On this week’s show The Yorkshire Post’s chief football writer Stuart Rayner joins host Mark Singleton to discuss life in Leagues One and Two for Yorkshire’s clubs, plus looking at England’s contrasting performances against Ukraine and Scotland during the recent international break.
In League Two, how do Bradford City breathe more life into their stuttering start to the 2023-24 campaign, can Doncaster Rovers turn a corner in terms of a run of results that has left them rooted to the foot of the table and are Harrogate Town destined for another relegation battle, or is a brighter future in store for Simon Weaver and his players.
In League One, there is time to look at Barnsley's campaign so far, one that – on the back of two wins – has left them just outside the play-off places under new boss, Neil Collins.
In League Two, how do Bradford City breathe more life into their stuttering start to the 2023-24 campaign, can Doncaster Rovers turn a corner in terms of a run of results that has left them rooted to the foot of the table and are Harrogate Town destined for another relegation battle, or is a brighter future in store for Simon Weaver and his players.
In League One, there is time to look at Barnsley's campaign so far, one that – on the back of two wins – has left them just outside the play-off places under new boss, Neil Collins.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:16 we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:19 of our football writing team. On this week's episode we're joined by Chief Football Writer
00:23 for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting
00:27 our local clubs. Don't forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across
00:31 Yorkshire and beyond by logging onto our website at yp.sport@nationalworld.com, as well as
00:36 checking out our various Twitter feeds, the main one being @ypsport. If you search for
00:41 Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can
00:45 find us there as well. If you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using
00:49 those various Twitter or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter as
00:53 footballtalkpodcast@yp.sport@nationalworld.com.
00:57 Yorkshire Post.co.uk
01:00 So let's start this week in League Two and turn our attention to Bradford City, who were
01:06 able to share the points after coming back from being 1-0 down to claim a 1-0 draw with
01:12 Grimsby. The Bantams seemed to struggle with creating any clear-cut chances, even after
01:18 Mark Hughes changed up the team formation at half-time. However, substitute Alex Gilead
01:24 was able to drill a shot past the Grimsby keeper to avoid defeat. How do you think Mark
01:29 Hughes will feel following that game, and how could his team improve ahead of their
01:33 clash with Harrogate Town?
01:34 Well, I think he'll be relieved more than anything. It's been an unconvincing start
01:40 from Bradford this season. In fairness to them, they were slow starters last season,
01:47 a bit more mitigation then with them pretty much ripping things up and starting again.
01:52 With the way they went into this season, I think we were hopeful that they'd hit the
01:57 ground running a bit quicker. Maybe the formation change to three at the back has been a big
02:04 factor. But yeah, they've just not quite hit their straps yet. All of last season, really,
02:12 there was a feeling that they were just not quite, just sort of one step away from where
02:17 they needed to be so often. That certainly came across in the Grimsby game where, as
02:25 you've already alluded to, they were fortunate really to take a point. There were positives.
02:34 The full debut for Bobby Poynton, a really big one in that respect. Hopefully, he can
02:42 be a big part of things going forward. It's always nice to see a local lad coming through
02:53 and justifying his selection. Hopefully, he can bring a bit of energy and vigour to that
02:59 team. But yeah, I think they do need to get their head around their tactics going forward.
03:08 If this back three is worth persevering with, the balance of the midfield. We saw Kevin
03:21 McDonald substituted at the weekend, wasn't it? Richie Smallwoods had times out the side.
03:28 Whether those two are a partnership they can go with going forward or not, that's something
03:34 else that needs to be decided in midfield. It's not time for panic, that's for certain.
03:42 As I say, they did recover from a slow start last season. They just need to find that right
03:51 blend. Of course, they're coming up against Harrogate Town at the weekend, who I recall
03:57 they've had their difficulties against in the past. They'll need to be on their game
04:05 to make the most of that fixture.
04:08 Now we turn our attention to Doncaster Rovers, who suffered a late and frustrating 1-0 defeat
04:14 at the hands of Wrexham. This left Donnie rooted at the foot of the table. Their next
04:18 game sees them pay a visit to Forest Green Rovers. What do Doncaster Rovers have to do
04:25 so that they can stop this rapid slide in results? If they don't stop it now, they could
04:31 easily find themselves seeing the league just run away with it, is that true?
04:36 Yes, obviously it builds on a pattern we've talked about very often on this podcast over
04:42 the last couple of years of the momentum really going the wrong way for Doncaster. Again, I
04:50 think we were hopeful that with the change of manager and with quite a drastic overhaul
04:55 of the squad that things would start a bit more positively this season. It seems that
05:02 they played reasonably well against Wrexham, just a couple of sloppy goals have cost them.
