New Year Resolutions Written by Brownie on Tuesday, 3rd Jan 2017 21:19 There is an old saying that whatever you do on the first day of the year you will do all year round. You could argue that if you change that to the first game of the year then it applies pretty well to Ipswich Town. Sometimes you need to look back to look forward and this is one of those times. Our first home game of 2016 was at home to the once mighty Pompey. As you will recall they were on a good run of form sitting in the top four in League Two. Ipswich having been a Championship side since the last time flared trousers were in fashion would lead anyone having a bet to wager strongly on the home side. The feeling from a large number of Tractor Boys and Girls was that we would play a strong team. Our record in the FA Cup recently is similar to England's in major tournaments. I had also been one of the 5,000 who had made the midweek journey to Manchester to watch our reserve/youth team lose in the League Cup earlier that season. Strong team and go for the win and a cup run to enthuse the fans? No chance. Instead we made 10 changes and those of us daft enough to buy our tickets sat and watched a team from two leagues below turn up and go for it. They weren't Barcelona but they tried to play, they tried to win and their supporters cheered. We sneaked a draw and thought the boss will have learnt from that (and the League Cup fiasco) and would go for it in the replay. No chance. We turned up with half a team again and were well beaten. I have to say it was around this time my faith in the manager, owner and club started to wain. We then proceeded to have a distinctly average transfer window. The manager went from saying we would add to the squad to assuring us that we were OK and the owner still backed him. The season bumbled along with none of us really expecting much and being rewarded with exactly that. Rotherham turned up and won 1-0 and we cheered as we had our first shot after 75 minutes. I don't want to labour the point but let's be honest - we haven't improved and we haven't made the changes. We have made additions of promise in Adam Webster and Grant Ward and the loan signing of Tom Lawrence is a definite plus. Yet we continue to pick the same players in the same positions (sometimes not their best ones) regardless of form. We continue to try not to lose games rather than win them - those of us at QPR yesterday saw that again didn't we - and we don't put enough faith in young players. Add to that we sign a current international who is injured, pay a large loan fee, get him fit and then don't play him. He then gets injured again. Bonkers. So we need to look forward but remember what we already know. Lincoln are coming Saturday - they have been outstanding at their level and will come and try to win. They will have 4,000+ fans cheering them on and won't be short of confidence. Our manager and owner are somewhat beleaguered and I have never before seen the animosity shown to a Ipswich manager I saw yesterday in my 40 years-plus of supporting them. I don't think we will go down but we certainly won't make the play-offs. With all that in mind I feel it is time for some advice for the boss in case he still hasn't worked it out. Pick a strong team, play the attack-minded players, go for the win and you might see the attitude of some change. We all want the team to win. If we had lost yesterday by bringing on Freddie Sears and/or Andre Dozzell instead of Messrs Douglas and Knudsen we would have been disappointed be we would also have thought it was good to see the intent to win. Time to step up Mr McCarthy. I like your honesty to be frank but that isn't enough. Please don't insult me and my support by playing a weak team and not being bothered. I have to admit I am in the time for a change camp. Show me I'm wrong and I'll be the first to say so. Otherwise move on and let someone else take the club forward. Come of you Blues! Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
|
Blogs by BrownieBlogs 295 bloggers |