| Plan A transfer targets not going well 12:23 - Aug 2 with 9089 views | IP1Blue |
After January success of getting all our ‘Plan A’ transfer targets, it’s clear to see that it has definitely been a struggle since our promotion!
The 3 signings we have brought in so far have very limited championship experience so are all unknown quantities. Must be frustration for Ashton and Co with the season opener being less than a week away.
Whilst I’m glad we are refusing to pay over the offs for a player just because it’s perceived we have money, it is a little concerning that we haven’t brought in any real championship proven quality as a lot of us would have expected.
I do wonder however if the management team are using this season to see who will can stand up to the challenge and next summer will be when we see the most change where it will be more evident to see where the gaps are in the squad in terms of quality. |  | | |  |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 13:56 - Aug 2 with 1464 views | burnbudgiesburn |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 13:49 - Aug 2 by itfcjoe |
Performance wise we were miles ahead of the division through the last third of it, and results wise so can see the argument there - but ultimately McKenna and Ashton are desperate for additions and they know best as to what is required.
Ashton literally says last week "we’ve got to really add quality now to the starting XI", he knows it - but it seems because some fans think we just need a tinkering and we'll finish 12th that it will be seen as good enough - that is not the attitude in the club and never has been |
Yes, it's literally from Ashtons mouth. Players we want now will improve our 1st XI
Inevitably that means if the players we want are quality we will face competition for them and may struggle to land them as a newly promoted club against newly promoted sides/recently relegated ones.
Agree with your last paragraph 100%... also the only way we keep McKenna is to match his ambition too. That shouldn't mean we sign average plan B players to scratch some supporters itch for a signing. | | | |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 13:58 - Aug 2 with 1456 views | tractorboy1978 |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 13:49 - Aug 2 by itfcjoe |
Performance wise we were miles ahead of the division through the last third of it, and results wise so can see the argument there - but ultimately McKenna and Ashton are desperate for additions and they know best as to what is required.
Ashton literally says last week "we’ve got to really add quality now to the starting XI", he knows it - but it seems because some fans think we just need a tinkering and we'll finish 12th that it will be seen as good enough - that is not the attitude in the club and never has been |
The majority of our fans seem to be starting from a base of 'top half will be good, anything else is a bonus' as well, as if the minimum position we will finish without doing anything further is 12th. [Post edited 2 Aug 2023 13:59]
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| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 14:01 - Aug 2 with 1430 views | Kieran_Knows |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 13:51 - Aug 2 by Guthrum |
We don't really know until it's been put to the test. Jackson might find he has more space to run into when there aren't 10 opposition players in their final third. Donacien's better defensive skills may be more useful against stronger attacks. |
But Clarke is integral to how we play in terms of building from the back, and being that attacking outlet from RB/RCB. Donacien, for all his defensive qualities, doesn't get anywhere near him in that regard and it shows when he plays. |  |
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| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:01 - Aug 2 with 1432 views | Bloots |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 13:49 - Aug 2 by itfcjoe |
Performance wise we were miles ahead of the division through the last third of it, and results wise so can see the argument there - but ultimately McKenna and Ashton are desperate for additions and they know best as to what is required.
Ashton literally says last week "we’ve got to really add quality now to the starting XI", he knows it - but it seems because some fans think we just need a tinkering and we'll finish 12th that it will be seen as good enough - that is not the attitude in the club and never has been |
....from large elements of our fanbase baffles me.
These are the same fans that spent years mocking a previous manager for finishing mid table in The Championship.
The owners do not want mid table consolidation, as you say they've been clear on this, so why are we suddenly happy to accept it?
If we finish 15th in the Championship, who's head will they call for? |  |
| Enduringly lovable, intelligent and thunderingly exquisite. |
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| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 14:03 - Aug 2 with 1412 views | SheffordBlue |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 13:55 - Aug 2 by hype313 |
Donacien gets a nose bleed if he goes past the halfway line, and this in turn affects our play in the final third, meaning Burns is somewhat isolated.
