- 3 years ago
This week we we are going to look heavily into the weekend shock that happened in League One.
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00:00 Match day 3 or 4 has just passed and we are beginning to get a sliver of an idea of how
00:12 things are panning out in the EFL. There have however been a few shocks, not least at the
00:17 weekend in League 1 where Wigan battered Bolton and there was a dramatic finish to Northampton
00:22 vs Peterborough 2. We are going to look heavily on that division today and have a brief look
00:26 across the weekend's action. This is Everything But The Prem. Joining me this week is Ben
00:32 Jones from the Peterborough Telegraph. Ben, how are you doing? Not so well after the weekend
00:39 though actually. We will go into that, in fact we will start off with that because it
00:46 was one of the bigger games of the weekend in League 1. We are going to concentrate primarily
00:50 on League 1 in this week's edition. We had a bit of a derby, it is a derby game, Peterborough
00:58 Northampton and it didn't go the way that certainly you as a Peterborough Telegraph
01:04 and I presume Peterborough United fan would have hoped. Quite a dramatic finish with a,
01:13 I say controversial, it's difficult to tell really isn't it? I think that's the most important
01:19 thing to stress. For anybody who doesn't know, there was a long hopeful effort came from
01:27 Northampton player which caught the Peterborough United goalkeeper off his guard and the referee,
01:35 certainly the linesman actually was the one who deemed that the ball had crossed the line.
01:41 Certainly any of the footage that I have seen, you just couldn't tell and I would presume
01:47 as well that your vantage point at the game would suggest similar, is that fair enough?
01:54 Yes, so the ball has been looped over the head, there has been a bit of copping as the
01:59 goalkeeper has run backwards. He is absolutely certain he stopped it from going over the
02:04 line but at the end of the day I couldn't see where I was at the game. I have seen shots
02:10 from different angles and I have seen screen grabs from videos. Funnily enough I have seen
02:16 the same screen grab used for somebody saying "well this is definitely over the line" and
02:21 somebody saying "clearly it's not over the line, it's the same picture". So it's impossible
02:27 to tell. My thing on it is I'm almost certain the linesman couldn't know just because of
02:33 where his positioning is. He's not up for play, he's looking at it head on. I don't
02:38 see how there's any way or any certainty he can say it's over but when at the game there's
02:44 absolutely no hesitation to give it. I'm just a bit bemused by that decision to give it
02:52 so quickly when clearly I can't see how he would have a good enough vantage point to
02:57 see it. At the end of the day I don't know if it went over but I'm not sure he could
03:03 either.
03:04 It's a fair point really. We talk about in some instances that we often should give the
03:18 benefit of the doubt to the attacking because people want to see goals and things like that
03:22 but it was very late in the game. Had it gone past 90 minutes? You're right in what you're
03:37 saying. Surely you have to be 100% sure before you can give a goal in that stage of the game,
03:43 effectively winning the game for the team that's attacking.
03:48 I think so. It's less controversial for a goal to be given when there's a bit of doubt
04:00 of it. Are they worried that in the morning a video is going to come out where they see
04:04 it over the line and they've not given it? Are they thinking about it from that angle?
04:09 I don't know. Surely if you're not sure, I don't know how you can give a big thing in
04:15 the last minute of a game. If you're not sure how you can award a goal, I'm struggling with
04:21 that one a bit.
04:22 Clearly, we're mundane and it's still bothering you.
04:26 Yeah, it's such a big thing actually. That was Northampton's first win over Posh at 6
04:36 o'clock in 2002. Posh had such a dominant record there and they started the season so
04:41 well. Many fans might say it's typical Peterborough to go and beat such a strong team before this
04:48 and go and lose the derby. But yeah, it certainly was a shock.
04:54 To stay with Peterborough, they were one of the teams expected to challenge, given that
05:01 last season they were in the play-off places. Reading what Darren Ferguson said after the
05:08 match, perhaps understandably he tried to veer himself away from the goal itself too
05:16 much and preferred to concentrate on the limitations of his team on the day. He concentrated primarily
05:25 on what seemingly was a bit of a lack of a cutting edge, I suppose, for Peterborough.
