Boss Roy Keane says some of his squad have done more than their fair share in helping the Blues to safety this season, while a number of others have underperformed. The Town boss has said he will look at shipping out several players in the summer when he will target “four or five” new additions to his squad.

Keane said: “I think we look back on the season and there have been several players who have done more than their fair share of carrying the load. I look at other players and say ‘we need more from you’.

“I dread to think where we’d be without Jon Walters, Grant, Damien and Gareth, despite disappointments in certain parts of games, they’ve been a big part of things. I think David Wright has done well coming in, scoring that goal against Derby, showing good experience, playing left-back and playing right-back.

“Young Connor Wickham’s done more than his share, Brian Murphy was a big boost when he came in, young Jack Colback and David Norris when he came back from his injury. I look at those players and wonder where we might be without them.

“It’s no coincidence that when certain players play in my team the chances of us winning are a lot, lot higher than when other players play in the team.”

Keane recently said that the core of a squad had emerged and these players — with the exception of Colback who is set to return to Sunderland at the end of the season - are likely to be the players he is looking to base his 2010/11 team around.

The Blues boss admits that his side haven’t always been the prettiest to watch this season: “I think there have been certain games where we have been more direct, but even the way we were set-up last week [at Forest] we were a bit open and I probably should have changed that at half-time.

“It depends on certain situations. We lost a lot of games earlier in the season where we dominated possession and we’ve won a lot of games where we’ve had less possession than the opposition. It’s about getting the balance right.”

Keane says different teams are perceived in different ways: “You say we play long ball, I think I see Chelsea do it and they call it long passing. Reading had more possession than us, but we won that game. But at the start of the season for the first 14 or 15 games we were dominating teams in almost every area.

“Possession, we had more corners than anybody and you all know we’ve had more shots than any team in the Championship. We top most of the fitness data.

“But you want to be careful which charts you’re talking about. We want to be in that top six next season and, we come back to it again, you can top everything else but unless you can put the ball in the back of the net, we’ll be having the same conversations next year.”

Photo: Action Images

These_arent_the_days added 15:04 - Apr 20 cunning_stunt the most accurate post yet on this subject. only difference here is that i'm not renewing while keane is here. & don't say i'm fickle, this is the first time in 35 years i've not renewed.
0

tractorboybig added 15:25 - Apr 20 worried here, Looks like another depressing season, no skill, no flair,no idea. Still it seems most of you support keen so thats what we get. O how we have fallen.
0

naa added 15:42 - Apr 20 pims: problem is Stoke are one of th eleast attractive sides to watch in the country. As I said on another post, I would rather us play decent football and challenge in this divsion than play Stoke or Boothroyd Watford style and get promoted and struggle in the Prem. When Watford came here a couple of years ago and were the only team to beat us at Portman Road I thought they were one of the worst teams I'd ever seen. Truly, truly awful, but they were top of the division at the time. If that's what some fans want just to see us promoted then I pity them. It most definitely is not the football Ipswich fans have been brought up on.

0

The_Stotts added 16:16 - Apr 20 Awww,Keane's useless man.
0

rockstar1981 added 16:34 - Apr 20 naa: Stoke don't look like they are struggling to me in the Prem, sitting comfortably mid table and lost only one more game than Liverpool, so not sure what league table you have been looking at??
0

tom_the_blue added 16:58 - Apr 20 How can people say Keane only likes garfters? OK, he favours them slightly, but he doesn't want a team full of them, he knows we need some quality too. That is the best side you can get, real workers with a few star inderviduals, like the side Keane was a member of with Man Utd. Didn't Keane sign Martin? He doesn't seem like a worker to me. Murphy? Priskin? Edwards? None of them work particualy hard, nor does Pablo who has played a lot of games. There is a whole page in Keane's book in which he describes how highly he rated and like Cantona, despite him being lazy. So know, he doesn't only play and like workaholics.

