On this week’s show, The YP’s football writers, Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall, join host Mark Singleton to survey the latest on the Yorkshire football scene, starting with whether Sheffield United are capable of bouncing back from their record 8-0 defeat to Newcastle United on Sunday.
In the Championship, Leeds United seem to have turned a corner, while Huddersfield embark under a new era under former Sheffield Wednesday and Doncaster Rovers’ manager, Darren Moore. Rotherham United continue to struggle at the wrong end of the table, while Middlesbrough have started to turn their season around with wins in both the league and the EFL Trophy.
In the Championship, Leeds United seem to have turned a corner, while Huddersfield embark under a new era under former Sheffield Wednesday and Doncaster Rovers’ manager, Darren Moore. Rotherham United continue to struggle at the wrong end of the table, while Middlesbrough have started to turn their season around with wins in both the league and the EFL Trophy.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:14 we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:17 of our football writing team. On this week's episode we're joined by Chief Football Writer
00:21 for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon
00:25 Wattrall, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs. Don't forget
00:29 you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging
00:33 onto our website at www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport as well as checking out our various Twitter
00:40 feeds, the main one being @YPSport. If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire
00:46 Post Football or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook you can find us there as well. If you have
00:50 any questions for our writers you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook
00:53 pages or email us directly with a subject matter as footballtalkpodcast@yp.sport@jpr.gov.uk.
00:59 Right, this week saw a number of very good results for our Yorkshire sides with the likes
01:09 of Barnsley when they overcame Northampton, Bradford City claimed a comfortable 4-1 victory
01:17 over Newport County, Doncaster Rovers were able to overcome Gillingham and Harrogate
01:23 Town as they edged out Salford City. But this week let's kick off in the Premier League
01:30 with Sheffield United who hosted Newcastle United and the Blades fell to a heavy 8-0
01:36 defeat for the first time in the club's history which means that they are still without a
01:40 win this season. Sheffield United were outplayed and just weren't able to convert their chances
01:47 when they came up. It was almost as if every time you looked away Newcastle were lining
01:52 up to add to their total. What was your assessment of the game and how did the Blades bounce
01:59 back from this Leon?
02:00 Well yeah it was a really tough spell for Sheffield United. Obviously the tragic passing
02:11 of Madduck-Husak has affected many at the football club and it was a really difficult
02:19 build up to the game in the first place. A tough enough fixture as it was in any case.
02:27 Having watched the game and thought about it, it sounds a bit of a strange thing to
02:33 say but it wasn't necessarily the score line and the margin of defeat which was the big
02:39 worry for me really. You do get the odd freak result at this level. They're more commonplace
02:50 than they certainly used to be. I think Bournemouth got beat 9-0 at Liverpool in the early last
02:55 season and they recovered quite well to be fair to them. Leicester's big win at St Anthony
03:04 was more the way that Sheffield United's defensive and midfield structure, the discipline and
03:14 the sense of order just went completely to pieces. In the first half they conceded some
03:21 poor goals from set players. One or two elements of luck I suppose went against them. The third
03:28 goal was a debatable pre-kick. Preventable goals and you saw after that you've got all
03:34 for 3-0. It's punishment enough for senior players to regroup and just get the team in
03:45 order really and make them hard to break down and try and limit the damage. The second half
03:51 was just calamitous. Newcastle were running through Sheffield United's midfield at will.
04:02 Usually when you see Sheffield United even accounting for the step-up in class that they're
04:09 facing, there's the senior players there can manage to get the game and keep things together.
04:16 It should have been a case of damage limitation. It turned out quite the opposite. A real big
04:25 damaging psychological wound and it was by no means flattering the margin of victory.
04:31 I actually thought Newcastle should have got into double figures really. If it had set
04:36 a record nobody could have argued. It totally went to pieces. I saw Stuart the other day
04:45 and I mentioned the fact that they've got the defensive options that they've got and
04:51 how they thought they left themselves a little bit light in the summer window. They brought
04:58 in Hamer who was a pretty good signing and Cameron Archer as well. They've covered bases
05:04 a little bit in midfield and attack but they did look light defensively and that was shown
05:11 and exposed on against Newcastle on Sunday. Boston trustee, one of the defensive recruits
05:18 that have brought in, he's now in the Premier League experience. Part of me thought that
05:23 he was kept back on the bench when he could have been brought on to almost save himself
05:29 mentally really because you've got limited defensive options, you bring another one on.
