As 2025 dawns, YP football writers Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall join host Mark Singleton to reflect on how well Yorkshire’s EFL clubs fared during the festive period and how that will impact in their decision-making during the January Transfer Window.
They also pay further attention to Sheffield Wednesday who are now just three points off the Championship play-off spots, as well as Barnsley who, after their NEw Year’s Day win over visitors Wrexham, look a more favourable candidate for making the League One play-offs.
There is also Stuart and Leon’s respective call on the Team of the Week and our player of the week.
They also pay further attention to Sheffield Wednesday who are now just three points off the Championship play-off spots, as well as Barnsley who, after their NEw Year’s Day win over visitors Wrexham, look a more favourable candidate for making the League One play-offs.
There is also Stuart and Leon’s respective call on the Team of the Week and our player of the week.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:14we'll be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:17of our football writing team. On this week's episode, we're joined by Chief Football
00:21Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post,
00:24Leon Walshall, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs. Don't
00:29forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond
00:32by logging onto our website at yp.sportatnationalworld.com, as well as checking out our various Twitter
00:38feeds, the main one being at ypsport. If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire
00:43Post Football, or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well. And
00:48if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter
00:51or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter as Football Talk Podcast
00:55at yp.sportatnationalworld.com.
01:55Now, this week, I wanted to start with getting your views on how our Yorkshire clubs have
02:05fared during the Christmas period, and how this might actually affect their approach
02:10going into the January transfer window. What did you make of it, and was there anything
02:14that sort of stood out for you in particular, Leon?
02:18I think it's probably confirmed a few things that we already sort of know, really. Huddersfield
02:27Town need a striker or two, Sheffield United need some help in the window from the new
02:33owners. Hull City need a bit of experience maybe to answer what they've got, a real dog
02:40fight down there. But I think the two things for me that sort of leapt from the page in
02:46terms of maybe changing things are the injuries at Sheffield United. And Bradford, obviously
02:53a very serious, well, a season-ending injury for Harry Souter, and Stuart's seen a bit
02:59more of the blaze than I have. But whenever I have seen him, he's been excellent for a
03:06loan signing. He quickly became a bit of a talisman, a real leader, and a key figure
03:13in the spine of the Sheffield United team, and an important area of the pitch. He's not
03:18the sort of lad who goes down easily. It was a tough day for them against Burnley on Boxing
03:26Day, and it was compounded by seeing him helped off the pitch at the end. They actually finished
03:31the game with 10 men, and he's obviously out for the season with an achilles issue, adding
03:39to the fact that they're missing our blaster, a serious knee injury, big injuries in the
03:45heart of their team. They do look painfully thin in a few areas. If they've got another
03:53injury at the back at centre-half, they've got Ahmed Hodgson and Robinson, they really
03:58are going to get exposed. He's said it for quite a few weeks, Chris Wilder, takeover's
04:06completed, they've got clarity there, but he really needs some help in January if they're
04:10going to turn an excellent first half of the season, and they're giving everything into
04:15ultimately a successful season. You look further forward up front as well. Campbell's done
04:22well but he's had his injuries. They need, ideally, one or two in there. You just look
04:30at the bench, don't you? There's a lot of kids there, and it's a good advert for Sheffield
04:35United's academy, but as Wilder said, to throw them into the furnace of a championship
04:41promotion battle is not really fair on them. So, yeah, that's just heightened. The injury
04:49to Souk has heightened that they need something in defence and elsewhere as well, plenty of
04:54key work. Bradford, the big one for Bradford, is a worst-case scenario, isn't it? Their
04:59talisman up front. Andy Cook, he came off it. Barrow, he didn't look in good shape with
05:07a knee injury. I think Bradford will be keeping their fingers crossed and praying really that
05:13it's not a serious one because I think they needed a forward anyway to bring in to supplement
05:17Cook. But if he's going to be out for a period of time, he's said it many times before, he's
05:26guaranteed you 20 goals a season, isn't he? It'd be a huge blow for Bradford in that regard.
05:33So there are probably the two things that leap from the page. Leeds United, maybe another
05:38number 10 if something does become available. Spoken about Hull needing a bit more now.
