Think that's exactly right San Diego, not wishing to defend the players but I don't think I've ever seen us put in a good performance when there have been alot of changes to the first team. I always think its a bit unfair on those players, you see it so much, disjointed performances when so many changes were made. So there is a little bit of criticism there for McGreal but all those players should still be beating a league 2 side. I'm not sure what was going on with the formations last night but whatever happened it looked unbalanced and again there were players who were round pegs in square holes...I do really feel for Fraser, he looks a really decent player but these games are passing him by. We need to start using a formation that brings the best out of the players. Some observations on the players.: Walton - too good for League 1, didn't let us down again...would be great if we could sign him permanently. Penney - doesn't look good enough poor crossing, would actually prefer Kenlock KVY - still not found his consistency, produces moments of brilliance but then can be very poor. I hope he plays himself into form Burgess - I see where the criticism comes from now on him, literally like an oil tanker turning, pretty good player with the game in front of him though. Just needs to learn how to make the most of what he's got because he's not too dissimilar in style to De Vos and he was a great player for us. Norwood - Looked rusty but was probably the only outfield player to come out of the game with a bit of credit, looked to make things happen and as I've said before even if he doesn't have a good game you know he's playing Jackson - confirmed what we already knew, if we want to be a promotion chasing team he's not good enough to be in it, not a bad sub to have though. Second half we also learnt that if you don't have Norwood or Bonne in the team, no one attacks the balls coming into the box. There we some decent crosses going and and neither striker were anywhere near them.
Tbf I can see why he made the changes; the travelling and the fact we have Sunderland on Saturday. And the team had a lot of allegedly first team/squad players that should be better than barrow. However it was the complete lack of any football in the first half. They literally didn’t play any football. The 442 was wrong for this team and they had no idea what to do or where to be so barely a pass was either attempted let alone completed. It was painful to watch.
You all have summed it up painfully well. That was the 1st time in 60 yrs I stopped watching before half time! As many have said, you cant change 9 players, put them in a different formation, travel 300 miles and come out on the pitch and play as a team. Oddly, these are some of the players that have impressed so much in the earlier bright periods of the season. Morale & confidence must be rock bottom. Just hope that they can rally on Saturday, but I dread the outcome. Big Q is, will the man be i/c by Friday? Or sh..ting his pants at what he saw on ITV last night
If the effort against Sunderland matches the 1st half from yesterday, pack out Portman road could backfire massively. Some sections of the crowd are waiting / hoping for the players to fail and another performance like that and it could get pretty nasty in the stadium. It wasn’t great against Crewe and that was a game we won
Ptc, i know Nogood is your love child but **** me, you think he came out of that game with credit and the barrow players knew he was on the pitch.....leave it out, he was awful like the rest of them, he done absolutely nothing!!!!
Bucky, you think that was 442, i heard it was a bizarre 4222 formation. No way that was 442, well not how 442 should be played!!
I think there is going to be another big overhaul in January, personally i think it should be a max of 4 in but also at least 4 out. I have a feeling there will be at least 6 in and god knows how many out. I do think Ashton is like a kid in a candy store, he has money to spend and boy does he like spending it!! I just hope it's Barry that becomes our new manager and maybe he can bring a few Chelsea fringe players with him!!
Just seen Barry has turned down Fleetwood and has previously turned down Cardiff, so...... probably won't happen!
it looked more like a primary school team who all ran around without a clue, & not really bothered about putting in any effort.
Huh, so coz i disagree with you, I'm a keyboard warrior, grow up! You say Nogood has never let us down, i disagree and last night he definitely did, along with the rest!!
It's definitely not because you disagree with me that I called you a keyboard warrior, apologies if I offended you Spanish didn't think it would unless I've mistaken your response for irony
It seems to me that whatever formation we try in recent games, we have no midfield. Teams in L1 and L2 just run thru us, as easy as knife thru butter. I just hope it is a strong new manager who come in. We are at rock bottom, the only way is up. If I was a Gamechanging pension fund investor I would have withdrawn my funds weeks ago! But, lets try to be positive, and if by chance we do get it together on Saturday, play with determination, passion, and 20,000 roaring the rafters off, and get a result, we might just turn the corner. Dream on gaffer.