05:35 Newcastle are running riot, Sheffield United's team discipline has gone to pieces and that
05:39 could have personally affected him. It was a real bruising end to a very difficult spell
05:48 for Sheffield United. You look at the games coming up, I think they've got something like
05:52 four out of six away. That's going to be a real test in itself. We went to West Ham and
05:58 I think they're going to go to Brighton and Arsenal. I look at the fictions that have
06:04 got further down the track and I look at November and the start of December. Those games have
06:12 got Walls at home, Bournemouth at home and Burnley away and they already, we're not even
06:20 in October yet. Those pictures are absolutely huge in the context of Sheffield United's
06:27 season and somehow staying in touch and giving themselves a chance of survival. Let's face
06:34 it, 12th from bottom would be a big achievement for Sheffield United this season.
06:38 I agree with Leon and with what you said at the intro, Mark. The most alarming thing was
06:43 just the nature of the goals. It was just too easy, wasn't it, Leon, to just walk through
06:49 that defence at times. As you say, you would like to think they're not as experienced a
06:54 group as they were last season but there's still enough leaders in there that you'd like
06:59 to think that have just got into damage limitation mode and just shut things down. Instead, we
07:06 saw about three or four different formations. Obviously, that comes from the manager. But
07:11 we just didn't see enough determination on the field to just stop them scoring more goals
07:20 at all costs. Sometimes you just have to hold your hand up and say, "Look, we're just going
07:25 to effectively stop trying to score for the next five, ten minutes and park the bus."
07:32 Goodness knows, they sat in with enough defensive discipline against Man City and Spurs when
07:39 those games were 0-0. They needed that sort of mindset and that sort of toughness as the
07:45 Newcastle game was getting to 3-0, 4-0, 5-0. It got embarrassing in the end for Sheffield.
07:51 That's what made it more reprehensible for me, Stuart. They have done that, haven't they?
07:57 They've done that against Man City, you and Spurs. So, they haven't got it within them.
08:03 It's got to be at their door, hasn't it? The majority of what happened on Sunday.
08:10 Yeah, and it's a collective thing. There should have been more from the manager maybe to shut
08:18 that down. There should have been more for the individuals on the field to say, "Look,
08:21 this is what we need to do." History tells you that teams can recover from these big
08:28 defeats. There's been quite a few over the years. I think back a long way, about 30 years,
08:35 to when Crystal Palace suffered one of these beatings at Liverpool and then went on to
08:38 knock them out of the FA Cup semi-final. There's been lots of more recent incidents of teams
08:45 taking those beatings. Ralph Hasenhutl came through a few at Southampton, kept the team
08:54 up that season, lived to fight another day. Harrogate took one about a month ago and beat
09:01 Nottingham Forest in the 21s, albeit only in the trophy a week later, but won it all
09:05 for this weekend. It's not impossible to recover from it. My worry is, even playing at its
09:15 best mentally and football-wise, is this team good enough? I think they've got two
09:22 London away games before the international break. West Ham have fallen. They could really,
09:28 really do with getting a win out of one of those, just to get this out of their system.
09:33 My worry when I look at this Sheffield United team is, I just think of the last relegation
09:38 season and the 17 games before they got a Premier League win. My worry is, if they carry
09:45 on this trajectory, playing well against the big teams and losing narrowly, and then taking
09:51 hammerings like Newcastle, that they're going to push that record. Obviously, if they do,
09:56 I don't think there's any coming back from that. They need to, as quickly as possible,
10:03 just get a result that can make them believe. As I say, I talked about the two games before
10:08 the international break. The two after it are Man United and Arsenal. That puts even
10:14 more emphasis on these games, which are not easy games, West Ham away and Fulham away.
10:19 But they're more winnable than some of the ones coming up. It just seems to be a matter
10:26 of urgency to get some belief back in the manager and belief in the players themselves
10:32 that they can do this. Because, as I say, they've shown in other games that they're
10:37 not far away, but they haven't backed it up with results.
10:39 I think for Paul Higginbottom as well, Stuart, we've both spoken warmly of him. He's a good,
10:49 able guy and a strong character. He's won a couple of games at the back end of his caretakers
10:54 for him in the Premier League. You sense it's a big time for him as well. Obviously, a massively
11:01 embarrassing defeat on Sunday. You just wonder how much more punishment if Sheppey United
11:07 have another... Let's face it, unless something miraculous happens, it won't be on the scale
11:14 of Sunday. But another heavy defeat before the international break or early in the start
11:20 of the next one would leave him under all manner of pressure, wouldn't it? There's obviously
11:26 been some noise in the background about his future. I just look at this autumn period.
