesday night’s trip to Barrow, but they have joined in the race for a top three spot by Bradford City, who boosted their own chances of getting out of League Two with wins over leaders Walsall and struggling Morecambe.
Could Yorkshire have two teams going up from the fourth tier?
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:13we'll be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:16of our football writing team. On this week's episode, we're joined by Chief Football
00:20Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post,
00:23Jon Walshall, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs. Don't
00:28forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond
00:31by logging on to our website at yp.sport at nationalworld.com, as well as checking out
00:36our various Twitter feeds, the main one being at YPSport. If you search for Yorkshire Post
00:41Sport, Yorkshire Post Football, or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well.
00:46And if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter
00:50or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter at the Football Talk podcast
00:54at yp.sport at nationalworld.com.
00:57YorkshirePost.co.uk
01:00As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week, we're joined by Chief Football Writer for the
01:03Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wobshaw.
01:06Good morning, guys.
01:07Morning.
01:08Hello.
01:09This week in the Championship, we saw Sheffield Wednesday claim a valuable 2-0 win over
01:14Queen's Park Rangers, and we'll be covering them later on in the show. And Middlesbrough
01:18fell to a 2-1 defeat when they travelled to Preston North End. In League One, Rotherham
01:23United fell to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Burton Albion, which was followed up by a
01:272-1 victory when they welcomed Cambridge United. And Barnsley fell to their second successive
01:32defeat after losing 1-0 to Sea Village before travelling to Wickham Wanderers and playing
01:36out a 2-1 defeat. And in League Two, Bradford City claimed a 3-0 victory over Walsall before
01:42claiming all three points in their 1-0 victory when they welcomed Morecambe to Valley Parade,
01:46and we'll be covering them later on in the show.
01:49However, let's start this week with Leeds United. Whoever came at Norwich with a 2-0
01:54victory before recording a 0-0 draw when they travelled to Turf Moor. Now, what did you make
01:59of the two performances? And with two weeks left in the transfer window, do you expect
02:04much activity from Daniel Farker's side, Stuart?
02:08There's definitely scope to improve that side, you know, at number nine and at number ten,
02:14but Daniel Farker's very relaxed about it. And as I've said before on this podcast,
02:19it's one of those situations where you probably don't need to force it. If something good comes
02:27along, definitely jump on it. But yeah, he seems so relaxed about it, I wouldn't be surprised if
02:36the window closes without him doing any business. And really, those two games showed that they're
02:42not desperately in need of anything. They laboured a bit at times at Norwich City,
02:48but you never felt they were going to lose. Likewise against Burnley, you know, they were
02:54the better team in that 0-0 draw. They were the team looking to win, but you felt as if in their
03:00mind they were reasonably content with a draw. I mean, the surprising thing was that Burnley seemed
03:06so content with the draw. Yeah, you felt like if Leeds had needed to force it with Alessio Nanto
03:13and Rothwell and Firpo and used on the bench, they really could have done. But yeah, you just
03:20got the impression that 0-0 would do for them. I mean, it kept them top of the table, it doubled
03:25their lead. From my perspective, it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity to not at least
03:30take the chance of forcing it a bit more. But, you know, they're doing enough at the moment.
03:36And, you know, I did a piece in the Yorkshire Post on Wednesday. It's kind of this
03:42debate around Leeds at the moment. Should they be looking to do more than just enough? Or when
03:48the whole season's about getting promoted, is just enough enough? You know, you can't argue
03:54with top of the table, you can't argue with top goalscorers, you can't argue with the defensive
03:59record. It's not as good as Burnley's, but that's ridiculously good. They're in good nick. You know,
04:04you feel sometimes, you know, like we used to say about England under Southgate a lot of the time,
04:09you could just push for that little bit extra. But, you know, like I said with the transfer
04:14business, there's risks involved with that. And, you know, Daniel Farker is fairly risk-averse.
04:20And he's doing the job required of him at the moment. So it's difficult to be too critical,
04:25really. I think, yeah, I'd agree with everything Stuart said there. I think if you look at all
04:31the West Yorkshire teams, at the end of the season, it's just about getting the job done,
04:36isn't it? You know, if Leeds get promoted where obviously they want to be, Huddersfield
04:41back sort of where they belong, Bradford get, you know, escape the shackles of Leeds too.
04:46I don't think the supporters will be particularly bothered, will they, as long as they just get over
04:51the line. There's a bit of style there. Great. But if, you know, if not so be it. It's all about the
04:59sort of ends justifying the means. I mean, I saw the Burnley game and I think it was one of those
05:05after about 70 minutes, it wasn't like downing tools, but you just thought we don't want to,
05:09neither of them want to particularly lose it. And I've seen a bit of Burnley this season and
05:15attacking, I did the game at Leeds, probably mentioned before, I did the Sheffield Wednesday
05:19game and the, what was the other one? Sheff United. And they've never really caught my eye
05:26sort of in terms of sparkling going forward, but they're so organised without the ball, aren't they?
05:31The distances between defenders, you know, the positioning of the midfielders. And I think,
05:38I think you said in commentary, is it eight or nine nil-nil draws or something?
05:41Yeah, nine now after Monday. Yeah.