05:45The thing with Sheffield Wednesday, as Stuart's mentioned a few times, is they just need some
05:49quality, don't they? Some proven quality that can get them from that leap from sort
05:55of wannabes to contenders almost. But yeah, the Sheffield United and Bradford injuries
06:01are the unfortunate takeaway for me.
06:05Yeah, I think it's particularly troublesome in both with the players it is. I mean, Souter,
06:13I think had he been fit, Sheffield United probably might have been looking to make that
06:17one permanent. That's how good he's been. The numbers tell you everything you know about
06:22how good Andy Cook's been. But just to sort of take another club as an example. So I was
06:28talking to Grant McCann a couple of weeks back when Richard Wood was ruled out for a
06:32couple of months. I mean, he's actually back in training, but we'll wait and see. And I
06:36was asking him about signing another centre-back because they're sort of down to three. And
06:42he said, well, it's difficult. It'll be difficult at this time of year to bring another centre-back
06:47in because anybody coming in will expect to play. And any club loaning a player out will
06:53expect to play. And at Sheffield United, you've got Achmed Hodic and you've got Robinson.
06:59So you've got two fairly strong centre-backs. You do need that extra cover. But do you go
07:05for someone who's better than them? Do you go for somebody who's challenging them and
07:11then have that same problem? And then of course, it's the same at Bradford. You know, if Cook's
07:16out for, say, a couple of months, it's like the dilemma Tottenham Hotspur had for years
07:22and years. You know, how do you bring in somebody good enough to rival Harry Kane but actually
07:29play the games? That's the dilemma for both clubs. But they do need the numbers. I mean,
07:33it's something they've got to resolve. I mean, maybe in both cases they might try and find
07:39someone who can play more than one position. So it's not an issue when everyone's fit.
07:43It's not insurmountable, but it does make it more difficult. In terms of Sheffield United,
07:48as Leon's already touched on, it's not just the centre-back they need. As Leon says, I've
07:54seen them a couple of times over Christmas. And in the run-up to Christmas, it felt like
07:59they were getting results they shouldn't be getting. And it did feel at the time, I'm
08:04not speaking with hindsight, as though there was a limit to how long this could go on.
08:09You know, Burnley, West Brom and Sunderland, a difficult run at the best of times. They
08:16just look like they're running on empty. So I think for them in particular, it's a need
08:21for bodies now. And it was slightly concerning. You're never quite sure with the politics
08:29that go on at this time of year. But Chris Wilder was talking after the West Brom game,
08:34something we touched on in a previous podcast, about how he'd be OK if he didn't get everything
08:40he needed in the transfer market, which is good in one respect, because we remember his
08:46experience at Middlesbrough and we talked about how he might have learned from it. But
08:49the sort of cynic in you worried that he was sort of preparing the ground for a bit of
08:54disappointment. So we'll wait and see on that one. I mean, hopefully that's not the case
09:00because they do need some bodies. I think what's encouraging for quite a few of these clubs,
09:06Hull, Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford, is they've put in the kind of run recently to encourage
09:15their owners to dip their hands in the pocket. Bradford have had this run to keep them in
09:21the playoff picture. Hull have had a couple of wins to give them encouragement. Sheffield
09:24Wednesday, they're not in the playoff picture, but they're close enough to hopefully persuade
09:32Dejan Jansević, who might be the hardest of them to persuade, to actually get behind this and find
09:38some money. So I think that's important. As Leal's touched on, Huddersfield. Huddersfield
09:44need strikers. I mean, Doncaster and Huddersfield are both in a good position, like Leeds, but
09:50you still get the sense that they do need some more. Those two are punching at their weight.
09:59Huddersfield have been brilliantly resilient, given what they've had thrown at them. But
10:06they just need at least one striker, just to get them the eight, nine goals.
10:10Exactly.
10:10But probably A, cements them in the playoffs, or B, the best case scenario is maybe Nick in
10:18second place. But it seems to be pretty straightforward, that one at Huddersfield,
10:22doesn't it? Getting a couple of strikers in.
10:25For a lot of these clubs, it's not just about the bodies, it's about giving everyone a lift.