11:32 For his sake, he can't... I don't think he could really take another 4-5-0 beating. The
11:44 senior players have shown the mettle before. We've spoken enough times about the way they
11:50 got promoted last season. It wasn't a case of steamrolling the division. They had a lot
11:55 of adversity to deal with. They had a significant dip in form in late winter time. There was
12:03 all the stuff going on about the takeover in the background. There was Covid things
12:08 in the past. Issues with the training ground. They've had all manner of things thrown at
12:13 them. They've shown a strong job. I think this is, so they know it, the biggest test
12:19 for them.
12:20 Sheffield United are going to lose matches to teams like Calgary and Newcastle. They'll
12:25 lose plenty more over the course of the season. It's how you lose them and most importantly
12:30 how you react. I believe Paul Higginbottom is the best man for that job. But you can't
12:36 run off faith forever. It has to be backed up somewhere along the line with some performances.
12:43 So far we're looking at a team with one point this season. We need to see a big reaction
12:50 at West Ham, we really do.
12:51 I think it was quickly focused. You look at the three teams at the bottom, the relegated
12:55 teams. They've got a point apiece, something like that. They're looking up and thinking,
13:05 I think all they'll be thinking about is keeping close to the forefront bottom. Trying to drag
13:11 a team in. Obviously the games between the three of them are going to be so important
13:16 as well.
13:17 And it's that Luton v Burnley game that was delayed. It's being played next week. Fingers
13:23 crossed that's a draw. Otherwise that'll be another team putting a little bit of distance
13:28 between Sheffield United. But they say they can't rely on other people. They need to start
13:34 doing things themselves. It's okay seeing other teams struggling. They need to believe
13:40 that they are actually capable of picking up enough points in this division. Which might
13:45 be less than in other seasons, the way things are shaping up. But nevertheless, they're
13:51 not on track at the moment. They need to give everyone, fans and themselves, reason to think
13:58 they can do this.
13:59 I think the coach in the regard that there's another two teams at the bottom as well. They're
14:05 holding hands almost at the minute. I think the lads will be grateful for that.
14:11 They definitely will. They need another draw for that of course. That's the issue.
14:17 Next we turn to the Championship and Leeds United who recorded a 0-0 draw against Hull
14:23 City before they overcame Watford with a dominant and clinical display in a 3-0 victory at home.
14:29 Now I must admit that during that Watford game I thought Jorginho Rutter was playing
14:34 with a lot of freedom. And his performance was incredibly positive. I mean, the goals
14:41 were very well taken as well. But what was your assessment of the two performances, Stuart?
14:46 Well, I mean, if you just look at the results at the moment, Leeds United are in one sense
14:53 very up and down, in one sense quite reassuring. So they've scored four a tip switch, then
15:00 a 0-0 with Sheffield Wednesday. They scored three at Millwall, then a 0-0 with Huddersfield
15:05 and then they scored three against Watford. In all of those three wins, Rutter looked
15:11 magnificent. Pirro scored in all of them. Really good attacking play. But in the games
15:21 in between, Rutter was very poor. Pirro, they hardly created any chances with him. So they
15:28 just need to strive for a bit more consistency in their attacking play. But the flip side
15:34 of it is, they didn't lose either of those two down games because they're solid defensively
15:39 at the moment. And frankly, if you're going through the season win one, draw one, win
15:44 one, draw one, then you'll be okay. It's just the nature of football. You've always got
15:52 to strive to be better and that's what they need to look at. But yeah, I think they're
15:59 generally on the right track at the moment. I think things are coming together. I think
16:05 you have to give a bit of understanding. We always talk about Rutter's price tag and on
16:11 the flip side, the fact that he's in a new country, he's still a young player as well.
16:15 So it's not surprising that there are these peaks and troughs. And as I say, I think the
16:21 way they're using Pirro is like a lot of forwards, he's quite dependent on the service he gets,
16:27 which wasn't great in those 0-0s. But I saw them at Hull and Hull did quite a good job
16:34 of frustrating them and limiting the number of chances. Leon saw the very good side of
16:39 it on Saturday against Watford, where by all accounts, they looked extremely potent and
16:46 possibly could have scored more, Leon.
16:48 Yeah, I mean, it was a complete team performance to be fair, Stuart. I suppose the one mitigating
16:57 thing you would say was that Watford were extremely disappointing. But I would have
17:03 a caveat that it was more about how good Leeds were. But I did like what he said afterwards
17:08 in Daniel Farquhar. I mean, you put it the same, Stuart. When you listen to him in the
17:15 press, you sort of sat there nodding your head and thinking, "That's real good, common
17:20 sense talk." And you sort of find yourself thinking, "Well, yeah, what a good decision
17:25 it was for Leeds to go for him in the summer."