05:43So it just seemed to, it seems to be a look at Burnley's games coming forward. I think
05:48they sort of looked at it thinking, well, if we don't lose this one, we've got a,
05:51we've got a decent run of games. Although I suppose in the championship, you should never
05:56sort of guarantee anything, but on paper, at least it looks pretty handy. And yeah, we've
06:02Leeds up. I think part of me thinks with Leeds that Farker's maybe looking at, he's looked at
06:08the Burnley game, he's looking at a little bit forward, who they've got in February. They've got,
06:12was it Sunderland at home? Yeah.
06:14Got to go to, they've got to go to Bramall Lane. I just wondered if Farker's sort of thinking,
06:19if we can just negotiate those games, if we can get a win, brilliant, fantastic. But if we don't
06:24lose them and then in the running, they've got some, speaking about handy games with Burnley,
06:30Leeds, Leeds' run doesn't look too fraught with danger if they can sort of keep that
06:36sort of same defensive resolve and they should have enough to win a few of those games going
06:44forward. I mean, obviously it's not as free-flowing as they'd probably like it to be
06:48away from home, but you know, the points tally is pretty outstanding, isn't it? And it compares
06:54favourably with previous campaigns under Bielsa. So there's not necessarily tonnes of style at
07:02times this season, but there's a hell of a lot of substance. And I think as well in the final
07:09bit of the season, there's all this people, you know, fixated with blowing away teams,
07:16but you get in the final thing, you get a lot of tight games, don't you? There's not many goals
07:21and that will, I think that will suit Leeds United and probably Burnley sort of better
07:28than most. So yeah, I think he's, yeah, being pushy, it would have been a terrific statement
07:34if Leeds hadn't turned more. But I think part of Farka is looking at the bigger picture and
07:41having a little bit of a look at what's coming ahead down the track in February and then a little
07:47bit further on from that. It'd be terrific to win, but it's very important not to lose them
07:55because as Farka always says many times, and he's dead right as well, you know, every defeat at
08:01Leeds becomes, it's a bigger drama than at most clubs, isn't it? It's an emotional club, that's
08:07his famous phrase. And yeah, I think he's, I think it's steady away and they're looking okay.
08:14Yeah, you know, I think you can overblow the style thing. I mean, there's that line in the
08:19James song, isn't it? If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor. And maybe they've
08:23been a bit spoiled by Bielsa football. They're comfortably the top scorers in the division.
08:29Yeah. It's not, it's not Bielsa level football, but equally, it's not Burnley level football.
08:35I wouldn't like to have a season ticket at Turf Moor at the moment. Good that, you know,
08:38Leon's dead right. They're really good defensively. They're a really good team,
08:42but they're not a good watch. You know, Leeds are a couple of notches more interesting than
08:48that. Let's put it that way. But again, to go back to what Leon says, it's just about getting
08:53the job done. And if Leeds play brilliant, entertaining football this season and lose
08:59again in the playoff final, the season will have been a disaster, you know, from a Leeds perspective.
09:06They've just got to get the job done. And the net results of that weekend is they're a point
09:10further ahead of Sheffield United and Burnley and Sunderland are no closer with one less game
09:16to chase them down. So yeah, it was a good week for Leeds United. It could have been better,
09:23but you know, we don't live in the perfect world. It could have been better. It could have been a
09:26lot worse, couldn't it? Exactly. And yeah, I mean, Burnley's good. They get a fair bit of stick,
09:32Burnley, but I think you've got to praise them as well, haven't you? They haven't had a centre
09:35forward all season. Yeah, I mean, they're the same again. If they get up with 20 clean sheets
09:40this season, 20 little nils or whatever, job done, you know, pat on the back, you know, again,
09:46would you rather that or would you rather the football they were playing under Vincent
09:50Kompany last season getting hammered every week? You know, it's always a balance, isn't it?
09:55They're probably both preparing for next season when they won't be able to go out and
10:00run over teams anyway, because I mean, you look at Southampton last season,
10:04you know, arguably the best pure footballing side in the Championship and they've just been
10:11getting smashed, haven't they, every week? Exactly, yeah.
10:15And next, let's turn to Sheffield Wednesday, who had to settle for a point in their two-all draw
10:20with Bristol City. This means that they're still in the hunt for a playoff spot, but how did you
10:25evaluate their performance and how could we see them approach their game against league
10:30strugglers Luton Town, Leon? Well, they certainly should have. They should have beaten Bristol
10:35City. They did a lot of good things in the first hour. You know, in fairness,
10:43Danny Rolfe sort of put his hand up and said he got it a little bit wrong. There was obviously
10:48Shea Charles, who was re-signed for Wednesday, which is terrific news. He got a bucket in the
10:54game against Bristol City and he was walking in a little bit of a tight role. So, he brought him
11:00off because he was wary of being on a bucket and wasn't sort of going 100% into tackles.
