Boss Roy Keane says some of his squad have done more than their fair share in helping the Blues to safety this season, while a number of others have underperformed. The Town boss has said he will look at shipping out several players in the summer when he will target “four or five” new additions to his squad.

Keane said: “I think we look back on the season and there have been several players who have done more than their fair share of carrying the load. I look at other players and say ‘we need more from you’.

“I dread to think where we’d be without Jon Walters, Grant, Damien and Gareth, despite disappointments in certain parts of games, they’ve been a big part of things. I think David Wright has done well coming in, scoring that goal against Derby, showing good experience, playing left-back and playing right-back.

“Young Connor Wickham’s done more than his share, Brian Murphy was a big boost when he came in, young Jack Colback and David Norris when he came back from his injury. I look at those players and wonder where we might be without them.

“It’s no coincidence that when certain players play in my team the chances of us winning are a lot, lot higher than when other players play in the team.”

Keane recently said that the core of a squad had emerged and these players — with the exception of Colback who is set to return to Sunderland at the end of the season - are likely to be the players he is looking to base his 2010/11 team around.

The Blues boss admits that his side haven’t always been the prettiest to watch this season: “I think there have been certain games where we have been more direct, but even the way we were set-up last week [at Forest] we were a bit open and I probably should have changed that at half-time.

“It depends on certain situations. We lost a lot of games earlier in the season where we dominated possession and we’ve won a lot of games where we’ve had less possession than the opposition. It’s about getting the balance right.”

Keane says different teams are perceived in different ways: “You say we play long ball, I think I see Chelsea do it and they call it long passing. Reading had more possession than us, but we won that game. But at the start of the season for the first 14 or 15 games we were dominating teams in almost every area.

“Possession, we had more corners than anybody and you all know we’ve had more shots than any team in the Championship. We top most of the fitness data.

“But you want to be careful which charts you’re talking about. We want to be in that top six next season and, we come back to it again, you can top everything else but unless you can put the ball in the back of the net, we’ll be having the same conversations next year.”

Photo: Action Images

PablosRightBoot added 10:15 - Apr 20 Walters must be an important character off the pitch because his performances on the pitch over the course of the season have been indifferent. Praise should be given to Jaime Peters after being played in just about every position this season and still coping.
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jas0999 added 10:19 - Apr 20 Very interesting. Th only one I disagree with is Walters. Can't fault his work rate - BUT I personally haven't been as impressed as clearly Roy has been!
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webside added 10:21 - Apr 20 Agree with you PablosRightBoot. Peters has done everything asked of him (and more) and certainly owned players twice his size playing at left back. One of the only players that will actually run the wing, something we're sorely lacking (why do we always leave huge gaps on the wings in the opponents half?). Walters also hasn't had a season like his previous ones. Though Rosenior was having a cracking season until he got subbed and dropped out of the picture.

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gtd added 10:23 - Apr 20 So surely this means David Wright is to be given a new contract?
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Gary added 10:27 - Apr 20 1 Murphy(B) 2 Wright(D) 3 O'Connor 4 Norris 5 McAuley 6 Delaney 7 Walters 8 Leadbitter 9 Wickham 10 11 Civelli I'm guessing Martin, Edwards, Wright(R), Peters, Priskin, and Smith may well be kept on. Along with youngsters Brown, Hyam, Murray, Eastman, Griffiths, Clark, Dunbar and Cawley looking to push on So building around the above, that leaves the likes of Garvan, Counago, Lisbie, Stead, Balkestein, Healy(C), Quinn, Lee-Barrett, Upson, Yao, McLoughlin, Ainsley, Trotter and Lambe may then get moved on. While I don't think loanees Rosenior, Healy(D) and Murphy(D) have really done enough to be signed permanantly. Roll on next season!

