As expected the Gaffer cofirmed in his press conference that Tomas Kalas is out with a hamstring injury. The rest are all fine. So, yet again he has to change the CB pairing. McCarthy's Ipswich are not pretty, although we can expect them to employ a certain charm; of the rustic variety. The lightweights Madl and Ream wouldn't therefore seem a sensible choice. Sigurdsson, who was taken off at half time against Derby because he was "performing poorly" (the gaffer's words), looks the most likely. Who partners him from the other two is anybody's guess. My preference is Madl. David Button has taken some deserved flack of late but Jokanovic came out in his defence yesterday, telling the local paper; "Generally we believe all the players can be better. This is the same for David [Button] too. He started the season very well and is an important signing for us. We can expect him to be at a good level to bring us some points during the rest of the season." Don't expect any change there then! The starting line-up most probably will be - ...........................Button................ ..Fredericks..Sigurdsson..Madl...Malone.. .........................McDonald........ .......................Johansen......... ....Aluko.............Cairney......Ayite.... ...........................Martin,,,,,, Footnote: The gaffer also told the local paper "Christmas Day is for families but we are professional and everyone will be staying at a hotel in Ipswich". Good thinking - woildn't want Chris Martin anywhere near the plum duff!
As long as Sigurdsson is fit I think you can put your mortgage on Cottagers line up, which is nice to say as for three years now we have had so many changes from week to week. I saw a stat the other day saying Ipswich have the worst successful passing percentage in the championship this season and we have the best, no idea if that will mean anything!
The man in the middle today is Oliver Langford please log in to view this image We last saw Olly quite recently when most would say he had a very decent game indeed, as did we! That was only 3 weeks ago in our 5-0 trouncing of Reading. In the match day he booked four of theirs and sent off another. The sending off seems to have set a trend for the normally mild mannered Mr Langford and he's dismissed someone in every game since. His tally in his last 3 matches (including our Reading one) is 12 yellows and 3 reds; way above his average. Last season he only totalled 99 yellows and 4 reds in 41 games. Thanks to that little burst of enthusiasm he's jumped to 68 yellows and 4 reds in 22 games so far this season.
Whooo - first win against Ipswich since that record breaker on Boxing Day in 1963. Only 2-0 today, thanks to being too casual in front of goal and sloppy passing in the final third. But totally dominant and, as Cookie would say, the 3 points are the only stat that matters. By and large this was a tactical victory for the Gaffer. He second guessed that Ipswich would start by playing deep in there own half and, contrary to popular opinion (well, mine anyway) he played Madl and Ream; as the better footballers compared to the more robust Sigurdsson whose distribution is suspect. However when McCarthy brought on two big, strong guys at the beginning of the second half and began to threaten a bit, Jokanovic sacrificed Aloku and plopped Sigurdsson into the middle of the other two CBs. And that move paid off in full when at the other end the Icelander ....
Just back from the game. Comfortable victory over a very poor Ipswich side. Again had lots of possession, lacked a cutting edge in the final third and really should have had a few more to make certain. At 1-0 despite how well we played I'm hard wired now on nervousness, even at 2-0. Guilty of overplaying it in front of goal and on the few occasions they threatened we looked dodgy still at corners. Ipswich briefly entered the game after the 2nd half when they made a double substitution. Good on Joka counteracted that with the introduction of Siggurdsson and their 10 mins of play was over. We've played better but didn't really need to. It is 3 great points.