0

blueherts added 17:32 - Apr 20 He names six players - another stupid quote - so how are the rest of the team gonna react Colback will probably be gone so 5 players are settled and we will be looking for a few to come in ( i THINK SHANE O C LOOKS GOOD PROSPECT) His two year plan is gonna have to be pretty rapid in the close season to get the players to gel I like old Garvo but keane dont so end of I am afraid same with Counago I do hope Luca Civelli does come back but can you see Keane warming to a south american winger? If he was from south of antrim maybe ? So he is going to sign Right/Left back , wide midfielder , attacking midfielder , at least 3 forwards ??? wow better get searchin Roy

0

blueherts added 17:59 - Apr 20 Murphy , McCauley/Delaney , Leadbitter/Norris and Wickham is a pretty good spine of a team
0

blueherts added 18:04 - Apr 20 Luciano Becchio and Civelli - Pavarotti centre mid
0

naa added 18:21 - Apr 20 tom_the_blue: you basically listed a whole bunch of players that Keane hasn't played much or have fallen out of favour. Hardly proves your point. Murphy is the only exception and I'd say he actually is a hard-working type player rather than skillful.
0

naa added 18:22 - Apr 20 rockstar: fair enough, but I actually meant us struggle not Stoke. I don't think many teams are capable of "doing a Stoke". However, they are still boring as feck to watch.
0

Mark added 18:40 - Apr 20 I am not sure it is very good management to speak to the press about which members of staff a manager values the most. What will the effect be on the other players, many of whom are probably trying their best but just have not been selected so much? Wasn't Magilton slammed for allegedly telling a select few players they were the core of his team?
0

tom_the_blue added 19:04 - Apr 20 naa- well, actually, it may well prove my point, as people are moaning about his 'hard worker' bias but, as it turns out, the players he has signed with a little invention/lack of work rate have tended to flop. So its not a suprise he plays mainly workers, as the skillful players have struggled.
0

Wickets added 19:48 - Apr 20 Bit worrying for me!! agree Peters should be on list, R Wright seems a better bet to me than B Murphy who lacks presence, Lots of Keanes signings not come up to the mark, will Evans be prepared to back his judgement so me can get the players we need, as we will surely have to take a big loss on the players being shipped out.
0

Mungo added 20:12 - Apr 20 Lightningboy - I'd be happy with Becchio (for the right fee). In fact there are quite a few lower league players I would like us to take a look at, but it doesn't always work - remember Sam Parkin? And to all those unhappy with having hard workers like Leadbitter, Norris and Walters in the side, just remember RK spent almost £5m on flair players like Edwards, Martin and Priskin at the start of the season. Be careful what you wish for - we might get Finidi and Marcus Bent back as well!

0

naa added 20:18 - Apr 20 tom: well true I suppose, but the fact that those players flopped could be down to a bunch of reasons. In Priskin's case he was never really given a proper chance, Pablo has been in and out of the team, Garvan has done well whenever he's played - two obviously bad performances excepted, Martin looks lightweight but again was dropped quickly when things weren't going well and RK decided he was going to fight his way out. Even so, it is possible to have decent flair players, it doesn't all have to be graft, but if you set the team up to play to the strengths of the grafting players then you can't really expect much from the flair types. They're probably also scared, knowing that RK will drop them given the slightest chance. Oh and to whoever it was suggesting B Murphy isn't as good as R Wright. Thank you! I've been remarkably unimpressed and he just goes down as yet another signing RK has made that wasn't really needed (read: Edwards, Rosenior and, to a lesser extent, Leadbitter (in that Norris could do that job, but was injured for three months)).

0

jamie22 added 21:07 - Apr 20 I'm not a fan of Norris, what he does well is tackle and his work rate. He makes good runs, but as soon as he gets the ball he can't do anything with it. I would much rather have Garvan next year so we can play this attractive football that B. Murphy was saying they wanted to play!
0

bennyblue added 04:35 - Apr 21 im not really a fan of keanes i think this season has shown the man hasnt got a clue is there really any point in letting him build another no good team for next season when a new manager should be given the same money to actually get us up which keane doesnt look like hes going to do ever
0

blueblood66 added 09:22 - Apr 21 Roy's last line leads me to believe that he will clear all the strikers out except Wickham, so it adios Pablo, Stead,Lisbie,Priskin,Healy and Murphy. Will be interesting to see how much Marcus Evans will provide to land some goalscorers?
0

J45 added 09:27 - Apr 21 What does he mean by done there fare share we have finished 13th when keane said we would finish in the top six. Players have done nothing fantastic most of them didnt even look they there were trying for half the season. RUBBISH!
0

Blogs 298 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls