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Derby Day Defeat a Good Thing
Written by paulthebluealien on Monday, 29th Sep 2014 17:59

Wow, that really does make for some horrific reading, does it not?

Yes, I was there as an Ipswich fan on that dreadfully depressing day where our football was poor, slow and lacked any real quality.

When those, to put it politely, 'scum', came and pretty comfortably beat us 1-0. Of course, we had chances. Most notably Daryl Murphy's header which he put wide, much to the disgust of myself and thousands of others. I remember leaving the ground thinking, 'Where the hell do we go after this' and 'Where are our goals coming from?'.

That negativity lasted the best part of five minutes. I agree with this blog's title wholly, as ghastly as it may be. The derby defeat has actually done Ipswich Town the world of good.

Now a few people will question my 'Ipswich backbone'. Well, you can if you really want to, but I do not care. I am an Ipswich fan through and through. I wanted to beat Norwich more than anything but it just did not happen on the day.

So, why and more importantly how can I argue such a thing? Well, the most obvious and simple thing I can point to is the results. We have catapulted from 19th to fifth in the table upon writing, picking up 13 points from 15, which is by all intents, title-winning form.

Of course there will be ups and downs but in this run we have faced Derby, Brighton and Wigan. They are all decent Championship teams and the likes of Derby will no doubt be challenging up the top end of the table come the good old, 'squeaky bum time'.

Moreover, I cannot be the only supporter who was critical of our slow build-up play and cursing our midfield for a lack of creativity. Well, now we seem to have creativity in abundance. The breakthrough of Teddy Bishop has been phenomenal and only God himself knows how good the boy will get.

We now have Jonny Williams on loan. For anybody in any doubt about his quality, just watch his goal against Derby on YouTube. In addition, the likes of Hyam, Anderson and Tabb have stepped up a gear in their performances.

Goals. Goals win you football games. The reality is Ipswich have also started scoring. We have, by all accounts, a superb defence for this level and the inclusion of Jonny Parr has not only provided balance into our team, but also much-needed quality coming forward in the right-back position.

David McGoldrick has not only steadied himself after his initial disappointment from not moving to the Premier League, he has almost vented his anger out on the opposition. Which is, fantastic to watch, eh?

Daryl Murphy on the other hand just needed a goal. Now, he just cannot stop scoring. The prospect of having such attacking options as McGoldrick, Murphy, Williams, Sammon, Bru and Bishop suggests to me that the goals may keep on coming still.

So, what happens now? Well, Town won't win the remaining 37 games. Of course, we can hope. But it is all about consistency. If we can gain a decent level of consistency and continue to look strong at home then anything truly is possible.

We have had a bit of luck in this four-game winning run, but we deserve it. Luck has deserted us, seemingly, for decades so praise luck for reappearing its beautiful face once again.

Town look a strong team now. Defensively we are powerful, strong and hard to break down. Something that recently received praise from the maverick known as Ian Holloway.

Attackingly, Town are now also sprinkled with a host of quality players who can create goals out of nowhere. Players such as Bishop, would they have got an opportunity if there had not been such a knee-jerk following the Norwich game to change things? Perhaps, but it certainly was not a dead on cert.

So, I conclude, the Norwich game was horrific. Brutal. Difficult to watch. Yet, it seems to have provided us with a new lease of life. We seem more energetic, creative. This whilst keeping up the traditional McCarthy-esque philosophy of hard to beat and energised. A good combination, no doubting.

Tomorrow, we face Sheffield Wednesday before taking on Nottingham Forest away. I am dreaming of six wins in a row. Now, that would show one heck of a rejuvenation, would it not? Let's knock those Canaries off their perch.




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LILYDRAIN added 19:34 - Sep 29
Interesting post. Whilst defeat by the Budgies was horrendous if it does kick start our recovery (and it seems to have done so far, touch wood) maybe there was something to be thankful for. Early days yet and a long way to go but against Wigan we actually performed on Sky!
1

ipswich134 added 19:36 - Sep 29
Yes ! It is just unbelievable! 6 wins would make my week!
0

ntoms97 added 20:59 - Sep 29
We're 4th aren't we?? Either way brilliant read
1

bournemouthblue added 21:08 - Sep 29
Excellent blog but you've forgotten one thing, we still have Cameron Stewart to come back also, he should be another useful option in our quest for added attacking quality
2

LILYDRAIN added 22:16 - Sep 29
ntoms97 - No, after Wolves drew with Reading yesterday we dropped to fifth
0

oldegold added 23:34 - Sep 29
Whilst it is great that we are on a winning streak I think we need to keep a sense of proportion. We are loaded up on midfield players now but lacking in extra strikers as we only have Murphy and McGoldrick whilst Marriott is being used as a shuttlecock and clearly has his Ipswich days numbered with MM in charge.The midfield dominion ties in with MM's hoof it up and see what happens philosophy but it would have been great to have built on Saturday's excellent start inside the first 6 minutes and scored more to build up our goal difference but that won't happen under MM. Still a long way to go but a good position to be in but let's just see what happens when the results go against us and our generally one-dimensional football is caught out.
-6

bigfatjoe87 added 11:53 - Sep 30
Wouldn't mind seeing Henshall been used wide mire in favour of say tabb or ando. He looked good against Norwich when he came on. Makes you wonder what happens in training
0

CalneBlue added 12:39 - Sep 30
While it's nice to celebrate a winning run (and let's hope it keeps going), what I didn't get from your post was how exactly losing in such poor fashion to our biggest rivals has led to an upturn in form. You might quite reasonably expect this performance to have had the opposite effect? And what's to say these performances wouldn't have happened anyway?

Was it that the team was so upset by their performance that they were embarrassed/galvanized into action? Did Norwich show us the benchmark that we need to aim for? Did MM feel we were so bad that changes had to be made to personnel and system? Was he forced into gambling with Teddy Bishop? Has Teddy himself made all the difference?

I'm sure there are many other possibilities ...


2

RedDust added 14:10 - Sep 30
Pretty good post Paul the Zeta Reticulan!
0

londonben added 14:17 - Sep 30
Excellent read. This is the first time I have ever felt the need to post a comment on a blog but you summed up my feelings at the moment perfectly. We may not have the individual quality of some of the promotion favourites, but as Southampton, Burnley and yes even Norwich a few seasons ago showed - a squad of players with belief and confidence can blow away expensive teams who aren't playing together, and often it is the team spirit and confidence that is needed to get out of this league, not the millions spent on players. If they can carry on playing for each other and keep the belief then anything can happen! I really hope that these results will get more people coming town to watch the games...would love to see Portman Road packed out and rocking again!

COYB!
0

ArnieMsBigToe added 14:53 - Sep 30
Bournemouth Blue: You read my mind!! Cameron Stewart is one secret weapon that has yet to be unleashed. Another (apparently) is Kevin Bru. He did seem to get good reviews after Saturdays game.
0

MrDiddle added 15:11 - Sep 30
I just thought the derby game was one of the worst games i've seen at Portman Rd for years. Both teams played terribly and to be honest I think 0 - 0 would have been a fairer score. Norwich were just as woeful as we were!
1

MVBlue added 10:39 - Oct 1
I would take two defeats to Norwich if we got promoted.
1
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