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Isn't This Lovely?
Written by Luka on Thursday, 20th Nov 2014 21:53

We have a headache, though we don't need paracetamol. The headache is one of selection. Who to put in? Where? How do we line up?

This is alien to us. The only headache of this sort we have had in the more recent times is which two loanees to leave at home. Now, we have our own players, filling these spots. And a damn sight more quality, too.

Now, in goal, we have two real options, as we all know. Last season, it was just Dean Gerken - Scott Loach, for me, just wasn't anywhere near up to standard, as proven by his bench-warming at Rotherham and move on loan to Bury (put Anthony Wordsworth in this bracket too, as well as a certain Paul Taylor - his fans here have, all of a sudden, gone quiet).

Now, we have Bartosz Bialkowski. A keeper who worried me when I last saw him live, before coming here, an awful game for him between his club at that time Southampton, and Blackpool. He looked atrocious.

Now, we see the reason why Notts County stayed in League One. I looked on a forum when we signed him. They loved him when he was there. He has proven himself to us all in the last two matches (some may say he was at fault for Wolves' goal in our win, but for me he was helpless). Personally, I would keep him in.

Next, we have three of the Championship's top 10 central defenders all trying to get into a back four which is surely the best in the league.

Luke Chambers, Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra - alongside Tyrone Mings, has been the call of late. In the summer, we signed Jonathan Parr, Palace's player of the year when they went up, on a free. It speaks volumes that we can leave him out and not look any worse defensively. We also have some prospects coming through here, Matt Clarke and Elliott Hewitt are examples of this.

Now, we have the shining proof, if we didn't already know, that we are a totally different side to 24 months ago. I won't even mention Jonny Williams here, purely because it looks as if he will not be with us any longer.

In any case, we have options besides him - Teddy Bishop, Luke Hyam, Cole Skuse, Kevin Bru, Jay Tabb and Darren Ambrose, who all have a lot of quality, and who look very good at this level.

Whether that's Cole Skuse and that ability to hold the midfield three together (illustrated by the match at Wigan), Tabb's limitless energy and running, Hyam's tackling and break-up play, and the guile and craft of Bru and Bishop.

We must also remember that we still have Jack Collison to come back into fitness, and he is proven Premier quality. If we need options out wide, we have Paul Anderson, Stephen Hunt, Cameron Stewart and Alex Henshall to call on, again, all of which have quality at our level.

Finally, we have the strikers. The only area we need another body in - only because we have three, and Conor Sammon isn't the back-up we need.

However, aside from the nitpicking, we have the best front pairing in the league (or one of them, at least). We have the man we all know as our most technically gifted player on our books, our flair player, the ace in our pack, David McGoldrick. The headline grabber.

And then, the unsung hero. Daryl Murphy. The man of many loan spells here, who seems to have found his permanent home. And boy, are we reaping the rewards. The landmark of 10 goals in the league this season has been reached by him, very much on the quiet, and we would be so much worse off I not for his goals - nowhere near the top two, that is for certain.

To wrap this all up, we have finally got a good, competitive squad together, not just for the play-offs, but for the top two spots. And, it consists wholly of our own players. Both of these statements, when we look back at Keane and particularly Jewell, is a world away from what we have all been subjected to in the three years preceding Big Mick's reign.

And it was all done on £10,000. For that, on behalf of all Ipswich Town fans, I thank you Mick.




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