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Comment | Town Closing in On Matusiwa With Fee Agreed
at 14:58:48
I have to watch quite a lot of French football (long story). I am not familiar with the player, however, if you can handle yourself in the centre of the park in Ligue 1 then you can do it in the Championship as well.
Rennes is a solid team and he made 29 appearances last season in the league, so not a bench warmer by any means.
Also, we are always better with some Dutch in the squad! |
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Comment | Town's Season to Start With Friday Trip to Birmingham
at 13:27:51
Nice. Birmingham will be on League 1 speed, like Ipswich were for the first half vs. Sunderland 2 years ago.
Ipswich will be in Premier League mode but quickly realising that Birmingham are not Liverpool. Clearly a 4-0 away win on the cards! And we may get the odd spectacle of Tom Brady sitting next to Ed Sheeran watching a Championship match. |
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Comment | Town Linked With US International Striker Agyemang
at 11:49:54
The US are playing in the Gold Cup on Sunday. I'll take one for the team and watch the match and offer a full scouting report back. He has a solid record for the national team at the moment and scoring key goals, so he's definitely not a donkey. |
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Comment | Delap's Chelsea Move Confirmed
at 23:11:23
BTW Town1Inter0 - I have a clanging, name-dropping anecdote about that.
I had the chance to work for a while with Christian Vieri, who scored the hat-trick against us, you may recall.
He asked me what team I supported. He claimed he had never heard of "Ipsweeech". I reminded him he once scored a hat-trick against us. He didn't recall that game. I showed him the video and it jogged a vague memory. At one point he remarked, "that's Sereni, why is he there?" We asked ourselves the same question back in the day.
Nice fella though, but disappointing he didn't remember this landmark moment in his career like it was yesterday. He did seem pretty pleased with his performance when watching it back, though.
Also, he wasn't very adept with photocopiers. But that's another story. |
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Comment | Delap's Chelsea Move Confirmed
at 22:23:39
In the end, it's the best out of a difficult situation. At least there could be a big bonus when he is flipped for 150 million to Real Madrid in two years. I like the look of a Marc Guiu loan deal though.
Very much the next big thing at Barcelona before he was pushed out of the running up front by some fairly decent players. To get to start for that team (and score in the Champions League) at 18 you have to have a lot of raw talent. Why not take a punt?
I mean, it went so well with Giovani dos Santos back in the day ... oh. |
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Comment | Moyes: We're Among Clubs to Have Spoken to Delap
at 11:48:39
I've been spending way too much time thinking about this. It's an interesting one. I'd go for Newcastle as number one pick - the team are (probably) in the Champions League next season, Eddie Howe is sound, Isak will not be able to play every minute of 60-70 games, and the fans will enjoy someone who plays very much on the edge of the rules.
I'd plump for Everton as no.2 pick. New stadium, rebooted club with a better future and he will be the no.1 pick for a manager that clearly wants him.
Stay well clear of Manchester United, as tempting as it must be. |
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Comment | McKenna to Make Late Judgements on Hutchinson and Davis Among Others
at 18:01:08
Vitor Pereira and his assistant are suspended for the Ipswich game. So is Cunha.
As we saw at the match at Molineux, Wolves are a very emotionally volatile team. Put them under some pressure with a win on Saturday, and an implosion could on the cards. Ipswich have to do their part by picking up points, though. |
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Comment | McKenna: We Have to Go to Old Trafford With Humility But Also Confidence
at 11:43:44
Going to go on a hippy, mindful theme here, but forget what happens tomorrow or the rest of the season and enjoy tonight.
20th Feb 2024, Ipswich snuck at 4-3 win against Rotherham to keep up an immensely stressful Championship promotion campaign that was ultimately successful. In 2023, we were in Milton Keynes on the 23rd Feb.
Now we get to go to Old Trafford, with a fairly decent chance of winning. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. But anyone of us after that Rotherham game would have been delighted to have a must-win match against Manchester United to get stressed over and then fight amongst ourselves on the internet.
Enjoy these moments. They may come again next season, or the season after next, or not for another 22 years.
Going back to my shed of peace and tranquility.
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Comment | Clarke Completes Blades Loan Move
at 15:42:56
The upcoming Jhon Duran move shows just how hard it is to find a good striker at a reasonable price, when it comes to the budgets that Ipswich have.
He's a fine player, a substitute at Villa, but would be a step up for us. And he's going to move for £65m, probably three times anything we could get close to in the winter window. |
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Comment | Town Confirm Godfrey Loan Signing
at 21:03:22
Kieran McKenna has had a pretty good hit rate this season with transfers especially when factoring the fees compared to other EPL clubs have been able to pay.
If the worst comes to the worst, then the 2025 resale money for Delap alone will pay for most of the 2024 summer expenditure.
Bang on successes - Delap, Cajuste, O'Shea, Greaves, Hutchinson.
Honorable mentions - Szmodics. B Johnson (free!)
Time will tell - Phillips, Clarke (so close, today), Ogbene
Mmm - Muric. |
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Comment | Fulham 2-2 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 16:33:04
Trying not to be greedy here. After the exertions of those performances against Arsenal and Chelsea, I had a niggling feeling that this could have been a flat 3-0 defeat to a more-than-decent Fulham side. But it wasn't.
On another day, Leif Davis got a red, not a yellow and the penalty was not given for Delap. So it's a very useful 2-2 and I'm with the cliche that I would have taken that result before the match kicked off.
Best not to get obsessed with the league table at the moment. Relegation rivals all shed points over the past two rounds and Ipswich picked up four.
Ipswich are only going to be better in the 2nd half of the season and the project is stable. The same cannot be said for Leicester, Everton, West Ham ... even Wolves. We just need to be better than two of those teams. Beats having to be better than 22 other sides like the past two seasons.
Perfect time for two weeks off for the big players with the FA Cup coming up. And time to get Hirst, Tuanzebe back and give Godfrey a run out. Three 'new' signings right there.
Brighton and Southampton coming up at home in the next four games. Two wins there are very doable. And Man City? Maybe ....
Now it's time to watch Manchester United and the Schadenfreude of another team maybe joining the fun at the bottom.
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Comment | Ipswich Town 2-0 Chelsea - Match Report
at 12:16:45
- Looks like Walton is the number one for the rest of the season. Better late than never.
- If a solid defense is the way to stay up then Ipswich have four centre-backs who have found their feet in the Premier League. Throw in a fit Tuanzebe and that's a pretty solid back line.
- Getting Kalvin Phillips fully up and running, as well as Broadhead and eventually Hirst will be like 3 new signings. Can Jack Clarke make the grade as well?
- Need 5 wins and a scattering of draws to stay up: These look like the achievable wins - Fulham (A), Brighton (H), Southampton (H), Wolves (H), Brentford (H), West Ham (H), Leicester (A)
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Comment | McKenna: Chelsea a Tough Test, But a Great Game
at 21:20:14
This could be a special night against Chelsea.
I think the performance against Arsenal would have brought back some confidence, at least for the defense. And today: Leicester lost. Southampton lost. West Ham lost. Everton lost. Wolves drew. What a chance to get back into contention again to get out of the bottom three. Heck, even a point will help.
'Could' is a big word though. I think it'll need Morsey, Cajuste and Phillips in central midfield where Chelsea are dominant normally. One gets the fun job of following Cole Palmer around the pitch.
Agree with everyone who says Broadhead should start. He's got that ability to get the ball up field but a little more composure and experience than Hutch, who can get a run out after 60 minute (more or less). Chaplin to get the nod as well with Delap. That does leave the team a little short on the right flank though. |
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Comment | McKenna: We Need to Show the Right Mentality at Arsenal
at 14:56:04
My spider sense has not been right once this season, but it is tingling for the next two games.
Ipswich tend to suffer with teams that run at them really fast (especially in the opening minute) and Arsenal are a little more ponderous. Chelsea's mojo has fallen a little. Six points? |
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Comment | Chaplin: Morsy Will Be Huge Miss But Phillips Can Fill Void
at 14:50:21
Reasons to be Cheerful...
