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bluelady added 17:40 - Oct 24

Much improved thanks to Bru who shone today and showed us what we had missed both Skuse and Douglas looked much better when not playing together. much better second half than first and gutted we had 6 mins added on when there should have been 3/4 most.. Ref shocking again!!! Gerkin HAS to go - great shot stopper but a non commanding flapper most of the time you can see the defence don't trust him!!!

therein61 added 17:46 - Oct 24

Two sides lacking in confidence frightened to make mistakes leads to a dull game of football, Town snatched a point from the jaws of victory!!!!! when the hell is Mick going to wake up to the fact that Chambers at right back does not work neither does Smith and Berra in the middle nor a keeper who only leaves his goal line at the 1/2 and full time whistle, I don't understand Mick he was so positive last season but now has blinkers on towards his defensive favourites that it is time for him to shape up or go!!!!!

BlueTractor52 added 18:22 - Oct 24

Should we just accept that our Chairman, Manager and many of the players are happy to settle for mid table safety. Promotion brings all sorts of challenges. The Chairmans wallet will be tested. The Manager may not have the acumen to survive. Many Championship players will be moved on, losing there stability here at Ipswich. Some much to lose ,should we go up.
The Chairman and our Manager are intelligent men and think deeply about the game and its consequences of victory. Our manager can put out a side to do just enough. We all know, Chanbers is no right back and so does every opposing Manager. Chambers is a good Centre Back though. Why play him constantly out of position. There must be a logical reason and it is not based on Chambers right back abilities. We all know, that no matter how good Skuse and Douglas are indiviually , together they create a negative force. Many points gave been lost or squandered due to the Managers blind spot here. However I ask is it a blind spot or a purposeful ploy.
With regard to the keepers, personally I believe neither are up to standard.The goal keeping coach must want better raw material to work with. I was surprised nothing was done in the Summer. However think again. The spine of the team is its strength or its mediocrity. Ours is average and that is where we will end up again. Challenge , a bit of end of season glory. The nearly men, get behind your team for next season. Buy your season tickets now for next seasons big push. I do not buy it any more.
I have supported The Town since 1961 , this must be the most unfootball like collection of players in our history. Having got his fingers burnt through two appalling appointments. The Chairman must enjoy the stem of losses and a bit of pocket money. It makes you wonder what Jim Magilton did wrong. With retrospect, he wasn't half bad. For those that want our Manager sacked. Be careful what you wish for. Many teams supporters can testify to that.
Let's hope I am completely wrong and our next match is exciting ,invigorating and football played to entertain and excite those that pay through the turnstile. Let's see!

itsonlyme added 18:40 - Oct 24

Bluetractor52 - some valid points and I have been supporting town two years longer than you. M M has to shoulder the blame I am afraid! Huddersfield and Forest were there for the taking but we are so average it hurts! You can see next weeks game ending 0-0! I really hope we can turn it around, but I do fear the worst. Our football is shockingly poor!

Mullet added 20:32 - Oct 24

In a month where many Town fans have struggled to see the wood for the trees, Town returned to Forest with familiar faces lining up on both sides of the halfway line. Joniesta and late loanee Trotter joining the hosts, whilst Mick persisted with the same back five, midfield trigonometry of Bru, Skuse and AMN and front three of Murphy, McGoldrick and Sears. With the young gunner impressive at the sharp end on the midfield and the much-wanted McGoldrick ahead of him it was a less used role on the wings for the other two in the front three.

Forest were flatter and more forthright. Williams spent the opening half an hour on the left exploring the sartorial workings of our captain's metaphorical back pocket. Once he'd gone into dead ends once too often, his only other destination was the floor. Only the shadow of Mendes' tomfoolery and cheating hung over the former Town favourite. The home striker clearly Forest's vice-dickhead and having to step up in Lansbury's absence.

It was a period where the ref was largely excellent, the hosts astride of avoiding the dysfunctional. Comparatively Town were much more positive than many anticipated, including us. Sears showed early on, beating his man to a loose ball behind but not able to find the measure of De Vries on more than one occasion. As the game moved and manoeuvred in a tight middle the first moment that the blues might fear dropping a bollock came from our own forward push from deep.

A long freekick failed to meet the jumping Chambers and Forest hit Town on an easy counter. As the reds sprayed the ball forward towards our eighteen and reforming lines it was left to Gerken to make an artful save twice in Banksian manner. Diving low and pushing the ball away beyond his post from two attempts.

The early loss of Knudsen after just 11 mins had had little bearing. Parr was functional and not flashy in his stead. Where Berra and Skuse covered and span looped runs behind their partners and the play, to sew up much of Forest's threat. It was Bru and McGoldrick who worked either side of AMN in the central machinations of weaving Town's more expansive play.

Murphy was ball winner and those inside of him acted as ball carrier. At one moment he was leftback, another left wing without really finding man or move to capture the imagination as he did last season. The impressive midfield allowed Sears and McG more freedom but it was a first half where Town's only chance was out of the formerly ordinary.