10:32It's such a competitive top end of League One. You kind of need to make everyone believe that
10:38you're serious about this, everyone within the club that is, that you're serious about this,
10:41and you can give it a good go. Doncaster, on paper, look like they've got a really good squad,
10:47but they've not won more than three games on the trot. So they need to just find that extra
10:53little element to do it. I think Leeds is slightly different. I mean, again,
10:59I suppose you could probably say they've only slightly underperformed when you see the
11:04quality of that squad. But because of the quality, I think you've got to be careful.
11:09I think Leon's right. If there's a number 10 out there that takes your fancy, go for it.
11:13Likewise, a number nine, likewise, a left back. But don't sign anyone for the sake of it. You
11:18don't want to. We've seen in the past, sometimes you can sign one player too many and it just
11:25disrupts the chemistry of the squad. So they've got to be of sufficient quality. But it's good
11:32that some of the clubs have got into action early. Havercourt have already signed Bryn Morris,
11:38Huddersfield have already signed Ruben Ruskin, Bradford have already signed George Lapsdale.
11:43It's good that these clubs have been quick to act. But I'd say some of the others need to be
11:48the same because you don't want to be one of those clubs who leaves it to the 28th, 29th,
11:52well this year, windows even later and just gets desperate, gets taken to the cleaners in terms of
11:59price or doesn't get what they want. Yeah, I'd agree with all that. I think
12:04Leeds as well, with Ampadu coming back, that's got a bit of a feel. Starting games over Christmas,
12:10that's almost got, even though he's been around a bit, that's a bit of a new siding feel almost,
12:15isn't it? He's slotted straight back in and showed his importance. I think with
12:19Sheffield United, it's a test for the new owners, isn't it? They've come in, they've got big
12:23ambitions. The talk's been encouraging, well they've got to back it up, haven't they now?
12:29It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that just while they need help,
12:34they need it pretty quick, doesn't it? If they procrastinate and are slow and they don't bring
12:40a few in until the end of January and they run the three without a win now, say that could happen
12:46easily. That extends to five or six games and then at the end of the season Sheffield United
12:52miss out on automatic promotion by two or three points, something like that. It's something
12:58they could, in hindsight, come back to that and think, well we missed a bit of a trick there,
13:02not if we'd have got players in a little bit earlier. One of those, in a tight promotion
13:08race, it could be key. He's spoken about needing help but I think he needs help
13:16sooner rather than later, I'd say.
13:20The good thing for Sheffield United owners is you only need to look at the last window
13:24and the way he's signed Cooper, Suter, Tyrese Campbell. There's a man who can get you real
13:30Championship quality and loads of nices. There should be no question, and I don't think there
13:37is any question from what they've already said, about not being sure about the manager's judgement
13:42or anything about that. You look at those three as an example. Suter was a loan but
13:49the other two, the prices they've paid and probably the wages they've paid,
13:53absolute bargain if it's going to get you the money you get for getting back in the Premier
13:57League. He's a manager well worth backing but as Leon says, they need to act quickly.
14:03Again, I asked him after the West Brom game, would they be ready to hit the ground running
14:07with this takeover coming so late? He insisted that the homework was done and they were ready
14:12to go. As Leon says, they need to get on with it because they need that help.
14:17Not many people know the Championship better than Chris Wilder. He's a vastly experienced
14:21manager. He'll have a big old contacts book and he's sort of shown he doesn't need to work with
14:27millions and millions and millions. He's just a decent-sized budget, he'll be able to operate
14:35with that but now's the time for me for them to get back in. If anything, he's better in that
14:40market than the more expensive ones to be fair to him. Just get on with it from their perspective.
14:49Big game for them at Watford, isn't it, at the weekend?