JD is brilliant as you say defensively, and I don't have an issue with him playing on the odd occasion, but Clarke is so integral to our style of play offensively. |
I think Clarke is the better player but I think that's over the top. His heatmap for the season tells a different story and the main difference between him and Clarke here is not how far up the pitch they get but the fact that Clarke would drive inside as well overlap or underlap down the wing.
Also worth pointing out that Donacien's Assist Per 90 rate was double that of Clarke - difficult to do that if you don't want to get past half way.
Clarke is still the better player though! | |
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| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:14 - Aug 2 with 1386 views | DanTheMan |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:01 - Aug 2 by Bloots |
....from large elements of our fanbase baffles me.
These are the same fans that spent years mocking a previous manager for finishing mid table in The Championship.
The owners do not want mid table consolidation, as you say they've been clear on this, so why are we suddenly happy to accept it?
If we finish 15th in the Championship, who's head will they call for? |
I'd be OK with mid-table just because the competition looks pretty strong this year. Hoping for better along with most but I wouldn't be throwing my toys out the pram if we finished in 11th or something. |  |
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| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 14:15 - Aug 2 with 1377 views | Leaky |
What doe's the Guardian know? |  | | |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 14:16 - Aug 2 with 1373 views | DanTheMan |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 14:15 - Aug 2 by Leaky |
What doe's the Guardian know? |
Given one of the Guardian writers is an Ipswich fan, quite a bit when it comes to Ipswich usually.
Although not the person who wrote that article. | |
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| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 14:17 - Aug 2 with 1375 views | oldbeardy |
Ashton generally seems to be careful in what he says and so I take him at face value when he makes it clear we're going to attack the championship (ie try to get promoted I assume) and that we need several high quality additions who will be in the starting line up to do that. That's what I take him to have meant in his statements so far. I think he's right - there's no point in planning to "consolidate" - it just means a year treading water and losing money. The real returns are from promotion and so why wait before putting a team on the pitch that can realistically go for it. That seems to me to be the plan and so I expect 2 or 3 in though it might take a little longer than anyone would like. We'd hold our own with the current roll call but clearly Ashton and presumably McK have decided we need better to really go for it. Spot on I'd say. Disappointing if it's true that we've missed out on specific targets but the club will just move on to others. | | | |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:26 - Aug 2 with 1351 views | itfcjoe |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:14 - Aug 2 by DanTheMan |
I'd be OK with mid-table just because the competition looks pretty strong this year. Hoping for better along with most but I wouldn't be throwing my toys out the pram if we finished in 11th or something. |
Mick finished in the top half of the Champ 4 years out of 5 with nothing like the budget we'll have next year - with the talented McKenna in the dugout we surely want to be doing what we can to get up and over that line?
He won't hang about if we don't |  |
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| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:31 - Aug 2 with 1332 views | the_toff |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:26 - Aug 2 by itfcjoe |
Mick finished in the top half of the Champ 4 years out of 5 with nothing like the budget we'll have next year - with the talented McKenna in the dugout we surely want to be doing what we can to get up and over that line?
He won't hang about if we don't |
Equally it's about progression, and McKenna started from a much lower base. If we finish higher than 12th it'll be our highest finish in 9 years. I agree the plan won't be to be in the Championship for years and years, we have ambitions far higher than that, but it's naive to think we'll go up, and then straight up again. Especially with the financial constraints and base from which we had to start. | | | |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:32 - Aug 2 with 1332 views | jayessess |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:01 - Aug 2 by Bloots |
....from large elements of our fanbase baffles me.
These are the same fans that spent years mocking a previous manager for finishing mid table in The Championship.
The owners do not want mid table consolidation, as you say they've been clear on this, so why are we suddenly happy to accept it?
If we finish 15th in the Championship, who's head will they call for? |
People have more patience after a promotion season than after 15 years of gradual decline in the same division. Not that baffling really. |  |
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| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:34 - Aug 2 with 1325 views | DanTheMan |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:26 - Aug 2 by itfcjoe |
Mick finished in the top half of the Champ 4 years out of 5 with nothing like the budget we'll have next year - with the talented McKenna in the dugout we surely want to be doing what we can to get up and over that line?
