- 7 months ago
Kristjaan Speakman post-window chat detailed and Crystal Palace preview
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00:00hello everybody welcome to the raw podcast brought to you by the sun and echo my name is
00:20james copley joined by phil smith today phil how are the things yeah not bad just sort of um
00:27still coming down to earth a little bit after deadline day and that summer transfer window
00:32which was a absolutely wild few months for everyone involved but yeah i've had it all thanks
00:38this isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's been touch wood so far a very quiet international
00:44break there hasn't been any controversy i had a look this morning i can't see any reported injuries
00:49obviously we'll know a little bit more from the breeze tomorrow but all's well that ends well at
00:53the moment it feels yeah i actually think it's been quite nice to have a little bit of a little
00:58bit of a pause as well actually because it never felt like it never really we never really had any
01:04kind of break because the joe bellingham deal went through something like two weeks after wembley
01:09i think and obviously it had been brewing for some time and then we just went straight into this
01:13absolutely um sort of remarkable like summer recruitment drive and then into pre-season and
01:19so in some ways it feels like the first actual proper slowdown since like i don't know that weird
01:25run before the playoffs so yeah i've actually quite quite enjoyed having a bit of a chance to sort of
01:31like pause a little bit and reflect on the last few months and stuff because it has been it's not
01:35been like anything i've covered really since i since i started doing this job so i've actually quite
01:40enjoyed a bit of a pause but as ever once you get at this point you're desperate for the football to
01:45come back aren't you so i have enjoyed it but yeah definitely ready to get stuck in again yeah
01:49absolutely well i will touch upon transfers and stuff now phil because you are at the academy of
01:53like chatting to christian speaker and there's a boatload of articles you can read over at the
01:58silver network website phil what were your impressions of the mood up there firstly and what
02:03were your headlines from the chat with speaker yeah i think definitely satisfied i think would be
02:09the would be the word i think that i would use because i think that they were able to execute
02:13a huge amount of what they wanted to be able to do this summer which is always kind of a
02:18um a nice thing for the club i guess to be able to reflect on i i think definitely that there's a
02:25the mood is a bit of a balance between i think being really proud of how quickly the club has developed
02:31over the last few months and the work that they've done over the summer and also a kind of a
02:35caution really where i think everybody understands that the gulf between the championship and the
02:40premier league is is absolutely massive and i think that underpins everything really around
02:45someone in terms of really really bullish really really ambitious about what they want to try and
02:49do not just this season but in future seasons but also trying to respect the fact that you know you
02:54can't um underestimate the size of the gap between the premier league and the championship and i think
02:59that's yeah i think cautiously optimistic i think is how i would best sum up the mood around the place
03:04and i think that's not just kind of last week i think that's been for a while i think there's a real
03:08belief in the way that they work and the strategy they have can kind of make this club a stable
03:13premier league team but i also think like there's definitely a desire to be respectful of the level
03:19of competition and the fact that even having a window like this you know it doesn't guarantee
03:23you safety by any stretch of the imagination um but very very very satisfied both with the window
03:29and getting two points in the first three games um that is a real yes the fixture list has probably
03:35been a little bit generous but that is a massive kind of step in the right direction
03:39it might not have been one of the most headline grabbing articles that you did phil but i thought
03:45it was certainly the most insightful was when you spoke to speakman about the process of persuading
03:50a player to come to saloon i found that fascinating talk us through that because i thought you gave a
03:54really really good strong detailed answer on that yeah i think it was obviously trying to kind of wrestle
03:59with this question of how do you basically i suppose is how do you get someone like granite
04:04zach to come and join a club that is is you know potentially going to be fighting for its life in
04:09the premier league and leave european football and you know a team that um almost went and beaten for
04:14the whole season a couple years ago in leverages and and i think that just kind of sparked a really
04:18interesting discussion of which the first point is that you know jacker is a little bit of a
04:22different case and that he is a player with a mentality who rather than being like don't really fancy
04:27dropping into a premier league relegation battle his kind of mentality and attitude is the opposite
04:31he's like yeah like scrap it out in sondland at the bottom of the premier league let's do it
04:36um so i think he's a little bit of a unique case but i think it was really interesting to get that
04:40insight you mentioned and what's really clear is that someone's done a lot of work in how do we sell
04:45this story especially to young players how do we sell you know when they have all these different
04:51options um how do we sell the story to them to make someone to come and play for us
04:56and like obviously there's absolutely no point trying to be too clever about it the premier league
05:00and the finances of the premier league are a massive factor in that every young player really across
05:05europe wants to come and play in the premier league for sport and financial reasons but i think
05:09someone have been so good at selling this story of a club that's on the up a city that's on the up
05:15a team that is like stacked with young players it's kind of like this thing of everyone's second
05:20favorite team if you like almost like the everyone's other favorite team in european football
05:25and i think they've been really really skillful in pitching to that and one of the things christian
05:29speaking talked about was um something that the club media team pulled together which was a like
05:34a really sharp video it's only about two minutes long but when they first speak to a player that's
05:38the first thing they see they drop this little video um and it just basically tells the story
05:43basically someone's last two years in terms of the ballard goal and all that kind of stuff loads of
05:47footage of the the night of the first leg against coventry so you know when the bus comes in and the
05:52flares and it's just really to it's almost like hype video to kind of pitch what sondland is to
05:58the players and then obviously after that you then go into the really detailed stuff where christian
06:03has a presentation about what the facilities are like what training looks like what it's like to be
06:08a sondland player then obviously there's a conversation with regis where regis will explain
06:12how the team plays where that player will fit in so i thought it was really interesting because
06:17yes they do all the stuff that you would expect come and look at our facilities
06:20premier league ready here's how you're going to fit into the team here's why the head coach wants
06:24you but there's obviously a process of we want to actually sell our story to these players and i
06:29think that's been key to some of these young players who really want to get involved in this like
06:33um you know in this in this story if you like this narrative and that we've all been enjoying
06:38the fan angle phil of that i find particularly heartening because i feel particularly the last time
06:45summer in the premier league that wasn't leaned on enough i think players and and people in the game
06:49know how big a club sondland can can be but it really lacked that sort of connection between fans
06:55and the project and now it all feels like they're all singing off the the same hymn sheet everybody's
07:00involved the club has an identity now from the fans right through to the academy to the first team and
07:04that can be a very very unique selling point well it's i think it's not even just something leaning
07:10into it now i actually think it's the complete opposite where i think there were probably times
07:13during sondland's demise where the fans were almost it was deflected back on them wasn't it
07:19in terms of it's not you know it's not a great place to play you know it's on your back if you make
07:24a mistake and i think one of the most satisfying things of the last few years really is just
07:29having that kind of complete myth just complete put to bed yeah it's not a very happy place if the
07:34team loses every week and plays really badly i'm not sure that's a particularly sondland thing
07:38exactly i was going to say but nowhere is is it i mean you don't know when you come up and down the land
07:42and i think the fact that the club are really positive about the fan base and have worked
07:48really hard to sort of foster that connection is now paying off handsomely and as you say
07:51like there's absolutely you're really right to point that out this is now a massive tool that
07:56someone's using and they could recruit to quite literally come and look at the atmosphere in the
08:00city come and look at the buzz that our fans create come and look at how they get behind this
08:04young team come and look at how they've bought into what we're trying to do and how they'll get
08:08behind you um so i agree with you it's a it's a really really heartening thing because it's
08:13something that yeah if anything was was almost painted as a as a negative in the past and i feel
08:18like that story has been completely turned on its head and that's not just the new signings either
08:22that's the contract renewals isn't it it's this feeling of um you know this is a story that people
08:28want to be part of and you know fingers crossed that that continues because it's a it's a it's a
08:32really cool thing um it really does like i feel like someone to having a bit of a moment um and
08:38and and you know and that's not just the club either that's like i think there's a real sense
08:43of pride across the board isn't there and um the football is obviously a central part of that
08:47it's just a really it's a really nice feeling and hopefully that's something that we can keep going
08:52you know even if there's a little bit of dip of results even though we know like
08:55december's potentially going to be really scary with half the squad at the africouvernations and we
09:00playing man city twice and all of that hopefully that's something they can just keep building
09:03because i think it has been so powerful and it has absolutely been a factor um in being able to
09:09sign these players obviously the premier league is the big thing i don't think anyone's trying to be
09:12too clever about that but some of them have definitely been able to position themselves in
09:16the way that these players want to come and be part of it do you think they've learned a little
