Ipswich's left flank has been its weak spot this year. Let's take a look at the developments and, more importantly, the lack thereof, on the left side which has contributed to Ipswich's present position.

Left Midfield

At the beginning of the season, Luciano Civelli was injured and we brought in Lee Martin. It was quickly obvious that Martin would not be the answer on the left hand side.

This left Roy Keane with two choices: bide his time to wait for Civelli's return or bring in another left midfielder. Roy chose the former, which has turned out to be a huge mistake. Roy rolled the dice and lost.

By banking on Civelli's timely return from a quite serious knee injury, Roy allowed an important position to be manned by converted central midfielders, only one of which is naturally left footed (Owen Garvan) but is too slow for left midfield.

On a couple of occasions he played Jon Walters, who is a converted striker and is right footed, here. Even though one might claim that there was a bit of bad luck in the timing of finding out that Civelli would not return this year, it should have been paramount, from the time that it was determined that Martin was not the answer (conservatively in October), that a true left midfielder had to be brought into the squad, even if only to back up Civelli on his erstwhile return.

Conservatively, Roy and Simon Clegg had from approximately October to identify and obtain that one player. But not one true left mid has been brought in yet.

Left Back

Similarly, Roy has failed to settle the left back position. Some of the players to play left back for Ipswich this year are David Wright (a right back that doesn't get forward), Pim Balkenstein (a left footed central defender who made some mistakes there but, to be fair, had a couple of good runs forward) and Jaime Peters, a smallish right winger that can definitely get forward but can hardly be thought of as a regular left back in the Championship.

Ben Thatcher has been frozen out (I'll trust Roy that it is an attitude problem). Again, knowing that Ipswich didn't have a true left back, again since approximately October, Roy and Simon have again failed to bring in a true left footed left back.

Roy and/or Clegg can say all they want that the club roster is too big as it is, but the club roster is too full of central midfielders with similar skill sets.

Is there a real difference between Garvan, Jack Colback, Grant Leadbitter, or David Norris (and lest we forget, Alan Quinn, Liam Trotter, and Colin Healy)? Only Quinn played the left mid position with any effectiveness but, admittedly, that is only compared to the other options.

I don't want to sound like Yoda, but I really don't want to hear that they tried to bring someone in. Children and amateurs get credit for trying. Professionals get credit for results. You either succeed or you fail. Roy Keane and Simon Clegg FAILED to bring in players to play two positions effectively at Championship level.

Now, to be fair to Roy and Simon, it may be the case that such a large squad led Marcus Evans to place limitations on spending. However, successful managers and executives will make a deal. Roy and Simon failed to make an effective deal to create room to bring in two players that the squad desperately needed.

This failure, in addition to the complete failure of any one of our strikers to consistently score in reasonable amounts, is the reason why Ipswich Town is currently falling toward League One.

dirtydingusmagee added 15:04 - Feb 7 YEP.
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Juggsy added 18:38 - Feb 7 Nail + Head = This ^^ Good blog.
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Mossy added 19:53 - Feb 7 I agree we have failed to sort out our left side. But, this isn't just a failure of Keane. Jim failed here too. It is part of the reason we are struggling. We also lack creativity in midfield, giving our strikers nothing to feed off, except aimless punts up the field. Add to that we don't have enough mid-fielders pushing past our strikers or supporting them you have a team languishing 4th from bottom. As a result when we go in front, as we usually do, we lack the confidence and quality to kill teams off, when, like Middlesbrough on Saturday, they are there for the taking. We end up dropping deeper and deeper in a vain attempt in clinging onto the win. Putting far too much pressure on our defence. Which gives the opposition the incentive. Good blog though, Scott.

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el_nino added 20:29 - Feb 7 Two players we could have got on loan were Nicky Shorey and Gary McSheffrey, but they went to other similar sized championship clubs. They would have both made a big difference this season I believe....
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cbower added 20:41 - Feb 7 Interesting blog! I am guessing we will see some movement on the left back front when the loan market is back open shortly. Mossy's post is also very pertinent. RK needs to instruct Leadbitter and Norris to take it in turns to get beyond the front men. Two central midfielders playing a sitting role is doing us no favours. They are both capable of getting forward on a more frequent basis but seem reluctant to do so, especially when the game is in the balance (actually when we go 1-0 up!).

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MightyPaz added 20:43 - Feb 7 Whilst the left flank hasn't been our sole problem this season, it's hard to disagree with Scott's reasoned analysis. It's worth noting at town games that we play our the majority of our attacking moves out to the right flank, where either Jon Walters is (the rare occasions he gets to play in his favoured position), or where he pulls out to when he's up front. This gives the side a lop-sided look, with the left flank contributing when crosses are overhit or the battling Leadbitter has no other option but to play it there. Perhaps a bit late to fix this season, but let's look at it before pre-season - our lack of good pre-season prep beyond fitness (choosing your best side, your captain, basics) has seriously let us down this year. Fingers crossed we pull clear of the drop by mid-March or its squeaky everything time.

