| Cracks have been widening over the last 7 games 10:59 - Oct 30 with 7476 views | TalkingBlues |
The key to this league is consistency and it is testament to our manager that, unlike many before him, he has identified a system and squad that compliments the rotation of players to provide the desired level of consistency.
For me, yesterday wasn't a "freak game" as it is being labelled by many, it was an inevitable outcome "at some point" which just happened to be yesterday. Despite our lofty position in the table, we have had some clearly definable weaknesses over the course of the season to date, mainly, not converting a high enough % of chances in attack and conceding too many goals to aerial balls at the back. Despite those obvious issues, we do enough to get results at this level, happy days.
More recently (the last 6 or 7 games for me) there has been a perceivable decline in the consistency of performances and there are a number of plausible arguments for this, the injuries we have sustained, combined with the sheer number of games and our very physically demanding style of play must hold some level of responsibility, as must the inevitable dip in form some players will experience during the course of a season (perhaps a result of some of the factors already highlighted? fatigue?). These are all tangible and can be (mostly) easily remedied, but the bit I'm struggling with is the undesirable weakness that has crept into our game, the giving away of match winning positions, is it just a result of the identifiable weaknesses in our game, or is this a more intangible mental weakness running through the team? That would be a lot trickier to resolve.
A less hectic schedule over the next couple of weeks will undoubtedly help us, some of the players look tired and hopefully some of the injured will return to the playing squad.
I'm not a fan of the 65 minute same substitutions every week, but the manager has a process and it's difficult to argue it when we're second in the league.
The January transfer window should be a good window into the mind of our manager. For me, we need a finisher up top (easier said than done at this level) and a specialist defensive coach for our aerial issues at the back, or new personnel who can jump and head a ball.
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| Cracks have been widening over the last 7 games on 15:54 - Oct 31 with 481 views | itfcjoe |
| Cracks have been widening over the last 7 games on 15:37 - Oct 31 by pointofblue |
I think there's a divide. It's a freak for a game to finish in the way it did Saturday. it is not a freak for us to be dropping points, or threatening to drop points, after taking the leads. Then we have Barnsley and Portsmouth where we twice got pegged back after taking the lead plus Plymouth, where we lost after going 1-0 up.
Including Sheffield Wednesday, Port Vale and Charlton that's six games where we took the lead and let the opposition back - nearly a third. Out of the remaining eleven we came back against Bolton and Morecambe to pick up four points. In all other games we either took the lead and held it, or lost.
It's not something to go absolutely ballistic over, asking for McKenna to be sacked and for the players to be sold (  ) but it's a concern for a team which is fighting for top spot. And it does bug me slightly when people say "we can learn from this" - we had warnings to heed from before Saturday.
ETA - But credit has to be given for our fight when we do concede. Beat Portsmouth, beat Port Vale, should have scored a third against Barnsley if the officials had done their jobs properly, scored twice more against Charlton... The only time we've struggled was Plymouth. [Post edited 31 Oct 2022 15:44]
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Do you think other teams in this league drop points from winning positions?
Last week Sheffield Wednesday dropped points after leading against Bristol ROvers (who we beat 3-0 at PR), the week before they did the same versus Lincoln
The week before Plymouth were 2-0 up against Bristol Rovers and drew 2-2
A few weeks back Plymouth conceded a last minute equaliser against Pompey
This is just off the top of my head, sure lots more examples.
Plymouth, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday are very, very good League 1 teams - but none are perfect - all will drop points from winning positions.
People need to look around more rather than focus on why Ipswich haven't won every game - it helps add some much needed perspective to things |  |
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| Cracks have been widening over the last 7 games on 00:35 - Nov 1 with 385 views | pointofblue |
| Cracks have been widening over the last 7 games on 15:54 - Oct 31 by itfcjoe |
Do you think other teams in this league drop points from winning positions?
Last week Sheffield Wednesday dropped points after leading against Bristol ROvers (who we beat 3-0 at PR), the week before they did the same versus Lincoln
The week before Plymouth were 2-0 up against Bristol Rovers and drew 2-2
A few weeks back Plymouth conceded a last minute equaliser against Pompey
This is just off the top of my head, sure lots more examples.
Plymouth, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday are very, very good League 1 teams - but none are perfect - all will drop points from winning positions.
People need to look around more rather than focus on why Ipswich haven't won every game - it helps add some much needed perspective to things |
When doing a net figure of points gained from losing positions and points lost from winning positions, Plymouth have a record of plus five - ours is minus five. Admittedly, they tend to trail more than us which might skew the figures somewhat but we have allowed more leads to slip than they have this season too. |  |
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| Cracks have been widening over the last 7 games on 08:34 - Nov 1 with 330 views | itfcjoe |
| Cracks have been widening over the last 7 games on 00:35 - Nov 1 by pointofblue |
When doing a net figure of points gained from losing positions and points lost from winning positions, Plymouth have a record of plus five - ours is minus five. Admittedly, they tend to trail more than us which might skew the figures somewhat but we have allowed more leads to slip than they have this season too. |
Every statistic will tell you it’s best to score the first goal in the game than not do - it’s much more likely we get more points if we continue to score the first goal in games than Plymouth if they keep conceding the first goal | |
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