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Reply | Your Ipswich Town XI of the 2010s
at 20:39 29 Oct 2019
Some great names being bandied about here, which I’ve admittedly overlooked or downplayed.
Firstly, David Wright at right back is a good shout, but as he only counts for six months in the 2010s, I thought Carlos Edwards deserved the nod (particularly with his Player of the Year award) and his captaincy during a fairly chaotic time at the club. Wright should have got an honourable mention. As for McAuley, he had a year and a half in the 2010s where he did play well and was a bright spark in those dreary Jewell years. I just rate the Chambers and Berra partnership during Chambers’ better years. I think the praise over Delaney is slightly exaggerated over the intervening decade. He’s no doubt carved himself out a decent career after leaving us, but I didn’t think he was brilliant for us and it’s worth remembering just how bad we were as a side back at the turn of the decade.
Having said that, I can’t believe I’ve overlooked Norris and I’d be inclined to pick him over Bishop.
Agreed with the sentiments around the lack of depth in some areas and how straight forward some of the positions are when choosing them. Demonstrates how poor we’ve been over the past decade (and indeed a few years before that too!) |
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Reply | Your Ipswich Town XI of the 2010s
at 16:57 29 Oct 2019
On a further depressing note, the last decade where we did not spend a single season in the top flight was back in the 1950s. And that was mainly because we were a relatively new professional team making our way through the lower divisions. |
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Thread | Your Ipswich Town XI of the 2010s
at 16:18 29 Oct 2019
With the decade almost over, and a long wait until the next league game, it seems as good a time as ever to reflect on the past decade and cobble together an Ipswich Town XI of the 2010s. Unfortunately, the decade will most likely be remembered by many as being a time of being continuously disappointed, occasionally surprised, but ultimately one of a gradual decline in quality. And that’s just the politics. For Town, one season of hope (2014/15) has stood out in a decade of deterioration. Relegation, when it eventually came, seemed inevitable. The rules are straight-forward enough, players are to be judged between their performances from 1st January 2010 to the present day, only in an Ipswich Town shirt. My XI for this rather forgettable decade is:
Bialkowski
C. Edwards — Chambers — Berra — Cresswell
Waghorn — Skuse — Bishop — Lawrence
Murphy — McGoldrick
GK: Bartosz Bialkowski
Three-time Player of the Year (in consecutive seasons) and contributed to the spine of Mick McCarthy Ipswich Town sides that over-achieved in the middle of the decade. For years he was rated as one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship, particularly his performances in a 2016/17 season where we narrowly avoided relegation. However, a poor 2018/19 season culminated in Ipswich’s relegation to League One. Steadily rebuilding his reputation at Millwall.
Honourable mentions: Gerken, Fulop
LB: Aaron Cresswell
Arguably one of the best Ipswich Town left-backs over the past couple of decades, Cresswell always seemed destined for Premier League football following Paul Jewell’s astute decision to sign him from Tranmere. After 132 appearances in an Ipswich shirt, Cresswell has had a solid career at West Ham United and is back in the first-team picture at the Hammers after a poor opening day performance in this season’s 5-0 defeat against Manchester City. He currently has three England caps.
Honourable mentions: Mings, Knudsen
CB: Luke Chambers, Christophe Berra
For a three-season spell between 2013 and 2017, Luke Chambers and Christophe Berra were a reliable centre-back partnership at the heart of the Town defence. With 318 (at time of writing) and 174 appearances respectively, Chambers and Berra contributed to the solitary play-off campaign of the 2010s in the 2014/15 season. Berra’s handball and red card in the semi-final, second leg match against Norwich played a significant part in the eventual defeat. With Berra departing in 2017, the defence never looked quite as solid. Berra is now at Hearts in the Scottish Premier League, while Chambers is still captain at Town, but his ability and reliability has decreased in recent seasons.
Honourable mentions: Webster, McAuley
RB: Carlos Edwards
A problem position for Ipswich over much of this decade, Kane Vincent-Young may have the ability and consistency to make the position his own for the coming decade. However, we’d have to go back to Carlos Edwards to find our best right-back of the decade. A model professional and solid captain, Edwards started as a right-winger under Roy Keane, but was moved to right-back under Jewell and won the Player of the Year award for 2011/12.
Honourable mentions: Pennington (not much competition here)
LW: Tom Lawrence
Lawrence’s goals and performances in the 2016/17 campaign ultimately kept us in the Championship. Several of Lawrence’s eleven goals in a Town shirt could be included in a Goal of the Season montage and looked like credible winners, particularly his efforts against Preston and Reading. A drink driving offence has sullied his reputation, and possibly his legacy, but his 2016/17 campaign is arguably the gold standard of individual brilliance in an Ipswich shirt over the past decade.
