A spirited fight back for Town on Saturday - but not before conceding two goals in the first half, thereby losing 7.5 games on the bounce up to that point. Methinks this article is getting a little bit ahead of itself, green shoots of a revival etc http://www.twtd.co.uk/news.php?storyid=19750
Couldn't agree more. Even chance of being back to square one with a draining defeat even to the hopeless Derby. Worse news is that Andrews is probably on his way to Swansea, Stockdale could be recalled at any moment and Collins will likely be returning in January. Plenty of potential for things to get a whole lot worse so I still see relegation as a very serious concern.
cromer, not sure if you watched the match, it really was extraordinary! i am not exaggerating when i say town's first half performance was probably the worst i've ever seen from any side at championship level - they were absolutely terrible. how it was only 2-0 was a mystery and i could honestly see 7 or 8 more goals flying in if barnsley started the second half with an early goal. as it happens, the visitors early goal suddenly propelled them back into a match they weren't in and the confidence grew and grew and in the end it could have been them rack up the 7 or 8 goals! it was a match which truly summed up the championship - you just never know what is coming next!! i saw enough from ipswich during that 2nd half to suggest they will finish mid table at worst but it was only 45 minutes and baring in mind, as yorkie states above, how many players are due to leave, the respective ages of their personnel, the busy christmas schedule, tough fixtures on the horizon and contracts nearing ends, i still think that the 1st half showing was closer to their true ability than the 2nd and a relegation battle will be on the cards for the rest of the season. i think it has to go down as a bit of a freak result as a one-off. maybe i'm wrong and they'll go on a run now and get themselves safe but i don't think so. amazing game though, especially following immediately after our terrific match - its not every saturday you get to see 14 goals scored!!
Never ever read TWTD. I worry about the world half of the readership live in. It certainly isnt the real one. I dont think we were as bad as our 7.5 match run would suggest but we are not great either. The losing streak had a lot to do with individual errors which we really need to sort out fast. I would suggest that our team could, if they get their act together be a lower top half team this season. I can see a finish of 8-14th being achievable but it will need a lot of work and either the renewal of some loans or some sensible purchases in Jan.
Unfortunately that was nowhere near our worst display this season! We have gone through lacklustre, uninspiring and dull to useless, incompetent and inept with the odd splattering of entertaining, attacking and exciting.
really??? jesus! honestly tractorbhoy, i couldn't believe my eyes. what the funk have all your fans been banging on about sonko being so good - he was truly abysmal!! i kept hoping he would get the ball as whenever he got it i had the feeling barnsley would score from it! i've compared the current ipswich team to roeder's norwich team a few times but i never saw us play as bad as that. i did however see us absolutely batter champions-elect wolves under roeder and everyone thought a recovery was on the cards and we could push up the table. it wasn't to be so i would urge on the side of caution about turning a corner
They couldn't have been worse than when they got tonked by Posh earlier in the season and the possession stats were 90%/10%. Man did I love watching that one
At half time on saturday it looked like the 7 - 1 was about to be eclipsed (assuming eclipsed is the correct word to use?) Buoyed by our marvellous 4-2 earlier, I had a spring in my step as i headed down the pub to watch my sporting weekend completed in style All going swimmingly to plan at half time. Jewell must have drugged the Barnsley players at half time, cos Jason 'chubby' Scotland even got on the scoresheet!
true! that must be a record for possession! it just beats barcelona who fairly recently beat a team 9-0 with possession stats at 89-11%. ipswich were down to 9 men but still an astonishing stat!!
I'm glad to see Cromer that you are a purveyor of our supporters site TWTD it must be pretty boring on yours!
