I know it is early doors. I also know that I will be crucified for having the audacity to suggest that Mick the Man has got it wrong but I firmly believe that he has!

Our pre-season friendlies were little more than a walk in the park and sadly there was no big curtain-raiser that we all have become accustomed to at Portman Road; in fact all the opposition we faced were inferior on paper to ourselves, wherever we played them.

What happened to that second game that we were promised with Lazio when we parted company with Matteo Sereni - that misfit of a keeper that we acquired from Italy. Actually it is a sad reflection of our purchasing prowess over the years that he remains our most expensive signing at almost five million quid!

The sad reality is that we did not face any serious opposition before the big kick-off and this resulted in us looking jaded in the last 15 minutes against Reading, as Mick Mills pointed out on Radio Suffolk last week. This was a major error by Mick the Man in my view and cost us dearly in a game that we should and could have got something from.

His next big mistake was to put Tommy Smith at left-back in the League Cup game in midweek at Stevenage. Tommy is a great centre-back but we have seen before that this is not his favoured position. David October was eagerly waiting in the wings and he had proved in pre-season that he had the potential to step up to the plate, so in a team of many changes why was he not used?

And finally on to perhaps the biggest long-term error of all. Where is our 20-goal-a-season striker? Once again, as we recruited ten new players for next to nothing, no thought was seemingly given to this prolonged conundrum of finding a tested goal-getter, which has plagued Town for many seasons now.

David McGoldrick is potentially a 20-goal-a-season man but perhaps at a lower level. He was on 17 when we got him from Coventry but he scored these against inferior opposition and the big question remains, can he replicate this much higher up the ladder?

Paul Taylor is effectively starting from scratch and no matter how many games he get under his belt this term, he is unlikely to get much above double figures. Are we relying then on our midfielders to wade in with goals?

Jay Tabb scored our only goal of the season so far against Reading it is true but he went 89 games with Reading without scoring.

Luke Hyam is improving all the time in the goalscoring department but we cannot at this stage expect him to get many. Cole Skuse was not exactly prolific with Bristol City and nor was Anthony Wordsworth at Colchester, so does this mean we will have to rely on our defenders Tommy Smith and Aaron Cresswell to get us out of trouble again? Sadly Daryl Murphy and Frank Nouble are one in four men so they won't save our bacon!

I may once again sound like the harbinger of doom and gloom but I am bringing this to your attention before it is too late. The transfer window remains open and instead of worrying about the left side of our team, let us focus instead on finding a prolific goalscorer that could make the difference between success and possible promotion and failure and another depressing season in no man's land.

Umros added 20:59 - Aug 8 Pretty good summary although on the Pre Season friendly sides, true we brushed them aside with ease ............so what happened at Stevenage who are of simular lower league quality?. Very poor the other night and early optimism entering a more worried feel now, we doneeds point sonthe board SAturdat casue the next few games home and way look pretty tought to me.
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Jimmy86 added 22:55 - Aug 8 Lightning blue in answer to your question about skuse i was impressed by him in the reading game. He kept drenthe (who has to be up there as one of the best players in the championship) quiet and was clearly told to man mark him and did very well. My man of the match for sure. I think skuse and hyam are too similar and lack creativity, however given the choice i would play skuse and wordsworth. I feel fans are somewhat blinkered as far as hyam is concerned, coz he is "one of our own" he is good defensively but is very limited creativity wise and for some reason is being pushed up the pitch. Just my opinion

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Umros added 23:03 - Aug 8 Maybe I should go on a spelling course as well............
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Pessimistic added 09:11 - Aug 9 Thanks readers for your input everyone and as I have said before we are a broad church of opinions. I was delighted to see that most of you who disagreed did so in a reasoned manner and did not resort to cheap jibes. And for those of you who share my concerns, thanks for expanding on my side of the story. I know that we cannot personally change anything but you never know who reads this and whether a concerted defence in favour of a new striker might just tip the balance.

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bigolconnor added 10:02 - Aug 9 Does this mean that if MM buys a striker now we all have you to thank Pessimistic? I would suggest that in your eyes it would. Pessimistic and deluded.
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Wickets added 10:02 - Aug 9 Its a team game make chances and goals will come, strikers feeding on scraps, loss of confidence and poor goals per game ratio. A creative midfielder instead of 2 holding midfielders for me.
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JustSpivvyChops added 10:55 - Aug 9 I'm not overly concerned with the situation up front for now as at least we finally have a couple of players that are actually strikers by nature (Murphy not included) and Taylor looked very threatening in the pre season games I watched.....with a few games under his belt he could easily be the 20 goal man, god it's been a long time since we had a striker that ran at defenders, but that's exactly what Taylor offers. I'm far more concerned with the dross we've signed elsewhere on the park and as you have pointed out, a series of pre season games against weak opposition may serve to build confidence but is no preparation for games against hardened Championship squads. Results in pre-season are irrelevant and the opportunity should be taken to play some tough games and battle harden the players for the coming campaign. The writing was on the wall some time ago when it was made clear that no funds would be made available to the manager for the forthcoming season. Mick is a decent enough manager, but plays a crap style of football and hasn't even managed to compile the players he needs to deliver on that crap style due to his budgetary constraints. We have a very small team (size of players) so we aren't going to outmuscle anybody and we don't make up for it through our creativity as we don't have any creative players, our midfield is dominated by defensively minded individuals. When you throw a few injuries into the mix (several of the new signings have a history of injury and low and behold are crocked already!) we look like an outfit destined for another relegation scrap. The season might as well have already played out, we will struggle for months and when it looks like we are set for league 1 ME will allow Mick to buy 1 player that will make a difference who will just about keep us up and then it'll be back to square 1 again.......same old same old I will not be wasting any of my money again this season.

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Marshalls_Mullet added 11:12 - Aug 9 Major Contradiction; We didn't face any meaningful opposition in pre-season, yet October proved his ability in pre-season? Explain that one away. You do know that each season only 3-4 players score over 20 goals in this leagye, that's how rare a 20 goal a season man is. Personally I think Taylor and McGoldrick are capable of 15 each.
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MattinLondon added 11:34 - Aug 9 20-a-goal-a-season strikers only exists in teams that play attacking football with creative midfielders. If we had Darren Bent and Kuki upfront they wouldn't get more than fifteen.
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Pessimistic added 12:22 - Aug 9 This was not a contradiction Marshall's Mullet but your inaccurate quotation made it sound as if it was. If you recall I said,"David October was eagerly waiting in the wings and he had proved in pre-season that he had the potential to step up to the plate, so in a team of many changes why was he not used?" And I also said,"all the opposition we faced were inferior on paper to ourselves, wherever we played them." Does this mean that because all the teams we faced were inferior to ourselves we should drop the whole team on this premise? We cannot blame the players for bad pre-season planning. Against Stevenage, we fielded a team of many changes. Some enforced and some not. To play Tommy Smith out of position and where he has clearly under-performed before, when we have a naturally gifted left back waiting in the wings (who has already marinated well within the first team squad,) is surely reason enough to give him a go. Anyway, I was under the impression that Mick the Man was a round pegs in round holes man. I must have been seriously mistaken.

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Marshalls_Mullet added 12:45 - Aug 9 Sorry Pess, you failed to convince me. You have also failed to identify this guaranteed 20 goals a season man.
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Stato added 13:10 - Aug 9 Sindre currently has the most votes (8 currently) by pointing out that Hull & Cardiff went up with nobody scoring more than 8 goals. I've seen that quoted and supported a few times on here but what does it say about the collective ambition of Ipswich Town fans that this is the most popular post ? In other words if Murph chips in with 5 goals like he did last year then that'll do. We were the lowest scorers in the division (mainly due to poor away performances) and we need to address that. Sindre comes a long way to watch us and some fans live walking distance from the ground but surely we'd all like to see a few more goals ?