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Vexorg added 21:30 - Feb 7 Isn't the left side a problem for everyone - left-footedness being fairly uncommon? Hence teams appearing to better down the right .. In which case the issue is why our right and middle have not performed and for that I point to the Norris injury which would have cemented the middle pairing of him and Leadbitter ages ago, plus all the chopping and changing of personnel early doors .. not to mention Carlos Edwards

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MightyPaz added 22:31 - Feb 7 Ah, Carlos Edwards. I think there's a good footballer in there somewhere but he seems woefully short of confidence for an experienced pro. I was at the Saints FA Cup fizzleout and Edwards was given the ball a lot, but always seemed to cut back or play a safe pass to Rosenior who had more urge to get forward. A winger whether right or left must strike fear into the opposition with skill and/or speed, with such hesitant play Carlos isn't providing either at the moment. On the plus side, nice to see Murphy and Healy starting perkily. Stay onside though, David.

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warwickblue added 23:00 - Feb 7 A very creditable blog. I hadn't encountered "Children and amateurs get credit for trying. Professionals get credit for results." before, but it's a useful piece of wisdom to chew on... Thanks for taking the time to add something of quality to what is often a rather embarrassing part of the site. I just hope that the new boys do the business up front - there was a glimmer V. Boro wasn't there? We simply have to be able to crack in more than one goal per game. We are always going to be extremely likely to concede one - even though I think Delany/Macauley have really grown into their role in the last month or so, but if we can't score more than one? Another bloomin' draw! Would like to see midfield pushing into the final third far more from both sides. Running at defenders.I see Mossy has made this point too. We still -and perhaps more so when we are leading by the odd goal- rely far too heavily on an angled punt upfield, bypassing the midfield and hoping for something from a flick-on or a knockdown. Most Championship defences have enough height and presence to deal comfortably with these balls all afternoon - I should think the defenders are first to the ball in 90% of these situations.The Boro goalscorer must have been 6' 5". Our goals, when they do come, are almost invariably scored from patterns of play like the one we saw in the first 25 seconds on Saturday. Fast, low, wide and on the deck.

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MightyPaz added 10:31 - Feb 8 "Our goals, when they do come, are almost invariably scored from patterns of play like the one we saw in the first 25 seconds on Saturday. Fast, low, wide and on the deck." - I agree WarwickBlue, what puzzles me is why we start off playing this way, then end up with the quarter-length chipped punts to opposition centrebacks. Maybe it's experience, maybe it's that Keane gets them fizzed up before kickoff and we can't sustain it, I'm not sure.

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MBG added 11:38 - Feb 8 I agree entirely with the blog. We have been active in the transfer market and have ended up with quantity rather than quality and a bloated wage structure. It doesn’t reflect well on Roy Keane and Simon Clegg that our most glaring weaknesses have not been addressed. That’s what you get when you appoint a manager who is still learning his trade and a star chief executive who is still a trainee in the football world. Amateurs indeed.

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jbb added 18:23 - Feb 8 Agree that there is still a serious problem on the left side. Dont agree however that the problem wasnt identified pre season. Keane first buys were Delaney-Martin, who started the season there, but both needed time to settle in and unfortunately "supporters"?? these days dont give settling in time (see the comments re Delaney on this site). As Delaney himself has said, if he was asked to play on the left now he thinks he would be able to do himself justice there (as he had for QPR). However no one could now take him from centre back. The Barratt-McAuley-Delaney axis, a key sector of any team, was assembled at no major cost,and is an effective unit at C'ship level even if, like every other defence, they make the odd mistake. Martin, who is not without ability, had an ok start (setting up Walters for the first goal of the season) but has proved very fragile mentally and physically, and seemed hoping for things to come off rather than making them. He may be one of those players who can only operate in the security of a 5 man midfield. Unfortunately when that formation was used early in the season there wasnt a suitable lone striker available. Murphy (who was always no 1 striker on Keanes list, well ahead of Priskin) now offers that option also, as well as a partner to Healey/Stead in a 442. For left full they may have been looking at a defensively strong McEveley type, possibly combined with Peters/Martin, or Naylor,an overlapping type, probably combining with Colback/Garvan.

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ChambersM added 23:55 - Feb 8 dont agree that david wright doesnt get forward?! Sorry, didnt he score the winning goal in our first win of the season, with a header inside the six-yard-box?
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