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Comment | Town Launch New Kits
at 18:04:40
Selling shirts has become big business for Town, we have seen a few good ones over the years, personally for the home kit I like to keep things simple and not overstated . I do though always see quite a few other clubs who wear blue who tend to have a better eye for design than us.
After not being sure about last years kit, mainly because of the border around the badge, I have to say it grew on me immensely and I tend to rate it amongst one of the best kits we have had, so in my mind I wasn’t expecting a better kit. Although the new home kit is certainly not unattractive, I am happy they haven’t tried to go to overboard and I am ok with just an alright kit.
Now the away kit!!!! For me I have always detested us playing in red, kits with black stripes soften my reaction to this feeling. This largely goes back to my early years when supporting the blues under Sir Bobby and for a few years we were always pushing our fierce rivals then, Liverpool, Forest and Manchester United all red wearing opposition, Red shirts were always like a red rag to a bull for us, they were the enemy and wearing red is nearly as bad as adopting yellow and green!!!
My memories are enhanced by some of the big matches, WBA fa cup semi final at Highbury, playing in the very smart white and black with a thin pinstripe on the shirt, orange at Bolton in the first leg of the play off semi final with two magnificent Marcus Stewart goals, and of course what I think was the best away kit of all times the dominant Orange illuminating the pitch during the season before last when we got automatic promotion to the premiership after 22 years. I didn’t think I was going to like the pink strip but it’s vibrancy on the pitch making wide visibility and making it appear we have one more man than the opposition and easy to pick out players changed my mind about the pink kit.
Under the dark lord I remember going to Stamford Bridge in the FA cup and playing in an all red kit we got beaten!!!
It’s not that red kits can’t look really nice, but sorry for me red and Ipswich is like putting ketchup on your Sunday roast!!!
Does anybody remember a smart grey away kit Man Utd had, and one match away at Palace they changed the colour of the kit at half time because players couldn’t pick their team mates out against the backdrop of the crowd!!!!
This can be annoying, we have seen it with some goalkeeper kits when you can’t pick out the goalkeeper against the backdrop of the net and the crowd, pleased to see more of late goalkeepers now wearing much brighter kits than the insipid greens and greys we have seen in recent years.
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Comment | New Kits Released Saturday
at 11:26:27
And the winner is…………………. Doesn’t this whole kit saga remind you of one of those very annoying talent or reality shows which pauses for far to long to increase the tension.
At times I wish I was an Arsenal or an Ajax fan, at least I would know a minor update to a trimming is not really going to make me fall out of love with my kit and have a consistent identity so everyone still knows that’s Arsenal’s or Ajax’s shirt. With our shirt it could be one of a multitude of clubs playing in blue. Dare I say as much as I dislike yellow and green, you can spot a budgie a mile away and they do have a certain amount of uniqueness to their identity like Ajax.
Flash and change the away kit as much as you like but having been a regular supporter and attendee at Portman Road for near on 60 years, this shirt enthusiasm doesn’t quite do it for me, very much in the less is more camp.
To a certain extent I am all for supporter engagement, remember the days when 3 kits were put up for the fans to vote on? Perhaps we could have a competition to design the best away kit and win a free season ticket or something. Unlikely of course as Mr Ashton is telling us the design for the 26/27 season is now being finalised before the 25/26 season kit has been released!!! The world has gone backwards, or as much as I like Umbro are they so inefficient that they need a years notice.
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Comment | An Outstanding Football Coach
at 11:02:13
In today’s world you don’t achieve near on 50 years service without having made a major contribution to the organisation. Unfortunately how many young academy stars anywhere in England go on to achieve great things nowadays? Take some of our best prospects that have been snatched from us, Ben Knights, Charlie Brown, and Harry Clarke? The Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal’s of this world hoover up the best talent, which often doesn’t make an impact when inevitably loaned out to EFL clubs to get valuable men to men combatative action. The standards have been raised so significantly that the prospect of a conveyor belt of talent that can be absorbed at an early age into first team football is now virtually impossible. Of course the very high price of those like the Liam Delaps make looking abroad for players that have experienced 2 to 3 seasons in League football a more viable and less risky purchase.