11:08So, yeah, he took the decision to bring him off. He brought Liam Palmer on. I'm not picking him
11:14out, but he did struggle in that last half hour in particular. One or two other players he had
11:19to bring off as well. There was an issue as well, a little bit, is Wednesday's pitch. It's a little
11:24bit worn and there's obviously an issue with the numbers with Sheffield Wednesday written down
11:32here. 17th best home record and fifth away. I think the state of the pitch could be compounding
11:40it a little bit as well. So, they have sort of struggled in that regard, but they did more than
11:46enough in the first hour, but to bring a few players off, the call sort of backfired on roll.
11:52And, yeah, Bristol City, they got one back just after the break from Naki Wells and then pushed
11:59in the final 20 minutes and they equalised. They very nearly won it. So, yeah, it's a little bit of
12:05sort of an issue with a home form with Sheffield Wednesday. But, as I've spoken about last week,
12:13I think in League 1 and in League 2, there just looks to be a couple of spots that are going to
12:18be there for someone who managed to not necessarily be brilliant every week, but just have that sort
12:25of bit of consistency. And, you know, to be fair to Wednesday, if you sort of look at the form over
12:31the last 10, 12 games, and it's probably in the top 10, isn't it? You know, it's not earth shattering,
12:36but they're winning a few, they're not losing too many and they've been hard to beat,
12:42especially on the travels. And I'm always talking about a statement and I suppose on one level,
12:48you think going to QPR is, you know, it's a half-decent, any away win's good, isn't it?
12:53You know, it's a half-decent result. But I think when you look at the form that QPR have been on,
12:58I think we mentioned this last week, after losing at Leeds in early November, they've only lost one
13:04in about a dozen, haven't they? And I think they were chasing a fifth or sixth home win on the
13:08trot, they've not done that for a long time. So, I think it probably was a bit of a statement from
13:14Sheffield Wednesday, backing up as well, they'd had the Wednesday night, going into Saturday,
13:19a long trip to the capital, QPR had played the previous night against Hull and did that game,
13:24so they had a bit of an extra rest. To me, it was a real standout win for Wednesday,
13:31but the trick is they've got Luton at home on Saturday, Luton have been struggling,
13:35they're down among the dead men, you know, a serious side would back this up and get a win,
13:40and they do that, and then a tricky January, we've had all the noise about Chancery
13:45and his Ripley role, they've got Charles back, they're after one or two players,
13:52they've submitted a few bids, they've had a lad called Clarke at Ipswich who they seem to be
13:58particularly keen on, he'd reinforced them at wing-back, they're obviously clearly trying to
14:04get a few in before the deadline, get a win on Saturday, get a couple more in, and at the start
14:11of February, psychologically, they'll be in a decent place, and they've got a chance, we've
14:17spoken long and hard about it, the team's around the top six, they're sort of going in and out,
14:23the fifth and sixth, West Brom have had a few bumps, they had a good win last Saturday,
14:27but they've lost it, Middlesbrough in the previous game, Middlesbrough keep shooting
14:31themselves in the foot, Watford's form has been up and down, several others as well, so it's going
14:37to be there for a couple of teams, we've spoken about the top four, it'll depend on how that pans
14:45out, but yeah, there's every chance for someone if they get their act together, a little bit of
14:51consistency, a bit of luck on the injury front, a lot of variables, it's going to be there for
14:57someone, so why not Sheffield Wednesday? I think Leon's point about the pitch sort of points to
15:03the wider problems at Sheffield Wednesday, the reason the pitch has been so poor is
15:09they've had to train on it because it's got under-soil heating and the training ground isn't
15:13up to scratch, there's so much potential at that football club, particularly while Daddy
15:18rolls there, if they could just invest in the training ground, upgrade the facilities there,
15:24that's part of his issue, isn't it really? It is, yeah, and there's a lot of talk quite
15:32rightly because of their history and their stature about what a big club Sheffield Wednesday
15:36are, but in areas like that they don't act like a big club often enough in my opinion,
15:42and if they just have that sort of facility, not only does it mean
15:47the first team pitch is better, you prepare better for games, it even helps with signing players,
15:52you know, when I used to cover Sunderland, the number of players who'd signed for Sunderland
15:56and the first thing they'd talk about was the quality of the training ground,
15:59you know, same with Middlesbrough trying to sign players and clubs like that, it makes,
16:03it does make a difference to the top pros who've got a choice, so I think in the long term that's
16:07something they've got to get right, I think in the short term, I think Leon's right, they're
16:11just on the fringes of it, I think they need a couple of signings to be able to bridge that gap,
16:18as they are, I don't think they're quite able to do it, but getting J Charles back is a huge
16:24thing for their club, you know, a real tick in the box for Chancery who gave him a lot of stick,
16:28but he's put his hand in his pocket, he's done that, there needs to be more now, you know,
16:34keeping Charles has just kept them at the level they are, they just need to go up another level,
16:38but I agree totally with Leon, I think it's there for them, if they can just do a good job in this
16:44next week, because you feel with Danny Roll, if you give him the tools, he can do the job for you,
16:51the difficult bit, you know, is finding the money, because you don't want Wednesday
16:57spending money they don't have, but you do want them showing as much ambition as they can afford
17:02frankly, and I say in areas like the training ground, in areas like the squad at times,
17:07you just don't feel like they really give it the push that those supporters deserve.
17:12I mean, you look at one, I'll just quickly, we'll probably go on to talk about it,
17:14one or two of the players at Hullaboard, they'd have been good for Sheffield, wouldn't they?
