More important than what attributes Palmer may or may not have the club are trying to solve these sorts of problems. It’s something that didn’t happen under Marcus Evans. As long as they keep trying the club will keep growing.
Let the links begin...
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There are certainly some similarities to 2001/02, in terms of the expenditure (for the time) and the potential unsettling of a strong team spirit with several signings that have no proven Premier League experience.
However, I think the comparison is unfair to the current owners. They didn't make a flurry of signings to replace a team that had just finished 5th in the Premier League. They were signing those players because - rightly or wrongly - they considered that a squad which had been primarily built for promotion from League One a couple of seasons ago wasn't equipped to deal with the Premier League. The market being what it is, we were in no position to start signing a load of established Premier League players - not without blowing our wage structure out of proportion. So we took a balanced approach of bringing in a few experienced PL players (mostly on loan) and take advantage of our wealth and league status to cherry pick some of the top performing Championship players.
The jury will be out on whether that approach works. It's looking unlikely to keep us up this season - which was always a long shot given the massive levels of financial inequality and the recent PL experience of the clubs who came up with us. But, if we're able to achieve an immediate promotion back to the Premier League next season, I think we'll be all the stronger for it.
Unlike Sheepshanks, our current owners have a much better grasp on how to run a football club. Despite the investment and big-money signings, they're structuring the deals so there is a far lower risk of administration and debt that saddled the Ipswich teams of the 00s and beyond. They've intentionally brought in players with plenty of resale value. They've been honest and up front in terms of being clear and transparent in our accounts.
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Good timely business to get GK in before tonight. Perhaps fledge him at FA Cup. I pull my hair out at number of silly goals we have gifted and points lost.
What do we make of the January transfer business?
Palmer sounds like an upgrade on what we've got. However, he's another signing unproven at the Premier League level. Still, I'm glad we got him in permanently. It feels like he'll provide a more solid foundation in the position than either Muric or Walton - even if we are playing Championship football next season.
The Godfrey loan signing makes sense on paper, both in terms of adding squad depth and proven top-flight experience. However, I'm not sure where his game time is coming from. Tuanzebe is the first choice right back, when fit, and Johnson provides cover. We are well-stocked at centre-back. If we're moving back to four at the back, I can't see where his chances will come from unless we continue to get hit with injuries.
Enciso and Philogene in the attacking positions provide more competition for places. Enciso looked a handful against Southampton and if he can find his shooting boots, he'll be a brilliant short-term addition. Philogene arrives with a big reputation and a big price tag - will he be worth it? Early evidence is thin on the ground, but it's still early days. He's an England U21 international and had a great season at Hull in the Championship last season - but I'm not sure if he's going to add enough for us over the remainder of this season.
The big questions marks over quality at central midfield and potential lack of depth at centre-forward ultimately haven't been addressed though.
At central midfield, it was good to hear we explored ways of bringing Downes back to the club. A player who feels like he has unfinished business here and would relish playing in an actual professional set-up. He could well be the long-term successor to somebody like Morsy. As it stands we've got one good central midfielder at this level in Cajuste (albeit on loan). Captain Morsy - who had a strong first half of the season - is undoubtedly in poor form and fatigue looks like it's making him a weak link in the side. Kalvin Phillips - an expensive, high-profile PL addition - has been nothing short of an underwhelming disappointment. It feels liked a missed opportunity if we didn't take an option to terminate the loan and bring in another central midfielder who'd actually compete for a first-team spot. Taylor doesn't quite look ready for this level, encapsulated by a poor performance against Southampton.
It's a positive we've kept hold of Delap, although the club would've been mad to sanction a sale halfway through the season. Hopefully his goalscoring form can be maintained and Hirst can get back to something like last season's effectiveness after two injuries this season. I guess we have the option to move Szmodics or Enciso up top - in the event of an injury to either one of the two strikers. But hopefully we don't regret not reinforcing the one position where the depth is comparatively lighter compared to the rest of the squad.
Palmer sounds like an upgrade on what we've got. However, he's another signing unproven at the Premier League level. Still, I'm glad we got him in permanently. It feels like he'll provide a more solid foundation in the position than either Muric or Walton - even if we are playing Championship football next season.
The Godfrey loan signing makes sense on paper, both in terms of adding squad depth and proven top-flight experience. However, I'm not sure where his game time is coming from. Tuanzebe is the first choice right back, when fit, and Johnson provides cover. We are well-stocked at centre-back. If we're moving back to four at the back, I can't see where his chances will come from unless we continue to get hit with injuries.