14:53And now let's turn our attention to Sheffield Wednesday who secured an impressive 4-2 victory
14:59over Derby County which included an astonishing goal from Josh Windass which was taken from
15:04inside his own half. What were your thoughts on the game and does this set them up nicely
15:09for their game against Millwall, Stuart? Yes, it does set them up nicely for the
15:13game against Millwall, certainly. What that and the win over Stoke City will have done for their
15:21confidence at home, it's almost like the Christmas period has flipped things for them, losing away at
15:26Preston when they've been so good away and picking up points at home. I think the thing about
15:30Sheffield Wednesday particularly at the moment is you just can't take any one game in isolation
15:35because they're not consistent enough to read too much into any one game. We've kind of seen
15:44so many sides of them even over the Christmas period. Middlesbrough, for example, I was there
15:51on Boxing Day, they were way off it in the first half and Middlesbrough were absolutely excellent
15:58and it just showed that day the value of Danny Roll just changing things tactically and totally
16:05turning the game on its head. Then they go and lose at Preston when, as I say,
16:12you've kind of been banking on their away form and then the game against
16:19Derby County was another one that sort of turned at half-time but this time it wasn't so much
16:24anything Danny Roll had done. He did re-jig things tactically but it was just the brilliance
16:31of one player, to be quite frank. Then that kind of opened the floodgates for Wednesday,
16:37inspired his team-mates and so on to victory. It does show you that in Windass and Barry Bannon
16:45as well, on the day Gasama and Massaba both scored goals, there's some real individual talent in
16:53there but I guess it's about having the structure to sort of safeguard you when they're not at
17:01their best because, let's be honest, they're championship players for a reason. If Windass
17:06played like that every minute of every game he'd be in the Premier League, he wouldn't be in the
17:10championship and the same goes for the rest of them. So to safeguard that and then having the
17:14ruthlessness up front to make the most of the chances these lads create. I think there's a
17:21good foundation there if they can have a good window to really push but it's a big if, if they
17:28can have a good window. Danny Roll's been very clear about what he wants. He wants players with
17:35that Premier League quality. Tyler Morton, who was at Hull last season, has been mentioned
17:43previously. Ronnie Edwards was on their shop in this one. He's gone to QBL but that sort of
17:48calibre of player, players like Shea Charles, players like James Beedle,
17:53will come along. But it's worrying that he's been quite open about saying that conversations haven't
17:58taken place yet. We talked about other clubs hitting the ground running. There's a real need
18:03there to back this manager and to make the most of this foundation and I think it's a real wait
18:10and see January from Wednesday, as Roll keeps saying, to see what their ambitions really are
18:17and how far they can go. I think I'd agree with all that. Like I mentioned with Sheffield United,
18:24if they finish third or fourth and they just miss out and they're a little bit slow in the window,
18:29I think the same could possibly apply to Sheffield Wednesday. Danny Roll's made no
18:35bones about the fact that he needs those bits of quality, those sort of game-turners to
18:41continue the progress and let them kick on even more. There's an argument to say you could see
18:46Sheffield Wednesday finish eighth or ninth, say. They miss out on the play-offs by two or three
18:51points or whatever. Fans are going over things thinking, well yeah, it's been a good season but
18:58we've missed out there. We'd have got a couple more players in January, that sort of thing.
19:02So I think that's going to be big for Sheffield Wednesday. He's shown his tactical
19:08acumen. Roll is a great coach. He's the sort of figure as well that
19:17new signings would love to play for, really. They've learned from the get-something out of
19:24their loan spell. They should be a pretty attractive proposition, Sheffield Wednesday,
19:28but they do, as Stuart said, they just need a few more of those game-changers. The form has
19:35been reasonably consistent but they sort of throw one in as well, don't they? They sort of have a
19:39few wins and they'll just sort of throw Preston Mizzle in and you had the game against Watford,
19:45things like that. They just need that little bit. They're not far away, they just need that
19:49little bit more. I just jotted down and had a little look at the fixtures and they've got some
19:56away games coming up in the second half of the season. Burnley, Leeds, West Brom, Norwich,
20:01Watford, Blackburn, a lot of teams sort of above them but some just around them. They could be
20:07finely poised games. You can imagine Wednesday are in the game, they're making a good fist of it
20:12and just having that level of quality to nick a few more wins there. It could be as sort of
20:21key as that in a tight race for the top six. And it's not just game-changers in the attacking
20:27sense either. Danny Rowe have been saying after the Preston game, we need clean sheets,
20:31we need clean sheets. On the back of that Windas goal, Jadon Guzama scored on a straightaway 3-0,
20:37they'd won the game. But then they conceded a couple of sloppy goals and it didn't change
20:41the result but it just sort of hammers home that they need to be on an individual, I think they're
20:47well organised but on an individual basis, they just need to be better defensively as well.