17:27 The first thing he said was, "Yeah, 3-0." The bouquets were flying around, what was
17:32 the most pleasing thing. And he sort of mentioned the 95th minute save from Meslier. It was
17:39 the only thing he had to do on the day to keep another clean sheet, it's boring and
17:44 rote.
17:45 I think when you look at where Leeds were in the last season, and probably the last
17:49 couple of seasons really, the defensive order has been pretty haphazard and all over the
17:56 place really. They haven't really had that continuity, have they? And Farquhar's come
18:00 in and the signs are that he's addressing that. I think there's only a couple of teams
18:05 who have conceded fewer goals than Leeds so far this season. And I was reading something
18:11 up the other day, I think that no side has conceded the fewest amount of shots as well.
18:18 So that's progress, he's built a foundation in that regard. It was impressive as well,
18:24 I mean, Roden wasn't playing and he's shown that he's signed so he can be a big player
18:28 for Leeds if he was out. I like the foundations of the building there, they've brought in
18:36 Ampadu in the middle of the park, in the spine. He looks an outstanding signing and he was
18:42 strong on Saturday. So yeah, I think Farquhar's addressing the most, the first concern he
18:51 had was getting the foundation and the order at the back sorted out. He's showing signs
18:56 of doing that and it's going along nicely. You look at players who have come back in,
19:01 there's Bamford, there's Gonto. And yeah, Leeds are in a good place as I've sort of
19:10 mentioned in previous podcasts. It'll be interesting to see the reaction after a defeat
19:15 because they will happen in the Championship, that's part of the landscape. In the three
19:19 game weeks especially. You're not going to have it all your own way all the time so I'll
19:25 be interested to see Leeds' reaction to that when it does come along. But certainly that
19:29 was a performance on Saturday. It was a bit of a psychological aspect as well, they've
19:35 not won at home since early April in the league. They've sort of got that monkey off the back
19:41 as well, shown what they're capable of in front of their own supporters. Yeah, it was
19:46 a result for me that should resonate across the Championship. But let's see how they get
19:53 on at Southampton.
19:54 I think one of the things I like about Farquhar, I don't know if you agree Leon, there was
20:00 a journalist complaining to me in the week that he's so reluctant to praise his players
20:04 when they play well. Certainly he's given numerous opportunities to talk up Archie Gray
20:10 and he just won't do it. But I like that because players like Ampadu, Archie Gray, Melie, Stroik,
20:18 Nonto, Pirro, Routier even, they shouldn't be aspiring to be good Championship players,
20:24 they should be aspiring to be good Premier League players. And therefore that pushing
20:30 of standards, "No, I want more from you, I want more from you." I really like that from
20:35 him and that's why I sort of bring up the two nil nils because whilst in the context
20:38 of the five games it's been fine, it's been good, leagues should want more from a squad
20:44 like this and for the longer term they need more. So I like that mindset he's getting
20:51 into the club. Yeah, I agree with Leon, I just think they're in good hands at the moment
20:57 and again Leon was very right to point out the significance of actually doing it at home
21:04 as well, really important. So I think at the moment Leeds are in good shape.
21:09 Yeah, they've got a steady hand on the Tullis, haven't they? In terms of everything else,
21:15 obviously everyone knows about Farker's record with Norwich. I think as a character, I think
21:20 he's a perfect fit for Leeds. We had the, not having a go at Jesse Mars, but under his
21:26 tenure it was just relentless positivity and it did wear a little bit thin, didn't
21:32 it? I think the players probably escaped a little bit, didn't they really? They got away
21:39 with it in some regards. Farker's come in and he's showing tough luck to one or two
21:44 of them, like Archie Gray and Routa and his sentiments, he's not patting them on the back
21:55 and I think that's the right approach. The characters have got to grow themselves and
22:01 to be fair to those that are at Leeds, they want to be there, don't they? Fair play to
22:06 the ones who stuck in there and kept their heads down after a torrid few seasons really.
22:13 That sort of tested the character and they're starting to show a decent response now under
22:19 the right manager. I suppose to be fair, it's got to be a different
22:23 balance this season. I guess when you're struggling at the bottom of the league, you need to be
22:27 more positive. It just felt like he didn't get the balance quite right, did he? He took
22:31 it too far and in this case, you kind of put faith in the fact that, well, Farker's taken
22:37 Norwich up a couple of times, he knows the right balance to strike. It just does feel
22:42 like the right mindset for this situation, so hopefully that proves to be the case.
22:48 Now our focus turns to Huddersfield Town, who said farewell to veteran manager Neil
22:56 Warnock with a two-all draw when they welcomed Stoke City to the John Smith Stadium. This
23:02 was then followed up by a late one-all draw thanks to Mikael Helic coming up with the
23:07 all-important goal in what was Darren Moore's first game in charge of the Terriers. What
23:12 did you make of the performances? I want to get your views on Darren Moore's appointment
23:16 and what we could also see from him with the squad that he's inherited, Leon.
23:21 Well, I thought, going back to Neil Warnock's farewell, it didn't. I think the perfect story
23:29 would have been a Huddersfield win, but in a way it was sort of perfect in its own way
23:36 as well. Huddersfield showed a lot of character, especially in the second half, made some good
23:43 substitutions, really got in the face of Stoke, who were probably technically better than
23:49 Huddersfield and showed more quality across the pitch on the day. Those characteristics
23:59 you associate with Warnock teams, the desire, the togetherness, they all came to the fore
24:07 and it was a clash of styles in the second half. Huddersfield rolled up their sleeves
24:14 and got a decent point. We had a bit of theatre on the touchline with the Stoke fans having
24:21 a go at Warnock, Warnock having a bit of a sarcastic clap in their direction and Stoke
24:28 scored again and they were giving it back and then Warnock retorted. That was the sort
24:33 of theatre you associate with Neil Warnock. It was a nice send-off in that regard. Obviously
24:41 Darren Moore has come in and I think there's probably a little bit of a danger in the first
24:50 game as well if Huddersfield had performed poorly throughout the course of the game and
24:55 got beat 2-0 or something like that. It could be one or two grumbles to say 'where do we
25:02 get rid of Warnock?' This sort of thing. I think in the short term, I hope for his sake
25:09 he gets a couple of decent results. To be fair, that was a start wasn't it at Coventry?
25:15 They weren't great in the first half but he obviously got them in at half-time, amended
25:21 one or two things and he made a smooth substitution in bringing on Sorba Thomas as well. It was
25:27 a little bit of a surprise not to see him in the starting line-up but when he brought
25:32 him on he made a great impact. Huddersfield looked the part in the second half and positivity
25:42 from supporters towards Moore in his first home game against Ipswich. I think the decision
25:50 to bring him in was based more on probably expediency really. They were coming up to
25:55 second season in October, the second international break. Historically quite a few managerial
26:03 changes happen. When clubs start to assess there's almost a third of the season gone,
26:10 they're looking at their options and seeing whether there are changes in the offing. Given
26:18 what Moore did at Sheffield Wednesday and he's out of work, teams will be interested
26:23 in him. He's been linked with one or two positions prior to getting the job at Huddersfield.
26:31 So they basically in a nutshell thought they had to move fast. They've done that and obviously
26:38 they've made a bit of a play about having a three-year plan to hopefully get into the
26:44 Premier League. I think some of the aspects of bringing in Moore as well was that they
26:49 were wanting somebody to build the club incrementally. You look at Moore when he was at West Brom,
26:57 he had a few problems there. I don't think there was in the summer before his season
27:02 in charge, there wasn't a head of recruitment in one or two areas of the backroom. The vacancies
27:13 weren't filled, it was a difficult working environment. Let's be honest, it's been the
27:19 case at Sheffield Wednesday really hasn't it? It wasn't really building, it was about
27:25 when he first went in he was trying to keep them up. It was sort of all jammed today,
27:30 wasn't it? Get them out of League One. He's always spoken about wanting to build something.
27:35 Huddersfield are wanting to do that now and obviously got a steady figure who's well-versed
27:43 at a championship level. I think it's a nice fit in that regard. He'll perhaps be given
27:49 the tools at Huddersfield and the best chances to succeed over time that he didn't have at
27:57 West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday. In that regard, the appointment makes sense.
28:03 It feels like a good choice to me from the starting point of Neil Warnock leaving. Huddersfield
28:09 Towns' plan said to me the other day it was quite an underwhelming appointment. I think
28:15 when you look at it, they're not exactly a football club rolling with money. They weren't
28:20 really likely to get somebody in who knocked his socks off. Fair enough, they did with
28:27 Neil Warnock. The odds were against the chances that you either got an experienced manager
28:34 who didn't have many trophies or promotions on his CV or you went for somebody unproven.
28:40 That worked very well with Carlos Corbijn, but it backfired quite badly with Danny Schofield
28:45 and Mark Fotheringham last season. I think it's a good choice under the circumstances.