A hard won corner seemed destined to be rifled home not once but twice, as a crowded box stood up to the assault and the blues fired blankly when the target went begging. The fact that Forest went in at half time, forcing more than one save and sigh amongst such a golden opportunity flattered them.

Gerken also notably palmed a central and rising drive away strongly, as the last fifteen saw blonde on blonde action in the shape of Parr contending with Williams, and Chambers also marking out a new man with less success. It would be the change that allowed Forest to also threaten more than once down their left and ours, the best of the bunch finding the side netting, when the strikers had better placed themselves to set to work.

In a game where mistakes were few and far between, it felt like the rising tally of Town cards were for honest but clear fouls. The reverse of which were not met with judicial impartiality or sanction. As Skuse stopped his man on the midway point and Smith chopped with a little too much bite you felt there was little cause to protest. In fixture where Town were not adverse to seeing red, one felt that one more home player felled, might turn the game and not the ref's discretion.

The second half felt like the second coming of Mick's honest and industrial methodology. As in his very first game, he changed and tweaked a little in terms of position and slightly less in personnel to great and taut effect. It was supposedly our turn to come to a club down but not out, and absorb an early flurry before having a go of our own.

Skuse succumbed later on as midfield triangle levelled long before Town did and his replacement Douglas sat between AMN and Bru. Murphy moved up top and made the right channel his home as this time McGoldrick roamed freer and Sears occupied a newer left-wing approach when practical. In a game where the home side belatedly grew in confidence, (much like Town in the first 45) their best bet seemed to be coming from corners and crosses whilst McCarthy's men looked neater and nearer with more patient passing moves across the width of the pitch. The first pick? Murphy found the sidenetting from an angle as his strike-partner's curling shot was palmed into his path.

When Murphy later bore down on Bru's teasing cross, you felt for a split second that as with last year's game he might delight in terrorising the East-Midlands defence. Falling just shy of his head, it was super sub Parr who found time and composure to despatch the ball beyond De Vries and into the waiting the net in sublime style. A striking finish from the Nordic super-sub who had still been every bit the solid and unpolished deployment you'd have hoped until then.

The lingering huddle of blue shirts which encircled the scorer on the pitch struck a pose, as the sea of blues behind them embraced and swayed and staggered in jubilation. Kisses, cuddles and a real affection for who we are, engulfing for a brief and blissful moment. The long wait seemed over as Town's winless run at the City ground had been maturing long enough to become awkward and self-consciously painful.

With time running out, it was the front thinking players that ran on and out towards hopeful balls and lost causes. McGoldrick, Bru and AMN all played keep-ball in the corner near the away fans for the remaining few minutes. Sears having been sacrificed for the Polish steel of Malarcyzk as Mick constructed a flat back five to base a pyramid of containing football up against the home side.

McGoldrick and Murphy a traditional big-man, little-man line-up made merry on the tight control of possession a fresh Douglas and fearless Bru and AMN afforded, as well as the firm and fruitful clearances of the big men at the back. It was again the taller Irish international who seemed to fire wide with a telling shot, likewise the smaller one curling them off course by fine margins in spells of unfulfilled promise that told an all too predictable story as the game reached its denouement.

All seemed well and good as the slowing skirmishes wore down and so did the exiting Forest. When the board indicated six, it was a sign of delight in Nottingham as in Norfolk. Town naturally dismayed. Long ball and lowering expectations saw both sides scrap over inches. When the reds lifted one looping cross Gerken came, Berra stood fast, both missed the missile as behind the marker, the glovesman lay powerless and spent; prone on the turf and flung aside. The empty net collected who else but Trotter's finish in an embarrassing and sticky mess. Such a loveless and cruel end is always hard to take, but for a second year running it goes beyond the painful rite of passage and into the demeaning.

On balance, Forest dominated the first half chances and fired blanks in spite of Town's skilful, and at times encouraging approaches. The second half was all ours and yet, we go home knowing it wasn't. Three points again become a hard-won one, as blues are left to meditate on the cause and effect of Mick's management. Draw away and win at home, simple. Try and live in the real world and Town must do better not necessarily more.

Penguinblue added 22:51 - Oct 24

Gerkin - a couple of good saves in first half but no command of area. Defence clearly not confident in him.
Chambers - poor - beaten and passed on virtually every occasion in first half. Improved slightly in second half but no right back or captain and does not warrant a place in team.
Bru - good -must always start in preference to one of the twins
Douglas - played better when he came on without his twin next to him.
McGoldrick and Murphy - both out of sorts. McGoldrick should have scored when set up by Sears
Sears - tireless worker - partly wasted wide on left, and substituted for his efforts - usual crass tactics from McCarthy.
MM - finally bowed to the inevitable by reinstating Bru for Douglas, but any manager who starts with Chambers and Gerkin is clueless. His master tactic to sub Sears to shore up defence failed. MM has taken this team as far as he is capable.

pumpee added 22:55 - Oct 24

Points lost due to Gerken again.....Tommy Smith also poor again! What else can I say.....had to set my alarm many times to wake me up during the first half