Enciso and Philogene in the attacking positions provide more competition for places. Enciso looked a handful against Southampton and if he can find his shooting boots, he'll be a brilliant short-term addition. Philogene arrives with a big reputation and a big price tag - will he be worth it? Early evidence is thin on the ground, but it's still early days. He's an England U21 international and had a great season at Hull in the Championship last season - but I'm not sure if he's going to add enough for us over the remainder of this season.
The big questions marks over quality at central midfield and potential lack of depth at centre-forward ultimately haven't been addressed though.
At central midfield, it was good to hear we explored ways of bringing Downes back to the club. A player who feels like he has unfinished business here and would relish playing in an actual professional set-up. He could well be the long-term successor to somebody like Morsy. As it stands we've got one good central midfielder at this level in Cajuste (albeit on loan). Captain Morsy - who had a strong first half of the season - is undoubtedly in poor form and fatigue looks like it's making him a weak link in the side. Kalvin Phillips - an expensive, high-profile PL addition - has been nothing short of an underwhelming disappointment. It feels liked a missed opportunity if we didn't take an option to terminate the loan and bring in another central midfielder who'd actually compete for a first-team spot. Taylor doesn't quite look ready for this level, encapsulated by a poor performance against Southampton.
It's a positive we've kept hold of Delap, although the club would've been mad to sanction a sale halfway through the season. Hopefully his goalscoring form can be maintained and Hirst can get back to something like last season's effectiveness after two injuries this season. I guess we have the option to move Szmodics or Enciso up top - in the event of an injury to either one of the two strikers. But hopefully we don't regret not reinforcing the one position where the depth is comparatively lighter compared to the rest of the squad.
Good summary Nuggets. I remain convinced our biggest weakness has been chopping and changing the team, whatever the individual strengths. We know injuries and suspensions have cruelly played a part.
Lets hope Palmer can steady the ship in defense. I would give him the Cup game.
Lets hope Palmer can steady the ship in defense. I would give him the Cup game.
Agreed Gaffer - injuries have definitely played a big part, as well as the switching of systems lately.
I get the feeling McKenna's still not quite sure what his strongest starting eleven looks like. That's partly down to the options he's got (new signings this month and players coming back from injury), but also because nobody's really putting together a consistent run of good form (aside from a few exceptions).
I feel he's also balanced going from a finely tuned attacking machine where everyone knows their roles and strengths with quick passing to one with players who prefer to carry the ball with the view that we're not going to be as dominant so need players to get us up the pitch and hold onto the ball, unfortunately I think this has been to the detriment of our attacking cohesion and one of the reasons we rely on Delap (last 2 seasons we didn't rely on Hirst to score others around him took up the mantle). This approach worked really well against Chelsea but Delap put in one of the best individual centre forwards performance I've ever seen albeit against a defence who were all over the place but to expect him to perform like that week in week out is unrealistic.
I feel like we had that approach early in the season, but it wasn't leading to wins. The Brentford game was probably the best it worked (clearly benefitting from Chaplin and Hirst's partnership) but after Brentford went 2-0 down, they simply made some tweaks, tightened up, hit us on the counter, and won the game. We've not been able to sustain McKenna's previous system in this league. Teams were savvier defending against it.
I watch a fair bit of PL football but seeing it in person, the most surprising thing for me has been the physicality of opposition defences. The Championship is stereotypically seen as the more physical league, but I think it's an outdated cliché. Most Premier League sides have tall centre-backs, physical full-backs, and at least one powerful, strong central midfield runner. Take Burns for example. Last season, he bullied full-backs and could beat them in a foot race to ping in several crosses. This season, he gets bounced off the ball quite easily and can't beat his fullback as frequently. Those more physical and faster defences are better set up to stop fast interplay and defend against direct passes from deep - all the hallmarks of our success from last season.
In fairness to McKenna, when he changed the system to be more defensively robust and hit teams on quick counters by prioritising confident, fast number 10s dribblers (and Delap) - as you say, it initially worked. The wins at Spurs, Wolves, and Chelsea largely followed this formula. But McKenna needs to change the gameplan again, because it's been found out. Palace and Forest showed teams how to defend against it quite early on - namely by keeping a few defenders back to nullify Delap, Hutchinson etc. from dribbling and press from the front to panic our goalkeeper and defence. Even a side like Arsenal on Boxing Day pretty much adopted this tactic and refused to push too far forwards. Okay, so they didn't play that well and only won 1-0, but they got the three points and completely shut us out.