17:17I mean, Bamford sort of fit in, Geldart would have been a good sign in, you know,
17:21they're not from Blackpool as well, he's got pedigree, so they're the sort of
17:25calibre of players that would, you know, add something to them, wouldn't it?
17:29Correct, yeah.
17:30And our attention now turns to the Yorkshire clash between Sheffield United and Hull City,
17:35which saw Chris Wilder's side stunned by a 3-0 defeat inflicted upon them by Ruben
17:40Sellers' side. This also saw the Tigers climb out of the relegation zone.
17:46What did you make of what I think is quite an astonishing result, Stuart?
17:50Yeah, I mean, it was quite an astonishing result, really. I mean, if you'd said the day before,
17:55but certainly weeks before, Sheffield United had lost 3-0 at home to Hull City,
17:59you'd have been laughed out of town. I mean, from a Sheffield United perspective,
18:05you've got to hope it was just one of those days. You know, I've seen a few of those games where
18:11the passes are just going astray, people can't control the ball, they're making basic mistakes.
18:15I've seen quite a few of those first halves, I think Swansea City earlier in the week was one
18:20of those, where they've managed to pull it around at half-time, this time there just was no pulling
18:26it around. But, you know, the contrast and the real positive is Hull City, you know what I mean?
18:30Just to echo what Liam said, the recruitment has been really good, you know, really switched on,
18:36really feels, I say this a lot about Hull, and, you know, maybe it's sort of paranoia on my part,
18:43but it feels really coach-led. And every time I look at Hull's recruitment, I try to look at it
18:48in that perspective, who's leading these signings? And yeah, Crooks and Joseph in particular,
18:54again, another thing I sort of bang on about Hull City.
18:56Sorry to go on as well, yeah.
18:58Yeah, but, you know, the physicality of Crooks and Joseph just gives you an outball,
19:03and they weren't afraid to use it. They didn't overuse it by any means. But, you know, at times
19:08under Tim Valter, we were critical of them only playing one way. Suddenly, they've got people
19:14who can hold the ball up front. Yeah, you know, Gerhard looks a good addition, obviously scored
19:20his magnificent goal against QPR in the game Leon was in. They look a bit like Sheffield Wednesday
19:27this time last year, in that they've identified a really promising young coach. And the big
19:33difference between what we're talking about Sheffield Wednesday now that they've chucked
19:36resources at him. So I think the second half of this season could be the platform for a really
19:44good season next season. Big if, but if they continue to do the right things from here to
19:50there. I was really impressed with them. I've been impressed with them since Sayers has taken over.
19:55He's just got something about him. You know, they haven't, I don't think they've put together
20:00back-to-back wins yet, even. So it's far from, you know, mission accomplished. But you can see
20:07signs there that there's something really promising and something that could be really
20:11special if they can, you know, see this project through for 18 months, two and a half seasons,
20:16whatever. I think when you're, especially when you've been buying a few players in as Holt have
20:22and you're down, you're sort of down near the bottom, you know, you desperately need a result
20:28like the, you know, an unexpected one that brings everyone together. No, no, few people have been
20:33expecting them, you know, even though the championship is what it is and you can't,
20:38you know, you can't predict most things, but I don't think anyone had them down there to,
20:41to win that one. No, and I mean, they look okay away, don't they? You look at them and
20:49they don't concede too many. They're sort of away for me. It must be something like top 10,
20:54something like that, but it's just a home for me. That's the big, that's the big bugbear and,
20:59you know, he's a good coach. So he'll know that, you know, the next significant step in
21:05their evolution is sorting that out. You know, it's been, you know, a desperate Achilles heel.
21:12I mean, there was a, what was the stats earlier this season about Sheffield Wednesday winning
21:17more games than Hull than Hull themselves. So that's the, that's the next step for them,
21:25but they must have something going, you know, for the side who struggled all season,
21:29their away form has been pretty, pretty decent in the circumstances. That suggests they've
21:33got something about them and they're certainly, you know, well coached under, under Selez and,
21:39you know, that's the, that's the next thing for them, isn't it? They're making some,
21:44obviously they make one or two signings from the continent who are unproven at this level,
21:47but they've also, they're sort of mitigating that by the fact that bringing in players who know the
21:53level and obviously on the cusp of bringing in a player that a lot of people are talking about in
21:58Barry as well. So yeah, if they could just sort out the home form in the next month or so,
22:04they can look, you know, they can pull away from trouble. They can, as Stuart said,
22:08they can have a positive final third of the season and something to take into the summer.
22:14Sorry, William. Again, like Sheffield Wednesday, the Super League season's only just about to
22:19begin and that, that pitch is poor, you know, and again, if you've got a coach trying to play good
22:24football, give them a good surface and in fairness to, in fairness to Hull, you know, they've,
22:30it's not for lack of effort in their case. I don't think, you know, they've got some
22:34special lighting in last season and what have you, but they haven't got to the bottom of it.
22:39That is, again, it's something they need, they need to sort out, but
22:42positive signs, I think. Sorry, Liam.
22:45No, it's spot on. It's a good point, actually.
