OK
Three games in and the common thread is so evident
McCauley has no leadership skills and our midfield is very lightweight in the middle - especially without Norris
Keane said it all 'I learnt alot about my players'..
he was a leader and a captain on the pitch and he would look for that
I would not be surprised to see a new captain
Garvan must start and wih Walters and Martin - who is a good player - on the flanks we have the makings of a good midfield
Stead , Priskin , Counago and Wickham ( plus one other) up front is fine
At the back Bruce , Pim , Wright Brothers are fine but we really need another CB and left back
I have to agree about Delaney - he doesnt have a clue what to do with the ball if he wins it
I think Keane now knows who he can rely on and the common theme is for all to see
The Baggies will be a test!!!! Cmon Town ...

Imagine, just imagine, what we would have said last year if we had.....

a) spent £800k on Delaney (what a pity - no, make that worry - that whatever was learnt last night wasn't learnt a little bit before the cheque book came out for this donkey)

b) spent £1.5mn on an unproven youngster like Martin who has had several failed loan spells

c) given Rhodes away and then watch him score 5 in 3.

d) replaced a midfield of Garvan and Shumi with Trotter( recalled from League 1) and another donkey from ireland who was on his way to Hartlepool for heavens sake

e) ramped up hopes of auto promotion in a year and then told everyone they needed a reality check after 3 games.

Too early to judge? Of course it is but anyone who is not deeply troubled by what they have seen against modest opposition can only be in some sort of hype induced denial.

After the depressing ineptitude of last year, the thought of being confronted with more of the same before even August is out is a thought too horrible to contemplate.

Like everyone else I hope, I'll continue to follow the North Stand lead of trying to create some unity and atmosphere last night - well done boys - but if this team is what we have to go with this year, any talk of promotion is as embarrassing as it is silly.

Maybe Keane has learnt that his players are crap.
Delaney is embarassing and so is Healy.

TBH i think Wickham was man of the match by a country mile along with bruce! Delaney is not a bad winner of the ball but I admit my gandmother could distribute better than he could! Midfield was poor not a lot else to be said really!

IN KEANE WE TRUST! COYB!!!

All the so called experts that post on here should maybe have a saturday off and give their tickets to a charity...perhaps for under privaliged kids...pretty certain that they wouldn't harp on.
So So Fickle!!!

It will take Roy time, but clearly there is work to do. Hopefully he will have noted and accept that Healy is not good enough at this level. Also McAuley has been a liaibility and although I am not suggesting he be dropped, he should lose the captain's armband.

We need to sign 3 to 4 new players - but doubt we have the budget!

the sick thing is, you know Delaney will be in the starting lineup this weekend, when David Wright should be starting!!

Hope Pablo is not too far from match fitness

What a depressing load of doom merchants some people are, on here. I have a season ticket, go to every game more or less at PR (Friendlies and cup ties included). I am not making excuses for last night, or saturday, but we lost a player who until this last week, I have underappreciated a lot. David Norris. Against Valladolid (A La Liga side!) he ran the show and our midfield set the platform for a confident victory, setting up good chances for the attack and offering good support to the defence too. But Trotter and Healy are not a patch. Much hinges on the new midfielder we are talking about getting in.

This is what I noted particularly from the team last night:

1) Lack of concentration, daydreaming when he had posession, leading to us giving easy chances/ goals away (Keane said "we have got to stop giving sloppy goals away).
2) Another slow start (Keane said "we need to look at why our slow starts are happening). But a good start as the halfs progressed.
3)Particularly with Healy in the midfield, at times there was no midfield protecting the defence, particularly when promising Town attacks broke down. This led to us being very stretched and suceptible to counter attacks (Keane said "we must attack and defend as a team").
4) Not being ruthless enough when we had chances (and yes, we did show an ability last night, albeit late on, to create good chances and put defences under pressure. Stead, Wickham, Martin, Garvan, Priskin and Pablo know where the goal is)
5) A significant improvement in terms of ability and fight, when Healy came off and Quinn came on winning a lot more balls... and in terms of technique when Garvan came on.
6) Not overly confident with the centreback pairing (Without resorting to witch hunts, McAuley had a poor shakey game again, showing a fundamental flaw for a captain- not directing and lifting his team after they cross the white line. As for Pim, he is promising. But he is still learning, and he needs a big strong leader by his side directing him at the moment, which seems to be lacking). When David Wright is fit and up to match speed, I think we need Wrighty and Delaney as full backs with a captain Bruce partnering Pim in the middle. Either that, or Richard Wright should be captain, Bruce and Wright are the 2 natural leaders we currently have. Keane knows a natural leader better than most, because he was the ultimate leader as a captain himself.