20:52And I think Leon talks about looking at it at the end of the season and that's absolutely
20:57right. Eighth or ninth would be a good season but it would really feel like a missed opportunity.
21:02But the reckoning might come sooner. There's going to be a Premier League club
21:07sack its manager in February and March and if they come in for Danny Rowe then
21:12and Rowe's not got what he wanted in the January transfer market, it's going to be harder to keep
21:17him and he is such an asset for that football club. I think if you're a championship club,
21:23you're almost better having a high-quality manager than a couple of high-quality players
21:29because obviously the manager impacts 25 of those players. A player like Josh Windas can only do
21:38what he can do whereas Rowe can impact so many of them. I think they've really got to
21:45make sure that this guy is happy there and they get as much out of him as they possibly can.
21:53Yeah because we mentioned this on I think the last podcast that we had. We saw how close
22:01Southampton got to actually getting Danny Rowe and the thing is I was thinking
22:06again, if they come in with the right offer, he knows Southampton after being assistant to
22:14Ralph Harsenhutl at the time. So again, all it takes is for one really good approach by
22:21some team from the Premier League. And they will be really good or the Bundesliga.
22:26Yep. It's a warning isn't it? The football now antennae in the Sheffield Wednesday boardroom
22:34should think we need to help him here. Obviously his name's going around, there's going to be a
22:42lot of high-profile clubs sniffing around and we've got to do everything we can to make him
22:48want to stay here. It's inevitable that he will go sometime because he is that good but when you've
22:56got a good manager you've really got to try and hang on to them. Look at how carelessly Hall
23:01got rid of theirs and they're paying the price for it. He's got a bond with Sheffield Wednesday
23:07as well. He's not a gun for hire is he? He's genuinely taken to the club which is in their
23:14favour but you can't push your luck, you can't take it to extremes. Exactly. And next we turn
23:22our attention to Barnsley who produced an impressive performance in their 2-1 win over
23:27Wrexham which helps the Tikes climb into the playoff places and maintain pressure on those
23:31around them. Now what were your thoughts on the game Leon? I thought it has the potential to be a
23:41huge moment in the season and I sent out a tweet last night and they were under all manner of
23:48pressure in the second half. It was a bit of a game of two halves, they scored two brilliant goals
23:55in the first half but fair play to Wrexham, they brought Stephen Fletcher on at half-time,
24:01they were attacking the big following where all the supporters were and you sort of thought
24:07Barnsley are going to have to withstand some pressure at some point here and in the event it
24:11lasted for most of the second half and they got a goal back near the end, well 10 minutes from time
24:18and then you had the stoppage time Wrexham and I just thought that period right at the end of the
24:23game, that last 10 minutes and stoppage time just to be huge in the context of Barnsley's season.
24:28They'd conceded all the sort of old story about can't win at home, can't see out games,
24:35this, that and the other, that would have been everywhere and you did fear for Barnsley,
24:42especially without Mark Roberts and Josh Earle managed to be fair, he came back and I thought
24:48he did really well but with his calf, he'd only trained a day so they had to be sort of sensible
24:55with him and he came off early in the second half and yeah you sort of feared for them and
25:01if they'd not seen this one out, they'd conceded lots and lots of late goals especially at Oakwell,
25:07you know the stoppage game, Wickham game, this, that and the other, Charlton,
25:11for their development you just thought if they don't see this out what's this going to do to
25:15their morale and everything but they managed to, by hook or by crook, they managed to do it,
25:22it was a bit hairy but I think that sort of game, edging out a really sort of tight game against a
25:30good side who put them under a hell of a lot of pressure, for me is more important than Barnsley
25:36could have turned up and you know beaten, say they've beaten them comfortably 3-0 like they
25:41did against you know Rotherham a month or two ago, they didn't need that sort of win if that
25:49sort of makes sense given what they've experienced at Oakwell, obviously they've only won twice in
25:55the league until New Year's Day since the end of February and that's madness really isn't it,
26:03to say they're around the top six and their away form has been propping them up but yeah it's been
26:13a pretty good reaction hasn't it, I mean they got hammered at home to Leyton Orange before Christmas,
26:18he had them in on the Sunday for a clear the air meeting, Darrell Clarke was at pains to point out
26:27it wasn't sort of pointing fingers at each other that sort of thing but I dare say there were a few
