Michael Chopra and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas have hit back at Town fans who have been critical of the Blues after a start to the season which sees them sitting in 23rd in the Championship. Are they right to feel maligned?

Last night, striker Chopra claimed, in a series of tweets which were subsequently deleted after bad-tempered exchanges with a number of fans, that TWTD commenters “don't have a clue about football”, adding: “The proper fans have been amazing, standing by the team that's underperformed last season and at times this season but we will get things right in the end people.

“[Don’t] forget we've only played six games and we are only two wins off the play-offs.”

Emmanuel-Thomas criticised fans on Twitter in pre-season and expressed his frustration with some supporters on the micro-blogging site again last night: “I will stop interacting with fans all together until the sad ones grow up and stop tweeting garbage towards us. Apologies to all the good fans.”

Is Chopra right to feel that fans are overreacting to the first six games of the season? Is JET correct to feel that the criticism of players on Twitter goes too far? Add your thoughts below.

Photo: Action Images

ALF added 11:05 - Sep 21 Think Chopra tarring all on TWTD with the same brush is what's out of order - we are proper fans too! JET on the other hand was more specific in who he spoke out against. I should imagine he'll be reading again today and realise the mistake he made and why so many on here now have their backs up.
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daniel9624 added 11:07 - Sep 21 The irony is no one annoys Ipswich Fans more than Ipswich fans, which ever side of the fence you sit on, you can't help but snipe and pick at each other and quite frankly its pathetic!
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Paulc added 11:09 - Sep 21 A lot of fans are rightly hacked off right now, with very good reason. There is no need to attack individuals directly through Twitter (which is why I don't follow town players), as the issues are with the club/team as a whole. I don't know what Tweet's Chops and JET were reacting to but from most fan's perspective (to answer the headline question) are not reacting to the seaon's start at all it is a reaction that is coming to a head over the club's performance over the last few years. I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: WHERE IS OUR 5 YEAR PLAN?, This is how we got success under Sheepshanks and how any business succeeds - so simple, you set goals and targets and deploy corrective action if you start to go off course. Probably easier said than done, but if you have a plan at least share it!

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 11:19 - Sep 21 So the TWTD posters are something other than the "proper fans"? And all TWTD posters share a common view? Something a little flawed with the logic there, I feel. Oh, and by the way, COYB!
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pazelle added 11:22 - Sep 21 Basically, if you win games noone gives a crap - when you lose games in a cack league the demons shall be unleashed like I said.
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AYACCA added 11:23 - Sep 21 Moaning only makes oneself feel bad. Kick back relax and enjoy the laughs of Portman road.
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Keaneish added 11:27 - Sep 21 Could the person who has minused my comment please justify it? I think if you disagree with that statement then lets have your opinion. It's wrong but lets hear it anyway!
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osborne1nil added 11:27 - Sep 21 Fans have earned the right to applaud when a team performs well and puts in the effort. When a player such as Jet who IMO is one of the laziest players to appear for Ipswich can't be bothered to put in the effort they deserve to be dropped and for fans to be unhappy and this may mean booing. Take the rough with the smooth. If you don't like being booed and moaned at then put in the effort. I don't come to PR every home game to watch Town lose but accept that it is going to happen and if it was because the opposition were better then fine but if it was because we were very poor then not acceptable and I for one will let them know. I will not cheer and applaud a lack of effort and guts to fight for a win or draw. 3 points desperately needed Saturday, COYB.

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cornishnick added 11:40 - Sep 21 After years' of under achievement, fans have a perfect right to vent their frustration, however, abuse on Twitter is too far. But the disconnect between fans and players, not just here but at every club, has never been greater, and that is down to the players to change, through their behaviour on the pitch and off it. They sometimes live in a dream world and forget how privileged they are, earning in a week more than many fans earn in a year and for what? Playing football

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Karlosfandangal added 11:46 - Sep 21 Have to agree with Chopra and Jet
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righty added 12:04 - Sep 21 Well linhdi you must have watched different matches to me please tell me if Wolves hit the post tell me if Loach had not made 2 great saves against Huddersfield. That says it all this run goes back to March last season still no signs of improvement its not all bad luck and accept Jewell and his croanies are useless. The players put very little effort in on Wed night so they deserve to be critised

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tomisamos added 12:07 - Sep 21 I'm fed up of Chopra. He looks lazy most the times I see him play and he's showing no signs of upholding his promise of 30 goals. Taylor and Scotland look far more up for it and sharp. As for JET, I feel he isn't intentionally starting a fight, I think if I was reading half the stuff on here I'd be pretty fed up. Quite a lot of it is constructive but some people literally just shout '[name your manager] out!' at the slightest sign... By sacking Jewell and half the squad, which is what we did with Keane, Magilton and Royle, I'm not sure what good it'll do. Someone else wrote this somewhere but I really feel this poor start to the season and Jewell is a symptom to the problem. Not the cause. The football on the whole over the past 10 years has been pretty average at best, minus a couple of seasons.