We have underperformed quite averagely after THREE league matches...Right okay, its very frustrating. But often early form (both results and performances) can deceive at the best of times. Right from the off, town should be aiming for play-offs minimum this year, but not chuck our toys out of the pram and press panic buttons because we haven't won any of our first three. If we won the first three, we would all be in dreamland talking about Premiership, but because we haven't had things our own way early on, we are doomed to relegation apparently?!! Seriously guys, there are going to be lots of twists and turns ahead, so get behind the team and give them the support they need. A succesful era is based on the fans as much as it is the team, don't let early season tongue in cheek disrupt the team, led by the most exciting Ipswich Town manager for a long time. A new midfielder to replace Norris should be coming in too.

Keep the faith! Sing for ITFC, win, lose or draw!

i dont see y quinn doesnt play isnt he a traditional passing player what ipswich r known 4 ? keane has turned us into bullys the only reason garvan doesnt start cause he hasnt no meat on him.
Wright
Wright Bruce Pim Thacther
Walters Garvan Healy Quinn Martin
Stead
(Y)

A very well structured piece there, radiogaga ... couldn't have put it better.

i think its safe to say that delaney and healy shouldnt be playing in the first team?
but who would play in replace?
if peters is fully fit i would like to see him back in the squad, maybe bring in a new midfielder

So Keano has learnt a lot about his players last night??! I guess that will be that we dont score enough goals and concede far too many!! If we could actually take the lead in a league match i think we might dominate it, all we need is a win to get us going, the sooner the better.
Agree with other posts that McAuley shouldnt be captain as he could then just concentrate on defending properly. Also dont think Healy/Trotter worked as a central midfield combination, hope he goes with Garvan/Quinner combination on saturday.
Here's hoping for a change in fortune soon. up the town!

Can't agree with the comment that McAuley is a bad captain but an ok player. He's just about the worst CB we've ever had. He displays no agression, he consistently commits the defender's cardinal sin by letting the ball bounce rather than attacking it full blooded, he cannot inspire his teammates, he hardly ever gets booked and he's dragging Pim down to his level when what the boy needs is a hard uncompromising leader next to him to show him how to play CB - in summary McAuley''s another in the long line of poor Magilton signings which Keane somehow has to get rid of. It's going to a long and tough job to raise the quality level in the squad.

Do you know who I was watching for the last 15 mins last night? Roy Keane. Do you know what he was doing? Nothing. Just sitting there. No leader on the pitch, no leader in the dugout. I was disgusted with him. 3-1 down at home and he was just sitting there. I wonder what would Sir Bobby have thought of that? Or even Sir Alex? When Keane's appointment was announced, I just had a sinking feeling. Oh dear. I wasn't a Jim fan but couldn't think of anyone who I would have liked to come to us who we could realistically have had so wasn't convinced that getting rid of him was the right answer, much as he irritated me. I didn't used to like the way Jim was constantly moaning at his players from the touchline when he could have been motivating them and influencing the game in more positive ways but at least he was involved in the game and gave a damn. Keane, you may have learnt a lot about your players last night but I learnt a lot about you. If we don't start playing better damn quick and you don't start looking like you care, I'm gonna walk, not because I'm not a true fan but because I am, I won't watch you sit there doing nothing while we become a laughing stock and relegation fodder. God, I hope I'm wrong.

From what I have seen so far, we lack pace, through the middle there is no one wanting to stride forward and create a goal, I mean anyone with a decent foot on them can punt the ball forward and try and pick someone out but it's not working for us, because last night we had Priskin who even said the day he signed, "I like the ball played to feet" Well pal you chose the wrong club there...
He is not the type of striker who can win the ball in the air, same with Wickham
Even Jon Stead despite his height can win a header for toffee.
We're short of two QUALITY players, a decent midfielder with pace and power who wants to take the ball forward in the shape of Giovanni...
and a good striker who can hold the ball up and knock it down for the likes of Priskin to make his mark in this Town team!
Because I think im not the only one who can see this is not a team just yet we haven't quite gelled.. but it's early days and that's a positive, theres time to work as a team and put early mistakes right and if Keane says he has seen more to his players after the result then theres hope he can change it for the better.

even though it is quite early, i do have to wonder about RK's new signings. healy was terrible on tuesday night, delaney looks slow and martin ran around and tried hard but ultimately didn't offer much quality.
personally i think we need counago big time. granted, he doesn't score many but he holds the ball up so well and can turn anyone and bring others into play. on tuesday everytime it was played forward it came straight back! priskin isnt a hold up man and whilst wickham no doubt will be a good player he looked 16 on tuesday.
hopefully all will improve but with a few tricky games coming up its hard not to be pesamistic!!