However post Brexit the market is not as flexible as it once was. The club does need a connection with the community so academy football is still very important. Bryan’s contribution cannot be undervalued, it has been significant, his loyalty and values and his humanity has been a corner stone of the club and invaluable. Changing conditions and avoid getting stale and feeling like you are pis***g in the wind are difficult to contend with, Gamechanger have been fantastic for ITFC, but there are always some downsides which is a discussion for another day. American ownership will want to evaluate everything that can be learned from modern day sport and whilst as far as we know Bryan hasn’t been asked to leave, there may be new viewpoints and approaches that the club wants to explore. I am sure Bryan could have continued to make a valuable contribution but there are just times when people feel they have been somewhere too long and a change of environment is healthy. Whether that be Norwich City or not Bryan deserves are upmost respect and our best wishes to continue the final part of his career refreshed and reinvigorated.
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Comment | Morsy: I Don't Think It's Momentum
at 14:02:52
@cookieboy, Slicker definitely needs to go on loan to affirm that he is worthy of his position in the Scottish International Squad and to give confidence to Town that he returns as a clear number 2 and capable of progress to number 1. Muric needs to regain confidence and play again and needs regular matches too, a loan also maybe. Walton to remain as number 2 to Palmer, we need to identify a young under 21 goalkeeper as 3rd Choice, if we don’t have a capability in our current academy then we need to go and find one for a modest fee, this obviously will keep a position open for an outfield over 21. Alternatively if we have a reasonable offer for Walton or Muric then we reassess, if both go then Slickers position may need to be reevaluted, but I would be more inclined look to the loan system for an ageing goalkeeper who has good career statistics |
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Comment | Harness and Luongo Depart and Baggott Option Taken as Blues Announce Retained List
at 21:20:08
There certainly needs to be some further trimming to be able to register a squad of 25 players which includes goalkeepers. We currently have 26 over 21’s + Cameron Humphreys (still under 21), this excludes Delap assuming his move with Chelsea gets announced but includes Axel and Cameron Burgess, if they sign new deals. Goalkeepers are counted in the 25, and we now have four that will fall into the over 21 category, clearly 2 will need to get lay elsewhere next season, one potentially being loaned and another possibly being sold. Palmer is likely to be number 1 choice, and maybe we sign a third young under 21 goalkeeper to be a backup or alternatively promote one the younger goalkeepers in the club if we have enough confidence in them to be a bench member if we have an injury. This would take the squad to 24. Given that we may look to sign a couple of Premiership U21 players to fill the Delap position and one if the midfield vacancies, then we may still need to release 2 to 3 players to increase the squad experience in midfield and possibly attack. Looks like Al Ahmadi and Elkan Baggott will be sent out on loan again to provide two vacancies. |
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Comment | Leicester City 2-0 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 14:48:01
To sum up lack of clinical ability and poor defending.
It could be argued that we saw some of this last year in the Championship, yes we were scoring many goals and more than we were conceding but we were missing a lot of chances too. In a tougher league this has become far more noticeable. Week in, week out, this season we see the same, we haven’t really learned from our errors, always on the wrong side of fine margins, we can’t blame VAR and refs all of the time.
The fans have been outstanding a real credit to the Football Club, English Football and the Town itself. They have turned up and performed time and again.
Unfortunately, the players and management team have failed the fans. That doesn’t mean to say that any individual didn’t try their best, the fans have every right to feel deflated without ignoring the previous two seasons, however, we can cope with not being quite good enough, but pessimistic comments should be excused, the frustration has been exacerbated by getting poor results from Leicester and Southampton who will be competing with us next season. The fans have earned the right to ask questions.
Can we trust the process?
Mark Ashton was selling us as the best fairy tale in football at the beginning of the season.
We get the limitations and the budgets available.
Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing.
We had faith.
It was not all about premiership experience, but recruitment has to be clearly reviewed. Of course not all acquisitions are going to be successful.
Woolfenden, Burgess and Tuanzebe looked comfortable at this level as did Palmer (incidentally he has proven to be a real bargain buy). Add Townsend to that list albeit he was only needed for a few games, but he did play with WBA for a spell n the top flight.
O’Shea also showed adequacy.