05:34 Does that suggest that that's an area that they're going to try and work in, in the last
05:45 remaining stages of the transfer market? Or is it what we've got, we've got?
05:50 I think he's certainly right. Posh didn't play too badly in the game, to be honest,
05:58 really. He had a lot of the ball, had a lot of shots. But yeah, just that final bit of
06:02 quality in the final third was just lacking. There was a lot of openings that were just
06:07 wasted and shots that... There's actually quite a few good chances that just weren't
06:12 converted. But yeah, I think it did highlight a big problem in the squad. Posh have got
06:18 quite a strong XI and then once you go beyond that, it is quite lacking, to be honest. With
06:28 20 minutes to go, he made a triple substitution. He brought on David Adjaboy, Ricky J Jones
06:36 and Kamongo Shimanga. And those are three players who not only had no impact in the
06:42 game, I mean, as Ferguson himself had quite the opposite impact. And it's just, if Posh
06:47 aren't giving Johnson Clarke Harris service, if F1 Mason Clarke is having an off day, which
06:52 he did and he was taken off in that triple change, Posh seemed very lightweight up front.
06:59 After the game, Dalman Canton came out and he defended the bench when a lot of people
07:03 made the point, where is the strength and depth in this squad? He defended the bench,
07:08 so it's fine. Posh are going for a new model this year, young and hungry players. Most
07:15 of the players that were here last season have been moved on or in the process of being
07:19 moved on. I think the club are still very open selling Ronnie Edwards and Johnson Clarke
07:23 Harris to this window. They have a lot of faith in these youngsters. Whether those youngsters
07:30 come good, maybe it's a bit too early to tell, but they certainly didn't have a great game
07:35 over the weekend off the bench. So I think if the club sell Clarke Harris, they will
07:41 look to replace him for sure, whether they replace him with a winger and move around
07:45 the options they have, or whether they buy an out and out striker. They'll certainly
07:48 look to replace him. But besides that, if Clarke Harris doesn't leave, I don't think
07:53 there's going to be much more transfer activity in the building, to be honest.
07:57 What's the feeling of the fans around that then? Because obviously, they went up as close
08:03 as you could possibly get, given the dramatic circumstances of the play-off semi-finals
08:08 last year. Given that, and I'm going to talk a little bit about this more generally later
08:17 on in the show, but given that there were a lot of big teams left the division last
08:22 year, people would have looked at Posh as being a major challenger. It kind of feels
08:30 a little bit like they're relying, you can correct me if I'm wrong here, almost as if
08:39 they're relying themselves to have a free one this year, to have a little bit of a rebuild.
08:45 Is that a fair point?
08:47 I think so. If you ask Dan Ferguson about targets ahead of the season, he absolutely
08:53 will not entertain that at all. He won't discuss how they're going to get on, if there's
08:58 any targets. He says, "No, there's no targets. We've chosen this philosophy of young players."
09:04 In the summer, we've had nine players out, nine players in. The only signing over the
09:09 age of 25 is Ximango, but even he was joined the club in January with an obligation to
09:15 buy. So the only player they've gone and brought out this summer, the oldest player,
09:19 I think he's 23 years old. So there's almost no experienced players left in the squad.
09:24 And yeah, Posh are kind of having a year off. The feeling was Ferguson and McCartney kind
09:30 of came together and they decided that the team that ended that game against Chivalware
09:34 on Wednesday had run its course. They needed to freshen things up. But yeah, the one thing
09:39 I think may kind of stick in the back of the mind of Posh Van Dier is, I think you are
09:45 right, I think it certainly is a weaker league this year. I think there's a real opportunity
09:49 for Posh or kind of anyone really to go on and really make it that way. I don't see the
09:56 strength of an Ipswich or a Sheffield Wednesday of last year in this league. But yeah, Posh
10:03 are going a new route. And perhaps maybe in a few years' time, if this doesn't pay off,
10:09 it might look back at it as a missed opportunity.
10:13 I mean, in fairness to them, playing Devil's Advocate, it's maybe not to this extent, but
10:19 it is a way of working that has served them fairly well over the years in terms of, as
10:27 you say, signing hungry young players who perhaps have a decent say along if things
10:33 work well.