- we are playing Arsenal and Chelsea over the holiday. In 2022 it was Oxford United and Portsmouth, having just lost to Wycombe.
- Everton have just mirrored Ipswich's next two matches and got a couple of 0-0's. Both were truly awful to watch, but that's two points from nothing. Not sure if Ipswich are capable of digging in and hanging on like that though, but matching those results could be huge.
- Ipswich tend to suffer from teams that go hell for leather in the first five minutes. And at the end of each half. And injury time. Arsenal are sometimes more ponderous from the start. Saka being out will certainly make Leif Davis sleep better this week at least.
- Internet conspiracy theory which could be nonsense: Man City's form drop comes from the players hearing early that automatic relegation is on the way. That means, Town just need to be better than Leicester and Southampton this season. Woo hoo!
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Comment | McKenna: We Know the Level of the Opponent But We Believe in Ourselves
at 19:41:22
Reasons to be cheerful.
1) We get to play Newcastle, Arsenal and Chelsea over the Christmas period. Better than Rotherham and Fleetwood. Or Norwich. Enjoy the experience, worry about the points later.
2) The Christmas period does offer up mad results. Newcastle have had two big games in a week and are very flaky away. Everton held Arsenal at home. Chelsea? Er. That might not go so well.
3) Let's revisit the previous results before Wolves. Palace and Forest have shown they have been in quite the run of form and we held on in there in both games... Bournemouth? Should have beaten them.
4) Start with five at the back to deal with Gordon and Isak. Let them burn themselves out and give up. Wrap it up in final 15 mins. Easy.
5) Southampton: new coach can't save that squad. Wolves: new coach can't save that (constantly suspended) squad. Leicester: watch what happens when Vardy runs out of legs. 17th is ours come May.
6) Winter window. The 2025 version of Keifer Moore and Sarmiento are just days away from arriving. |
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Comment | Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 20:05:54
Going to give some credit to Jack Clarke with about 85 minutes gone, when Ipswich had ridden the storm.
I was watching him and he was always calling for the ball, trying to make something happen. Did a couple of runs. There's definitely something about him, and maybe this can kick start him into being the impact sub that we need.
Already looking forward to Morsey vs. Guimarães next week. Not so much, Anthony Gordon vs. Clarke. |
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Comment | Ipswich Town 1-2 AFC Bournemouth - Match Report
at 17:12:40
5 clearly glass half-full thoughts...
1) I'd still prefer to watch them capitulate to Bournemouth today rather than playing Fleetwood.
2) Can't fault effort, but this is a really hard league. Look at what Forest and Palace did with United and City at the weekend. There are no Rotherham's any more.
3) It's such a different defense with Tuanzebe in it, clearly. However, O'Shea and Burgess are coming into their own. Less goals conceded than Brentford and only six less than Man City!
4) Could have been a different result in the past three games with Hirst and Ogbene from the bench. Or even a fully fit Kelvin Philipps to steady the ship. Ship out a few players on loan to make room and pick up some players from Arsenal, Chelsea in the winter?
5) Er .... that's all I've got. |
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Comment | McKenna: Cajuste, Phillips and Johnson Being Assessed Ahead of Bournemouth
at 15:00:51
5 Reasons to be Cheerful ahead of Bournemouth.
1) Estimating that 32/33 pts is enough to stay up, Ipswich are only 2.9 points off the scoring rate needed (0.85). That's reflected in the league table. A win on Sunday and almost back on track. Back to back wins? Mic dropped.
2) Aside from Man City and West Ham (looks weird now), Ipswich have been competitive in the other 12 games. The 2 defeats sucked but it was 1-0, 1-0. No wild swings like Southampton and Wolves routinely suffer, such as this week.
3) If Leicester lose Vardy for any length of time, they are done for. Then again, same for Ipswich and Delap, I guess.
4) Bournemouth played a tough game on Thursday. Two days less rest for an away trip.
5) Most Important. Two years ago, Ipswich were playing Fleetwood and Peterborough.
Allons Y! |
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