Muric, Phillips, Godfrey, Johnson, those with premiership experience all sadly failed to deliver any consistency and value for the cost to the club.
The up and comings, Hutchison, Broadhead and Clarke all show glimpses of great potential at this level but combined provided a far too lightweight attacking support unit. Philogene probably in this category as well.
Szmodics and Hirst, again show real promise to step up but also show fragility.
Greaves and Davis had disappointing seasons but will come again.
Cajuste and Enciso added some quality but fitness and injury issues were also limiting.
Taylor, Chaplin and Burns clearly unlikely to ever be at a level to be a serious talent at Premiership level, these are the folks especially the later two that we like and feel loyalty towards, however, arguably they are no more than average Championship level players if that. For me they deserve regular football but at another club even if we only obtain modest Championship level fees.
Given we may be able to raise north of £50 million net to the club if we sell Delap, Hutchison, Johnson (Fulham interested) and perhaps more if there is any interest for Leif, then we need to invest more wisely. Perhaps 4 experienced players from overseas, a striker, a holding midfielder, a playmaker and a box to box player.
If we loose Axel and Cameron then we will be looking for two more, outside of some foreign imports, on my watchlist would be:
Mark McGuiness (Luton), who was a standout player in a team that got relegated from the championship, with the big drop in income he should be available at a knock down price.
Perry Ng, a full back at Cardiff is in the same category, consistently week in week out, he was a high and often top scorer for a struggling team.
Carlton Morris - backup to Hirst, a player in the target man role, not a big goal scorer but again in Luton’s premiership campaign he was stand-out for them, not quite Liam Delap but if we can ignore his ex Norwich connection then he could be a very valuable squad player.
Christian Erikson, out of contract at Man Utd at the end of the season. At 33 he may not have the legs for another regular premiership campaign but may be persuaded to step down for the right offer to become a very good Championship player maker on a shorter term contract.
I do sense the close season might be a bit more busier than we perhaps expected, if it’s not then maybe we fear Kieron and Mark Ashton have not learnt the real lessons. |
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Comment | McKenna: VAR is Taking Away From the Game
at 21:38:08
I was close to the Greaves rugby tackle and I thought he was very lucky not to get a penalty given against him. Having now seen the Axel one in slow motion I have to also say he was lucky as well, not that I like VAR but I think we got away with those two, and let’s stop playing the victim card!!! Enciso was looking for a free kick every time he went on the run and a defender made some contact, you only p**s refs of when you keep complaining and when you should have had a kick the red ignores it. Certainly on the two penalty claims if those had been committed by Brentford defenders against Ipswich attackers we would be howling for penalties. The reality is we are to naive and just cannot match most teams in application over the 90 minutes. Back to the drawing board for our campaign in the Championship. |
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Comment | Newcastle United 3-0 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 20:47:59
Without doubt Town supporters are up there with the best in the country and a massive credit to those who made the many many long away journeys. They richly enhanced our reputation as a brilliant football club. The owners and the club approached the season with a lot of pride and honesty. Kieron has still a lot of credit in the bank and operates with great integrity creating a tight bond and there will be very few supporters who will question the ability of Kieron to take us back up again.
Having said all that though, there does need to be some serious reflection. Mark Ashton has led the club with great passion , dignity and respect for the supporters and the local community. However, “trust the process” does need to come into question. Our task was to finish 17th and whilst it may have been sickening to have just lost out to fine margins by perhaps a point or two, we still look to be many points a drift of being close to that 17th position. We can be excused for thinking that we let naivety get the better of us on many occasions and too often shot ourselves in the foot. Being a victim of fine margins seemed to start to wear thin, yes maybe the rub of the green didn’t even itself out but we contributed to our own downfall too often.
Generally, we lacked physicality, athleticism, power, speed of thought and some quality. Quality was always going to be a difficult one to find at an affordable price. Phillips and Cajuste looked a good bet to help bridge this and you can understand why town went for the obvious loan option to help bridge this gap. However, both players struggled for fitness and a very few full 90 minutes were achieved by either. Had we conceded far fewer goals, then the double pivot could be attributed to having provided a valuable shield for a platform to succeed. However, their ability to get forward and influence in the final third seemed to me to leave the team lacking.
