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I just want to share my concerns regarding Philogene based on my observations over the last couple of games. I'm not intending to slag him off and say we wasted 20 million and that he's no better than what we already had or to stir up all the nonsense surrounding his agent etc...
BUT... he clearly needs to improve. I'll be honest and say that his performance against Spurs was very, very poor. IMO he showed no threat whatsoever. He could not beat a man, passing was poor, he looked very lightweight, he did not press with any real conviction, he looked afraid to put in a tackle etc.
Hutch is small and slight as well, but he presses and put himself about so much better. You can see how much it means to him.
On to the Man U game and Philogene was slightly improved. However, I personally feel that both his goals were extremely fortunate and clouded another somewhat abject performance. In fairness, he did well to stay on his feet and avoid being wiped out by the keeper for the 1st, and it was a decent cross to Delap for the 2nd goal. Having said that, you would be lucky to score 2 goals like that over the course of a season let alone in the same game.
There is clearly a player there and given time I am sure that there is a good chance he will shine. Likewise with Jack Clarke. But we need it NOW.
On to my main concern which is this. He barely celebrated either goal IMO, and his whole body language appeared to indicate that he wasn't overly bothered. When Delap got his first goal for Ipswich you could see his elation and how much it meant to him. With Philogene it looked like the whole of both games was a training ground practise session. I appreciate that Cajuste was supposed to be marking Maguire for their 3rd, but Philogene was in and around that area and didn't even make a token gesture to genuinely challenge for the ball.
Some players clearly give their all and would run through a brick wall for the team. You can clearly see the effort from players like Delap, Morsy, Phillips and Burgess even if they are not playing well or things aren't going their way.
Could we genuinely say the same about Philogene based on the evidence of the last couple of games? Am I being overly critical or unfair? Or do other posters feel that he would not die for the cause or does not care as much as others? Thoughts?
Faffed about 3 times and gave possession away during the game under little pressure. Each time led to Bournemouth attacks which could have resulted in goals.
Muric makes a poor judgement call and comes for a ball he doesn't get to which results in a goal.
Nobody says anything about Morsy's errors which could have cost us. But Muric gets absolute pelters.
As much as McKenna has tried to play down the Palace game as being a 6-pointer, it still feels like that game was massive for us, and what we thought was a very winnable game has not gone our way. Maybe we were even guilty of being too over-confident.
I may be bedwetting, but has this result made us consider a few home truths? As in we're not good enough? And as much of a pr*ck as Shearer has been on MOTD, was he actually correct in what he was saying and do we accept that we are likely to be shoe-ins for relegation? We're likely better than Southampton perhaps, but can we do better than the others in the bottom six over the course of the season?
I just feel like that game must have been massive for the players and supporters confidence. How do we feel about our chances of avoiding relegation and do we feel that we have what it takes that we can turn things around? Is this going to be dependent on new signings in January and will that make a huge difference?
I would just like to guage if others still feel like we can survive, or whether that result has just destroyed any belief that we might otherwise have had?
I don't know how to feel about it. I just feel like we can't afford to squander opportunities to gain points against relegation rivals, as we are unlikely to get many points against the top sides. Feels like the Spurs result was likely very much a one-off...
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Prediction Logged by at 11:09:40 Ipswich Town v Leicester City prediction logged
Prediction
Prediction Logged by at 11:07:54 Ipswich Town v Leicester City prediction logged
Surely McKenna needs to give Szmodics a chance as the AM?
10 million or whatever it was for a 29 year old and he's not starting?
Surely with his goal scoring ability and with Hutch seemingly more effective on the right this makes sense? Potentially Broadhead could play instead of Clarke, but I doubt he is fully fit.
Even if you ignore the mistake for the first goal, Burns was very poor against Everton. Much as I love him he does not deserve to start next week IMO.
I know some will agree with me, but does anyone think that Hutch should remain as the 10 and that Szmodics should remain on the bench and come on for Clarke on the left as a sub, as has been happening so far this season.
Just doesn't sit right with me. I don't know. Maybe McK has been disappointed with Szmodics in training or something.
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Prediction Logged by at 13:52:46 Ipswich Town v Everton prediction logged
Prediction
Prediction Logged by at 12:43:26 Ipswich Town v Everton prediction logged
I've given it some time to reflect on the West Ham game and it has left me feeling even more disappointed than I was at the time of the game.
I can't understand for the life of me how we can go from playing so well against Villa to so poorly against West Ham in such a short space of time. IMO we were superb against Villa (Greaves mistake aside) and deserved to win overall, just about.
A lot of criticism on here about the defence, especially Muric and Johnson, but personally I was more disappointed with our attack. Delap obviously had a good game and did little wrong but was feeding off scraps.
Hutchinson played a bit better in the last couple of games than he did the previous two. I will get pelters for saying this but he is incredibly frustrating, obviously a brilliant talent, but very lightweight and constantly giving away possession which just invites pressure back on us all the time. Maybe Szmodics should be given a go at 10 and Hutch played on the right, because at the moment it's just not working.
Clarke was sublime against Villa IMO but completely ineffective against West Ham, Burns tried hard but was playing far too deep to have any attacking threat (and on a couple of occasions when he got further forward and beat his man he messed it up with a poor final pass or cross).
I don't know what the answer is but prior to this game I was feeling really optimistic about our chances of staying up. But if going by that display we are the worst team in the premier league. Even Southampton will take encouragement from a better performance away at Arsenal.
Sorry to be so negative but that performance has got me really worried. Looking again at the highlights on MOTD, West Ham could have scored 10.
We really need to put in a really strong winning performance against Everton to bring the confidence back and kick on from then.
Prediction
Prediction Logged by at 12:10:02 Ipswich Town v Aston Villa prediction logged
Prediction
Prediction Logged by at 13:07:27 Southampton v Ipswich Town prediction logged
I would love for us to start with Moore and Al Hamadi both up front. With Hutchinson and Sarmiento ideally (with Harness, Taylor and Jackson on the bench).
Genuine question, is it possible to tweak the system we play to accommodate Moore and Al Hamadi both into the starting line up? Or would it just not work? For me, I would love it if McKenna started Al Hamadi, but he's obviously not going to do it at Moore's expense and nor should he, so is it feasible or just unworkable?
If we don't get promotion then would either of these be worth pursuing as useful additions to our squad? Both could be available on a free in the summer. Thoughts?
In the midnight hour, we cried Moore Moore Moore! With a rebel yell we cried Moore Moore Moore! In the midnight hour McK, Moore Moore Moore! With a rebel yell... Moore! Moore!Moore! Moore! Moore! Moore!
We are 19 points ahead of Millwall, have scored 36 goals to their 19, yet we have conceded more than them, 23 to their 22.
We probably do need a new striker to take some of the burden off Hirst, but is this really priority? Are we really sure that Wolfy and Burgess are quite as good as they are made out to be by a lot of our fans on this forum? Especially Wolfy.
Maybe a controversial post, but a lot want Axel in the team, it's surely not a given that if he does come in to the side regularly that it won't be Wolfy's place he is taking rather than Burgess?
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