22:48And now let's look at Huddersfield Town, who fell to a 1-0 defeat when they welcomed
22:53Bolton Wanderers before hosting Birmingham City and playing out another 1-0 defeat.
22:58Now, what were your, what was your take on the two Terrier performances, Leon?
23:04Yeah, they were, they were pretty similar. I mean, if you were a watching viewer on the
23:08box, you may have turned over and watched Coronation Street, I think, to be quite honest.
23:14There's Stuart O'Policy as well from watching Huddersfield. Plenty of, a lot of perspiration,
23:20organisation, effort and heart, but they're just, just lacking that little bit in the,
23:26in the final third at Huddersfield. I mean, they didn't have much luck in the respect that
23:32they didn't want to, they didn't feel willing to risk Joe Taylor. I mean, it's the last thing that
23:37Huddersfield need, isn't it, given all the problems they've had with injuries that have just
23:42come from all over the place. He, he felt his hamstring on the, on the Saturday slightly,
23:50so they brought him off a little bit early. But to be fair, he's not been, he's not been playing,
23:55you know, I think it was only his, his second start of the season. Most of his games for
24:00Luton have been from the, from the bench, so you've got to manage his minutes a little bit.
24:05Felt a little bit of a, Duff said he felt a little bit of a funny feeling in his,
24:08in his hammy again on, again on Monday, so he wasn't risked. And yeah, I mean, that's, that's
24:15a bit of bad luck on, on that regard, isn't it? And obviously, Dion Charles has been thrown in,
24:22and it, you know, it just, it does, it takes time for people, new players, I mean, there's been a
24:26lot of singing and dancing about bringing these two lads in, what they're going to bring to
24:31Huddersfield. It takes time to sort of build relationships and things, doesn't it? And
24:36yeah, they were, it was one moment of quality from, from Birmingham on Tuesday night, you know,
24:41a very good goal from Kessie Anderson. I think on the balance of, balance of play, they, they
24:48showed more of the poise as Bolton did on, on Saturday. So they've just got to, they've just
24:55got to dig in a little bit at Huddersfield. I mean, they went, obviously, 16 games without a
24:58defeat. The narrative can soon shift, and it does, people are saying, well, 16 games without
25:04defeat, now it's one winning six sort of thing. So they've just got to, they've just got to keep,
25:10keep calm, keep the fingers crossed that Taylor's not going to be out for, for too long as well. And
25:17I mean, I've seen a bit of Huddersfield this season. There's tons of organisation and,
25:21and they give, they give everything. They're, they're in most games, you know,
25:26throughout the game, really. It's just that, that sort of final, final third, that little bit of
25:32midfield balance. Obviously, Ben Wiles wasn't playing the other day. He got, he got a foot
25:40injury. It's just, it's just getting that chemistry quite right. And I think they're,
25:44I think they're missing David Kasuma as well. And he's been, for me, he's been their most
25:48consistent player in the middle of the park this season. And obviously, he's one of those who,
25:54they're getting players back from the treatment room, but there's still one or two in there.
25:58And, you know, they're missing Kasuma. But I think it'll help them in, in February that
26:04there's not as many Saturday, Tuesday games. So they can spend a bit more time on the training
26:08ground, getting these, you know, relationships between, between the new players and players
26:13coming back. There's obviously Ruskin as well, the Dutch win back who made his debut, his full
26:19debut on Tuesday night against Birmingham. He looked, he looked okay. He's, he's certainly a
26:23speedster and he, and he, he had a half decent night. So get him, get him up to speed with his
26:30teammates, Charles as well. Hopefully Taylor's doesn't seem to be too bad an issue, touch wood.
26:36He can really get to know his teammates. There's obviously a few players come back, coming back.
26:41There'll be Kasuma's not going to be too long, long, long way as well. I don't think he's,
26:45he's too long, but there's just having to be a little bit careful, Duff. There's,
26:51there's obviously Rodinio Boca as well. He's, he, his appearance on Saturday was his first start of
26:57the season. They were a little bit conscious of not overloading him as well. He, he lasted 70
27:02minutes. He was, he sort of suggested to the bench, he might be a bit, a little bit of a ramp
27:09coming into his hamstring. So they took him off as a precaution. Then they didn't start him on
27:13Tuesday night. So yeah, he's having to be, Duff's having to be mindful of, you know, not overloading
27:19certain players and being a little bit careful. And, you know, I suppose in, in some respects,
27:26it's not the easiest that you bring, you bring new signings in, but then you've got, you know,
27:30the best team in the division. And then, then you've got a Bolton side who probably underachieved
27:35a bit and it seemed to be, you know, the shackles were, or they seemed a little, I don't know if
27:41that's the right phrase, but I think they were probably unburdened a little bit by the fact that
27:44Everton had gone in midweek. So it was, I suppose the pressure was, was off slightly and the
27:53caretaker manager, Julian Darby, bit of a different voice. He probably simplified it a little bit.