05:12 It feels like they just need to get their head around exactly how they're going to do
05:19 things. It seems like Richard Wood's had a bit of a difficult start. He's obviously been
05:26 asked to do things at Doncaster that he wasn't being asked to do very often at Rotherham.
05:32 Often playing in a back four, being asked to play the ball out a bit more, something
05:39 which was a theme of his time at Rotherham but can't be helped. He's been chopped in
05:45 and out of the team and that doesn't help the cohesion at the moment. Again, I think
05:55 they just need to have a bit of a think about where they're going. Again, not to over-panic
06:04 but this does need addressing quickly because psychologically there's a danger that the
06:11 club as a whole, even though a lot of the players weren't there last season, can get
06:15 in this mindset of 'here we go again'. They dig themselves into a hole that's difficult
06:22 to get out of. Mo Fowle's goal was a big tick in the box. You talked about Bobby Poynton.
06:30 Mo Fowle's come on loan at Doncaster as another young player and to see him score, that'll
06:38 do him a lot of good. Louis Marsh came on deadline day, hopefully he can get settled
06:43 in quite quickly. But yeah, they've got to quickly address this slide because, you know,
06:52 unlucky defeats or not, defeats piling up are really going to do them some damage if
06:59 they're not careful. Yeah, exactly. Because like you said, they could easily run the risk
07:03 of, as a club, losing that sort of self-belief which is incredibly difficult for the manager
07:12 and the players themselves to shake. So the last thing they will want is to come back
07:18 from the international break after this period and find themselves thinking 'how are we
07:24 going to do this?' Yeah, I mean, it's funny, you know, not that anyone at Doncaster would
07:29 be finding it funny right now, but sometimes at football clubs you can change all the on-field
07:34 personnel, you can change the coaching staff, but a psychology can still remain, particularly
07:40 if you're in a losing streak. As I say, it's been a couple of years of pretty steady decline
07:47 at Doncaster Rovers and I think sometimes this isn't to criticise anyone, but it can
07:53 come as much from the stands, you know, when people who have been ground down by failure
07:59 after failure just get in that mindset of 'oh no, here we go again' and it can create
08:05 an apprehension on the terraces, which is, I say, it's totally understandable, it's really
08:12 hard to fight against, but it can become quite infectious if you're not careful. And I say
08:17 that backdrop of the last couple of seasons makes this start more concerning for me. The
08:29 points that they're giving away can easily be made up if you've got the belief you can
08:36 do it, but my worry is that that self-belief is just ebbing away. We were saying last season,
08:45 Leon and I, that we were worried that Doncaster might get themselves into this position, but
08:50 in all honesty, when they made the changes they did in the summer, I really didn't see
08:55 it coming. I saw Doncaster Rovers knock Hull City out of the League Cup, play really well
09:00 that night, and you thought, hopefully they're going to be turning a corner here, but it
09:06 just seems as though that mental barrier, when it comes to League football particularly,
09:10 is just a really difficult one for them to get over right now.
09:15 And now we turn our attention to Harrogate Town, who fell to their third straight defeat
09:20 when they suffered a late and agonising Wondal defeat away at Gillingham, with two wins from
09:26 seven games and a trip to Valley Parade coming up next. What can Simon Weaver do to help
09:31 turn their fortunes around, Stuart?
09:34 Well, time will tell. It may be that they had a stroke of luck on deadline day, it may
09:41 be that they didn't, with Luke Armstrong's transfer to Wrexham falling through. They've
09:46 suddenly got a lot of firepower there potentially when Josh Marsh gets himself fit. I spoke
09:56 to Sarah Barry, the Chief Executive there, earlier in the week, and she says that financially
10:01 they've been covered, the Chairman's put money in to cover the loss of the Armstrong
10:07 transfer fee, so it doesn't seem like there's any major issues on that front. The concern
10:13 now is a footballing one really, how does Armstrong react to the disappointment of missing
10:20 out on that transfer, which he clearly wanted.
10:24 The reports were quite good at the weekend, in terms of the feedback was that Armstrong
10:29 put in quite a good performance, there was no sulkiness or anything like that against
10:35 Gillingham. And again, like we just talked about with regards to Doncaster, it sounded
10:41 like it was a pretty good performance against a team who went top of the table as a result,
10:47 just undone by a very late goal in stoppage time for Sean Williams. So there's definitely
10:57 positive things for them to cling to at Harrogate. But yeah, I think a lot will ride on how Armstrong
11:07 responds between now and the January transfer window, and how quickly Josh Marsh gets fit,
11:14 and whether the two of them can form a good partnership together to make the most of what
11:23 could have been a pretty tricky deadline day for the club with the way things panned out.