28:50 I think it was good that first point had his fingerprints all over it. It owed a lot to
29:02 a tremendous Lee Nicholls save at the end, but really the changes he made in terms of
29:08 the tactics and the introduction of Silver Thomas changed the course of that game. That's
29:14 always good to get a bit of belief in him and the way things are going. Warnock used
29:24 to switch between different formations, but there's a squad there where it's probably
29:29 not a bad idea to play with a back three given the number of quality experienced centre-backs
29:36 they've got there at the moment. That's something Moore did last season at Sheffield Wednesday.
29:41 I think he'd be reasonably comfortable with the group of players he's got. Hopefully,
29:49 there's just a bit of realism around the place. That's really what did for him at Sheffield
29:55 Wednesday, a sort of lack of it when they got promoted from the chairman in particular.
30:02 Hopefully there's just a grounded, sensible, as Leon says, building approach to that football
30:09 club. I think he's a good man to do that. He's not a manager who will get you carried
30:14 away as a fan base with outrageous comments. Many of the time, Neil Warnock would be talking
30:21 about the best performance he'd had under his management, or that was the best defensive
30:26 performance, or all this sort of thing. Moore's not really prone to that. He's more of a steady
30:31 eddy, but I think that's probably what they need in this situation. They're not in the
30:36 position of a whole city, for example, where they can go setting fireworks off left, right
30:42 and centre. They're not quite in the same position as Rotherham because they've got
30:46 a bigger budget than that, but it's more that sort of mindset of, "Look, we're going to
30:50 make the best of what we've got and build incrementally year on year." I think he's
30:55 a good temperament for that.
30:56 I totally agree with what Stuart said. It's been very rollercoaster, hasn't it, for a
31:02 few years at Huddersfield. He needs to settle down. They've got a solid, stable manager
31:07 in place. His approach as well is a collaborative approach. All the departments will all be
31:16 involved in it. They've spoken about getting that one club, Eclos, back at Huddersfield.
31:25 Obviously getting the academy talents back through into the first team and building that
31:29 side of it. I think he hit the nail on the head. Mark Cartwright, the sporting director,
31:35 is the biggest and final piece in the jig. The club have made some key appointments behind
31:43 the scenes, brought in a new head of recruitment. Mark Cartwright's coming in as well. David
31:47 Wedderall's going to front up the academy. Obviously, this is the key appointment of
31:54 Moore and his backroom team now. He just looks a safe, solid appointment. I think he's got
32:00 a fair bit to work with. There's some good young players there. I think Neil Warnock
32:06 as well deserves some praise in development of the likes of Verdoni, who's come on very
32:12 nicely in the final third of last season. We know about Mikkel Hellick and Matty Pearson.
32:20 Ben Wiles is the sort of player that you'd hope that Moore can get him on to the next
32:26 level as well. Let's not forget as well, they have got some young talents as well, the likes
32:30 of Headley and Keane Harrett. It'll be interesting to see how they develop under Moore. I think
32:37 it's a pretty sound appointment.
32:39 Rotherham United played out a 1-1 draw when they faced Preston North End, who going into
32:47 the game were top of the table. However, the Millers took a shock lead 35 minutes into
32:52 the game through Jordan Hugel. However, Preston equalised just before half-time. The Millers
32:57 are still in the relegation zone. What did you make of their performance and how did
33:01 the team go into their upcoming game against Cardiff City, Stuart?
33:05 It was what they needed, I think, really. After the two away performances they went
33:10 into it on the back of a really disappointing performance at Huddersfield, which Leon saw,
33:15 and then a 3-0 defeat at Millwall. They just needed something to steady the ship and instil
33:22 belief. Playing against the only unbeaten team in the Championship, who at the time
33:27 were top of the table, a draw was a good result. Preston outplayed Rotherham, but Rotherham
33:34 showed all those Rotherham qualities of grit and determination and refusal to back down
33:40 and all that sort of thing. A bit of stardust on top, it was a tremendous goal from Jordan
33:49 Hugel. Victor Johansen did what Victor Johansen does. Despite me saying that, you can't take
33:57 that for granted. He's a really good goalkeeper at this level. He pulled off a couple of really
34:03 important saves to keep Preston at bay. It was just the buttress that Rotherham needed
34:11 for their confidence. There's been all this talk, quite rightly, about their terrible
34:16 away record. No wins since November, and even that one was in South Yorkshire. It was really
34:24 important that they didn't then lose their next home game.