The diddy men of Clarke, Hutchinson and Szmodics all posses talent to make some impact at this level but did often look like ants running into brick walls. Reinforcements in Enciso and Philogene only continued this trend. Philogene apart (jury still out) all of these players individually could go on to better things and probably slot into a more accomplished team and not necessarily look out of place without perhaps looking spectacularly outstanding.
When you recruit so many new players there will be a number that do not work out. However, some of the existing players who you might not expect to hold on to their places will surprise you.
Surprises: Townsend, Burgess, Woolfenden and also the newly acquired Delap (the later to make such a great impact).
Disappointments: Muric, Godfrey, Greaves, Phillips, Davis
Predictables: Tuanzebe,
Successes: Alex Palmer, Dara O’Shea, Liam Delap, Conor Townsend and to an extent Jens Cajuste
Those just along for the ride: Walton, Chaplin, Burns, Taylor, Loungo - all honest players but unlikely to make the adaption to the top flight.
Going forward we have to consider those players unlikely to be able to make the step up next time and some may need to be replaced to avoid us finding ourselves back in the same position we did this season. Of course some of them will be useful in our Championship campaign but we have to improve the squad in the missing attributes already mentioned above. We also have to seriously think about our regular “sick notes” I.e. Harry Clarke, Axel, Nathan Broadhead, George Hirst and to a lesser extent , Christian Walton. Ironically these all look to be very suitable players to give us an excellent chance of achieving a top two spot Championship spot but as the past has proved can the squad adequately cover the loss of players like these on a regular basis.?
I don’t like to contemplate Kieron in any negative light, however, I would suggest we have been tactically naive at times, yes at least we didn’t try to play every match in the Russel Martin, Vincent Kompany kamakazi total football way. Nor did we convert to the Sean Dyche methodology, however we struggled to find something in between, both Palace and Forest both seem to be very economical and have shown that points can be ground out. Of course Brentford, Fulham and Bournemouth have developed more culture to their play over a period the later two “yo-yo-ing”. Ramsey and Robson were both brilliant at exploiting the talents of the individuals they had playing tweaking accordingly, Kieron seems to be wedded to a double pivot and I can’t help thinking that our football has become somewhat more predictable.
If this weekends reports that Spurs are interested in Kieron has any legs, let’s pray that we don’t have disruption that pushes our pre-season business and preparations back.
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Comment | Chelsea 2-2 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 20:20:13
If it wasn’t for Delap, Alex Palmer would have been a shoe-in for player of the season and he’s only been here since January!!!! I do think that says something in terms of consistency, the defence do look less nervous with a pair of hands behind them that they can trust, no disrespect to Walton but he is not close to threatening Palmer, I can’t help thinking though that Palmer may now be on the radar of other Premiership Clubs, surely Tuchel will have him in the England squad soon, in my view he is better than flapper the clown at Everton. |
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Comment | AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 08:23:07
@mariner1974 with you on those comments, 2 excellent fullback displays really prevented our back four from being pulled all over the place and was the catalyst for our win, OShea and Burgess not far behind either, so a superb defensive display, I would also suggest though Delap aside one of our best signings this season is Palmer who looks real class at this level and gives the extra needed confidence to the defence. To me at times it looked as if we were playing in the shape of a 4-3-3, maybe we don’t need these twinkle toes wide men as much as we think!!! I normally flinch when I hear Johnson is playing, but all credit to the lad on this the right of a midfield 3 he had a decent game last night supporting Axel and getting forward. Superb run and assist from Townsend for second goal. Will be a real asset to us going forward and I have no fear of losing Leif for a big fee if we don’t survive. One final point, apart from one dodgy moment, I also thought our skipper had a really good game, maybe he hasn’t been very effective for parts of the season and I was incensed by his needless challenge to give that penalty away at Fulham, but he has stepped up and competed at this higher level, so it disappoints me that people are now regularly wanting to take a pot at him and scapegoat him. We owe a lot to Sam Morsy. |
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Comment | Crystal Palace 1-0 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 23:15:16
Hindsight is always a wonderful thing, when you bring the number of players in that we did then I think it’s fair to say that not all are going to be immediately successful if at all. Kieron points out that most are not the finished article, I think it’s fair to say that there were always going to be a few that wouldn’t necessarily make it this year but are potentially a good future investment. Before a ball was kicked this season, Delap may well have fallen into that category but as we now know he has been a terrific success despite at times being raw.