11:30 And now we turn our attention to League One and Barnsley, who have played out back-to-back
11:36 two-nil victories in the league, which has seen them placed just two points outside of
11:40 the playoff places. Their upcoming game is a visit to Burton Albion. How do you see Neil
11:47 Collins' men lining up for that clash based on the last few performances?
11:52 Well I think in keeping with probably most of the clubs in our county, I think Barnsley
11:59 will have been glad of the international break, glad of the fortnight on the training ground
12:04 to just work on tying things down a little bit closer. But yeah, they ended that phase
12:15 of the season very strongly. Three defeats on the trot, if you count the Football League
12:23 trophy, for obvious reasons a lot of people don't. But nevertheless, things seem to be
12:28 moving in the right direction. And again, we talk about Doncaster and their past experiences.
12:35 Barnsley probably should be looking at this saying, well, it took us a couple of weeks
12:38 under a new manager at the start of last season to find our feet, but once we did, we really
12:43 hit our straps and to convince themselves in this case that history is going to repeat
12:48 itself. It does feel like things are moving in the right direction for them. It feels
12:55 quite positive for them as a club. Obviously losing Liam Kitchen when they did was a huge
13:04 blow and we're yet to see really how that will pan out. As we discussed last week, the
13:10 defensive side is the big concern for them. But if Devante Cole can keep up his form and
13:18 the team can keep scoring goals, that hopefully can make light of that and take a bit of pressure
13:25 off the team. Burton haven't had the best start to the season by any stretch of the
13:33 imagination. So to be playing them at home, really this is an opportunity for Barnsley
13:39 to just build a bit of momentum to sort of, maybe a bit harsh to say paper over some of
13:46 the cracks, but minimise some of the problems that Kitchen's departure will have caused.
13:53 Definitely. And finally for this week, we turn our attention to England, who had to
13:58 settle for a draw in what I perceive to be a subpar performance when they faced Ukraine
14:05 before recording a far more impressive 3-1 victory in their international friendly against
14:10 Scotland. That game saw Gareth Southgate make several changes from the side that faced Ukraine
14:15 and they seem to have paid off. What did you make of the performances and how do you think
14:20 Southgate will look at the game against Italy, which is coming up next month?
14:25 Yeah, well, I mean in terms of how we looked at the performances, I think the game in Rothale
14:31 was just a bit of a bad day at the office really. Not even a bad day at the office,
14:37 just as you said, a bit subpar. They were just a little bit lethargic in their passing
14:44 and their attacking play. It wasn't terrible by any means and obviously it was a big emotional
14:50 day for Ukraine, who had fantastic backing from the stands and it was obviously their
14:57 opportunity to send out a bit of a message given all the far bigger problems that are
15:03 happening in that country. But really, the position England went into that game in, in
15:09 terms of the qualifying group, they were 100% at that stage. To take a draw like that away
15:15 from home, no big deal really. They'd sort of earned themselves that blanket by winning
15:21 in Italy. I think the Scotland game showed what they're capable of when the passing is
15:28 that much sharper and crisper and they need to sort of replicate that now. But yeah, lots
15:35 of positives for them. Jude Bellingham continues to look like an absolutely outstanding player.
15:42 Phil Foden was brilliant against Scotland. There's such a wealth of attacking talent,
15:48 we know that with England. A few issues at the back with obviously John Stone's injured
15:54 at the moment, but sort of more pertinently for the long term, Harry Maguire's lack of
15:59 football, Calvin Phillips' lack of football, although he played quite well at hand. Yeah,
16:08 I think England are in a good place. I think against Italy, again, you'd very much like
16:18 to win. Italy have got a change of manager at the moment. They're not in the best way,
16:22 but even just avoiding defeat, again, from the position England are in the group will
16:28 be good and will get them most of the way to Germany, given that there's a couple of
16:34 teams qualified for that group. The question is always with England is, can they step it
16:40 up when we get to the major tournament? And it's hard to gauge that from games against
16:47 Scotland with the greatest respect to them, and games even against Italy and the leading
16:54 nations in qualifying, because tournament football is just another step up. But I think
17:00 the Scotland game showed them the way they need to go in terms of that faster passing
17:07 and the contrast with Ukraine was quite stark. It's just a question of can they replicate
17:12 that under the pressure of playing against better midfields, better defences, and time
17:20 will tell on that.