34:30 The big test would be pulling it out somewhere on the road. The next three away games, they've
34:36 got Cardiff, Southampton and then Sheffield Wednesdays, not to the end of October. They've
34:41 got a fair number of home games in between time. The real thing, as we talk about Sheffield
34:47 United and their belief, I think Rotherham need to convince themselves that they can
34:53 compete away from home. We're not expecting them to have a top half of the table away
34:59 record, but they need something that gives them a chance so they don't have to be beating
35:06 teams of the quality of Preston at home. They need to up that level of their game, but most
35:14 of all they needed to just stop the rot and they did that very well.
35:17 You just hope for the development that can get in a way we can't, don't you, really,
35:24 soon? We look at Rotherham's history in the Championship and a couple of the relegations,
35:32 I think one season, it was 26-17, the one after the great escape, where they didn't
35:40 win a game at all on the road all season. It wasn't the reason why they got relegated,
35:46 but it was certainly one of the reasons. I think the next time as well, when they'd obviously
35:51 gone back up the following season, I think it was 2018-19, I can't remember off the top
35:58 of my head how many they won away, but I do remember that the first away win was, I think
36:02 it was something like February or March. Obviously that massively put them behind the eight ball
36:08 and they ended up getting relegated as well. You just feel it's still there, it's lurking
36:14 in the background even though there's a different manager. You look at Rotherham going away,
36:21 you saw the sense at the minute that so much has got to go right for them, hasn't it, really?
36:27 For one to get chalked up, maybe they need a little bit of luck. The home team not playing
36:34 poorly and not hitting the heights, they just haven't found that happy medium away from
36:42 home and the longer it goes on without a win, more the questions are going to get asked
36:49 and the mindset will potentially get affected. He's spoken about it after the game at Huddersfield.
36:55 Matt Taylor talking about getting the monkey off the backs. You just hope they can go somewhere
37:00 like Cardiff and maybe there could be the potential for some teams playing Rotherham
37:06 at home to maybe take it as well if they come away. Rotherham upset the Apple car but it
37:13 is so hard for them going away from home and getting something. There's so much that entails
37:20 for them. They've had a lot of rough calls as well, haven't they? I don't forget that
37:25 over the last season or so. All manner of things to contend with but you just hope for
37:30 Rotherham's sake it's going to be sooner rather than later. It could again become a real narrative
37:35 of the season.
37:36 They've got some good players in that squad. They seem to have a lot of good midfielders
37:43 now. Hugo, we've talked in the past, is the sort of championship striker you can rely
37:49 on if you're working on the sort of budget Rotherham are. They've got some good defensive
37:54 players. To me, they possibly lack a bit of pace to hit teams on the counter-attack away
37:59 from home but you've got to work with what you've got. That's basically the Rotherham
38:05 motto, isn't it? I think there is enough quality there to eek something out but as
38:12 I said with Sheffield United, it's one thing having faith in it. You need to prove it to
38:17 yourself at some point so that you believe in the last minutes of away matches that are
38:23 tight that we are going to win this game rather than thinking we might throw this away the
38:31 way we're playing on the road.
38:33 And finally for this week, we turn to the EFL Trophy where Bradford City hosted Middlesbrough
38:37 in the third round of the competition which saw Middlesbrough progress to the next round
38:42 where they will meet Exeter City. Middlesbrough overcame Bradford with a fairly comfortable
38:49 2-0 victory at Valley Parade and even though Bradford City's run in the competition may
38:56 be over, this now means they can concentrate their efforts on their league campaign which
39:01 sees them coming up against Walsall in their next fixture. What did you make of the game
39:07 and what can both teams take from this experience, Stuart?
39:11 I think Bradford have got to treat it as fairly irrelevant frankly. The big result for Bradford
39:18 was the 4-1 win at Newport and particularly the Andy Kirkpatrick in that to come up against
39:25 the Championship side who were on it and if the Championship side are on it against the
39:30 League 2 side, they should win. I think you just have to take that on the chin and learn
39:36 what lessons there are to be learned from Middlesbrough's perspective. I would try and
39:41 read a lot into it. I'd seen them seven days previously at Sheffield Wednesday and they
39:46 just looked utterly bereft of confidence save for a 20-minute period in the second half
39:52 which quickly ebbed away. This time, on the back of having beaten Southampton at the weekend,
39:58 first Championship win of the season, there just looked to be a lot more belief about
40:02 them. Some of the fluidity in their attacking play, Riley McRee was excellent, although
40:08 he was the left back. Lewis O'Brien contributed a lot to the attacking play and looked really
40:14 good as well. Sammy Silvera bombing about was good. Latte Lath scored a goal. When you
40:20 add in players like Josh Coburn who was rested for that game, it should make a big difference
40:29 to them. They just looked as though, I think, certainly from my perspective, all season
40:35 long you've been thinking, "Oh, surely Middlesbrough will click soon and things will sort themselves
40:42 out." It looked on the basis of that one game against, admittedly, opponents a couple of
40:48 divisions below as though something might have clicked and they might be getting somewhere.