10:34 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Posh have a great track record of it. I'm actually quite impressed
10:42 with how the team's gone about it in the first three games, certainly. But you've got players
10:48 kind of like Kwame Pocku and F1 Mason Clarke that the club have brought recently, and they
10:53 really seem to have kicked on this year. I like the look of Archie Collins as a new signing,
10:58 a central midfielder coming in from Exeter. Peter Chioso, a loan from Wolverhampton, has
11:03 been really impressive as well. And even the goalkeeper, Abelakab, has shown potential
11:07 for a promising 20-year-old. So I do like the first team. It's just the worry is, once
11:15 you go beyond that, is there that strength and depth? And if an F1 Mason Clarke was to
11:21 pick up a serious injury, or if Clark Harris was to be sold, certainly the right replacement
11:27 would have to be found. And one of the very high quality and Ronnie Edwards at the back,
11:31 he's just irreplaceable. So I like the XI. It's just, is there enough underneath that?
11:39 Is going to be the question. And I mean, it's going to be up to the likes of Ricky J Jones
11:45 and Joel Randle to prove that, you know what, actually there is. They didn't do so well
11:50 enough hand them, but obviously, they're young players, they will be inconsistent. We shouldn't
11:54 write them off. But yeah, that's going to be their job to prove that there is the, they're
11:58 going to have to answer the question, is there enough strength and depth in this posh team
12:02 to really sustain a promotion push?
12:05 And so I suppose that, if you look at it from a different way, should they sell Clark Harris,
12:11 he's going to go for, you would expect to be a fairly hefty fee. So that's where the
12:17 kind of squad build comes in, because they're not going to replace him with all that money.
12:23 They're probably looking to buy in three or four players potentially, with the money you
12:27 would bring in for him. So I don't know what figure they're looking for or what's been
12:32 bandied around, but it's going to be a few million, you would have thought.
12:37 Certainly is, the way posh do business, yeah, certainly I'd expect it to be a good few million.
12:43 And I think that's why Ronnie Hedgew and Dan Jones are Clark Harris are still here. I think
12:47 posh are asking a lot of money and it's difficult to find a club which are willing to pay their
12:54 fee. I'm sure there's lots of legal interest in Clark Harris when they see them on the
12:57 transfer list, but what League One club has for two to four million to kind of throw around
13:04 on the striker, I'd suggest very few.
13:08 And so, yeah, I mean, yeah, I think so. Posh seem to be quite up against it, FFP wise,
13:15 in terms of players having to leave to free up money to then go and buy players. That's
13:20 been kind of the nature of the window. So if you have a posh, it's sell a player, then
13:24 bring someone in. So they seem to be... So, yeah, I think that's kind of holding plans
13:29 back at the minute because those two players who will come on, as you say, big fees still
13:34 in the building, they've not had the room to go out and kind of do as much work on the
13:38 squad as maybe they want to. So which is why I think it's posh, for imperative, a posh
13:43 moment. If they are going to go, I think they need to go as soon as possible because, you
13:47 know, what good is selling your two star players on transfer deadline day? You know, yeah,
13:53 it's like, great, you've now got all this money to spend, but you've got no time to
13:56 spend it.
13:57 Indeed. We're going to move on a little bit kind of generally at the league, as we touched
14:03 on a little bit earlier on. The likes of, in fact, the three teams that went up were,
14:10 you know, obviously the size and stature. Sheffield Wednesday weren't the best team
14:15 to have played in League One for quite a while, but they did rack up a record points total.
14:22 Ipswich were really good and Plymouth were, although not as big in stature as those other
14:29 two teams, they were better than them and, you know, show them in the championship already
14:34 how good they are. Those three teams going, as we said, makes this a hugely, hugely competitive
14:47 division, potentially out of the three AFL leagues, the most competitive. Are you looking
14:57 at the table at the minute and seeing that already? Is that what you're seeing from the
15:02 start?
15:03 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's a lot of surprise package, I mean, both good and bad.
