| Ipswich are playing Ruskball – and it won’t succeed 11:44 - Feb 5 with 9892 views | NorrisHatter |
Just over three years ago Stockport County was bought by a very wealthy local businessman. After ten years of languishing in non-league (much of it at tier 6) he announced after taking over that the club was capable of playing at a much higher level; that challenging to reach the championship was the aim and that he was in a hurry.
Substantial investment in the stadium, which had been decaying for two decades followed immediately. The entire off-field set up was professionalised with a proper management structure staffed with people of quality. Quality was the watchword on the field too with players of pedigree from higher divisions being signed.
The most radical move they made was to sack the long serving manager. Modern thinking off the field had to be matched with modern thinking on it, it seemed. None of the fans had heard of the new man, Simon Rusk.
He had been plucked from Brighton’s player development set-up where he had an outstanding reputation for bringing young players through. For years this had been a gripe of the supporters — “we don’t see enough of our young lads make it”.
Does any of the what I’ve just written seem familiar to Ipswich fans?
So — premier league style thinking and the promise of youth players coming through. It all seemed wonderful.
Except it wasn’t. A new possession-based style was introduced. We dominated matches, but there were too many draws and by the end of the season Rusk hadn’t improved the club’s league position from when he had taken over and County ended in the play-offs.
They lost timidly to Hartlepool, the team who finished below them. Pools had much lesser resources but were managed by Dave Challinor, a man in his mid-forties who had been successful at this level with Fylde and blended modern style with old school nous about what it takes to get out from this level. Hartlepool went up to league 2.
The next season, things got much worse. Other sides had worked County out. They sat back. More draws but defeats too. County had developed a bad habit of dominating but then lapsing momentarily and giving bad goals away, from stupid back passes and he like. The fans had a name now for the endless backwards and sideways passing with no penetration — “Ruskball”
The owner didn’t mess around. Rusk was removed and replaced with…… Dave Challinor!! The transformation was staggering. Just a few weeks after being incapable of beating struggling Barnet, County smashed league 1 Bolton 5-3 in a cup replay (watch the video on BBC if you can find it — an FA Cup classic).
Challinor proved what the fans knew all along — we had very good players; but they hadn’t been allowed to play how they could. County were a country mile behind Wrexham and Chesterfield at the top when Challinor took over, but they were reeled in and Stockport were promoted with six points to spare.
This season the progress has continued after a period of early adaptation to the new level. County hit the play off places yesterday and a second promotion in two seasons is not unimaginable. Stockport, with new wealthy owners in a hurry have succeeded:
Not just because of the off field professionalisation
Not just because of heavy investment in good players
But because the owners were savvy enough to realise that at lower league level you need a manager who wants to play cultured stuff (County are a joy when they can get it down on the grass), but who knows how to mix it up and hand it out to the sides who don’t want to play.
And because the owners acted quickly enough to make the change before the opportunity to progress was lost.
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| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 13:04 - Feb 6 with 711 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 11:26 - Feb 6 by AndrewRatcliffITFC |
What shots? |
The very large amount we take in almost every game |  |
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| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 13:17 - Feb 6 with 671 views | Radlett_blue |
| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 12:52 - Feb 6 by itfcjoe |
I think McK has been fairly flexible with tactics, but more in a Mick way of more subtle adjustments in game to try and pick up on weaknesses here and there.
I agree with the balance in midfield - Sam Morsy an excellent player and a first name on the teamsheet, but at times he doesn't fit into what we need so we need to adapt that midfield to ensure he does. Lee Evans for me lacks mobility but again needs to have his strengths shown off when in recent games he is having his weaknesses exposed.
We lack a Cole Skuse style metronome, someone who sits in with the CBs and just lets the full backs push on and everyone else play - someone who is there to snuff out danger first and foremost. I think Morsy is too 'active' for that role and that Evans doesn't read it well enough. Dom Ball may have been the player who could/can do that but we've not seen any of him really |
Disagree Joe; I think Morsy is very good at driving forwards while he also breaks up opposition attacks, sometimes with methods of dubious legality. Yes, Evans isn't that mobile & I think we play better with Humpreys partnering Morsy. IMO the last thing we need in this league is a holding player like Skuse who offers nothing going forward. Ball might have been a good option, but I think the emergence of Humphreys has counteracted that. |  |
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| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 13:31 - Feb 6 with 631 views | Wallingford_Boy |
| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 11:17 - Feb 6 by itfcjoe |
We aren't going backwards fast are we though? Our last 3 games were battering Morecambe, a very good performance against the runaway Championship leaders and then a poor one we chucked in on Saturday.
Our points return hasn't been good enough, and our away form has struggled since Charlton but we don't get what we deserve most weeks - Saturday an exception to that where we didn't do enough
How many poor performances have we put in on this bad run, or even this season - maybe 4 or 5? [Post edited 6 Feb 2023 11:18]
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We've gone backwards over the last month or two, maybe not fast, but teams have sussed us.
Sit back, let us play and hit us on the break. |  |
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| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 13:41 - Feb 6 with 609 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 12:52 - Feb 6 by itfcjoe |
I think McK has been fairly flexible with tactics, but more in a Mick way of more subtle adjustments in game to try and pick up on weaknesses here and there.
I agree with the balance in midfield - Sam Morsy an excellent player and a first name on the teamsheet, but at times he doesn't fit into what we need so we need to adapt that midfield to ensure he does. Lee Evans for me lacks mobility but again needs to have his strengths shown off when in recent games he is having his weaknesses exposed.
We lack a Cole Skuse style metronome, someone who sits in with the CBs and just lets the full backs push on and everyone else play - someone who is there to snuff out danger first and foremost. I think Morsy is too 'active' for that role and that Evans doesn't read it well enough. Dom Ball may have been the player who could/can do that but we've not seen any of him really |
I'm slightly different to you as I think you can see why McKenna was keen on Taylor (presumably to play the more advanced CM role). Morsy is an excellent player at this level and the heartbeat of our team but I prefer him in his PC role than the KMcK role. He's far better driving us forwards from deep for me and he's more defensively switched on than Evans. He's not a lock picker in the final third or the man you want on the end of chances. | | | |
| Ipswich are playing Ruskball — and it won’t succeed on 15:01 - Feb 6 with 522 views | Sawtrich |
It's always interesting to read comparisons between actual results and metrics or stats. How much was it a team 'finding a way to win' and how much was it the random luck of a low scoring sport? That's a difficult question to answer.
Ipswich are currently 3rd in the table, having lost 4 games out of 29. Yes, we've had too many frustrating draws and, yes, we've seen a dip in form lately. However, suggesting we are doomed to failure and should replace the manager is very premature and would seem like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. |  | | |
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