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floridaboy added 10:36 - Apr 20 Would certainly try and offload R. Wright, Martin, Edwards and Priskin. Those 4 must carry a very big wage bill and in all honesty will be bench warmers at most.
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Gary added 10:40 - Apr 20 all depends on Richard Wright, hes out of contract i think, so if he agrees to accept a lesser contract great, not a fan of Lee-Barrett so we would then have 2 quality keepers at this level. Martin, Keane has already stated has not given up on, finding a suitor would prove difficult anyhow. Still think Priskin playing in a confident side would benefit him, think he has talent but is a confidence player Edwards won't be going anywhere

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forensic_bloo added 10:51 - Apr 20 If we top all the charts but are not in the top six, I doubt very much whether we'll be hafing this same conversation, Mr Keane. I just hope that the new half of a team that we are looking at getting in the sumemr "gel" a lot quicker than last seasons batch. Otherwise we can write 2010/11 off already. Fingers crossed then.
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SouperJim added 11:04 - Apr 20 Two good posts by Gary, I agree with all of that. I'm still unsure about B Murphy, he did the sweeper role better against Donny so maybe there is more to come from him, but up to now I don't think he's looked in the same class as R Wright. He's been worse in terms of kicking, presence, corners, sweeping and arguably after forest on his line too.
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PavlovsCat added 11:05 - Apr 20 Murphy, who's a keeper and Wickham who has only flitted in and out aside. The players listed are all grafters. I can't see us winning much with a team of hard-workers with no flair players. No doubt Arnold Muhren wouldn't make the cut under Keane.
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djgooder added 11:07 - Apr 20 Trotter did well when at scunthorpe and they wanted hime. He seems out of favour here so maybe a swap deal could be on the cards with a small nominal fee. Whilst I don't like to see palyers that have moved up through the youth system leave (i would be far too sentimental to be a football manager) it seems we have plenty of options in midfield.
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djgooder added 11:07 - Apr 20 Trotter did well when at scunthorpe and they wanted hime. He seems out of favour here so maybe a swap deal could be on the cards with a small nominal fee. Whilst I don't like to see palyers that have moved up through the youth system leave (i would be far too sentimental to be a football manager) it seems we have plenty of options in midfield.
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TrumptonBlue added 11:14 - Apr 20 "It's no coincidence that when certain players play in my team the chances of us winning are a lot, lot higher than when other players play in the team" This is an interesting quote because, if you look at the stats for how the team has performed when each player has been on the pitch (in terms of goals scored vs goals conceded / minutes played), three of our most effective players are Jon Stead (2nd), Owen Garvan (3rd) and Alan Quinn (6th). But will any of them be here next season?

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stinkiusminkius added 11:41 - Apr 20 I can only assume that Jon Walters always busts a gut in training therefore leaving him too tired to actually do the job on a match day. But as Keane has said many many times, he picks his match day team based on how players perfom in training. Yet another example of how he should perhaps expand his thinking. And a very good stat TrumptonBlue - I must admit my thinking was that we always looked better balanced and did better when Garvan was playing. Unfortunately for him, he had a shocker against WBA early on in the season and a similar bad game this year (cant remember against who) when he got subbed in first half and seems to have paid because of those 2 games - when lets face it, both of those games you could have subbed off most of the team who were awful. But unfortunately he doesnt fit this hardworking non-creative style of player that Keane appears to want to fill the team up with. A real shame and depressing for ITFC.

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Mark added 12:30 - Apr 20 Keane has listed the workers of the team, and I agree they have done well to lift us away from relegation. They are the battlers who win the headers and tackles and are just the sort you want when your team hasn't got the ball. However, when the team does have the ball there is a need for players with pace, passing ability, creativity and goalscoring ability. The players listed have not scored or set up many goals. Keane talks about bringing in more "men" in the summer, which presumably means more battlers, and I am concerned about the mix of the team being created. It is good to see D.Wright listed and he should be given a new contract. If he is considered a key man however, why was he not selected so often this season? Even the likes of Delaney, Balkestein and Smith were played at left back ahead of him at times!