09:20bit from past mistakes as well obviously the premier league allows you to operate at an entirely
09:25different level in terms of money pull gravitas all of that sort of stuff but just thinking of
09:30some assignments the foreign lads can all speak very very good english we know that was a little
09:35bit of an issue in the past with players like nasrus and jefferson bennett you know having three
09:40strikers at the club three strikers seems like a bit of a fever dream doesn't it um they really seem
09:45to have um sort of pushed on their their strategy yeah i think so i think that's definitely a a big
09:52factor i think that obviously one of the things that the extra finances enables you to do is it it
09:59enables you to take fewer risks and i think that's a massive factor you can be a bit more
10:03um you don't have to gamble as much and i think that some of the mistakes or some of the bad simon
10:09some of them made so through the championship era i think in fairness part of that was them trying to
10:14find better value for money um than the than their competitors um and i think that's something that
10:22they haven't had to do as much this summer they've been able to maybe go out for a slightly more
10:26established players slightly more experienced and i think they've got a nice blend because
10:29ultimately the vast majority of the money has been spent on those players who you still have room to
10:33develop um and still can grow grow with the club so i don't think there's been a huge sort of sea
10:39change but i think with the the pull of the premier league and the extra financial impact i think what
10:43that has allowed them to do is to play a little bit more safer if you like in terms of some of their
10:48signings and adam players who you basically know um are pretty much going to be able to compete at this
10:53level on day one and we've seen that in zaka rey nildo mukela uh so i think that that's kind of the
10:58privilege of the of the premier league if you like but of course what they had to do was convince those
11:03players to make the leap and that's what you know we talked about um and you know previously there has
11:08been really really important there's been structural changes to some of them as well this um this summer film
11:15including florenka solfi coming in how does that dynamic work now with sundown essentially having sort of two
11:21sporting directors i know gusolfi's um job title is slightly different but when gusolfi first came i
11:27was wondering if speakman might sort of go a little bit into the background or the roles might change
11:32slightly but he still seems to be sort of the figurehead of the club doesn't he that the voice
11:35that you hear the words that you read will be from christian speak yeah that might be something that
11:40changes a little bit over time but i think that all i think it kind of makes sense to speakman to be
11:45kind of the the public face if you like because supporters are familiar with him obviously he's very
11:50comfortable with the language and he's been here for a long time so it's easy for him to have those
11:54discussions i think um it's really interesting because my impression of it is that there aren't
12:00really defined rules if you like in terms of this person looks after this thing and this person looks
12:05after this thing now i suppose there's an element of risk in that but it also seems to be working
12:10fairly well for sunland i think it's very clear and you know i think credit christian speedman he's the
12:15first to put his hands up and say that i think a selfie's arrival is is allowed them access to
12:20markets and contacts and and that they might have struggled to previously and one of the big things
12:26that speakman said is what it allows us to do is it allows us to work on multiple transfers at once
12:31um and that's kind of been a bit of a game changer for them in terms of the speed that they've been
12:34able to work at because it's not like focusing on one deal and then moving on to the next one they're
12:38able to be across a few different things at a few different times so i think it's something that
12:43sometimes have a really unusual structure i think and it's quite loose and it is genuinely quite
12:48collaborative and i think i don't think anyone's under any illusions that like kirill drove the
12:53granite zaka deal like was part of a huge part of those talks and was kind of leading that
12:58um some sporting directors around the world might get a little bit twitchy at that because they might
13:02feel you know it's treading on their toes a little bit and i think it's probably credit to
13:06something that they're able to have a little bit of an environment where whoever can get the deal done
13:11goes and gets the deals done we've seen labris at times lean on his contacts to bring in players
13:14that he knew um so i think it's quite a loose structure and i think that has been really to
13:19someone's benefit this summer um i think it's football's quite an ego driven environment so i
13:24think it's quite cool that some of the potential year will go up right in that way um how that will
13:29pan out in the future i i don't know because inherently when you have a lot of different voices
13:33obviously it can at times lead to lead to some friction but that doesn't seem to have been the case so
13:37far which is which is quite exciting and it'll be really interesting to see how that goes over
13:41over future windows that's a really interesting point that you raised i actually haven't considered
13:46about multiple people being able to work across multiple transfer windows because there has been
13:50a little bit of frustration from sun and fancy windows past that business would be left late and