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Garv added 12:18 - Sep 21 Fans are over reacting to the supposedly terrible start we've made to the season, but in context of the last year and a half its understandable. But Chopra is right, a lot of TWTD posters are complete idiots.
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bluey123 added 12:23 - Sep 21 Garv takes one to know one and Chopra is the idiot we pay his wages
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Lightningboy added 12:23 - Sep 21 Personally I am reacting to the last 4 years of seriously mediocre results that my club are producing - almost on a weekly basis. Things haven't been right since Magilton's 2nd season (remember the one where we lost 1 home game all season)..too much money has been thrown around willy-nilly in the hope that we'd crash into the play-offs and that's been the downfall. Strategy has gone out of the window at the expense of desperately trying to get into the Prem at the earliest opportunity...until someone upstairs realises this then we will continue to go nowhere fast.

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KentBlue92 added 12:25 - Sep 21 They need to get off the internet if they can't take criticism. Bloody hate twitter and will never use it.
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Lightningboy added 12:30 - Sep 21 Not very intelligent footballers + twitter = recipe for disaster
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TimmyH added 12:38 - Sep 21 As mentioned by one or two other posts, it's this start compounded by the rest of Mr Jewell's 20 odd month's here. He really needed to start this season off more consistently like the team showed towards the second half of last season and that simply has not happened. and for one would not say it is 'an overreaction'. By the way JET and Chopra should remain low-key throughout on their thoughts towards supporters (especially on twitter).

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hancockingoal added 12:40 - Sep 21 I am sometimes embarrassed to admit to being a Town fan, particularly when listening to the Suffolk Radio phone in on the way home! However the players should get their heads down, concentrate on their day job and do whatever they can to rub the online idiots noses in it! As always the silly minority and include the players as well take all the headlines!
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blockb_steward added 12:44 - Sep 21 Are we playing better under PJ than Keane? Yes we are. Do the players show pride and passion when they pull on that blue jersey? I'm not sure they do. It was not so long ago that teams feared 'Fortress Portman Road', we had a passionate attacking team that passed the ball well and could actually defend. The fans responded and the atmosphere generated was intense. When the players show some guile it does actually get the fans going...it just doesn't seem to happen that often. It's not going to happen for us every week, I just wish that we put in the effort to actually try to make sure it happened every week.

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BerlinBlue added 12:44 - Sep 21 The fans are overreacting, certainly after only 6 games. It's not always going to go the way we'd like. Get behind the team or don't bother.
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Pessimistic added 13:04 - Sep 21 Yes, they are right to return some fire. Afterall it only goes to show that they care like all of us seasoned supporters and not the fairweather variety that constantly posts negative vibes on this site and others.
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TheBoyBlue added 13:04 - Sep 21 The frustration for many is that we have had years of this. Season after season of mediocre results, some accompanied by good football as we're occasionally played this season. False dawn after false dawn. Player after player letting us down. Patience is practically non-existent amongst some fans and it is understandable why. Personally I'm encouraged by elements of this season and I think the players are entitled to their opinion, but they have to realize that so are fans who pay their wages that even at this level are completely out of line with the real world. The real answer for the players is to start defending and putting these chances away!

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Super_Cooper added 13:16 - Sep 21 The thing is with Michael Chopra, he is a very good football player, he can score goals, we as fans were very happy when he came to our club...but...he is not the brightest spark. I have read a lot of his tweets and he doesn't like criticism. Fans from "up north", when he played for Newcastle, STILL criticise him and he STILL replies with "do one". Michael, do your talking on the pitch. You will get criticism when you don't play well, deal with it. You will get praise when you DO play well. You DO earn lots of money from doing a job YOU love. We as fans DO pay a lot of money to watch you play the game WE love. We have a right to complain when it goes wrong. Michael, "do one" on the pitch, and score! COYB!

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alfromcol added 13:19 - Sep 21 If players had any sense, and a lot of them don't they would keep off social network sites. It opens them up for all sorts of abuse, from all sorts of strange characters. On receiving abuse, as human beings they get upset, and respond to it. Sometimes, without intending too, they imply criticism of genuine fans (customers) who were not part of the abuse. The danger is that players are then seen as criticising ITFC customers and this they must not do. In any business, employees must not be seen to criticise customers. An action, which is some companies would be a disciplinary offence. I suggest that the club should ban players from publicly commenting on issues relating to their job.

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