Arguably the balance didn’t include enough experience at the highest level, Phillips & Cajuste both worthy candidates for having necessary qualifications both came with impediments, both having fitness issues and Phillips struggling to find his Leeds and England form. After 3/4 of a season both now showing jointly the type of combined form and contribution that we needed earlier in the season. Godfrey another with a good premiership reputation, but unable as yet to convince us that he can still perform to the level we require to maintain our top flight status.
Regardless where we recruit from the team needs a good balance of athleticism, physicality, experience and importantly quality. Sadly without being critical of any individuals I think we can all see the real quality of this league and whilst being proud of the efforts of all at the club maybe we gambled a bit too much on many of our choices and the direction of parts of our strategy.
I am not sure we are any stronger than when we opened the season, our momentum gave us a big lift, this eventually disappeared and just maybe perhaps the new goalkeeper who looks very competent and assured has given the defence greater confidence of late and some of the more experienced players are beginning to make more of the impact.
We are however, whilst competing and battling well are still on the wrong end of fine margins, yes injuries haven’t helped but the sum total of our squad really does put us in 18th position. I thought 17th position for us would have been a major achievement for us at the beginning of the season, so I can easily temper my disappointments at the moment of not taking the most of some of our recent chances of moving up a position.
I think most of us want Kieron to stay with us next year if we do get relegated, however, it shouldn’t mean that Kieron and Mark Ashton don’t have to rigorously review the strategy going forward. Leicester, Leeds and Southampton last year were perceived to be very strong candidates for promotion based on having a number of premiership quality players in their squads. Clearly some of our existing squad looks short of premiership quality and I am not sure another season in the Championship is going to improve their ability to perform at a higher level.
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Comment | Manchester United 3-2 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 22:01:37
I didn’t see the match however, I feel the dispair, we have had very little rub of the green this season but when the opposition tonight almost press the self destruct button by giving us an easy first goal and then lose a man through a rash challenge, and yes I know it’s not necessarily easy to win against 10, but we will probably not be given a better opportunity to get a result.
Hope is evaporating!!!! |
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Comment | Ipswich Town 0-6 Manchester City - Match Report
at 08:50:20
Clearly we caught Man City on a very good day for them. It ‘s impossible to match the class and experience of a team that can show what it takes to be European Champions.
Yes for 25 minutes we looked like we could give them a game but the reality is we eventually didn’t help ourselves and made life a little easier for them to be able to shake of their recent poor run of form.
I don’t like to single out players but for me Johnson was the catalyst of our woes, not necessarily the lads fault but just an exposure of his limitations, I presume he was being asked to play a wing back role, at times he was too high up the pitch and looked uncertain as to what his role was and how to play it. Mind you I don’t think many players would want to try and help mark Doku in that form. I am not sure we were actually trying to play 5 at the back, perhaps Kieron realised its limitations at home when we played Brighton and wanted to get at City more to try and test some of the defensive frailties they have displayed of late.
Our speed of thought is light years behind the likes of City and Liverpool let alone our speed of action. When Foden opened the scoring in addition to Walton we had 5 defenders in and around the six yard box, it was almost like we froze when he brought the ball down with his thigh and players were awaiting to see if he was going to control before attempting any blocking action.
De Bruyne time and again was allowed to make the same run to the bye line on the edge of the box without being picked up.
Many older fans like me will remember the days when we were establishing ourselves during the Robson years and facing some of the great sides of the time with excitement but also with some levels trepidation (well perhaps the fans were, I had sweaty palms many a time), most will only remember Roger Osbourne from the great game he had at Wembley in our F A Cup final victory, but for me Roger’s finest game was in one of our home matches against Barcelona in the UEFA cup, Cruyff and Neeskens in their lineup, Cruyff arguably the finest player on the planet at the time. Roger was asked to man mark Cruyff and boy what a job he did, Cruyff was completely neutralised that night by Roger.