13:54it wasn't fast enough that definitely changed this summer didn't it and from a practical standpoint
13:59that makes complete sense doesn't it if you have two men able to do one job then you can get
14:04more done that would be in any walk of life at the southern echo at nissan anything yeah and i think
14:09it's it's not like totally unusual in in football i mean it is quite unusual most clubs don't do it
14:15but you see chelsea have co-sporting directors and that kind of makes sense when you look at the sheer
14:19volume of transfers that they get through because obviously bringing players in and then moving them
14:23on is quite a big part of their business strategy and i know brentford did it for a while as well
14:27where they had co-sporting directors so i think it's probably something we will see more of um moving
14:33forward i think probably i think someone will be slightly kind of ahead of the curve if you like
14:37on this probably the main reason as i said before that more clubs don't do it is because there's a
14:41risk factor right in terms of sometimes when big decisions are being spread across the board it can
14:46lead to more disruption and it can lead to you being really inefficient i think um so it's interesting to
14:51me that this has been a pretty seamless process since gosalfi came in i think you have to give credit to
14:56christian speakman for that for not getting i suppose like defensive if you like about the fact that there
15:00was a director of football coming in um yeah and and fingers crossed that continues because i think
15:05we've definitely seen that it's allowed them to move at a capacity that seems to have been um
15:11certainly beyond what a lot of other clubs were able to do in the market this summer so
15:15and i think that's definitely been really important and i guess there's a sort of wider philosophical
15:19argument isn't there phil whether football clubs should just rely on on that one person different
15:24eras but we saw with roberto defante a long time ago that sometimes that doesn't quite work and
15:30maybe it is good to have a broad church of thinking across people different people we've
15:34seen liverpool run a transfer committee as it was called early days over there to great success
15:41yeah and and i think it's definitely if you can make it work it's the better way to do it if you
15:45if you can have a genuinely kind of collaborative environment and i think that you know someone
15:49are quite fortunate i guess in that well maybe it's not fortunate maybe it's good recruitment in terms
15:53of bringing in the right people the right roles but you know rajis is someone who we've we've both
15:57talked at length about you know from our dealings with him who is is very very sort of down to worth
16:01compared to how a lot of head coaches in football are that's obviously been a massive part of it he
16:06doesn't really politic in the press do you know i mean in terms of asking for more signings or
16:10complaining about certain kind of signings and stuff so that's obviously a massive factor in how
16:14it's been able to work as well so yeah it's it's very like modern if you like it is is definitely the
16:20way that football is going um and hopefully you know we said this a few times over the last couple of years but
16:26hopefully what we're seeing is someone being a club that's actually a little bit ahead of the
16:29curve rather than kind of miles behind it which is kind of what we're used to that's kind of
16:34our default position um and i definitely think yeah it's it's clear that the arrival of florenka
16:40salt has been a a big factor in what someone's been able to do this summer and that's not
16:45in any way denigrating christian speakman or the work that he's done i think it's just clear that in
16:49terms of capacity and doors that it's opened even little things like you know the the extra languages
16:55that florenka salt you can speak and how that can help you in recruitment it's just common sense
16:59isn't it um so yeah i think it's obvious that those structural changes have been massive to what
17:04someone have been able to do this summer and in terms of player recruitment phil quite a nice balance
17:08now in terms of speakman and stewart harvey you hardly ever get to mention but is is very important
17:13behind the scenes i would argue that domestic signings have been absolutely superb yeah perhaps where
17:19they've maybe run a little bit of foul as when they've gone into foreign markets but with you know
17:23gusolfi louis drafus's influence and labris as well himself there's there's a real sort of um
17:29there's a real sort of uh depth of knowledge there now yeah absolutely and and i think that's the kind
17:35of an important point because we're certainly not suggesting that some and have reinvented the wheel
17:39or cracked it because there are five or six players currently on the fringes of the squad right who
17:43are on long-term contracts you know taking up quite a bit money of wages who some and they are struggling to
17:48find new clubs for so it's absolutely not the case that someone does solve transfers um but that's
17:53the reality of any club you're never you're never going to get them all right um so i i think that's
17:59a it's a really really interesting point that i think as i said before i think the beauty from some
18:04perspective of the premier league finances it probably allows you to play a little bit safer in
18:08your recruitment and certainly in bringing in players from abroad um because you don't feel like
18:12you constantly have to try and find edges and take gambles um the other clubs may be in the