26:33footsy words mixed in there as well but yeah it's been a good response from Barnsley
26:39especially with you know Mark Roberts has been out, one or two of the gun players have
26:46have put their hands up, Keeler Duns of this world, Adam Phillips and yeah they're in a decent
26:53enough spot again at the start of the new year and you know the significance of New Year's Day
26:58you know it's a bit of a milestone day in the calendar, you know the Barnsley punters all
27:02turned up probably thinking yeah we'll give them one more chance almost and waiting to be
27:08not just entertained but convinced and yeah huge win for them as I said,
27:15Wrexham posed a lot of issues the second half, they're a physical side as well, they get the
27:20ball into the mix and ask questions, the incredible really stat that Wrexham have
27:29not won at Elkwell in 17 games, they've never won there in fact and the game's been played 34 times
27:38and there's never been an away win which is a bit of a stutter but that is
27:44that is bizarre isn't it but yeah I think a good thing for, we'll probably find out on Saturday
27:53evening if we're not, we don't have a snow deluge, a good thing that they have a home game quickly
27:59yeah after this it'll be a different sort of game to Wrexham for all manner of reasons,
28:07we're near the bottom, it's certainly not as sexy a fixture if you like, they're at the other you
28:13know other end of the table fighting, not as glamorous, you know if they can back this up
28:18with another win then they're hopefully onto something but you know the flip side if they
28:25don't one or two questions will be asked again but yeah the top and bottom of it, the big
28:30encouragement for me was that they actually had to withstand not just 10 minutes of pressure,
28:36it was pretty much most of the second half and they didn't, it was a bit hairy but they didn't
28:42buckle and they got over the line and they got three points yeah. Yeah I totally agree that
28:47Crawley game is huge now, I mean if that weren't to be there and they had to wait till the end of
28:51the month for the next home game, you really want to cash in on this momentum and I think
28:56so much of this is psychological, I mean you know Leon talks about the significance of New Year's
29:02Day, I mean late Norio was only 10 days earlier but in your mind you know if you're a clever
29:08manager you can play the tricks, it's a new year you know you have this terrible home record
29:14in 2024, they've now got 100% home record in 2025, it's onwards and upwards basically
29:21and you know and as Leon sort of outlined all the sort of things that they put to bed as well,
29:28they're all significant you know, we can hold out, we can avoid these late goals, we can do this,
29:34we can do that, you know the glamour that's attached to Wrexham's name at the moment means
29:41you can really sort of put some storing results against them, you know Huddersfield got a draw
29:46there and that was big for them you know with Wrexham's record at home sort of thing, you can
29:52sort of piggyback on teams like that to really almost make more of the result than it is you
29:58know and I think that's what Barnsley need at the moment and it's you know to be fair it's
30:03feeding into a bit of momentum, talk about the late Norio game but that's the outlier in four
30:08wins out of five, you know they're in a good place, they're going to do a lot in January,
30:15I think it's pretty fair to say in and out so it's a bit of a, it could be a bit of a turning
30:23point for them, they've had a, you can't say they've had a bad first half of the season by
30:27any means to be in the player position but it just feels like, I say like I mentioned about
30:34Doncaster particularly that they can kick on from here, they can take it up for a level and that's
30:40clearly what Daryl Clarke quite obviously is after but to start it in such a good mental place
30:49I think could you know could really be significant if as Leon rightly says they then back up against
30:56Crawley, if they're to lose to Crawley then a lot of that good work goes out the window and
31:00the old doubts creep back in but if you can suddenly make it two wins out of two then the
31:06world looks like a very different place all of a sudden. Yeah and finally for this week I look to
31:11Leon for his team of the week before turning to Stuart for his player of the week. So Leon, who
31:16has made your contender for team of the week this week? Well it's been if you look at the
31:24Christmas and New Year period it's been a bit of a mixed bag really hasn't it you know, Huddersfield
31:29got a got a good win against against Stockport who were in and around them in the table had to
31:37roll up the sleeves a bit and disappointingly you know dropped two points against Burton but it
31:43could have been worse couldn't it and they're what they're now 13 and 14 without a defeat they're
31:48very as I've said before they're very resilient and in a decent place, Middlesbrough