He won't hang about if we don't |
You're probably right, I'm just a pessimist even after last season!
Think the scars of the Evans era have done me in. | |
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| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:49 - Aug 2 with 1258 views | pointofblue |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:31 - Aug 2 by the_toff |
Equally it's about progression, and McKenna started from a much lower base. If we finish higher than 12th it'll be our highest finish in 9 years. I agree the plan won't be to be in the Championship for years and years, we have ambitions far higher than that, but it's naive to think we'll go up, and then straight up again. Especially with the financial constraints and base from which we had to start. |
Much lower? We were rock bottom of the Championship and looked utterly clueless when Mick was appointed. | |
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| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 14:54 - Aug 2 with 1238 views | Illinoisblue |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 13:13 - Aug 2 by SitfcB |
This place has gone back to being a proper flounce fest.
It is what it is at the end of the day, just roll with it.
COYB |
Indeed. People are losing their minds. That’s the magic of football, I guess, nobody’s ever happy. Always wanting more. Never satisfied. |  |
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| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:59 - Aug 2 with 1219 views | jayessess |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:31 - Aug 2 by the_toff |
Equally it's about progression, and McKenna started from a much lower base. If we finish higher than 12th it'll be our highest finish in 9 years. I agree the plan won't be to be in the Championship for years and years, we have ambitions far higher than that, but it's naive to think we'll go up, and then straight up again. Especially with the financial constraints and base from which we had to start. |
Yeah, important not to mistake your most hopeful aspirations for solid realities, I think. You might well have a grand plan to recruit big and take a big running jump at the Top 6, but you've also got to be prepared for the most realistic outcome (that it's tough to get established Championship players to newly promoted teams and that most teams moving up a division do well to finish mid-table).
Sunderland had one debutant for their first match last season, which is roughly what we'll have. It's tough! | |
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| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 15:00 - Aug 2 with 1209 views | NthQldITFC |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 13:55 - Aug 2 by hype313 |
Donacien gets a nose bleed if he goes past the halfway line, and this in turn affects our play in the final third, meaning Burns is somewhat isolated.
JD is brilliant as you say defensively, and I don't have an issue with him playing on the odd occasion, but Clarke is so integral to our style of play offensively. |
I don't know if I'm mis-remembering here, but I'm bloody sure Donacien was doing a fair old bit of overlapping (or more usually underlapping, if that is overlapping on the inside) with Burns early last season and pulling back a lot of those sorts of balls from the byline inside the box that Chaplin so thrives on?
So contrary to a number of people saying JD doesn't offer any attacking threat, I think JD was showing a lot of well timed bursts of pace to interact with Burns up and around the oppo's penalty box.
Or have I dreamed this? |  |
| # WE ARE STEALING THE FUTURE FROM OUR CHILDREN --- WE MUST CHANGE COURSE # | | Poll: | It's driving me nuts |
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| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 15:24 - Aug 2 with 1142 views | SheffordBlue |
| So we weren't "streets ahead" of everyone..... on 15:00 - Aug 2 by NthQldITFC |
I don't know if I'm mis-remembering here, but I'm bloody sure Donacien was doing a fair old bit of overlapping (or more usually underlapping, if that is overlapping on the inside) with Burns early last season and pulling back a lot of those sorts of balls from the byline inside the box that Chaplin so thrives on?
So contrary to a number of people saying JD doesn't offer any attacking threat, I think JD was showing a lot of well timed bursts of pace to interact with Burns up and around the oppo's penalty box.
Or have I dreamed this? |
I think JD does offer a threat going forward but I think Clarke just offers more. Clarke is very aggressive in how he drives forward whereas JD will often take the safer option and recycle the ball sideways or backwards if he's not confident of making the run.