18:17championship environment where they have parachute payments you know they can they can take the safe
18:21options and you can't compete with them financially so i think that definitely helps but i agree with
18:26you i think you know having those those people in the building who have those kind of knowledge and
18:31connections within the within the european market can be can be really really powerful and and i think
18:36we've ultimately seen someone to kind of bring that to bear this summer they've been so um ahead of
18:41the game when it comes to bringing in these players um and i think what you can see as well probably is
18:47a nice blend between knowing those markets and also having an understanding of what's required in
18:52the premier league like we have seen if there's a common denominator between all of some and some
18:57assignments it's athleticism isn't it yes they're good players obviously they wouldn't be at the top
19:01level if not but there's clearly been a priority to to bring in players who can compete physically at
19:06the level so i think it's a nice blend between knowing what players are available and what their
19:10attributes are and understanding what someone's actually realistically need this season which is
19:14players who can suffer out of possession yes they're good players um but they can get through a lot of
19:19work as well one of the the big things christian speakman and kiri louis drafus really brought to
19:25some was a proactive um handling of contract management phil there are two really uh headlines at
19:33the moment dead of circle daniel who are obviously entering there last year what's your gut feeling on
19:37that from from the questions asked of speakman it doesn't seem to be a huge amount of progress to be honest i mean
19:43christian always keeps his cards quite close to his chest when it comes to contracts but
19:48um yeah it it's an odd one it doesn't feel overly positive if i'm if i'm completely honest just because of
19:55um how much time this has been going on for i mean this is probably the the fourth end of window
20:01review i've done in a row where i've been asking about these questions and um you know obviously in
20:06both cases now there's the added sort of complication really that neither has a particularly obvious pathway to the team
20:11neil looks like he well will certainly get opportunities during the africa cup of nations
20:16later this year which could be a really important moment for him to try and prove himself at that
20:19level and i guess similarly with denis sirkin as well these are both players that are potentially going
20:23to come into the team in in december so it's going to be really interesting to see how that develops but
20:29the initial implications at the moment um don't seem hugely positive i know you spoke to labris didn't
20:34you before that i think it was before the brentford game and he was quite confident on dan neil or
20:38remain very optimistic on dan neil so we can definitely take some encouragement from that
20:42still didn't say much though to be fair yeah but at the moment yeah yeah at the moment it doesn't
20:48feel like there's been a huge amount of change um over the course of the summer on on those and that
20:53is definitely something that yeah i think it definitely has to be flagged up as a bit of a
20:57concern i think doesn't it at this point i think so it's probably worth pointing out though that
21:04sunday they've done quite well elsewhere in contracts obviously five-year deal my end uh
21:09and labris i think or nine penned a two-year deal there might be another couple that i'm forgetting
21:13but generally it's something to do quite well on so i would suggest without knowing the inside story
21:18of both that there's there's probably a little bit of a difference usually usually it comes down to
21:23money these things filled up as as bad as that sounds and there's probably a difference of opinion there
21:28well money but also now opportunity and that's what i'm saying that's why that's probably one of the
21:33reasons why i'm less optimistic now now than i would have been at some points because now there's
21:37obviously a clear sort of playing time dynamic to it isn't there um whereas with both these players
21:43there their role in the team moving forward is uncertain as i said they're going to get those
21:46opportunities later this year um but yeah i think that potentially it's going to be a real headache for
21:52for player and club in january if if neither of these players is in the team at that point and they
21:57get heading into the last six months their deal um it's going to be obviously you know someone are going to
22:02have a difficult decision to make from a psr perspective because ideally you don't want to
22:06lose any players who you could potentially recuse some money from for free and those players will
22:11be looking at thinking is it time to start thinking about getting a move where i can get into the team
22:15i'm obviously getting ahead of myself there a little bit but i i just think that the the summer
22:20transfer window is added in an extra layer of complication to those talks but yeah let's see how they
22:25develop it's very clear that nobody's kind of given up on it if you like it doesn't feel
22:30with stewart and clark it felt like we knew from quite a long way out that there wasn't going to
22:36be a resolution and yes yeah yes talks were being held etc but you never had any real sense that as
22:43you mentioned unless someone got promoted that anything was going to change on that front it
22:47doesn't feel like we're at that point with these two yet i think that's something that i would probably
22:51stress it definitely doesn't feel like oh listen it's inevitable that they're off it's just a matter of when