17:21 Yeah, we'll have to wait and see how Gareth Southgate goes about with regards to his team
17:25 selection again, because like you said, there's still some issues at the back which he should
17:30 address. But again, fortunately, the team have shown that it is just a wealth of talent
17:39 and technical ability, so there shouldn't be much to worry about from the fans' point
17:43 of view.
17:44 Yeah, I mean, it was disappointing that Levi Kohler didn't get any minutes in the two games.
17:51 I gather he picked up a bit of an injury in training, so that's probably why. But I think
17:57 England do need players who are going to put pressure on Maguire and Phillips, because
18:06 I think everybody's worried about them going into a major tournament on the back of barely
18:12 having played in a season. But in Southgate's defence, one of the reasons he's sticking
18:19 with them is the fact that they've played so well for him in the past. The other one
18:23 is a lack of alternatives. It's similar with Jordan Henderson, where in his case it won't
18:29 be a lack of football, it would be a question of whether the football's of high enough standards.
18:33 But it's OK talking about leaving these players out. People need to step forward and show
18:39 that they can do the job. Lewis Dunk, I thought, was extremely good on the right side of central
18:46 defence for England on Tuesday, but the right side's not so much the issue. We know a fit
18:54 John Stones can be relied upon. The question is, can anybody be a solid partner for him
19:02 and be the sort of person who can be left one-on-one defending with a centre forward?
19:10 If Stones goes into midfield, as he was doing so well for Manchester City last season, it
19:15 just gives England a lot more options. If you've got somebody with the pace and with
19:20 the one-on-one defending skills, you can trust to do that. Again, some people have made the
19:27 point quite rightly that perhaps the reason that Foden and Bellingham were so effective
19:36 that night had something to do with the extra insurance of Phillips being alongside Declan
19:43 Rice. The question is, can Phillips maintain those standards, frankly, if he's not playing
19:50 football? It could be that if this situation continues much longer, both those players
19:57 have to have serious thoughts in January about whether they need to leave those clubs either
20:04 permanently or alone. That is the big concern for England. You look at it on the other side
20:10 of the field and people are now saying, "Well, this shows that Foden has to play." For example,
20:16 having had such a good game on the right wing, but Bukai Issaq has been absolutely outstanding
20:22 for England. Harry Kane is obviously a must-pick, Bellingham is a must-pick. That's three of
20:29 your front four players then. If you play Foden, and I'm not saying you shouldn't, that
20:34 means you're leaving out Grealish, you're leaving out Rashford, you're leaving out Madison.
20:38 It feels at the moment as though there's such a wealth of talent up there that there's always
20:42 going to be complaints about who's left out. So that side of the equation is a really good
20:48 place for Southgate to be in.
20:51 It's almost the dream headache that England would want to have really. Because they can
20:59 look at the bench and think, "Well, if so-and-so is not performing to the standards we require,
21:07 we can always turn to so-and-so." So it's quite nice for them to have that issue really.
21:14 It is. That was the frustration really of the Ukraine game. They brought players off
21:19 the bench and they weren't able to change it. I think, on the one hand, it's nothing
21:25 to panic about. You have these days, better to have them in qualifying. It hasn't cost
21:30 them in the group. But on the other hand, it was a bit of a reminder that this team
21:35 is still not the finished product. There is a way to go. But really, in terms of the squad
21:45 depth England have got at the moment, it's outstanding.
21:49 And worth saying, I should have mentioned earlier, one of the highlights of the Ukraine
21:54 game, although Kyle Walker scored his first goal in 77 appearances, the big thing for
22:02 me was the quality of his defensive performance. Up against a player of Mudrick's pace, I know
22:08 he's not had the best time of it recently, but he was outstanding defensively. Walker
22:18 and Stones, that's two players England can absolutely bank on defensively. You'd probably
22:24 put Luke Shaw in the same bracket when he gets fit. It's just that other position. When
22:31 you're looking at making the step from European Championship finalists to European Championship
22:36 winners, it's just those tiny little details which niggle away at you, I suppose.
22:44 Many thanks to Stuart Rayner, who will doubtless join us again soon for more discussions on
22:59 the Yorkshire football scene. But don't forget, you can keep up to date with all the football
23:03 news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging on to our website at yp.sport@nationalworld.com,
23:06 or if you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football or even Sheffield
23:11 Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well. If you have any questions for our writers,
23:15 you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages, or email us directly with
23:19 a subject matter as footballtalkpodcast@yd.sport@nationalworld.com. As ever, many thanks for listening, look
23:27 after yourselves, and bye for now.
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