| Some thoughts on Saturday 08:35 - Jan 15 with 3016 views | Steve_M |
One win won't make the large question marks hanging over the club go away but, after a strained few weeks, it was an enjoyable match with plenty of action, a good atmosphere and a superb goal to win it.
For the most part this season the crowd at Portman Road has been quietly supportive, making some noise but generally responding to the team. Other than Boxing Day, the overt negativity of the previous couple of seasons has been thankfully absent but it's been a while since the atmosphere has been that loud all match. Clearly the Leeds fans contributed greatly to the atmosphere giving us something to respond to but so did the Fortuna contingent who normally make a lot of noise without many others joining in.
It's much more fun when it's like that and I don't see a great problem in giving Leeds the extra tickets. The obvious caveat to that point is the cost of the damage that was caused and the negligence of sitting home fans below them. It isn't as if there weren't enough seats in the rest of the ground. There may be some questions about the stewarding of Leeds fans elsewhere in the ground judging by a few things I've read.
As for the match, Leeds were pretty good on the ball in midfield, using it and breaking well but rarely doing anything particularly dangerous. There two best chances in the first half came from errors by Kenlock, the first when he let the ball roll under his foot particularly poor. We seemed to be all over the place for the chance they should have equalised from late on too.
We created opportunities throughout but, as with a lot of our recent player, decision making and the final ball was a bit lacking. I really don't think that Waghorn and McGoldrick can play in the three behind Garner. The net effect seems to be to reduce the effectiveness of all three, I don't think Didzy is up to speed since his injury and Waghorn ends up far too deep to be a goal threat.
Celina, although he was in and out of the game a bit, probably had his best game in a few weeks. He really made the most of the extra space at the end of the first half and clearly the goal was special - even if certain people were asking why he was shooting from that far out as he hit it.
We are very stretched at the moment though, injuries are piling up and we desperately need a couple of additional experienced players for the rest of the season. For all that's gone on we are still only four points off the play-offs. Wolves and Derby look good, Villa effective but everyone else is pretty erratic still. We would need a very good run to make up ground but it isn't impossible either.
Saturday demonstrated to me why the concerns about us falling completely away were overdone, we have a core of decent Championship players who will play well at least some of the time. Add in some genuine quality and we'll get more than enough points to stay mid-table.
The direction from the top of the club, or lack thereof, remains stark. The only apparent strategy is to remove many of the highest earners from the wage bill and clear the decks for a sale. It may be a necessary transition but if no-one pays Evans the £25m he appears to want what happens then? |  |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 09:22 - Jan 15 with 2947 views | ITFC_Forever |
Taking 1 point from 12 over Christmas may well come back to bite us, as will the poor run of form in early autumn. |  |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 09:23 - Jan 15 with 2939 views | chicoazul |
It seems mad to have our top scorer constantly be so far from goal if indeed this is what is happening. |  |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:06 - Jan 15 with 2864 views | Heathlander |
I wonder what we would be capable of if we had Huws, Dozzell, Adeyami, Bishop and Webster all fit. That is a lot of quality missing. |  | | |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:09 - Jan 15 with 2853 views | IpswichKnight |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:06 - Jan 15 by Heathlander |
I wonder what we would be capable of if we had Huws, Dozzell, Adeyami, Bishop and Webster all fit. That is a lot of quality missing. |
Indeed that's pretty much all of our creative players out at the same time.
Would ME accept 20M? he was allegedly offered that a few years ago would he reconsider that price? |  | | |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:30 - Jan 15 with 2799 views | Radlett_blue |
Generally good sense as usual, Steve.
Yes, Mick seems determined to shoehorn our 4 best attacking players into the starting XI & yes, this means that we don't get anywhere near the sum of the parts. However, we may stick with doing this until we find some better, fit midfield options. I expect little from the transfer window, although signing a 5th tier French player was below even my expectations. Evans had his chance to invest in January 2014. He won't invest anything significant now,e specially as I suspect he is more inclined towards selling. However it's not just about finding someone willing to pay him £20m or so. We could be even worse off if we go to a consortium who can just about scrape the cash together to meet Evans's asking price, but lack the money to fund annual operating losses.
Not sure moving even more home fans to deal with the unruly elements of the Leeds support would go down well, although I get the reason. |  |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:31 - Jan 15 with 2798 views | NeverTellMeTheOdds |
Much needed win but we beat ten man Leeds-and only just IMO! We seemed to make an awful meal of it considering we were at home as well, even then we almost looked to throw that away at the end.
Agreed that the atmosphere was cracking and was like being back in the stands in the 90's again.