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Marshalls_Mullet added 13:35 - Aug 9 Massive wooooosh for BossMan.
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Garv added 14:08 - Aug 9 Lightning - Skuse was actually our best player at Reading, very tidy and his basically a better version of Hyam. Won't score or set many up though unfortunate. Not sure how much longer Luke Hyam can plod along to be honest. He did show signs of creativity towards the end of last season but he really needs to step that up now I think. He's very limited.
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Pessimistic added 14:10 - Aug 9 Boss Man understands the basic football premise that goals win matches. I am the first to admit however that as an ex- defender, Mick the Man knows all about keeping clean sheets - although of late he has even struggled with this. The point is, we cannot rely on our strikers to score freely and with a midfield that lacks creativity and a serious goal threat, it means we will have to do things back to front and rely on Messrs Smith, Cresswell and even Chambers to boost that goal tally.

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Marshalls_Mullet added 14:24 - Aug 9 Pess; Whats wrong with the whole team contributing? Whats is wrong with how Cardiff and Hull got promoted? Who is this 20 goal striker that you want? Fan 'ambition' is 100% irrelevant, being an 'ambitious' fan has no effect on the manager, team or club at all. Am I more ambitious than you if I want a 40 goal a season striker?? Wordsworth and Anderson are creative, but after 1 league game you are writing them off?

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Stato added 14:29 - Aug 9 I was a bit spoilt growing up watching Brazil, Mariner and Gates scoring for fun (I'll ignore the John Wark goals from midfield !!) but I'd settle for another Bent & Kuqi pairing where you normally expected one of the two of them to score.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 14:31 - Aug 9 BossMan; Well done you. Youd settle for a future England striker. Very good of you. Who do you suggest as the mythical 20 goal man? How do you know we dont have one?
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The_Tomonator added 14:46 - Aug 9 2 saliant points there Mullet. i see you like i have been down thumbed for the same resons
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Marshalls_Mullet added 14:50 - Aug 9 The Tomonator.... thanks. Some people fear reasoned posts.
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Ipswich24 added 14:52 - Aug 9 The problem is pace and creativity and width in the team. We are crying out for an Andros Townsend or Sammy Ameobi type player who have pace and can beat a man and get a cross in. If you look at all good goalscorers like Charlie Austin, Glen Murray, Billy Sharp, they get lots of their goals from crosses. Tell me when we ever get to the byline and put some decent crosses across the box for our strikers? It's been problem for years no pace, width and creativity. I know we have signed ten players but I'd rather have two who have genuine pace and skill

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Pessimistic added 16:06 - Aug 9 Listen Marshall's Mullet, I will be the happiest man on this planet if I am proved wrong and Town start scoring goals freely and from all departments and the need for a prolific goalscorer is no longer required. Sadly, in the real world this is unlikely to occur and as Ipswich24 so succinctly pointed out, we lack pace on the flanks, which hinders still further the chances of our run-of-the-mill forwards from getting on the end of things. Paul Taylor has pace yes but does he also possess guile?

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Fatboy added 18:18 - Aug 9 I don't know much about David October, but I believe Tommy Smith was played at left-back against Stevenage as MM wanted to combat Stevenage's physical presence.
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Keaneish added 19:25 - Aug 9 Er....why is this a good blog? The title is about a twenty goal a season striker but there are two key points in there which have no relation to the story title, references to the quality of pre-season friendlies and Tommy Smith playing left back. How do these even relate!? What's the point in getting spanked by Lazio pre-season? We lost enough games last season so surely building confidence in pre-season is better. Don't agree with the Mick Mills point. The reason we lost had nothing to do with pre-season, it was because Reading were the better side and were more solid at the back. Simple. Agree Tommy Smith shouldn't have played at left back but this is hardly the soul reason for losing. As for the 20 goal a season man, I think you'll find the goals McGoldrick scored for us and Coventry total 20. If you don't want to count them as they were against inferior teams then look at his ratio for us which is 1 in 3 so that'll equate to 16 goals. That good enough for promotion? Can't believe there are fans on here hinting that McCarthy isn't up to the job. Beggars belief really.

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Keaneish added 21:17 - Aug 9 Run of the mill forwards? No pace on throw wings? Taylor not possessing guile? Pessimistic, hate to point out the obvious but you're talking nonsense!
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