Was it Kieron who failed to respond quick enough after goal number 2? If we had gone in only 2-0 down at halftime we might have been able to regroup make 3 subs and seriously limit the damage!!! For me I would have brought on Tuanzebe earlier ( for Johnson) to try and deal with the threat of Doku. Go to a flat back four move Godfrey into midfield to man mark De Bruyne, bring on Townsend for Clarke to man mark Foden and push Davis forward into left midfield to push forward in a 4-4-2 formation. Bring on Hirst for Cajuste or Morsy and drop Omari into the right side of the 4-4-2. Unfortunately 4-4-2 and two physical strikers in Delap and Hirst does not fit Kieron’s playbook and patterns of play. But I felt we just needed to try and neutralise the threat of City’s key architects of play De Bruyne, Foden and Doku. To some extent Pep allieviated our pain by making a number of changes when the game was well won and perhaps avoided us a further humiliation. |
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Comment | Ipswich Town 0-2 Brighton & Hove Albion - Match Report
at 08:48:54
Clearly we caught Man City on a very good day for them. It ‘s impossible to match the class and experience of a team that can show what it takes to be European Champions.
Yes for 25 minutes we looked like we could give them a game but the reality is we eventually didn’t help ourselves and made life a little easier for them to be able to shake of their recent poor run of form.
I don’t like to single out players but for me Johnson was the catalyst of our woes, not necessarily the lads fault but just an exposure of his limitations, I presume he was being asked to play a wing back role, at times he was too high up the pitch and looked uncertain as to what his role was and how to play it. Mind you I don’t think many players would want to try and help mark Doku in that form. I am not sure we were actually trying to play 5 at the back, perhaps Kieron realised its limitations at home when we played Brighton and wanted to get at City more to try and test some of the defensive frailties they have displayed of late.
Our speed of thought is light years behind the likes of City and Liverpool let alone our speed of action. When Foden opened the scoring in addition to Walton we had 5 defenders in and around the six yard box, it was almost like we froze when he brought the ball down with his thigh and players were awaiting to see if he was going to control before attempting any blocking action.
De Bruyne time and again was allowed to make the same run to the bye line on the edge of the box without being picked up.
Many older fans like me will remember the days when we were establishing ourselves during the Robson years and facing some of the great sides of the time with excitement but also with some levels trepidation (well perhaps the fans were, I had sweaty palms many a time), most will only remember Roger Osbourne from the great game he had at Wembley in our F A Cup final victory, but for me Roger’s finest game was in one of our home matches against Barcelona in the UEFA cup, Cruyff and Neeskens in their lineup, Cruyff arguably the finest player on the planet at the time. Roger was asked to man mark Cruyff and boy what a job he did, Cruyff was completely neutralised that night by Roger.
Was it Kieron who failed to respond quick enough after goal number 2? If we had gone in only 2-0 down at halftime we might have been able to regroup make 3 subs and seriously limit the damage!!! For me I would have brought on Tuanzebe earlier ( for Johnson) to try and deal with the threat of Doku. Go to a flat back four move Godfrey into midfield to man mark De Bruyne, bring on Townsend for Clarke to man mark Foden and push Davis forward into left midfield to push forward in a 4-4-2 formation. Bring on Hirst for Cajuste or Morsy and drop Omari into the right side of the 4-4-2. Unfortunately 4-4-2 and two physical strikers in Delap and Hirst does not fit Kieron’s playbook and patterns of play. But I felt we just needed to try and neutralise the threat of City’s key architects of play De Bruyne, Foden and Doku. To some extent Pep allieviated our pain by making a number of changes when the game was well won and perhaps avoided us a further humiliation. |
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Comment | Ipswich Town 0-2 Brighton & Hove Albion - Match Report
at 12:46:35
Last night again exposed the harsh realities of life in the premiership, the survival needs of newly promoted teams require at times a good dose of luck and keeping crucial mistakes to a minimum. Man to man, established premiership squads will be superior. Brighton’s players all looked comfortable with the ball, passing was slick and movement was excellent, our low block has been proving to be effective recently until a mistake is made unless we get the early run of the ball and manage to go in front giving us much more belief. Once we go behind if we attack more we leave ourselves open to being exploited further. The Chelsea and Fulham matches worked well and we were fortunate to get the breaks when we did, but again we didn’t fully capitalise at Fulham. Our passing is not as slick as many teams in this division, often the ball is straight to feet or behind the player who has to check and turn giving the opposition opportunity to close down quickly. Every match is a cup tie for us and we have to try and raise our games. We have an honest manager and a hardworking bunch of largely young professionals with great potential, sadly this league will not wait for us to play catch-up and the odds are stacked against us. We largely have a top Championship quality squad now, but the going price for any top Championship player making the move to the premiership is 15-20 million. The exceptions being Godfrey, Phillips and Cajuste all good loan acquisitions, having good experience at this level, the later 2 having both played Champions League.
