My Best Town XI: Carlos Edwards Friday, 17th Apr 2020 09:59 In the fourth part of our new series, Kieron Dyer catches up with former Blues skipper Carlos Edwards, who selects the best XI from his time playing for Town before Dyer gives his assessment of the side. Goalkeeper Marton Fulop - They say goalkeepers are mad, well he was mad and a good keeper. Great in the air. Centre-half Christophe Berra - Not the fastest but reads the game really well, also strong defending set pieces. Centre-half Damien Delaney - Confident with the ball coming out from the back. Centre-half Tommy Smith - Aggressive and loves a tackle, and he got his fair share of goals. Passionate. Right wing-back Lee Martin - He's got an engine on him, runs for days, and has that bit of quality when needed. Frustrating at times but a good player. Left wing-back Aaron Cresswell - Great at defending and going forward. Works hard, and to top it off he has that quality from set pieces. FulopBerraSmithDelaneyMartinCresswellLeadbitterWaltersMcGoldrickMurphyScotland
Centre midfield Grant Leadbitter - Always showing for the ball, plays it simple and loves creating chances for the frontmen. Works hard on and off the ball. Attacking midfield Jon Walters - He's the workhorse, it doesn’t matter what position he plays, he works hard, and he'll get you goals. Good leader to have in your team. Striker David McGoldrick - He's strong, has great feet and causes defences trouble with his movement, and he scores goals. Striker Jason Scotland - He's the joker in the pack, not the fastest but two great feet. Holds the ball up really well and just like most frontmen gets you goals. Striker Daryl Murphy - Has all the attributes, strong in the air, fast and a strong runner with the ball. Gives defenders a nightmare and, of course, scores goals. So that’s my best Ipswich XI. Kieron’s View When I saw Carlos’s team it seemed to me that he’s tried to get certain individuals into it even if they’re playing out of position, square pegs in round holes, as they say. The back three takes care of itself, Tommy Smith who is a fan favourite, Christophe Berra was a wonderful servant, one of Mick McCarthy’s favourites, and Damien Delaney. When Damien Delaney was playing for Ipswich, if you’d have told me he would have gone on to have a decent career in the Premier League I would probably have laughed at you but he went on to Crystal Palace and did exceptionally well, so I’ve got no qualms about him being in the team. Obviously Carlos played alongside our present captain Chambo, so he may have had a shout of getting in this team but I don’t think you can really argue with those three centre-halves. I think Aaron Cresswell at left wing-back speaks for itself. He won the Supporters’ Player of the Year one season, won Players’ Player of the Year, he was fantastic, he went on to bigger and better things playing in the Premier League for West Ham and for England. The next two selections, Lee Martin and Grant Leadbitter, were never the fans’ favourites here and they get a lot of stick now when they play against us, so I think fans will be questioning those two picks. Lee Martin is a bit of an Ipswich Town killer these days, he always seems to score against us, which doesn’t sit very well. I said it looks like he’s just putting individuals in just to get them into the team and I don’t know if I’ve seen Jonny Walters playing in centre midfield. Someone may be able to correct me and tell me that he played centre midfield for Ipswich, but I can’t really remember. I know he used to play wide or up top but never in centre midfield. Again, a fantastic servant for Ipswich, he was a great player for Ipswich so I can see why Carlos got him in the team, but I don’t see him as a centre midfielder. And then the front three. What I’d say about the front three is that they’d all want to play as the central one of the three, so that means two of them would have to play out in wider positions. I know that Daryl Murphy has often played on the left, so I can see him playing out wide, but every time David McGoldrick played out wide he didn’t like it, and you can’t ask Jason Scotland to play out wide. It was quite funny to see Carlos say that Jason lacked pace. I think jogging I’m quicker than Jason Scotland. But as Jim Magilton used to say, “Let the runners run and let the players play” and Jason Scotland had great touch and didn’t have to have pace. You could say Marcus Stewart didn’t have pace, there are a lot of great strikers don’t have pace but they make up for it with different attributes. And, as I say, Jason Scotland had other attributes but it’s just a shame two of the three have to play out wide. I don’t think it’s a very balanced team, it’s a team full of very good individuals, but as a team, I’m not so sure about it. One player who is missing that springs straight to mind in midfield is Jimmy Bullard, who I know Carlos played alongside. Jimmy Bullard had that purple patch, he’d only been here for six months and won the Player of the Year and had scored unbelievable goals, so I think he could have a case for being in the midfield. DJ Campbell, he was here on loan, but that season when Mick McCarthy took over, his 10 goals kept Ipswich in the Championship, so he could have been in with a shout of being in the team. And obviously Carlos played when Connor Wickham burst through as well and he went on to break my record as the biggest transfer fee the club had received at the time, the £8.1 million that Sunderland paid for him eclipsing my £6.5 million move to Newcastle. Maybe he might have been included as well.
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