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.

syntaxerror added 00:50 - Aug 10 With Billblue, I see the Mick out brigade are already gathering. After 2 games. Its no wonder so many people have turned from supporting their local team to being glory hunters. If you want a winning team you have no connection to there is always ManU, Barca, or Bayern. Supporting a team should be just that - supporting. But it seems that has got lost in modern footie.

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karls_dad added 06:58 - Aug 10 I tend to agree with this blog, i have always thought that we have been pretty much hopeless in front of goal, Murphy in the three years that he has been here has hardly set the turf on fire with correct positional play, he will never bag more than 6 or 7 a year, Mcgoldrick the same, our only hope is that Taylor gets up to speed quckly, and as for big Farnk Nouble, hmm i just can,t see the attraction, i doubt he he will get 5 in a season! So yes i agree we do need another proven striker, another DJ! to get us up the top its a must, Big Mick says we must be hard to beat, but to win we have to score! thats the stumbling block! nuff said..............

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dannym09 added 08:21 - Aug 10 if Jay Tabb carries on the way he is, he will have 46 goals come the end of the season ! good blog interesting points, however Mick and Terry knows what the squad is capable of and we should trust their judgement
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Pessimistic added 18:23 - Aug 10 Ipswich 3 Millwall 0 ... A great result but once again we relied on two own goals and a Tommy Smith header. I rest my case.
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Kropotkin123 added 21:29 - Aug 10 Or to spin it another way, we didn't need to rely on a 20-goal-a-season striker to score 3 goals
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howsey51 added 22:06 - Aug 10 In all walks of life it is very easy to criticise others. What is much more difficult is to provide solutions to problems. Here you have explained why you think Mick has made an error but you have not offered an answer. Who do you have in mind for our budget, with FFP? The only player who has looked close to a 20 goal a season player recently has been DJ and we cannot attract a player of his calibre on a permanent contract. If it was easy, RK and PJ may still be in a job. Although probably not!

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Fatcatevans added 17:45 - Aug 11 Pess it's no good saying you rest your case when we win 3-0. Who cares who scores them. In fact it might make it more difficult for the opposition if they are shared about. Yes we are functional, boring even but very well organised. That in itself is a vast improvement on Town teams under both Micks predecessors. We haven't got money to spend, accept that and try to accept that MM did a great job keeping us up last year when you doubted he would and is making the best of the hand he has been dealt. Keep the Faith and smell the roses my friend

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Pessimistic added 19:42 - Aug 11 Point taken Fatcatevans. At the end of the day we should all be grateful for this win and the rest can for the moment stay on hold.
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PhoenixArizonaFan added 17:02 - Aug 12 I'd rather have six 10 goal players than one 20 goal player.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 19:28 - Aug 12 Keaneish - Agree with your reasoned post. Pessimist is clutching at straws.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 19:30 - Aug 12 Pessimist - Just seen your post re Sats match. You really crack me up. We won by 3, how does that prove your point? Your point if you do have one wont be proved until the season is over. Did you want a 20 goal scorer after 2 games?
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Wickets added 09:06 - Aug 13 20 OG'S This season then!!
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Pessimistic added 13:35 - Aug 13 With reference to Marshall's Mullet I made the point the Fatcatevens had highlighted the weaknesses in my argument. You perhaps too but the reality is that after two games not one of our four main strikers has scored a goal. This does not bode well in my view. I know that some will see this as being overly pessimistic but it is very worrying none the less.
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The_Tomonator added 16:18 - Aug 13 Blackpool must be catatonic with fear, they are only marginally better than us. scored 4 1-og 1- defender 1-midfielder 1-striker
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Marshalls_Mullet added 09:03 - Aug 14 Pessi - Thats the whole point. TWO league games (one of which we won 3-0), and you are trying to spot trends!! Come back to me after at least 15 matches. You do love clutching at straws.
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blockb_steward added 12:44 - Aug 14 To be fair to MM, McGoldrick SHOULD have 20 goals a year in him...he had at least three chances to open his account on Saturday
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The_Tomonator added 16:50 - Aug 14 Have a thumb Mullet for explaining my point. Pessi - Sorry to have lowered this to a childish pi$$ take but your opening line suggested you thougts that yo may be off the mark "i know its early doors, i may get critisised". Well done for saying what you think and throwing it out there for critism, but you have missed one vital thing. Youre wrong!
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Kropotkin123 added 22:20 - Aug 15 It's not that Pessimistic is right or wrong. He may be correct. However, what is wrong is that after two games he is "resting his case".
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bluefeast added 08:39 - Aug 18 4 games played , its obvious that creativity is lacking. Edwards is not the answer on the right and neither is Tabb on the left. Tabb is a central Mid player. Playing 2 holding Mid in skuse and hyam allows the 4 attacking players to do the business in terms of creating. But our wings don't have pace and our strikers seem void of chances to score. We I wonder who sits in our youth set up to step up , or can we have Taylor on the right please.

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Pessimistic added 20:11 - Aug 19 I hate to state the obvious here but once again are strikers did not strike. In fact nobody did. Mick the man harps on about it is not the way that we play that matters but the result. Sadly three of those first four results have been defeats so there is obviously something amiss and it begs the question, when is this barren patch going to end? We cannot rely on own goals and Tommy Smith all the time.

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Pessimistic added 20:13 - Aug 19 Correction : once again our strikers did not strike.
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