22:56um but i think as you mentioned the fact that there have been some so many other renewals this
23:00summer i think tells you that there are there are obvious kind of challenges with these two that at
23:05the moment um you know haven't been able to be overcome do we feel a little bit sorry for some of
23:10these lads phil i know i certainly do i understand the premier league is is brutal you've got to upskill you've
23:15got to improve but just thinking of the things we've said about anthony patterson dan neil dennis
23:21sirkin over the years patrick roberts who we both love and you know thinking to alan brown's
23:25comments to bbcts over the weekend as well where there's a little bit of a sense that they didn't
23:29necessarily get the opportunity to prove themselves or haven't had it yet that's saying it's a double
23:34edged sword as well dan neil and dennis sirkin probably could have signed their contracts last
23:39summer but didn't because they wanted to see what something did in the championship and where they
23:43were in 12 months time so there's a lot goes on isn't there with these with these sorts of things
23:48yeah definitely and i think that in that position as well if we were sitting here after three games
23:54and someone had lost them all because someone had shown if you like too much faith in last season's
23:59team then there would have been a huge amount of criticism wouldn't there so then in that sense the
24:03the club has to be proactive i guess rather than reactive i think yeah there definitely is a
24:08definitely a feeling of feeling a bit for some of these players and i said this a few times during
24:12pre-season i always think i always think the first well the second round of the carabao cup was
24:16someone's first game in the carabao cup always feels like a bit of a hiding nothing for these
24:20players because they get put in alongside either out of position or alongside a lot of academy players
24:25without a lot of senior experience and it's like well go on prove you should be in the team actually
24:29it's a really difficult environment to do that and then it's almost like oh well there we go clearly
24:34you're not up to it and i so i always feel for the players in those in those scenarios and i was
24:38actually pleased that labris didn't dig anybody out after the huddersfield game actually quite the
24:43obviously he said actually i was pleased with the application it was you know it's difficult
24:46when you got so many players out of position because i do feel like sometimes those players
24:50are hiding to nothing and yeah definitely i definitely do feel a bit of sympathy for some
24:54of these players as we said like these guys have to be ready because obviously did a video on some
24:59pieces on afcon didn't we over the international break and like there are going to be opportunities
25:04there are no ifs buts and maybe something that's definitely going to lose six players for a month
25:09um or best part of a month minimum they might lose seven like dan neil is going to play um dennis
25:14erkin is going to play so these guys although it might be a really difficult period for them at the
25:19moment um they just have to use this training time to be ready and because every by the time we took
25:25by the time the january transfer window opens everything could have changed daniel and dennis
25:29erkin could have played five games and we could be sitting here going wow they've really shown
25:34actually that they're premier league players so windows shut now nothing's going to change um
25:39those guys just have to be ready for that africa cup of nations because that is an absolutely huge
25:44opportunity for them to kind of change the narrative if you like yeah and as you mentioned we we've seen
25:50in the championship last year how how things can change really really quickly i always point to the
25:55fact that when sundland signed alan brown and salis abdul samad i would have thought they would have
26:00started at wembley if you told me that we're going to get to the the championship
26:03playoff final and instead it was eliza mayender scorer and tommy watson you just can't predict
26:08these things now no and and i think as well like broadly speaking labris is really open-minded he
26:15doesn't necessarily yes he tends to stick with a small core of players but as you say like players
26:19can work their way in and from what we do in the training ground yeah exactly yeah so it's not like
26:25the door is closed i don't think with labris and and as i say if in a normal season you'd be looking
26:31at it going like i just don't see how these players are going to break in this season isn't that it's
26:35obvious you can literally point at the dates if they're not already in the team by then they're
26:39going to be in the team on that day there's there's no like there's absolutely no other way to describe
26:44it so um so yeah the the i and that's one of the reasons why again why i say it still feels a little
26:51bit different to stewart and clark because there are variables in this scenario i think they weren't
26:55necessarily there for the other ones let's talk about crystal palace i was chatting to my um my
27:01mate michael bowers uh over the weekend and i was saying it's a little bit of a bizarre one this
27:07though because if you look on paper at the premier league fixtures and you go crystal palace away okay
27:13we might be able to get something there maybe it's a point maybe it's even a win and then you take a
27:17step back and realize they've won the fa cup and the community shield in 2025 they've got a really
27:22good progressive manager they're in europe this year they're actually a really really good side i