From the myriad of issues last night, the two that stuck out to me were the lack of commitment from the players and the constantly changing formations. The players were clearly not bothered about winning this match, which is an embarrassment. If I was one of those poor sods that travelled hundreds of miles last night, I'd be asking for a full refund. I rarely agree with the reductive argument of the team that 'wants it more' always wins, but that certainly applied in the first half. Secondly, we must have changed formation several times last night. Midway through the first half, ITV cut to McGreal signaling 'three, four, three' with his fingers and we conceded not long afterwards. The players didn't appear to know where they were playing and who they were marking throughout that first half. Our defending for the two goals was terrible, we gave their players so much space. For the second goal, a routine cross into the box, three of our defenders made defensive errors. As for our attack, our patterns of play were stodgy and predictable - mostly just desperate route one stuff in the second half. Route one! Contrast that with League Two strugglers, Barrow, who cut us apart at times. Well, it's shambolic coaching and poor management. Whoever comes in to manage this club will have their work cut out on the training pitch. Getting the club to do something other than 'passing it to the central midfielder, who passes it back to the defence, who then lumps aimlessly upfield' will be difficult - as that's been our mantra for most of the last half a decade! Anyone can tell that we're well-coached side if they just watch us at set pieces - corners that don't beat the first man, free kicks that always come to nothing, and throw-ins that are slow, ponderous, and kills any attacking momentum. We're too narrow and predictable with the ball. I said it before, but I'll say it again as it annoyed me so much last night, but we opted for route one football last night - route effing one against a League Two side battling relegation?! If I was managing a side against Ipswich, my first piece of advice would be to just press them. Press them everything. Ipswich can't handle it. Ipswich have got no answers to it. In a country where the cost of living keeps increasing, I'd understand if anyone decides not to spend another penny on Ipswich Town for the rest of the season.
Of all the midfielders we bought, not one of them is a “box to box” player in the mould of a Holland / Miller etc. Would love to see the stats on how far our midfielders run in a game but I would guess it’s less than the other team. Morsy is fine for what he is but the others. Evans - stands waiting for the ball and pings passes, Carroll - haven’t seen much of him but was woefully off the pace yesterday. Fraser - can’t understand why he is so highly rated. Harper - looks like he is strolling around when he gets on the pitch. El mizzouni - think he could do with a loan spell somewhere to get some games under his belt.
Over the last month, the main issue with our midfield is that our defence completely bypasses them by lumping the ball up field. Morsy looks technically gifted and composed on the ball - at least he drops back to try and get things going - but he's clearly wondering why he's here. I'm not sure what dream he was sold in the summer, but it isn't this. Evans gets lost during games, but I understand at Wigan he was played in the number 10 position. Same with Fraser at MK Dons, best in the number 10 position, he's certainly not a winger. Harper has been a disappointment, but hasn't played all that much. Carroll was poor last night (a majority of the players were), but again hasn't played much so tough to evaluate fairly. Considering our investment in the summer, it seems baffling to suggest that missing one player has caused so much disruption - but since Burns' injury, results have been poor and we've looked so blunt down the right. A Donacien/Burns partnership was encouraging and provided plenty of goals. Then to focus on the issue at left-back, where we've tried to shoehorn in many players, but none of them have made a strong claim for the position. We look vulnerable at centre-back, with the exception of Edmondson who has been a good signing. Burgess has the turning articulation of a 12-tonne lorry. Nsiala makes at least three awful mistakes every match and is consistently unreliable. As Royston says, we haven't stumbled across a working combination in central midfield. And that's before we get to our recent lack of goals - we should be starting players like Chaplin, not bringing him off the bench with 20 minutes left to play.
This is the crux of it. It has sod all to do with individual personnel and everything to do with motivation, organisation and training. As Butcher said, doing the basics. We've shipped out a load of demotivated / confidence-lacking players and inept coaches and replaced them with a load of demotivated / confidence-lacking players and inept coaches.
The set piece thing hacks me off the most. Because I used to play Sunday League, practiced set pieces every day for at least an hour with my brother in goal during the week and I would regularly score free kicks (okay not against top keepers but at least I usually beat the wall and hit the target) and always hit my mark from corners. The goal doesn't move and the 18 yard box never changes its dimensions. The Portman Road pitch never widens or shrinks. It's absolutely shocking.