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naa added 13:29 - Apr 20 It's no surprise that we've scored so few goals when you see the type of player Keane rates. He just doesn't have time to skill, and guile and frankly I'm hugely disappointed. The Garvan comment above is exactly right - he had a couple of rubbish games and basically got dropped. Keane went on and on about how Garvan kicked the ball out from the centre, as if that was reason to drop him from the team. Next game Colback did exactly the same thing, but Keane likes Colback and I think we won the game, so he makes no comment about it. Great consistency. And I hate this "if they train well, they'll play" rubbish. You're always going to get hard training players, and the hard-working type players tend to train better than others but you really, really can't have a team full of them. Seriously worried about next season now. I just can't see how we are going to play decent football. Especially when he makes rubbish comments like the Chelsea one. For a start Chelsea have players that can kick it long accurately, and they also happen to have Drogba up front who can actually control long balls. We have neither of those things, our "long passes" are just hoofs and he needs to accept it.

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Bluetone added 13:31 - Apr 20 Keane won't be satisfied until we have a team of 11 battlers who will bludgeon out ugly result after ugly result. Those with skill and flare need not apply.
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blue added 13:37 - Apr 20 YAO ,WICKAM ,CIVELLI (ON FACEBOOK NOW HES FINE) ,RONALDO ,MESSI ,ROONEY CMON KEANE GO FOR IT !!! :)))))))))))))))
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julesbda added 13:38 - Apr 20 Please note , at the 3rd from last game of last season against Norwich only David Norris remains in the first eleven today . So in 1 year he has completely changed the team around and now is about to do it again as clearly it failed this past season .!!! hummm i hope he gets it right this time !!
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Lightningboy added 13:48 - Apr 20 I for one think we should go back to the days when we used to pluck the best players out of the lower divisions rather than paying a small fortune for leftovers who are not wanted in the prem. I think a really good shout for a striker next season would be Luciano Becchio of Leeds..quick,skillful..a fans favourite in the making?..him up front with Wickham would be very appealing.

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mickeyjb added 13:52 - Apr 20 I agree why is Jamie Peters not on that list, He's been asked to play everywhere and I think has done really well. He is a danger going foward and gets stuck in at the back. I just hope Mr Keane had a mental block when stating his list.
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tipperarykeano added 14:09 - Apr 20 to all the ipswich fans..a question...i rooney and 10 battlers ! look at man utd...on a mtch day...how many flair players are on the pitch ? berbatoff !.....ive watch the irish u21....garvan is lazy ! not keanes type....keane was never lazy...there were games he played....badly ! few though...but he battled till the end....fail to prepare prepare to fail ! thats keanes motto.....the players mentioned in previous posts are the nuclus of his squad....the core....the rest will follow....take out the first 14,15 games...when keane was sussing out the players and ipswich did alot better....keep the faith ..i do...love to see ipswich back in the premier and keane will lead them....to keane ipswich is not a paycheck....the man owns half of Cork ! to him its about his mentality ! winning ! up the tractor boys !!!!!

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PimsNumber1 added 14:26 - Apr 20 If he wants battlers and real men , then we will be shopping at one other club after sunderlad, tony pulis`s stoke. They are all battlers with brawn and they got out of the CCC and stayed comfortably in the PL. Trouble is most of Keane`s core players are small , not like Stoke`s man mountains ( in general )
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muhrensleftfoot added 14:30 - Apr 20 I suspect this is the end of Counago & Garvan, who in my opinion are our 2 most gifted players. We all know Pablo doesn't score enough goals, but his skills and ability would make him a great foil for Wickham. Trouble with both of them is that they sometimes appear nonchalant, whereas RK wants battlers. A young Le Tissier for example would never get into an RK side. For this reason, I don't think we will be entertainers. With a couple more hard working "characters" we may be difficult to beat next season, but in my opinion, the best sides have a mixture of both types of players.

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cunning_stunt added 14:39 - Apr 20 If we really analyse who has underperformed this season it is Keane himself. As contributors have already mentioned he has totally rebuilt the team and we are now watching the least entertaining football that I can recall since John Duncan's day (nad maybe even beyond that). He has spent some of the biggest money in the division on undoubted failures like Priskin, Martin and Edwards. Unfortunately he is in the job because of Marcus Evans' desire for a publicity stunt (ironic given ME's craving for personal anonymity). PS I have renewed my season ticket but wish to stress that in doing so I am very definitely NOT giving Keane a vote of confidence.

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