27:27know they've lost ezra but they've managed to to keep marquee uh it really underlines the depth of
27:33the premier league that's yeah you know crystal palace is such a strong side and this is such a
27:37strong test um but you're looking at a good well it's not arsenal man city liverpool top them away so
27:43you might have half a chance and in reality it's it is really really tough yeah it's an unbelievably
27:48difficult game and i think what you're saying there is absolutely right and completely
27:52speaks to what we were saying for most of pre-season really which was something could be
27:56good this year and still get relegated and the point that we kept making was that the difference
28:00between when someone were last in the premier league now is that there aren't a load of teams in the
28:04middle of the premier league who are kind of basket cases who are kind of one season away from just
28:10getting dragged into a relegation battle that the mid-table teams are so strong and so well run and have
28:15such deep squads and crystal palace absolutely fall in that category whereas whereas you say from the outside
28:20you can look at it and be like wow a bit of a stressful summer they've lost as a obviously
28:24someone rests over you know as you mentioned their marquee and what have you so but the reality is
28:29there's a very very good strong side and excellent at home i think that's already emerging as a key
28:33story this season i think it's clear that sutherland have a a strong chance against most of these
28:39teams on home turf away from home it's going to be really difficult but i'm fascinated to see how we go
28:44because obviously the the one away game we played this season was disappointing but you know that
28:49was quite a you know it was bernie's first home game of the season obviously we missed some big early
28:54chances which could have completely turned the direction of the game so yeah this feels like
28:59we're saying this every week and that kind of sounds daft when you keep saying it but it's true like
29:04it's a game where we're going to learn a lot i think about about the level of this team um the big
29:08positive i take is you know it's not always amazing to watch but defensively we have started
29:14the season really well and we have good structure get happy absorbing pressure and that always gives
29:19you half a chance in games so if that's something that someone can continue then there's no reason
29:23why we can't pick up points on the road talk to me about that defense phil because we've got
29:28gertrude possibly fitting available now would you keep that same back line i think the caveat to that is that
29:34um alder reddy played 90 minutes for paragry uh yesterday so that's going to be obviously a
29:40long travel home and he might be a little bit fatigue but take the positive some do have options
29:45there now which is really good to see i'd be really surprised if there were any changes to the defense
29:51um first and foremost because because they did well um i think that obviously we're kind of waiting to
29:57see whether whether dembalad will be involved but it always felt like it was going to be tight for this
30:02weekend and realistically do you want to take a risk with a player i don't think so so i think
30:08that's unlikely um i think the thing with with gertrude is that he hasn't played any competitive
30:15minutes this season so against kind of different but similar to the ballard thing why take a chance
30:20in terms of throwing them in when you have established partnerships you've done pretty well recently
30:25um definitely i think i could see him coming on the bench because obviously the fact that you can play
30:29in a couple of positions is going to be a huge boost to the breeze so i think we'll see continuity
30:34this weekend um for me i i you might not even see that many changes through this next block of
30:39three fixtures you know it might be the players are eased in quite gently over the next few games
30:43from the bench and then maybe after the october national break we're starting to have these
30:48debates a little bit more intensely and the breeze is having them a little bit more in his mind but
30:53listen you never know for sure but i'd be surprised if there were many changes at all from that
30:57from the brentford team the team played well um most of these players are either coming back from
31:01injury or not having much of a pre-season so i i'd be surprised if he made many changes and you
31:06mentioned the international break really important point that sometimes goes under the radar hasn't
31:10been much group training time so you know we're talking about gertrude yes he's trained but he hasn't
31:16trained with the players he'd be playing with on saturday potentially so i think from a manager's
31:20perspective um yeah it's in yeah you you want to try and keep some stability as you say phil
31:27something likely to go with with continuity under la bruce that seems to be his mo really doesn't it but
31:32a few sort of start eleven questions would be i guess in sunderland's front three the two
31:39winners and the attack i agree with you i think that the midfield will midfield will be the same
31:43the goalkeeper almost certainly be the same unless there's an injury which i don't think there is
31:48defense will be the same but sunderland now have three foot strikers my end has been starting
31:52wilson isendol's been coming off the bench obviously brian broby's been bought for a lot of money
31:57enzo lafay did really good on the left and we saw a dingle grab to the right obviously chemsdine
32:02talby's fit what do you see that front three looking like against palace yeah i think that's definitely