27:59The fans were probably energised by Everton going as well. So I think two pretty difficult games for
28:04Huddersfield in, in the circumstances, given that they're trying to assimilate new signings,
28:09they've got some players coming back from injuries who aren't yet sort of fully, I don't
28:16know, re-acclimatised into it. They could basically just need a few weeks on the training ground,
28:20the window to shut. I don't think they're going to be doing anything else from what Kevin Nagle
28:25said on Tuesday night, the window to shut, get some quality time on the, on the training,
28:31training ground and, and refresh and sort of go again for the, you know, the home stretch.
28:37Yeah. I mean, I sort of get the impression that, that does the sort of manager who would
28:42ideally like to send out more or less the same 11 every, every game, you know,
28:45these teams are fairly consistent, weren't they at Barnsley, you could, you could pretty much,
28:50yeah, pretty much name them. But, you know, as Leon says that the injury record of some of those
28:54players, they don't quite have that durability. So there's a, there's a bit of having to,
28:59you know, mix and match your way through the, I mean, the Roos come on is interesting because
29:03obviously he had an absolute nightmare, you know, first involvement with Huddersfield Town,
29:07sent off in the first few minutes, but you wonder if in a kind of perverse kind of way,
29:13being out of it and just working outside for a couple of weeks might just have helped his
29:17acclimatisation. We'll only know in time, you know, certainly left him with a little bit of
29:24making up to do in terms of the fans. But if, if what Leon says about his performance on Tuesday
29:30is anything to go by, then, you know, he's on course to do that. So, yeah, I mean, the good
29:34thing about Huddersfield is they've got a manager who won't get flustered by, you know, the ups and
29:39downs of it. I think, I think, you know, everyone, even the most sort of emotional Huddersfield fan
29:45will recognise that, you know, Birmingham City, you know, a one-nil defeat is not, it's not the
29:51biggest disaster in the world. Yeah. They just, they've just got to keep plugging away, I think.
29:58As Leon says, hope they get Taylor fit as soon as possible, because when you've made such an effort
30:02to get two strikers in, it's a real kick in the nuts when one of them gets injured so quickly.
30:07Yeah, I mean, they were really, they weren't terrific Huddersfield and a struggle for sort
30:12of clear-cut chance, but they were still in the game, you know, going into the final 15, 20 minutes,
30:16you know, maybe nick something from a set play. Yeah, you're right about Taylor. I mean,
30:20that'd be desperately bad luck, wouldn't it, if they lost him for a period of time. I think
30:27Bolker's really big as well for Huddersfield. Yeah, he's a big, strong lad. He's got pace,
30:34but he's also good on the ball. He can come out and, you know, step out of defence and,
30:40you know, link with the midfielders and, you know, with the best will in the world. I think
30:45it's fair to say it's not the best qualities that, I mean, they're very good defenders at this level.
30:51Tom Lee's a massive person, but they're sort of more meat and two veg almost, you know,
30:58they're very good at this level. So, I think Bolker's a key player in that regard because
31:03he's more of a ball, he can do the defensive stuff and he's quick, but he's more of a ball-playing
31:08defender as well and that'll, I think that could help Huddersfield in the build-ups and
31:13help the midfield as well. But it'd be good to see, you know, if Cosumo could come back. He's
31:19impressed with this season, you know, Bolker, Cosumo, Taylor, you know, if you can get them
31:25sort of fit and firing for the home stretch, I think that could be significant.
31:31And now we turn our focus to another Yorkshire clash, this time between Doncaster Rovers and
31:36Harrogate Town, which saw Doncaster Rovers claim all three points from the fixture.
31:41And Harrogate Town then followed this up with a 1-0 defeat when they clashed with MK Dons.
31:46Now, what were your thoughts on the performances from both Doncaster Rovers and Harrogate Town and
31:53both the Harrogate Town fixtures, Stuart? Yeah, I mean, I think in terms of the Saturday game,
31:57I think it was a game both teams could take something from. You know, from Doncaster,
32:03they only had two shots on goal all game and, frankly, the one that went in shouldn't have done.
32:08You know, poor goalkeeper from James Belcher, who's been a very good goalkeeper for Harrogate,
32:12as we've said on this podcast before, goalkeepers make errors. You know, they're human beings and
32:18unfortunately he made one that day. But, you know, where we started with Leeds United,
32:25it's about getting the job done. And sometimes those games when you're not playing great,
32:30they had a lot of the ball, but they didn't make many chances. If you get away with a 1-0 win,
32:34that is job done. You know, absolutely. You're happy with that. And, you know, we're speaking
32:40before they play Barrow. If they can win at Barrow, and it's a big if because Barrow is one
32:44of those games, it's probably the League Two equivalent of a wet night at Stoke, isn't it?
32:50You know, if they can do that, that's three wins and a trot in the league for the first time this
32:54season. They need to get together that sort of run which they produced last season because
33:02they're showing what they're capable of, but they're just not backing it up often enough. So
33:05for them to back up the previous win was important. From Harrogate's point of view,
33:10as I say, they had less of the ball, but they had the better chances. Josh Marsh missed a good
33:16chance, which you'd expect a player of his quality to put away. So, yeah, there was something to
33:25cling to. Bryn Morris looked a good addition to me. Brian Billabong at left-back was excellent.
33:32He was marking Luke Molyneux, arguably the best player in that division, certainly up there,
33:38and kept him quite quiet. So that was a good sign that they made a couple of good signings.