31:55How do you start there? I mean that game against Sheffield Wednesday that was definitely the
32:02game of the of the Christmas New Year period involving local size I think that's
32:08that one had everything for Stuart there. I think after that game and the place
32:14they were in they were obviously three nil down and blew it. They'd have taken two clean sheets
32:20and four points from the next two games and that felt like a big moment in the season as well
32:26the whole you know digging in there and nicking a goal in in stoppage time from from Alex Gilbert
32:32yeah Leeds have decent pretty decent I think Leeds would have taken seven from nine not picture
32:40perfect and Blackburn continue to have a little bit of a an Indian sign over them a little bit
32:46don't they? It's strange when you look at the sort of Leeds they do have problems against teams
32:53from that end of Lancashire don't they? Whether it's you know at times Preston, Blackburn
32:58you know Burnley but yeah seven from nine is pretty you know it's two away wins as well
33:04that's a pretty decent mixed bag for all they obviously got a they got a superb winner
33:09at Blackburn and then if they were on the cusp of it would have probably been a big point for
33:14them wouldn't it in the position that they're in battling away at the bottom but they just got
33:18edged out by Middlesbrough and it was it was a good goal from Burra but
33:24Abu Kamara didn't cover himself in glory with his inability to track back and he was just jogging
33:31back and you know if you're if you're a side down down the bottom you need you can't you can't have
33:35that in stoppage time of games Doncaster are obviously a mixed bag as well isn't it but
33:41yeah I mean they're going back to Barnsley I can't you can't you can't ignore them can you
33:48after the Christmas they've had and the context of the of the Orient game and they're away from
33:54and yeah it was just spoken about with you know if they can sort that out at home get that
34:00confidence coursing through the veins a little bit because away from home they've got eight wins and
34:05they must be feeling confident every time they go on the on the road and maybe they'll have to
34:09come into the into Oakwell on the bus every on the coach every every home game and stay stay
34:15overnight as I put in my my match report that might do the trick and Stuart who has made your
34:23nomination for player of the week yeah again it's it's a difficult one because there's been some
34:29great individual performances over the Christmas period but it is so difficult to to back up
34:35performances individually and and as a team and this game so close together I say it's I think
34:41it's partly psychological it feels even more congested over Christmas even though it probably
34:47actually isn't but I guess you're doing more stuff off the field and that sort of thing
34:52I mean Finneas was brilliant on on Boxing Day for Middlesbrough for example that was a that was a
34:59really good certainly 45 minute performance you know we're talking about we're talking about
35:07three games in in the case of most of these Billy Sharp a crucial goal for Doncaster I mean
35:15Grant McCann's played his old trick of setting a mini league table he'd set them a six game
35:20league table and before Sharp scored his winner I think they'd only got one point from
35:25was it one point or what that one win I think it was from the from the first three games they
35:31were heading for a draw there so yeah continues to continues to do the business Alfie Jones
35:39really important you know he's one of those survivors at Hull City who you get players at
35:45some clubs where maybe managers might come in and look to look to move a player on and it's only
35:50later that they sort of appreciate the full value of them I don't think in fairness Jones
35:55falls into that category but he's he's been an important sort of rock for them in in in recent
36:03seasons Leon mentioned Josh Earle just the you know physical sort of sacrifice he made for Barnsley
36:12grit his teeth and getting through and obviously Davies Keel had done caught the eye with his goals
36:16but really for me with with the games I've seen over Christmas I can't go much further than than
36:21Josh Windas okay he scored that unbelievable goal but it was also his fifth in five games it wasn't
36:28this wasn't a flash in the pan moment he has been consistently a shining light for Sheffield
36:35Wednesday and I say we often we often talk about at this time of year about what clubs need to
36:42change but it's it's you can never forget what they already have and in Windas there's a there's
36:47a real quality player there to hopefully kick Sheffield Wednesday on in the second half of
36:52the season. Yorkshirepost.co.uk
37:06Many thanks to Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobtrell who will doubtless join us again soon for more
37:10discussions on the Yorkshire football scene but don't forget you can keep up to date with all the
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37:38for listening, look after yourselves and bye for now.