| Assets, Chasms and Withering Patterns Written by DanLyles on Thursday, 17th Apr 2025 19:07 “The short answer is yes. I’m still happy here”, said Kieran McKenna when asked if he was committed to the club at a recent press conference. Things can change quickly in football but our manager sidestepped similar questions last summer, when it transpired that he was indeed holding talks with other Premier League clubs. McKenna’s stock may have fallen after overseeing a disappointing campaign but there could be more positive motives behind his current decision to remain with the club. Not least redemption for our impending relegation. Mark Ashton is less trigger happy than many of his top-flight counterparts. He provides the former youth coach with the environment to sign and nurture raw but potentially elite players, before they become financially unviable. Having three Ipswich players represent an exciting England U21 team feels like massive progress compared to the mopping up of mercenaries under Marcus Evans. Potential signings will hopefully hone in on the rapid rise of Liam Delap, rather than less celebrated recent additions. Regardless, the club’s modus operandi to provide a platform for player improvement and asset growth is likely to remain intact. Winning four games, drawing nine and then losing nine by just one goal, suggests we have managed to remain competitive in at least two-thirds of our league games so far this season, despite having more than one eye on the future. But what else has led to this side being 14 points and goal difference from safety at the time of writing? External factors The amount of revenue generated by the Premier League and afforded to its long serving members has created a daunting chasm between the top two divisions of English football. Building a very competitive Championship side in League One and then ‘overachieving’ in the second tier last season, necessitated a big overhaul of players just to stand a chance of remaining at the top table. Paul Cook’s self proclaimed “demolition man” summer served as a warning of the difficulties faced by an Ipswich team largely thrown together in one summer. The same can be said of Nottingham Forest, who bought an entire squad last season, but crucially finished 17th on just 32 points. Forest’s situation is more of an exception than the rule. Yes, we are mostly competing against squads accrued for hundreds of millions of pounds more than our own, but the establishment are typically making incremental improvements to comparatively settled sides. Alas, the inequality issues which engulf football and the speed of our progress as a club have conspired to wither away at the patterns of play and partnerships that had made us greater than the sum of our parts only a season earlier. Injuries to our forward players from last season’s promotion heroes alone, quash any notion of persevering with the same team. Even after our record-shattering spend, we still don’t have the squad depth to withstand the sixth-highest injury count in the league. This misfortune has only served to compound the cohesion issues synonymous with our campaign and made it nigh on impossible to execute another key component of the promotion success. Indeed, McKenna habitually introduced ‘finishers’ of similar quality but with fresh legs for the last 20 minutes of games, which could tip Championship games in our favour. Now, more entrenched Premier League sides often give us a taste of our own medicine. Equally detrimental were the inconsistent, overzealous and incorrect refereeing decisions which denied us momentum, especially earlier on in the season. Penalty calls at home against Everton and Leicester, then away at Brentford were particularly poignant. Internal influences To a certain extent, we have also been the architects of our own downfall. The club confirmed that they had adopted a statistical approach to goalkeeping recruitment through a third party partnership. Whispers that McKenna had been overruled regarding the Aro Muric signing grew louder. The Kosovan keeper pulled off a string of superlative saves against Brighton, plucked everything out of the sky at Tottenham but then failed to make the most basic clearances and saves against Man City and Southampton. You could visibly see the backline exude more confidence after the vocal and mostly dependable Alex Palmer was recruited in January. Axel Tuanzebe has locked down the right side of the defence in his hybrid role, when fit. The DR Congo international’s ability to contain Son Heung-min compared to replacement Ben Godfrey over the two fixtures against Tottenham highlighted his importance. On the opposite flank, the only defenders to have created more ‘big chances’ in the Premier League than Leif Davis at the time of writing were Trent Alexander-Arnold and Lucas Digne. The Geordie was 10th overall only two weeks ago, but his high positioning attracted considerable national attention, most noticeably on Match of the Day. What the pundits failed to identify is that this is not Davis naively drifting upfield, but instead following a risk-versus-reward-based instruction from his manager. All the creativity he brings will obviously come at the expense of being exposed down that side of the pitch. Still, Conor Townsend’s fleeting appearances reiterated the rewards of having a more diligent defender to sure up our left flank. Jacob Greaves charged out of the blocks like a thoroughbred who belonged at the highest level. Unfortunately his form dipped after a costly error at home to Aston Villa, which was followed by a spell out with injury. Dara O’Shea has been our most consistent central defender, ably supported by the Championship old guard. That said, a lack of top level experience, individual errors and a failure to maintain partnerships has been brutally punished by elite-level finishers at times. Furthermore, the intensity and sophistication of Premier League presses has made playing out from the back far less effective than it was in the Championship. Situated in front of the defence is a double pivot that has seldom displayed the elite athleticism to impose itself nor the propensity for playing accurate passes into the forward line. These shortcomings have hindered the team’s ability to maintain a lead or any sort of control in games. Sam Morsy is stepping up to the Premier League at the grand old age of 34, Kalvin Phillips has been rebuilding his confidence while being blighted by injuries and Jens Cajuste is adapting to the intensity of yet another football culture. Neither of our summer signings have been truly consistent and compare unfavourably, at least statistically, in some key areas with their top-tier midfield peers. Phillips has exhibited glimpses of his England form, occasionally demonstrating sound defensive awareness and his long-range passing ability. But the Manchester City loanee fares badly with regard to overall ball retention and progression. Cajuste can pivot and glide majestically with the ball in order to beat a press, yet has been comparatively poor in both his defensive duties and passing. The attacking unit have not only suffered from a lack of service but also selection consistency, experience and the composure that comes with it. The alchemy of the trio behind Liam Delap has felt unbalanced at times. Deploying three ball carriers and no schemer has often left it feeling a little uncoordinated and too chaotic. Conor Chaplin’s ability to pick a pass, or at least a player cut from the same cloth, has been sorely missed. Ditto the experience, goals and more subtle approach that Sammie Szmodics offered when fit. How many points would we have without Liam Delap’s goals? The heir apparent to Harry Kane’s England throne has the pace and power to thrive permanently on the biggest stage. The club’s most talented striker in decades has, at times, provided a fulcrum for the forward line. He can hold the ball up, drive through teams and unleash venomous net bulging shots. There have also been less rounded and more single-minded performances that have arguably compromised the collective. But in fairness to Delap, that sense of needing to take on opponents by himself may have been born out of frustration caused by his teammates, as well as his youthful exuberance. George Hirst might not have the same high ceiling as Delap and his injuries are infuriating. But when fit, the Scotland international’s intelligent runs and ability to link up play could help augment an attack that has, at times, had the harmony of an awkward group task from The Apprentice. The club attempted to recruit another striker with Latte Lath, Fotis Ioannidis and Armando Broja strongly linked. Would securing one of these for the squad perhaps have enabled McKenna to play Delap in one of the withdrawn roles off Hirst or even as a strike pairing? The future Most of us are resigned to losing our 12-goal talisman in the summer, which would necessitate the recruitment of at least one robust addition to rotate with Hirst up front. The midfield engine room rebuild will also be critical to the club’s trajectory, which despite the latest setback, is still very much upward overall since the takeover. We went into our last Championship campaign making envious glances at the likes of Leicester, Leeds and Southampton. Our PSR position has now shifted to the extent we will likely commence our next as favourites for promotion. The club’s transfer splurge has inevitably raised the bar in terms of ability across the board. What is more, these recruits will benefit from experiencing the calibre, ferocity and dark arts of top flight opponents. Hopefully this young talent pool can be largely kept together, reinforced and flourish through forging the relationships and choreography that underpinned the consecutive promotion campaigns. Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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