Honourable mentions: Fraser, Celina
CM: Cole Skuse, Teddy Bishop
Two long-time servants of the club, Skuse has 249 caps and Bishop has 78 caps at time of writing. Skuse, one of the top interceptors of the ball in the 2017/18 season, has been a consistent midfielder in Town sides normally accustomed to punching above their weight in the second tier. Bishop, an exciting and naturally gifted midfielder, has been less reliable after a succession of injuries. However, his undoubted ability and impact in the 2014/15 play off season, along with being a rare positive in struggling 2016/17 and 2018/19 seasons, ensures Bishop deserves his place in the team and edges the equally injury-prone, but talented, Jonny Williams. It will be interesting to see how an ageing Skuse and Bishop, without an appearance so far this season, will contribute to Town’s fortunes over the next few years.
Honourable mentions: Jonny Williams, N'Daw, Leadbetter
RW: Martyn Waghorn
The Martyn Waghorn show in 2017/18 saw us finish as a solid, mid-table side. A team that looked more than the sum of our parts with Waghorn in it. Notching double figures for both goals and assists, the departure of Waghorn was one of the primary factors in our goalscoring issues in 2018/19 and subsequent relegation. His effectiveness from set pieces, and ability to create something in an otherwise stodgy-looking side, were under-rated abilities we arguably still have not replaced.
Honourable mentions: Grant Ward (again, not many names leaping out here)
ST: Daryl Murphy, David McGoldrick
We have a few options here - which informed my decision to line up in a 4-4-2 formation - with McCarthy’s Town sides typically containing three or four potent strikers in a squad. Freddie Sears’ impact in 2014/15 and his longevity at Portman Road also deserves as a mention, as does the promising potential of Connor Wickham at the start of the decade. Brett Pitman also had a knack of being a goalscoring threat with a penchant for an overhead kick. However, there can only be two candidates here. Daryl Murphy, our all time 12th top goal scorer, alongside the smooth footballing skills of David McGoldrick was our most potent strike-force in the 2010s. Murphy only really took off in Town colours in his third spell at the club, when he joined permanently. His goalscoring prowess in the 2014/15 season, where he dragged us into the top six by plundering 27 league goals, was an emphatic response to doubters of Murphy’s talent. McGoldrick, a more enigmatic talent, was a composed and efficient striker with 45 goals in 142 Town appearances. Injury-prone, he finally achieved a sustained run in the first team and promotion to the Premier League, albeit with Sheffield United after departing Ipswich on a free transfer.
Honourable mentions: Sears, Pitman, Wickham
Who would be in yours? |
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Reply | Game of Thrones
at 09:49 14 May 2019
Agreed - I thought season five was quite ropey, but it was based from two rather meandering books, which served more as placeholders rather than propelling the narrative forward.
I quite liked series six and seven though. This final series has just been poor, in my opinion. I get that it's a popular show and you're always going to disappoint fans with a final series, but I didn't think the quality would drop off this bad and I certainly hoped the writing wouldn't suffer this badly. It just doesn't 'feel' like Thrones anymore. It feels like they're trying to cram in as much plot progression as possible within six episodes, and it's having a negative impact on a lot of the characters. I'd happily have bought into the Mad Queen storyline, but it feels like they're only making that apparent over two episodes. No wonder critics and viewers have been so divided. [Post edited 14 May 2019 9:50]
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Reply | Game of Thrones
at 09:26 14 May 2019
But she's never murdered innocent civilians before. When her dragon torched one innocent kid to death, she locked up her dragons and left them in the dungeons. She's been very firm and, at times, brutal, with people who have wronged her or betrayed her. It just feels convenient for the narrative that she'd 'turn bad' in a few episodes and decide that murdering thousands of innocent civilians is fine.
By all means turn her into the 'Mad Queen', on paper it's a good plot twist and I'm sure GRRM sells it well in the books (if they ever get released). But the writing this season, in general, has been well below par. It all feels rushed and phoned in. I also don't think Emilia Clarke is a good enough actor to 'sell' that plot twist convincingly.
And it's not just Dany. The rushed death of Varys, the Jaime arc gets butchered, poor action scenes, narrative beholden to rushing the plot along in six episodes, plot armour Drogon, plot armour Arya, Clegane Bowl looked awful, Euron's character, and underwhelming fight scenes. Basic continuity errors littering this season - coffee cup last week, Jaime growing a hand back this week. The writers just seem like they want to move on and do other projects. I feel they've really dropped the ball by making this final season only six episodes long. [Post edited 14 May 2019 9:26]
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Reply | Happy draft day
at 13:12 26 Apr 2019
Worth clarifying for people not accustomed to US sports that their system looks strange because the US sports teams do not have academies or any real youth system in place.
Instead, their production line comes from the college system, and so it's their main way of buying in young, talented players with potential in your first picks and then squad filler in your later phases. Also worth pointing out, without promotion / relegation, US sports team are assured of their league position regardless of how badly they perform on the filed (off the field is a different matter).
So the Draft system is a great way to keep the NFL competitive (or as competitive as it can be with the Belichick / Brady Patriots involved). |
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Reply | Team next year
at 11:51 23 Apr 2019
--------------------Bart
New RB--Nsiala--Woolfenden--New LB
------------------New DM
----------Bishop ------ Nolan
------------------Judge
----------Harrison----New CF
If we go one up top - the new DM playing behind a fluid midfield quartet of Judge, Nolan, Bishop, and Lankester (behind a prolific forward) could lead to some attractive, attacking football.