40:54 They've got to back it up before we can go overboard on it. It felt to me like that Southampton
40:59 win followed by that Bradford win has just done a lot for their confidence.
41:04 I'd agree totally with what Stuart said. I don't think they're quite out of the woods
41:09 yet. I think they've got three games before the next international break. If they can
41:15 have a goal unbeaten until then and then maybe get a win or two along the way when they've
41:21 got a big one at Sunderland, as well, haven't they, on the horizon soon. If this clutch
41:28 of games goes positively, then they can regroup and have a fair bit to look forward to again
41:36 after getting the season back on an even keel and getting into the hard slog of late autumn
41:42 and winter. It was a huge result for Carrick against Southampton. I know Stuart was at
41:50 the game against Sheffield Wednesday and the first half was a really poor performance.
41:57 He sensed a bit of newt and he'd grown in the stamps. To be fair to them, they managed
42:03 to dig in and avoid further embarrassment and get a point. Even so, if Southampton took
42:10 the lead on Saturday, if they'd got another goal, they could have the potential to maybe
42:15 get a bit more toxic again. Fair play to Middlesbrough. They showed a good, strong, concerted reaction
42:23 and got a big result and they backed it up in midweek. As Stuart said, they did look
42:30 to the divisions between the teams and they did the job and showed a bit of style along
42:37 the way. They're not out of the woods yet. Signs of encouragement. Hatton and McRee looked
42:46 like they were getting the mojo back on Tuesday's evidence. When I saw that Lewis O'Brien was
42:54 playing left-back against Southampton, I thought, not that he can't do a job there, but in the
43:05 ideal world, he plays in the centre of the pitch where he can really affect games. But
43:10 to be fair, he slotted in really well at left-back, which has become a bit of a problem, hasn't
43:16 it? Obviously, we spoke last week about Lucas Engle. He's doing it tough at the minute.
43:21 He's only just arrived in English football. The other lad as well, Banguera, is injured.
43:28 So, he slotted in nicely at left-back O'Brien. That said, it's a big position in Carrick's
43:38 make-up of his team, isn't it? You look at Ryan Giles, who had a really good last season.
43:43 So, yes, encouraging signs for Boreas. As Stuart rightly said, the big game for Bradford
43:49 was the Newport game, wasn't it? The few games without a win and the cup coming back. As
43:56 nice as it would have been to have a good cup run. The priority this season, everybody
44:02 knows it, is Bradford getting out of League 2. I suppose positive as well that Paterson
44:09 made his return from injury and had a decent cameo. Looks like there's a good chance he'll
44:15 be starting at the weekend and Tulloch as well. So, yes, for Bradford, it's all about
44:23 Saturday and backing up to his other adult at Newport.
44:27 Yes, it's quite exciting for Bradford because Tulloch, from what little I saw in the highlights,
44:34 looked very good in the Newport game. Certainly looked good when he came at half-time in the
44:38 League Cup game. We're yet to see an on-form Alex Paterson playing with an on-form Andy
44:46 Cook. So, if you can add an on-form Ray and Tulloch into that mix, those three attacking
44:51 players give Bradford a lot of attacking edge. We saw with them last season that sometimes
44:59 that was just what they were lacking against the teams who came, particularly to Valley
45:03 Parade, just to shut up shop and try and frustrate them. You would hope in Paterson's runs from
45:10 deep, Cook leading the line and Tulloch's twinkle toes out wide, they should have enough
45:16 solutions to those problems if they can get all three firing at once. So, it certainly
45:21 wasn't a disaster for Bradford. As I say, their week was all about Newport. But the
45:30 big test for Middlesbrough is can they build on this now? You could say they caught Sadant
45:35 and it a good time and that they were lucky to play a League Cup tie against a lower division
45:39 team on the back of it. But you have enough good and bad luck with the way the fiction
45:43 list falls. The important thing is when things fall in your favour, you take advantage of
45:48 it and once you get that foothold, you build on it. So, let's see if they do.
45:52 YorkshirePost.co.uk
45:54 Many thanks to Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobtrell who will doubtless join us again soon for
46:01 more discussions on the Yorkshire football scene. But don't forget you can keep up to
46:05 date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging onto our website at
46:08 www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport or if you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football
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46:30 As ever, many thanks for listening, look after yourselves and bye for now.