15:07 I'm shocked to see Cambridge, who only just survived on the last day of last season, and
15:12 seem to have lost a lot of players over the summer. They've started with three wins out
15:15 of four and equally Charlton, who were probably one of my early bets for the title. Of course,
15:23 they may still go non-do it, but they're really struggling this season. Of course, weren't
15:27 beaten by Posh, but I was just impressed with the business Charlton did, the players they
15:32 brought in. And as I say, they're struggling early days. And yeah, as I look through the
15:36 League One field, I can't see anyone with the strength of squad. I mean, Chief Wednesday
15:41 last season, yeah, put on a record, Charlie, they had some, for a team that won the playoffs,
15:45 had some really strong players. I just think I don't see that quality of team anywhere
15:51 in this league. I think it could be really, really open. And, you know, Bolton had a good
15:56 start, but it just showed on Saturday that where they were being formally at home to
15:59 Wigan, the previous three games, we'll get Lincoln, Cheltenham and Fleetwood. So they,
16:04 you know, they did have an easy start. I think a few people got a bit carried away about
16:08 Bolton. As I say, they were brought back down to earth by Wigan on Saturday. And to be honest,
16:14 Wigan, who of course started with minus eight, so only down in 19, probably one of the most
16:19 impressive teams this season, which I certainly didn't see coming.
16:23 Yeah, Wigan were one of the teams that I think there was more than anything else, there was
16:31 just a big question mark over them. I think for the most part, people just weren't quite
16:37 sure how they were, how they were going to cope and how they were going to react to absolutely
16:42 everything that's gone on there over the past couple of years now, I guess. But for them
16:52 to get into, I guess, what they would have said straight right from the start in there,
16:57 John Maloney would have said, right, let's get into positive points first and then we'll
17:02 take it from there. And they've done that within four games, that went over Bolton has
17:06 taken them, I think they're plus two or plus one now. So, as you say, it's impressive that
17:14 he's been able to kind of cut out the noise of everything that's been happening there
17:19 to just try and put a team on the field who's going to be competitive.
17:22 Yeah, absolutely. I think he came in when they were struggling in the Championship,
17:28 Maloney, and I think he did do quite a good job there. At the end of the day, their feet
17:33 were taken out of them by all these points deductions and Maloney certainly got them
17:37 a lot more solid and they've managed to kind of build on that, keep that positivity going,
17:42 although they did ultimately go down. He was facing almost impossible circumstances and
17:47 he definitely did make them harder to beat and there was a slight upturn in results.
17:52 And yeah, he's managed to carry that through. Charlie White, he's a good League One striker.
17:57 He's 30 now, but I think he was involved in a promotion with Sunderland before, scored
18:02 a lot of goals in League One before. So yeah, they've got a lot of know-how for the league
18:06 and Maloney seems to have got them playing well. And sometimes these tough circumstances
18:11 can really bring a squad together because it's the case of the man, you can get them
18:15 all galved and I said, 'Look, it doesn't matter what's going on for this, we're just
18:18 going to do our jobs.' And they certainly are doing at the moment.
18:23 Anyone else standing out for you so far? Who are you thinking, 'Yeah, they're going to
18:27 be up there'? You're kind of looking at maybe teams like Oxford, who have kind of been there
18:33 or thereabouts. It almost feels like Oxford, that they've been waiting for the big guns
18:36 to just kind of get out of the way so that they can have a better run at this one, because
18:41 they've been kind of, maybe over the past five years, kind of hung around on the edge
18:47 of play-off positions and not really been able to make that final push.
18:51 Yeah, they've been a team I think that have underachieved for quite a long time in League
18:56 One. They do have some strong players there. To finish as low down as they did last year
19:01 I think was a real shock for them. And of course, it's been the push to get rid of Karl
19:05 Robinson ultimately. But I like the addition of Lee Manning. I liked what he did with MK
19:11 Dundamine, who came in first season, really transformed them, got them into the play-offs.