33:47I was at Bradford on the Tuesday night, so I don't know too much about Harrogate's defeat
33:51in midweek, but certainly there were some good signs there. They had Tom Cursons and Tom Hill
33:59on the bench who, for different reasons, will take time to settle in. So hopefully down the
34:04line there'll be a payoff from them. So, yeah, I think there were signs of encouragement for both.
34:14You just yearn for Doncaster to find that consistency. And Harrogate, when you look
34:21at Doncaster and the opposite extremes of squad depth, Harrogate are really trying to
34:27build that up with what they've done in January, and hopefully they can have a bit more
34:32resilience to back up a Saturday performance on a Tuesday going forward.
34:36Yeah, I think psychologically for the Rovers fans as well, Harrogate have had a bit of an Indian
34:42sign, haven't they? Well, not just Doncaster, but Bradford as well, isn't it? And they'll play them
34:49in a few weeks as well. Yeah, I mean, it's fascinating, isn't it? There's fascination.
34:55You look at the top end of all the divisions and there's intrigue. Yeah, it's so tight, isn't it,
35:01below Walsall? And I think they've lost a couple down in Walsall. They have, yeah.
35:05It's interesting. But yeah, looking at Doncaster, that unbelievable run they had in the final third
35:13of last season, well, that's got to count for something. When you're coming up for that,
35:17they've got that fortified in the minds. They've got that to draw upon. They've got some pretty
35:24experienced players there who've been around and were part of that. I wonder how much that'll
35:30account for things in the final analysis. And I think the big thing will be, I'm not too sure
35:37in terms of Doncaster's remaining games, I'm sure they'll have to play quite a few of them, but
35:42that record against teams around them, it's going to be so important, isn't it, in the final
35:48make of the table, potentially who finishes second and third, who drops into the playoffs.
35:53And I know some of the recent games, Rovers, they've been edged out, haven't they? They've
35:56obviously got beaten at Walsall. I think they lost at home to Port Vale, didn't they?
36:01Yeah.
36:01And who was the other one, I'm trying to think, was it AFC Wimbledon as well? They
36:09managed to beat them. So those six points against teams around them are going to be so
36:16important, not just for Doncaster, but for several other teams. And that could well determine who
36:22gets in the playoffs, who gets edged out, who doesn't have to bother with the playoffs and
36:27finishes in the top three. But yeah, it's all set up for a cracking final third of the season.
36:37And next I wanted to turn to Bradford City, who, as I mentioned at the top of the episode,
36:42followed up their 3-0 victory over Walsall with another valuable three points with their 1-0
36:48victory over Morecambe. Now, with the Bantams into the top three of the division, I think it's
36:54safe to say that they've done very well over the past few weeks. What are your thoughts on their
36:59recent form, Stuart?
37:01Well, they're really getting some momentum. I think the thing about Tuesday night was
37:05it was just that game that any football fan would look at and just be irrationally worried about.
37:11You know, you've not just beaten, you've comfortably beaten Walsall, the league leaders
37:16on the back of a terrific run. You've gone, I think that took them to four wins on the trots.
37:23You're playing the team bottom of the league on a Tuesday night. They're managed by your
37:28ex-manager. They've got stacks of your ex-players in there. It's just one of those games you wake
37:33up in a cold sweat about the day before as a fan thinking, we're just going to cock this up, aren't
37:38we? And especially, you know, you go 1-0 up early on with another goal from Alan Cavanagh,
37:48it's really stepped up the last couple of months, but you don't add to it. And you think, you know,
37:52this team aren't offering anything, but I've seen football so many times. I just know what
37:57can go wrong. And say, as a fan of your team, you're just convinced the worst is going to
38:02happen most of the time. They successfully avoided it. You know, it's five wins on the
38:08bounce now. It's three clean sheets. It was a professional job. It wasn't as comfortable as
38:14it should have been, but they definitely deserve to win. They did the job well. They're building
38:20something. And I think the big thing for them, which the Walsall game highlighted more than the
38:24Morecambe game, they've got Alex Patterson fit and they've got Antony Sarcevich fit. And if they
38:30can say that for the rest of the season, they're going to have a really good chance because they're
38:33two really good midfielders at this level. You know, you add to the fact they've got this base
38:39of three clean sheets on the row. They've got a good goalkeeper in Sam Walker. Alan Cavanagh
38:45scoring goals to sort of make up some of the deficit for Andy Cook. There's a lot of positivity
38:50there. Again, like I just said about Doncaster, if they can put that sort of run together,
38:56we've seen Port Vale do it earlier in the season in League One. We saw Walsall do it until they
39:01went into Bradford. Leighton Orient are doing it at the moment. It's a division this season
39:07where teams can put those sequences together. And Bradford with the squad they've got as well.
