| Relegation. 12:08 - Jan 27 with 7598 views | SaffronWaldenBlues |
We all wanted a fairytale of Ipswich winning back-to-back promotions and holding our own in the Premier League. I don’t want to be negative, I don't feel negative about it, and to still be within a shot of staying up in February is nothing to be ashamed of, however, I am resigned to the fact we will likely be relegated this season.
We are the only side in the league that’s been out of the top tier for decades and as a club least prepared (no fault of the current administration) for topflight football, so it is no surprise that we are in the bottom three but we must give the players and manager some credit for still being in it, at this stage as we could have easily ended up like Southampton, who have far more experience at this level than we do, and are doing very poorly, although not playing badly.
We haven’t played badly overall ourselves, however in games we should have picked up points we have faltered through silly mistakes, concentration issues and we must admit it, tactical failings, that have not delivered those points. Examples of those games are Leicester, Brentford, Bournemouth, and both games against Fulham. In games against City and Liverpool, while we gave them good games in the early part of the season, we were overawed by them in the recent fixtures, and some players looked like they were simply enjoying their moment playing against these sides rather than being here for the long haul. It does speak about the mentality of the squad now, compared to a few months ago. The other issue we have is that we cannot break down the poorer sides in this league, bar Wolves. We have looked our worst against West Ham, Southampton, Crystal Palace, and Everton, the teams we should be competing with, if we were to have any chance to stay up.
This may be controversial for some and will probably be an unpopular opinion, but we hear a lot about how the League One guys aren’t good enough, as if they are the issue with the squad. I disagree for the most part, I think on their day, injury-free, they have performed as well as anyone we have brought in. Better in some cases. Morsy has been a bit slow at this level, and his cause hasn’t been helped (in my view) by playing alongside equally ponderous midfielders which has accentuated the fact that Morsy is slower. Walton, Davis, Wolfenden, Burgess, Burns, Morsy, Chaplin, Hirst and recently Broadhead have all had good games and have performed no worse than any of the players we have brought in. I feel that some of them have been quite unfairly dropped. Clarke has done okay when asked but needs another year to develop. People talk about them having a ceiling, which is true, but the idea our potential relegation rests on the fact these guys are not up to it is not true. If anything, you could argue that our transfer business hasn’t been as effective as it should have been, which isn’t a knock on all of the new players, Delap has shown his worth, but the others have been as good as the other players in the squad who had stepped up two leagues very quickly. I do think it's largely a cohesion thing, and a bit of too much change too soon in some areas. If we did stay up then a few of the new players could realistically establish themselves here and in this division.
We play Southampton next with the expectation that we will win. On paper, you would fancy us, but they are due a win, they have been playing well on balance and are unlucky to have not picked up more points. We struggled against them in the away fixture and they know us well enough to know how to stop us. This will be a tense game to watch and the crowd has to be up for this one.
Finally, while I have a lot of respect for McKenna, he is a great manager but we must realise this is a new experience for him also. He’s learning as we play, game by game, and in a tough league. There was a lot of talk about McKenna being better than Burley this season and I have to disagree with that, which is not a knock on McKenna, Burley just was (so far) a better manager for us who did it at the top-level, albeit briefly. There have been mistakes with our tactics, our inability to see out games or use a bit of gamesmanship to get the points on the board, as stated previously, some players have been dropped which shouldn’t have been in my view, and with the constant changes to the line-up, injury issues aside, has cost us consistency and cohesion which has been another reason we have not picked up those vital points.
We are doing very well for what we are, and who we have signed regardless if we drop or not. I am not feeling that negative about things, despite feeling we will drop this season.
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| An East Anglian Town overtaken by Londoners |
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| Relegation. on 19:30 - Mar 8 with 824 views | Blue_Heath |
| Relegation. on 19:26 - Mar 8 by billlm |
Agree your not at the bottom of the current form league and suddenly become world beaters,
We were relegated when we lost to the saints, |
Precisely, Wolves are as good as safe even if they lost all their games.
We are trying but cannot understand the delusion, take a poor Wolves season out of the equation and double our points score still sees us scrapping to avoid third bottom.
No shame in it, it's too much too soon and this league has been ruined with money. |  | | |
| Relegation. on 22:47 - Mar 8 with 696 views | MVBlue |
| Relegation. on 19:21 - Mar 8 by Blue_Heath |
Amazed people think we are staying up, we are on current form the worst team in the country and I believe the only one not to have won a game in 2025. |
God you have made me realise with that fact. 12 months ago we were competing in the form and wins table with Man City as the 2nd best team in the whole country for wins and goals.
12 months later we are the worst?
No wonder I feel sad. |  |
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| Relegation. on 23:22 - Mar 8 with 633 views | mikeybloo88 |
| Relegation. on 15:48 - Jan 27 by Broadbent23 |
You cannot compare McKenna to Burley as the Premier league is a different beast now. Back in 2001/2 the difference between championship and premier was small compared to today. The top teams have Squads valued at £1b. Our squad is probably around £200m, therefore KMc is trying to create a miracle. Burley's team were men not boys. Tactics were less complicated then; now you need a science degree to formulate a win. Yes we are in a relegation battle with a good chance of survival. Burley had a second season blimp and we fell like a stone. KMc is moulding the team for the long stay . Also the backroom are making better transfer decisions. Two decades of football doesn't allow a comparison. KMc's feats are for today and not stuck in the past. |
Yes we are in a relegation battle...but we do not have a good chance at survival, we have merely a chance. Some posters need to get real... |  | | |
| Relegation. on 18:19 - Mar 15 with 331 views | SaffronWaldenBlues |
| Relegation. on 19:21 - Mar 8 by Blue_Heath |
Amazed people think we are staying up, we are on current form the worst team in the country and I believe the only one not to have won a game in 2025. |
Today’s 4-2 defeat was on paper not too bad against a top 3 side but the reality is they didn’t have to do very much to score. We were clearly miles off them and don’t have the players for this level of football.
I think the bigger worry for me going forward is if we get promoted again, will we ever have the resources to compete in the Premier League with so many other clubs that far ahead of us now? We all laughed at Norwich but we were as toothless in the top flight as they were. | |
| An East Anglian Town overtaken by Londoners |
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| Relegation. on 18:26 - Mar 15 with 313 views | Smoresy |
| Relegation. on 18:19 - Mar 15 by SaffronWaldenBlues |
Today’s 4-2 defeat was on paper not too bad against a top 3 side but the reality is they didn’t have to do very much to score. We were clearly miles off them and don’t have the players for this level of football.
I think the bigger worry for me going forward is if we get promoted again, will we ever have the resources to compete in the Premier League with so many other clubs that far ahead of us now? We all laughed at Norwich but we were as toothless in the top flight as they were. |
You're fighting hard to keep this thread alive 😂 | | | |
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