19:16 And of course, all of his good players were just sold from under him, so he couldn't replicate
19:22 that for a second season. But no, I like the additions they've done this summer. Ruben
19:27 Rodriguez, he was a bit of an eye-turner really. When I saw he'd gone to Oxford, I thought,
19:31 'Really?' Just because he was such a highly thought-out player from the National League,
19:35 it was a bit kind of, 'Oh wow, I'm quite surprised Oxford have managed to get him.' Of all the
19:40 teams I saw linked. Yeah, that seems to be the start of something. To go away to Barnsley
19:44 and Derby in the opening round of fixtures and get results is really quite impressive.
19:51 And yeah, as I say, they might be one of the teams where now they've not got... it doesn't
19:56 appear to be this giant or giant in the league anymore. I think Oxford, certainly teams like
20:01 Oxford, maybe finally Portsmouth are going to... maybe now is their time.
20:05 Yeah, Oxford and Portsmouth certainly impressed with their... I say impressed with their recruitment
20:12 they seem. They got a lot done quite early, which I think everybody... which made everybody
20:18 set up and take notice because often whenever you see teams having a bit of a... I mean,
20:23 you look at Derby now, they're desperately trying to bring strikers in. They've ended
20:27 up going back to Martin Waghorn. Whereas other teams, Portsmouth particularly and Oxford,
20:35 signed some good players really early in the window, which makes it kind of... it makes
20:41 everybody like that, yes, they're going for it this year. They obviously see an opportunity
20:45 here. And as you say, Portsmouth are probably one of those teams who, again, with the absence
20:51 of some of the bigger teams, find themselves with a good opportunity to at least push for
20:57 a playoff this year.
20:58 Yeah, I'm sure that that will be their goal. Yeah, I mean, Portsmouth did a lot of business
21:03 in there. They did a lot of business earlier, which I think always helps if you can get
21:06 your players in the building as soon as possible when the season starts. I mean, of course,
21:10 the window's still open for a month when the season starts. But if you could have that
21:13 team going forward, you can say to these guys, "Look, you're our guys for the season. This
21:19 is the plan we're going to work with going forward." It's such a benefit in terms of
21:24 the confidence of the squad and just how much time you've got on the training pitch. I mean,
21:28 to return back to Peterborough very briefly, we're still playing this season. We started
21:34 quite well. We're playing with the question mark of, "Will Ronnie Edwards and Clark Harris
21:38 be here on September 1st?" So all of a sudden, you lose those two players, your whole way
21:42 of playing could change very quickly. And certainly your expectation of the season could
21:46 change very quickly if things start to maybe take a dick if those two players leave. But
21:51 Portsmouth have that certainty. They've done their business early and they've worked on
21:56 what they want to work on. So yeah, I think they could be in for a really strong season.
22:05 Barnsley started the season incredibly with an emphatic 7-0 win and haven't been able
22:13 to back that up. I think it just shows. I think that's probably another way, another
22:20 means of showing just how competitive this league is and probably more importantly, how
22:27 unpredictable it's going to be. We're talking about now how teams are perhaps showing a
22:32 little bit about what's going to happen, but this could all change. Certainly by the time
22:38 the window closes, the teams who are down there at the bottom, we've spoken about Chardon
22:43 who haven't had a good start, but a lot of people were talking them up as being potential
22:48 league winners this year. It just shows you can't back anything here. It's an absolute
22:56 gambler's nightmare really, isn't it, this division this year?
22:58 Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, it is far too hard to tell. But it's great. It's why
23:04 I thought it was great, isn't it? On the opening day, Barnsley beat Port Vale 7-0. Barnsley
23:09 haven't won since and Port Vale haven't lost since. And now Port Vale are at the table.
23:14 It's crazy. It really is, I think as you said earlier, it really is probably the hardest
23:21 league to predict in the whole EFL and Premier League system. I'm really looking forward
23:26 to see how it shapes out this season.
23:29 That's great, Ben. Thanks for your insight on League One. That's us for this week. You
23:34 can join us again next time to reflect on another EFL matchday where I'm sure, as always,
23:39 there'll be plenty to talk about once again. Thanks again, Ben, for joining us and to you
23:44 for watching. We'll see you next time on Everything But The Prem.
23:47 [MUSIC]
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