Maybe there will be another reinvention or tweak coming up. Maybe there's already one, but it's not quite clear how it works - it would explain the confused nature of our attacking patterns against Southampton. We can't really go for a direct style of play because other than Delap and Hirst - all our available attacking players are quite lightweight and won't win aerial duels. So quite possibly the fast interplay is due another try. The 'new' lads from last summer aren't new anymore and presumably know the strengths of those around them. Enciso seems like he'd be able to fit into this system and move the ball faster than we had been doing. When I look at Hutchinson, Broadhead, Chaplin, Enciso, Philogene, Szmodics etc. I see nimble, quick creators. We've got to find a way for those players to play to their strengths without getting physically outmatched by opposition defences.
Further to my observations above, I forgot to mention about fatigue. It might be a harsh observation, but as a team - we look mentally and physically cooked. And it's completely understandable. Most these lads hadn't played a single minute of Premier League football before this season. It feels like it's taking it out of players more than playing longer 46-game seasons in the lower leagues! Davis and Morsy - mainly through being regulars in the first team - have massively declined in form from the first half of the season. And I think fatigue is the main factor. Morsy's a combative, pressing, relentless midfielder who - at times - can drive the team forward single-handedly. In recent weeks, he's really struggled. That's possibly through tiredness or a lack of confidence - maybe both - as these sustained defeats are definitely having a psychological impact.
Another observation is the crowd. I know it's not considered fair to criticise supporters, but I've been to a lot (not all) of our home games this season and there's definitely a marked change in atmosphere. Last season, Portman Road was an intimidating place. We could go one or even two goals down and the home crowd would be fully behind the team - almost expecting us to score the goals to get a result. It was an atmosphere and innate confidence I've never experienced at Portman Road before (and I think a lot of the older fans would agree with me). Compare it to this season however - and while it's still a loud crowd with Blue Action and the North Stand in good voice - there is definitely a creeping sense of resignation when we concede. And I get it - we've thrown away a lot of points from winning positions. There's not a lot to hang your hat on us putting in a comeback win. But lately, if we concede a goal in the last ten minutes - forget about supporters getting behind the team, loads of people just up and leave their seats. Some of it might be relatively new fans coming and feeling let down. It's also partly down to the absolute nightmare of leaving Portman Road or getting the train home when the stadium's packed out - but I'm a firm believer that you stay and watch the entire game, even if we're losing. For the players, I can imagine nothing can sap your confidence even further than conceding a late goal by looking up and seeing people literally queuing to leave the ground with several minutes still on the clock.
I don't agree about the crowd. The players have to feed the crowd with their performances and even then they have been getting vocal support when the game has long since gone. Fans are leaving before full time occasionally because there's zero chance of getting something from the game and it's painful to watch.
Good points Nuggets and it feels abit like all these things we're discussing would be tinkering around the edges, this league is relentless. I heard someone say the other day that the middling teams in the PL their recruitment the last few seasons has been superb and noticeably also towards big physical players. As you say Burns used to bully full backs and be quicker than them all but now that's a rarity. Maybe that has also been a weakness of our recruitment, we haven't really added this physicality to our midfield except for Cajuste who can't last 70 mins. And behind the main striker we've recruited as you sall smaller trickier players but in a lot of teams these are bigger and more physical and that has particularly been more noticeable in the players teams bring off the bench. Enciso looks a little more like he can handle himself from that perspective. But Clarke and so far Philogene have looked like little boys coming on and they both ripped up the Championship last season. Summerville who in my eyes was by far the best player in the Champ last year and was destined for greater things has only started 7 games in an average West Ham team...that highlights what we're up against. The physicality is immense and when you look at both the Manchester teams I think you can see where they struggle, the game has moved on in the PL from even 3 years ago.
Saying all this, if a couple of decisions would've gone our way (I'm especially thinking the Leicester match) we'd had a few less injuries and our recruitment had been better in the GK department I'm sure we'd be comfortably clear of relegation.
Saying all this, if a couple of decisions would've gone our way (I'm especially thinking the Leicester match) we'd had a few less injuries and our recruitment had been better in the GK department I'm sure we'd be comfortably clear of relegation.
I would also add despite us lacking goals we are still creating opportunities (not chances) and from what I've seen this season it's been poor decision making that has really cost us. It's been a constant them all season....to many players holding on to the ball for too long when others are in better positions.
Also players aren't picking up the same positions in the box as we have been previously, particularly with Burns and Davis crossing, they've often found space in the box but none of our players, the number of times I've thought...if only Chaplin was there. Davis is also still in the top 10 chance creater in the PL which is crazy for a full back in a team in the relegation zone but that also tells me he haven't made the most of those chances.