Wingers are always hit or miss from game to game and Omari with his fitness problems was not effective last night, he has been and will continue to be in other games. Wes Burns for me had a really good game against Chelsea in a deep lying wing back role, last night apart from a couple of good runs I felt his general reading and positioning when not in possession was showing high degrees of uncertainty and slow speed of thought. This may have largely just been down to the good movement of Brighton. I think this illustrates though the margin between having a good or below average game, sometimes not in the direct control of the player when facing other more experienced and capable players at this level.
I can relate to Kieron’s desire to get two wingers on to the pitch especially when in the closing stages we may be chasing the game. I am not sure Philogene is any better than Omari or Jack Clarke but again understand the rationale of having options in the winger positions which can be hit or miss on the day and the players holding these positions can be inconsistent or effectively man marked at times. The two Jacks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jack Clarke eventually adapt better than Omari or Jaden, he looks more versatile in his play in finding space, dropping deep and picking good passes, granted seeing some of this against Bristol doesn’t mean he will naturally be able to apply it at Premier level but I get the sneaky feeling that he may just surprise us all and be a more adaptable all round footballer even if he has been type casted as a chalk on his boots winger. I am quietly impressed with Jack Taylor who I think can fluidly switch between a number 8 and 10 during a match and we know has a terrific shot on him and goal scoring capabilities that are not matched by our deep lying midfielders (the other two number 8’s).
Kieron is clever and tactically astute, however, our play at times can be predictable, I do think there are options where Hirst and Delap can be on the pitch together working the channels, but Kieron doesn’t appear to want to sacrifice another position to make this a tactical approach, it may suggest a longer ball approach but in my view doesn’t need to be out of the McCarthy playbook. I know many managers get criticised for not having a plan B and sticking to Plan A but bringing on or in different players into the same set-up. Kieron’s adaptability does show when we can morph between different formations but fundamentally this is around playing set transitions which can work as part of the fluidity of movement. Clearly we lack the ability to outplay many teams at this level with a heavy possession based game hence the failure of Martin at Southampton this season, and Kompany at Burnley last year but it does seem to me we might just need a plan C. The style might not be very appealing by today’s approach, but I remember the Whymark and Mariner (and the first David Johnson) partnerships that the more cultured Liverpool and Leeds teams of the day struggled against us.