We certainly haven't turned a corner and there's alot of hardwork to do but it was good to stop the run of losing games and in such spectacular fashion. I think the game summed up the Championship well, so unpredictable, nothing surprises you anymore. Just look at some of the results its crazy. I think it also pretty much sums us up under Jewell, either atrocious or really good. And superman I would agree with tractorbhoy that was certainly not the worst performance I've seen. The thing which concerned me most is how gungho we were really for a team who had lost 7 on the spin and were 1-0 down, it was like watching a knife slicing through butter!! Saying that even though our defence was atrocious I thought Barnsley played very well. I don't think the run we've been on is how bad we are but then I don't think we are that good either. I see quite a few more struggles ahead but if we can get past xmas not flirting to closely with the relegation zone then I can see us putting a late good run together toward the end of the season but that's only if we can build upon last weekends result and get a decent amount of points over the xmas period.
I agree that he has been immune to criticism from some of our supporters although he came in during a time of need/(desperation) and put in a couple of heroic performances. definately more of a stop gap than a long term solution, and yes he was poor that night and has been a little ropey in recent weeks (although he's just back from injury) As for our worst performance, I don't think this comes near. We were abysmal against Peterborough (as we all know) the Southampton game (although they are a very good team) we were poor but the lowest of the low would be Millwall away having spent the money to then sit through that was sickening, Millwall and Burnley away would be my picks for worst performance of the season. 1st half at Barnsley wouldn't even make the top (or bottom?) five
King, we also failed a shot on target against Blackpool, although they are a decent team our performance was unacceptable. Our first half against Doncaster was also woeful
Well Supers perhaps we don't get the luck of playing against 10 men as often as you do and the benefit of poor refereeing decisions!
thats a worry if that wasn't your worst performance (1st half)!! i had the fortune to watch your match against the posh as well but i would say the scoreline flattered peterborough in the first half. a couple of decisions went against you. ok, you were piss poor in the 2nd half of that one but you had 9 men and there wasn't much you could do. during saturdays first half it was amazing how your defence and midfield would just part like the red sea and players could just march straight through the heart of your team. completely and utterly hopeless all over the park. you couldn't even pass the ball to each when 5 yards apart! fair play, it was a hell of a turnaround but i think it was more a freak result than any major change in fortunes. it was pretty clear barnsley thought the game was won at half time and once the momentum diverted from them to you early in the 2nd half there was only likely to be one outcome. saying that, they nearly made it 4-5 at the end and there was still about 5 minutes left! had that gone in i think they'd have equalised!! bonkers!!
have you noticed how we are always winning at the point the red card arrives? they panic when they realise we're a bit better than they thought we'd be...
Indeed you are correct. That would mean the 1st Half at Barnsley would be struggling to make it into top 10 worst performances this season....... and Superman our midfield/defence have (for the most past of the season) been complete strangers and the complete lack of balance has been where we've gone wrong too many chiefs not enough Indians would spring to mind. Although I've been impressed with Bowyer and his workrate he could well be 'that' player that keeps our midfield in check which we've been missing... Possibly since Matty Holland
king, you of course see a lot more of ipswich than i do, but i suppose it just came as a bit of a shock just how bad you were during that first half! all i'll say is you were far, far worse than i had imagined you to be so if that wasn't even a particularly distressing half compared to others this season then you are in massive, massive trouble. admittedly, i was suitably impressed with your response 2nd half but as i stated above i think it merely papers over the quite apparent cracks, of which there are many!
I think you are right Superman. It does paper over the cracks although I do think we have (hopefully) seen the worst of it now. I'd like to think PJ has realised the need to get the balance right in midfield as we need a gritty midfielder to hold shape and break things up. Probably the reason we've been so poor is how easily teams can get at us and half decent players are made to look like worldy's against us. For me Hyam or Bowyer are the only two who are capable and Andrews could do if needed but he's clearly one of most attacking threats and not someone to rely on being here all season. For me we don't need the amount of Centre Midfield players we have especially as they all offer something similar. I imagine we'll end up mid table with a few more good and a few more bad performances the win one, draw one, lose one type of team and then we'll just have to see what is in store from then on. Hopefully a decent balance in the team and some exciting winger... We can but hope.