39:11They rested Patterson to the bench and Lewis Richards on Tuesday. They had some good players
39:16not in the squad. Like Doncaster, there's a lot of depth in that squad now. There's a very
39:21level-headed manager, which I think is really important at such a rollercoaster club as
39:26Bradford City. The flip side is, if you get overexcited, it sounds like I'm in danger of
39:33doing right now. That's always the danger with Bradford. I feel with Bradford, with Sheffield
39:38Wednesday, with Leeds, there's such excitement around the place that you need an Alexander to
39:43just calm things down and just say, look, you know, next game, focus on it. And Leon talks
39:49about those six pointers. They're at Wimbledon next. That is definitely in that category for
39:54them. So they need to back it up. But the important point about them is, I think,
40:01when they have a bad day, because there'll be one coming, that Graham Alexander, I can absolutely
40:08guarantee you will react in the right way. I'm pretty sure he'll be able to get the squad to do
40:13the same. That might be interesting. They're third now. They've been under the radar a little
40:19bit. They've been seventh or eighth on the shoulders of some of the teams in terms of
40:24Leeds. Now they're third. They're a little bit more there to be shot at. But given the form,
40:30it's a pressure that they hopefully should be able to handle. They got the job done on Tuesday
40:36night. It wasn't pretty by the sounds of it. But historically, these have been the sort of games
40:40that Bradford have slipped up in, haven't they? Too many times over too many seasons at this
40:46level. And I'm sure it'll be more of a fight for their lives. It'll have been a stop-start. They've
40:52been going down every time. They got challenged trying to eat the clock. They're starting the
40:58other. Nothing wrong with that in their position. So Bradford negotiated it. And fair play to them.
41:04It's been an outstanding run. And he's got to be a shoo-in, hasn't he, for manager of the month
41:09of January, sure? Yes, I think so. And finally for this week, I will turn to Leon for his Team
41:16of the Week before looking to Stuart for his Player of the Week. So Leon, who have you decided
41:21deserves the Team of the Week nomination this week? Yeah, I mean, there's some very good
41:25performances we've spoken at length about. The Champions is renowned for the sort of mad
41:34madcap results, unexpected ones. And that was an outstanding one from Paul. But
41:39yeah, you can't really look too far away from Bradford just keeping in that theme. I mean,
41:44there was so much momentum there, the sort of running hot. This run is exactly what
41:52we've been wanting to see from them for a good while. And I mean, all power to Graham Alexander
41:58as well. I mean, a hammer blow of losing Andy Cook, but he's not panicked, has he?
42:05You know, the fellow who's brought in Mellon, we've hardly seen him yet. He's still in reserve.
42:10But good managers find solutions. He struck on something with the two number 10s, if you like,
42:17in Sarsovic and Paterson, who his goal on Saturday was outstanding, wasn't it? He just drove through
42:24with power and pace and a lovely finish. And, you know, they look a proper team. Nine wins out
42:31of 11 in all competitions. I think they've won five out of six in the league. They haven't lost,
42:36I think they've lost one since about mid-November. The home form has been reassuringly strong
42:42all season. So they look in a really good place. They can just sort of,
42:48they probably will have bumps in the road, but they can keep in decent order for the run home.
42:54They're going to have a lot of momentum and a lot of potential wind in the sails there, aren't they?
42:58But as Stuart rightly said, they've got the perfect guy in charge. He's built, you know,
43:03he's talked about Michael Duff enough times, building a culture, a club and, you know,
43:09no excuses and everyone being together. And that's what Graeme Alexander has done at Bradford. He's
43:17great and he's a really interesting, thoughtful manager. You know, he talks a lot of common sense
43:25and his answers are quite revealing as well. So, yeah, it's hard to look any further than
43:31Bradford. It's just about, you know, keeping running with the ball and
43:34trying to maintain this form because it's, you know, it's terrific to see.
43:39Yeah. And Stuart, who have you decided deserves the player of the week?
43:45Well, I mean, with apologies to everyone else, I think I've seen six of the Yorkshire teams in
43:51the last week, so I've just concentrated on the ones I've seen this week because there's been
43:55plenty of good candidates in there. You know, I mentioned Blongo, very impressed with him for
44:00Harrogate, equally in that game. Jamie Sturry, excellent. I mean, he's been such a good signing
44:06for Doncaster, really, really good from right back. Overlapping, inverting, you know, all sorts
44:12of things. Really good to see him play so well. Leon's mentioned Alex Patterson, he'd have been
44:19in with an even better chance if he'd started on Tuesday. As it was, he came off the bench,
44:24had a strong penalty appeal and made a really good chance for Sarsovic, so he's had a really
44:29good week, as has Sarsovic. Mentioned in the Hull game about Cruyff and Joseph, also been
44:36really impressed with Stephen Alzate, you know, one of the players who has come in without
44:42experience of English football. He looks a really good holding midfielder for them and a good buy.
44:49But the one I've been most impressed with, really, for the last few weeks, but, you know,
44:54especially the last couple of games, is Jadon Bogle at Leeds United. He's been in
44:58terrific form, really. You know, I'm always pleased to bang the drum for full-backs who
45:04are in good form. He's been getting forward well, he's been doing his job defensively,
45:08you know, played his part in an important clean sheet. Yeah, I'm going to go for Jadon Bogle.
45:34and beyond by logging onto our website at yp.sportnationalworld.com,
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45:47you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages, or email us directly with the
45:51subject matter as Football Talk Podcast at yp.sportnationalworld.com. As ever,
45:57many thanks for listening, look after yourselves, and bye for now.