I was disappointed to hear that Everton had appointed David Moyes because I can’t help think that he will keep them up indeed as he did at West Ham twice and took them much further, totally unappreciated by the Wet Spam faithful who believed his football was too pragmatic for their culture. |
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Comment | No 2023/24 PSR Charges But Leicester Could Still Face Sanction Over Previous Season
at 12:44:34
I think if you read the story, it suggests the EPL very much wants to ensure justice is done but have had a court hearing go in favour of Leicester. Also they wanted the EFL last year to bring action against them but EFL lawyers believed the EFL had no jurisdiction in the matter. They have evaded justice on a technicality that they moved their accounting period which took them outside of EPL at the end of the season they got relegated. I don’t think we have heard the last of this evidenced by an appeal hearing to take place within the courts. Now of course ITFC would like this to be resolved soonest so penalties can be imposed this season but as the season progresses it will be interesting to see if Leicester improve in which case they won’t be any the penalty this year if EPL win in the appeal, but if they continue to struggle and look adrift then tactically they may well want to take a penalty if applied as its effect will be diminished considerably if relegation becomes a certainty. |
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Comment | Ipswich Town 3-0 Bristol Rovers - Match Report
at 19:00:21
Very good first half performance. Phillips stood out but then we should expect that with the level of opposition. Second half very sloppy and whilst lots of games tend to peter out in the second half following a good first half lead it wasn’t for me anything to do with Bristol upping their game but more down to us allowing sloppiness to creep into our game. Competent performances from the back 4, difficult to judge Townsend who didn’t do anything wrong but whether he can put in a credible performance at premiership level will only tell if Leif gets injured. Ben Johnson still looks a very clumsy player for me, Massimo had a very good first half, but struggled a bit in the second half, maybe lack of match fitness. Ali,still very much a Div 2 player, very poor first touch, lacking pace and doesn’t read the game well enough. I am inclined to think it would be better to sell him, think we would struggle to get anywhere near th £1 million we paid for him. Thought Jack Taylor did well in the advanced role. Jack Clarke looked very good and promised the most from the advanced players. Some nice splitting passes and interplay from him, for me he should have taken the penalty, had we scored then I believe our momentum would have continued and I am convinced we would have managed at least 5 goals. Not wanting to be to greedy after a very good first half display as often games peter out after the point of no return for the opposition who were offering no real threat. We picked up again towards the end when Hirst and Broadhead came on and Hirst immediately showed what we had missed up front when Ali was attempting to lead the line. Sadly I don’t think we can rely on George’s fitness so another target man in my mind is needed before the window closes. |
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Comment | McKenna: Philogene Deal Not Yet Complete
at 17:19:48
Surely not another Michael Jacob’s type scenario where he had a medical and awaiting for paperwork to be completed and low and behold an alternative deal materialised and the last moment to get Kyle Edwards and we did the dirty on Jacob’s. I.e. enter Ben Doak. Personally I hardly doubt that is the case but if Philogene agent has been playing silly bu99ers who knows!!!
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Comment | Silva: Davis Should Have Been Sent Off
at 20:28:29
Unfortunately a light touch and a dive nowadays wins you the decision in most situations, given that Delap has won us two penalties inside a week we can hardly complain about the two given against us and indeed Kieron shows much more measured response in saying that he didn’t have a problem with the penalties. I am not sure the ref should be given a hard time, maybe he got a few minor calls wrong as indeed most refs do, like me he perhaps struggled to relate Morsy’s very minor contact with Wilson’s actions of being hit by a juggernaut, I have to say until I saw the reply I wasn’t even sure if there was any contact by Morsy, I couldn’t believe he would have been so stupid to attempt anything when well behind the ball and covering defenders between the attacker and the goal, the replay did to my surprise actually show there was some albeit minimal contact but in fairness all 3 penalties were given so there was consistency. As for the potential sending off, to be fair again Leif may have been a tad lucky but looking at it again there were elements of uncertainty about Leif being the last man, O’Shea’s likelihood of being able to retrieve the situation and actually how far the ball had been knocked forward and whether the attacker may have lost close control of the ball. Without VAR forensics the ref made the only decision he could do to the uncertainty of the situation. I personally don’t like to see any player sent off unless violent conduct or reckless challenges or second booking for further or constant infringements. I think Robertson of Liverpool was very harshly treated in the Liverpool V Fulham match where he had his back to the attacker and was about to receive the ball and was in the motion of playing it when the attacker slipped in front of him from behind, there was no intent to take the man out and clearly he was unsighted and had every reason to believe he could play the ball. Strictly from the rules he did foul the attacker and was the last defender, for me it destroys the spirit of the game when something like that happens and the player has to go, referees should have some discretion to apply some judgement of whether he believed there was any recklessness or intent. Needless to say Silva accepted that decision to give his side an advantage and that was one that went in his favour, personally I wouldn’t want to see a fellow professional sent off in that situation, but the endemic cheating in the game is now considered an art to perfect to gain an advantage. I for one am proud that Kieron by and large shows great respect and decency and that he has discarded perhaps some of the more unsavoury things that he encountered as Mourinho’s coach. |
| | budgieplucker
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 0 | | Comment Votes: | 1970 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 1970 |
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