Also players aren't picking up the same positions in the box as we have been previously, particularly with Burns and Davis crossing, they've often found space in the box but none of our players, the number of times I've thought...if only Chaplin was there. Davis is also still in the top 10 chance creater in the PL which is crazy for a full back in a team in the relegation zone but that also tells me he haven't made the most of those chances.
We all seem to talk about K Mc, and whether he's out of his depth, or the players, a lot from L1, but maybe we should also look at our coaching system, and whether we need a huge improvement there. I have no idea who we recruited this season, but maybe we need to try and get better coaches? If the majority of our coaching team came from L1, then maybe they aren't good enough for the premiership and it's hindering our progress - just a thought.
I know our keeper situation is bad, but surely he's past it now
I just had a Google of your coaching staff, I included team performance and fitness, set pieces etc. none of them seem to have had much in the way of experience before joining. I was amazed at how big your coaching set up is, I quickly compared it to Everton and yours seems much larger.
Interesting point about coaches going up with a team from down the divisions, on one hand they help get them there, on the other if they were good enough for the PL surely they’d have been there.
When you look at the quality of coaches at the higher end of the PL who go on to successfully coach in the championship you’d imagine there is a vast difference
The sports media today is linking Delap with a £40 million move to Manchester United or Chelsea this summer. Apparently Manchester City have a £40 million buy-back clause in the deal, but won't be activating it. Probably means we're not able to get much more than £40m/£45m, although hopefully we can boost the fee with some add-ons (first England cap bonus and a decent sell-on clause would be nice).
I was hoping we'd be able to fetch a higher fee than that, particularly given the money thrown around the Premier League these days. Southampton apparently putting a £100 million asking price on Dibling - they would do really well to get even half that! However, a £25 million odd profit on Delap is not that bad. I think we all accept it's a departure that's definitely going to happen.
Another emerging story has Spanish side Girona linked to Burgess for an end-of-contract agreement. Tuanzebe also apparently interesting some clubs. Both would be big misses in defence, particularly given their experience and form in the Championship. Both have acquitted themselves quite well in the Premier League, so it's no surprise if a top flight side comes in for them.
I was hoping we'd be able to fetch a higher fee than that, particularly given the money thrown around the Premier League these days. Southampton apparently putting a £100 million asking price on Dibling - they would do really well to get even half that! However, a £25 million odd profit on Delap is not that bad. I think we all accept it's a departure that's definitely going to happen.
Another emerging story has Spanish side Girona linked to Burgess for an end-of-contract agreement. Tuanzebe also apparently interesting some clubs. Both would be big misses in defence, particularly given their experience and form in the Championship. Both have acquitted themselves quite well in the Premier League, so it's no surprise if a top flight side comes in for them.
Yeah, I think the promoted sides will be targeting us too. I bet either one or both of Sheffield United and Burnley (assuming they go up) will make a move for O'Shea.
Apart from Delap who I still think has a lot to work on in his game not many of our team would interest established PL teams, maybe a few of the new promoted teams but I don't think anyone bar maybe O'Shea has been consistent for us all season. And I'm not sure he's quite good enough on the ball to interest established teams. Tuanzebe might interest a few but his injury record isn't great.
The loss of Burgess will be a huge shame and it feels like it's one of our own making. I don't want to be too critical because the situation is far more nuanced than I am about to say but if we had kept our promotion winning side together this year and played them, would we have been any worse off?
We have millions of pounds worth of talent in our squad and many have been kept out or not deserved to have been in the team based on form in comparison to the players we had last season, even with Delap I bet if Hirst wouldve been fit the first half of the season Delap wouldnt have started as many games. So there will be some questions over recruitment.
Having observed the league as well, I also question in particular some of our attacking acquisitions, what I see from many teams in the PL and it's a huge difference to the EFL is strong athletic forward players. We appear to have brought in quite a few players who I'm sure will do well in the championship but they look lightweight at this level.
The loss of Burgess will be a huge shame and it feels like it's one of our own making. I don't want to be too critical because the situation is far more nuanced than I am about to say but if we had kept our promotion winning side together this year and played them, would we have been any worse off?
We have millions of pounds worth of talent in our squad and many have been kept out or not deserved to have been in the team based on form in comparison to the players we had last season, even with Delap I bet if Hirst wouldve been fit the first half of the season Delap wouldnt have started as many games. So there will be some questions over recruitment.
Having observed the league as well, I also question in particular some of our attacking acquisitions, what I see from many teams in the PL and it's a huge difference to the EFL is strong athletic forward players. We appear to have brought in quite a few players who I'm sure will do well in the championship but they look lightweight at this level.