I think JD is a quality back up and for some games where we want to be defensively solid he's probably a better option than Clarke. | |
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| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 15:34 - Aug 2 with 1119 views | the_toff |
| The sudden acceptance of mediocrity.... on 14:49 - Aug 2 by pointofblue |
Much lower? We were rock bottom of the Championship and looked utterly clueless when Mick was appointed. |
We were playing terribly under an awful manager, I think the tune Mick got out of them pretty much overnight demonstrated we had quality in that squad that needed a proper manager which they got in Mick. Cresswell, Chambers, Edwards, Chopra, McGoldrick, Murphy etc were all plenty good enough for the Championship and proved it.
I would say much lower is right. It would be quite a stretch to say McKenna took over a squad more equipped for Championship life than McCarthy. | | | |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 15:35 - Aug 2 with 1114 views | Pippin1970 |
I can imagine you at Christmas throwing your rubbish presents across the room. I wanted much better presents. | | | |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 15:43 - Aug 2 with 1080 views | Naylorsrightboot |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 13:48 - Aug 2 by IP1Blue |
I agree with them as well!
I don’t really get where this arrogance and self entitlement is coming from within the fan base. There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance and I feel like the majority of the fans now are bordering on arrogance and almost see it as an insult if you go against that, just seems all a bit odd and feel like there will be a lot of disappointed fans come the end of the season!
I’m not saying you are btw lol! |
This 100% |  | | |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 15:50 - Aug 2 with 1035 views | Oldsmoker |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 12:34 - Aug 2 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Chaplin, Morsy, Clarke, Evans, Luongo, Hirst, Broadhead all have Championship experience.
Burns, Broadhead and Leigh are full internationals with Morsy on the fringes.
Luton went up last season having spent less than we have. |
You sense what I do. The sum of the parts etc.
Football is a confidence game and our squad are confident.
Fresh from winning the Innsbruck Cup.
Passing a ball to a team mate is a simple act but when you're lacking confidence it seems impossible.
Our first team squad are confident and also familiar with each other and how they play.
Our additions this year are....
Hirst - knows how we play.
Hutchinson - new but seems to want to learn and fit in.
Taylor - our team suits his style so I see a seamless fit.
Slicker - bench warmer.
No-one wants to emulate Looterrrn but they did show that pedigree doesn't matter. |  |
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| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 18:16 - Aug 2 with 914 views | billlm |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 13:36 - Aug 2 by pointofblue |
I agree. If we go back to January, Hirst took Ladapo's place, Luongo took an albeit injured Evans position (so replaced Humphreys), Broadhead unseated Harness/Edwards whilst Clarke played ahead of Donacien.
That's how we should be approaching this window too but, so far, it feels like those who have come in are not for the first eleven. Taylor will battle with Luongo rather than clearly take over from him IMO whilst Hirst will pick up his place from last season. If we bring in Kongolo, will he take Burgess' place? Maybe. I can't see Hutchinson being a first reamer straight away except for injuries forcing him to be, and Slicker certainly won't. |
I agree with your post,
To me it dosent seem much of an improvement on the team,
Maybe the squad but not the team,
So ATM it's not a great window,
We seem to have missed our centre half option the Burnley kid,
If we're shopping in the Kongolo window now then we will be mid table at best as our starting 11 has not improved,
Still a month of the transfer window so let's hope two out of the possible three Ashton mentions are stellar and not ahadme editions, |  | | |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 18:24 - Aug 2 with 897 views | Vic |
The key phrase you’ve used is ‘as many of us would have expected’.
That’s the key thing really - most of us really don’t have a clue as to running a club, building a team, the finances, the personalities, the domestic situations of players, etc, etc. we can pontificate, but really there are very few TWTD’s that have any idea.
Personally I’m happy for the management to do the best they can for us. They’ll have players they ideally want, but will know they may or may not get any of them. They’ll be realists. |  |
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| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 18:37 - Aug 2 with 876 views | cressi |
| Plan A transfer targets not going well on 14:54 - Aug 2 by Illinoisblue |
Indeed. People are losing their minds. That’s the magic of football, I guess, nobody’s ever happy. Always wanting more. Never satisfied. |
Once your satisfied you don't progress always got to look to improve, nobody knows how we will do im not against a wee old head at the back when we went up mogga and venus weren't bad for a bit long in the tooth, | | | |
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