32:08the hardest part of the pitch to predict i think lafay for me probably has to stay in just because
32:13that level of performance that he produced um i think that potentially a dingle for talby is
32:19definitely one change i could see being made um but i think talby's really diligent in his defensive
32:24wearing away from home that might kind of give him the edge so i'm not certain that i'll happen
32:28but that's definitely one i can see again i'd be surprised if broby went straight into the team
32:33just because of that pre-season and lack of minutes factor that i mentioned i think there's a good chance
32:37that he probably is easing quite gently and for all like it's really tempting to make a case recently
32:42and there's a strong one with two goals the flip side of that is he's making such an impact off the
32:47bench and his versatility off the bench is is so is so great why not just kind of keep that going keep
32:52that rolling forward so um yeah my instinct is there there might be very few changes if any at all
32:58um to that front three but we'll wait and see of course and how do you see the game going as well i
33:04think i mean i've said this about every premier league game so far and i'll probably continue to
33:09say it but the onus would be on crystal palace to attack it surprised me against brentford at home
33:14actually the amount of possession that some were able to have and i think that's a very good thing
33:19obviously it showed southern could perhaps win a different way but i just think crystal palace
33:23slightly different they tend to be quite front foot don't they and they press quite high as well
33:27yeah and i think we know how labrice operates and i don't think there's going to be
33:31many if any away games this season where someone going super aggressive and on the front foot and
33:36leaving loads of space um i think they'll be really happy to to say at crystal palace we we know that
33:41you're a you certainly a threat in transition and um can you break us down can you sort of break our
33:46structure down the reality is is that yes someone want to go and win the game but if someone take a
33:50point away from this game it's a point gained isn't it and and so i think that it'll be about a solid
33:55structure out of possession it'll be trying to hit hit crystal palace on the break as ever i think
34:00we saw with the burning game especially away from home i think the first goal is going to be key
34:04in these games this season because i think we've seen that it's going to be quite tricky for
34:09someone at this stage to break strong defenses down away from home when they're having a lot of the
34:15ball um what they definitely can do is catch teams out on the break and hurt them on the break so
34:20similar the burning game where the first goal felt absolutely massive with someone obviously spurning
34:24those chances i think the first goal could be massively massive here but i'd be surprised if we saw
34:29something deploying a high line and an ultra aggressive high press i think this will be
34:34defend the box and um try and pick our moments to use our speed and our quality on the break
34:40i must say phil this the beginning of this season really has hit home and underlined to me the
34:45importance of transitions in the premier league i think to the the disallowed brentford goal um
34:52a couple of weekends ago where he where it's just two seconds and it's it's in the net obviously we
34:56saw a little bit against burnley as well it's so important that in the premier league and something
35:00you've got to really really guard against in fact you can look at pretty much all of the goals scored
35:05in sutherland's games and you could you could make a case for it being a transitional goal
35:10yeah it's it's massive and i think that's the way the game has changed a lot over the last few years
35:14and i think what teams like bournemouth have probably really punched above their weight and
35:17been really successful is they found a different way to play to maybe you know kind of the the style that
35:23have become quite entrenched through through pep and man city and i think that it's clearly something
35:27something that sunland have recruited for they've they've recruited for players who can be really
35:31dangerous in transition it's not just in the forward areas that's in midfield with with diara you know
35:35particularly so it's absolutely massive and the big positive so far this season is that generally
35:40speaking sunland have been pretty clinical the one game where they weren't was burnley and they lost
35:45um so i think it's something that they're really really mindful of and something they've recruited for
35:49and something that they trained for but as you say it's it's the premier league you get punished
35:53so quickly the games are won and lost in in such quick moments so yeah this is a really tricky
35:58game this a really really massive test for someone and and it's going to be really interesting to see
36:02how they go yeah we'll round it up there libraries tomorrow phil yes half one tomorrow yes we'll have
36:09all the all the usual updates from that excellent then we'll have full coverage as well from selhurst
36:13park uh on the whistle coming as well phil the weekend yeah jace is there um so we'll have yeah
36:20all all the usual stuff in some format at some point over the weekend i might i might start
36:27saying that on our morning calls i'm going to have something at some point i think yeah well
36:31no we'll have all the usual stuff at some point in some format good stuff look out uh for all of our
36:37over on the something like our website youtube as well and across socials thank you once again for watching
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