Priority in the window must be a new striker (possibly two, if you want Norwood and someone like Keane), a new right back, a new left back, and that central midfielder. Ideally Emmanuel and Kenlock would provide competition and Skuse / Downes would be in contention for that defensive midfield slot, but I think we need somebody in there who has similar attributes to Chalobah, who can break up play and has the vision and passing ability to quickly start attacks. |
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Reply | Well played town. Well played (n/t)
at 11:11 17 Apr 2019
Is it well played though? It's pretty anti-climatic to me.
For most parts of the ground, it's around a 12% cut in prices, which is less than what most people appeared to be expecting. For supporters who aren't renewing season tickets, but who are tempted to buy season tickets (i.e, the fans we need to be attracting to boost numbers), it doesn't come across as brilliant value.
Sure, there's an additional 10% off if 12,000 season tickets are sold. But how realistic is it for that many to be sold before the early bird? Not high, I'd wager. |
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Reply | Player of the year
at 17:24 3 Mar 2019
Knowing Paul Lambert’s eye on a good PR story, “the supporters” will probably win the award. |
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Reply | Is Paul Lambert the right man for us?
at 11:37 3 Mar 2019
I’d begrudgingly give Lambert the summer to rebuild (I like to think he knows what is required and has a fairly good January transfer record) and then give him half of next season. We need promotion first time of asking, or we are looking at a potential several year spell in division three, like what happened to Sheffield United.
I get why some fans aren’t overly impressed by Lambert, as the results have been poor. But given the squad and situation he inherited, and his relationship with supporters, I think we shouldn’t be sacking managers every half a year without good reason. Give him a chance to mould his own squad. I don’t think we will be attracting many talented managers in League One, unfortunately. |
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Reply | The squad for next season - complete rebuild required
at 10:57 3 Mar 2019
Sounding like Paul Hurst is certainly not my intention haha! But I’d be happy with his approach if we were in League One at the time, so he arguably had the right approach in the wrong division.
Bree and Pennington won’t be with us next season, not unless we pay a fair amount. Judge will hopefully sign a longer contract, but if a Championship side shows interest, I think he’d prefer that option.
I admire your willingness to keep the nucleus of the squad together, but this side has three wins all season, have played pretty poorly in most games, and could finish with one of the lowest points totals in the division. Just because we are a big name doesn’t mean we will walk League One. If you think the goalkeepers, pretty much all our defence, and the strike force have had good seasons, or done enough to warrant a first team place next season, then fair enough, that’s your opinion. I believe if we only make minor adjustments to this squad, we will continue to struggle next year (not relegated, but upper mid-table). It’s just hard to find much hope in this current side. The last time we won a match was nine games ago. |
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Reply | The squad for next season - complete rebuild required
at 10:05 3 Mar 2019
Fair enough. I’d certainly like to see Lankester and Downes being given a regular run out. Bishop will hopefully retain his fitness and, if we manage to get Judge ties down on a longer contract, we’ll have a very strong midfield. I think if one of our young lads were to be sold, it’s be Dozzell, whose reputation in the national media exceeds his actual on-pitch quality and form. He has the attributes to play for an attacking team that plays football on the ground and where he’ll be surrounded by quicker, more attack-minded players. Something he doesn’t really get here.
I’m not advocating selling off all our younger players, as I’m aware the rebuild means we have to retain that midfield creativity. However, I don’t think we are in a position to turn down Championship interest (if we get it, as you say). The current squad just concerns me too much. I don’t think it’s as easy as saying “we’ll go straight back up with a few signings”. We need a serious rebuild to compete. |
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Reply | The squad for next season - complete rebuild required
at 09:44 3 Mar 2019
We won’t have a choice if a Premier League or Championship side comes in for our younger players. And I think we generally over-rate our younger players. How many get mentioned in end of season awards? How many actually contribute regular goals and assists compared to other younger players at rival clubs? If a club came in for a £3m or £5m offer for Dozzell or Downes, we’d be foolish to turn it down.
Yes, retain some of our younger players but realise that there are several holes in this squad where we need to invest. Unfortunately, our current owner will not be providing this money out of his own pocket. Sorting the defence and strike force needs to be our priority this summer for a better, more balanced squad. We have several decent midfielders, we won’t be able to keep them all. |
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Reply | The squad for next season - complete rebuild required
at 09:40 3 Mar 2019
We are going to be losing squad players this summer, due to expiring contracts and the need to reduce the wage bill. Change is warranted and required. If you don’t think we’re going to be signing several new players this summer, and if you believe that our current defence and strike force are good enough for promotion-achieving football next season, then I think you’re either ignorant about the competitiveness of League One or assuming too much from this current squad.
Maybe my particular vision for next season is a little extreme, I understand that, but we need to sign five or six first team players to replace what we are missing and to improve in areas where we seriously lacking quality. |
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