I personally think the play-off talk is a bit far fetched even though we are 4 points off. Us and 7 other teams are currently vying for that 6th spot as it stands. When you look at the teams above us (Fulham, Middlesbrough etc) they have a lot more than us in squad depth and quality and I genuinely cant see us being anywhere near that top 6 come the crunch time of the season with our current squad & numerous injuries.
Worryingly Waghorn hasnt scored in the last 8 games with his last goal coming against Nottingham Forest on the 2nd December, he badly needs a goal again soon.
Kudos to Celina for that goal on Saturday though, think that will probably take the goal of the season award and deservedly so. |  |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:35 - Jan 15 with 2778 views | Radlett_blue |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:09 - Jan 15 by IpswichKnight |
Indeed that's pretty much all of our creative players out at the same time.
Would ME accept 20M? he was allegedly offered that a few years ago would he reconsider that price? |
With declining crowds Town's realistic value has probably fallen. Does Evans cut his losses & take a smaller offer or does he want to continue to lose £5m or so each year? In pure financial terms, selling at a reasonable price is a no-brainer, but I presume Evans gets a kick out of owning Town & might not like the loss of face involved in selling for a lower figure. | |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:39 - Jan 15 with 2770 views | Stadiumofdark |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:09 - Jan 15 by IpswichKnight |
Indeed that's pretty much all of our creative players out at the same time.
Would ME accept 20M? he was allegedly offered that a few years ago would he reconsider that price? |
Dozzell is worth £25m..... so, I'm sure someone would have a dabble for £20m! |  | | |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:45 - Jan 15 with 2744 views | Guthrum |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:30 - Jan 15 by Radlett_blue |
Generally good sense as usual, Steve.
Yes, Mick seems determined to shoehorn our 4 best attacking players into the starting XI & yes, this means that we don't get anywhere near the sum of the parts. However, we may stick with doing this until we find some better, fit midfield options. I expect little from the transfer window, although signing a 5th tier French player was below even my expectations. Evans had his chance to invest in January 2014. He won't invest anything significant now,e specially as I suspect he is more inclined towards selling. However it's not just about finding someone willing to pay him £20m or so. We could be even worse off if we go to a consortium who can just about scrape the cash together to meet Evans's asking price, but lack the money to fund annual operating losses.
Not sure moving even more home fans to deal with the unruly elements of the Leeds support would go down well, although I get the reason. |
Indeed. McCarthy is, I believe, primarily playing four strikers (if you include Celina as that) as he has little or no attacking midfield available (Ward's form is patchy). Also means that Sears is the only available replacement up front - works hard but can't score.
Best solution to the expanded away fan issue would be to give them a vertical slice of the Cobbold (with none of our lot below), rather than the whole upper tier. |  |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 13:32 - Jan 15 with 2594 views | Steve_M |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:35 - Jan 15 by Radlett_blue |
With declining crowds Town's realistic value has probably fallen. Does Evans cut his losses & take a smaller offer or does he want to continue to lose £5m or so each year? In pure financial terms, selling at a reasonable price is a no-brainer, but I presume Evans gets a kick out of owning Town & might not like the loss of face involved in selling for a lower figure. |
It's possible in that case, that the apparent desire to sell Bart for £4m and then get some external sponsorship in fits. Then reduce the wage bill by, say Smith and McGoldrick, that £5m becomes a bit more manageable.
Things may be clearer at the end of January although I suspect it might just drag out over the rest of the season. | |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 13:56 - Jan 15 with 2560 views | No9 |
Isn't it the Head of football at any club the driver that encourages senior management jos efforts are worth investing in?
I noted once again Mick Mills mentioned Towns midfield wasn't up to it and needed to get more involved in the game.
We must never forget team Management pull the strings when it comes to football | | | |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 13:57 - Jan 15 with 2558 views | SomethingBlue |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 13:56 - Jan 15 by No9 |
Isn't it the Head of football at any club the driver that encourages senior management jos efforts are worth investing in?
I noted once again Mick Mills mentioned Towns midfield wasn't up to it and needed to get more involved in the game.
We must never forget team Management pull the strings when it comes to football |
Poor contortion even by your standards. | |
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| Some thoughts on Saturday on 14:01 - Jan 15 with 2545 views | No9 |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 13:57 - Jan 15 by SomethingBlue |
Poor contortion even by your standards. |
Please explain | | | |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 14:31 - Jan 15 with 2497 views | braveblue |
| Some thoughts on Saturday on 10:06 - Jan 15 by Heathlander |
I wonder what we would be capable of if we had Huws, Dozzell, Adeyami, Bishop and Webster all fit. That is a lot of quality missing. |
Unfortunately 3 of those are injury prone and possibly always will be. You can’t build a team from a small squad around them. | | | |
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