Match Day Thread Baggies Away

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It doesn’t get more exciting than this, a week of excitement ‘will they’ ‘won’t they’ it’s what it’s all about being in the thick end of it at end of the season, if you just want to see a stroll to victory why bother, I want the blood pumping all on the line adrenaline coursing through the veins, promotion or play offs we will see but we will always be Ipswich Town.
 
It doesn’t get more exciting than this, a week of excitement ‘will they’ ‘won’t they’ it’s what it’s all about being in the thick end of it at end of the season, if you just want to see a stroll to victory why bother, I want the blood pumping all on the line adrenaline coursing through the veins, promotion or play offs we will see but we will always be Ipswich Town.
If we get over the line, that’ll be our third promotion in the last four years. Our previous three promotions were spaced rather generously across a 54 year period (1968, 1992, and 2000 - including the 22 years after that third promotion).

Yeah, it might not always be entertaining and we entered this season with high expectations - and rightly so - but what a difference these last few years have been compared to the mid 2000s onwards.

If we do go up, the obvious challenge and true hallmark of this team will be if we can establish ourselves in the top flight like those great Town sides of the 70s and 80s. I’d argue it’s a lot harder to do so nowadays, with the vast financial inequalities, but teams like Brighton, Brentford, Fulham, and Palace prove it can be done.
 
I wont pretend that was an enjoyable watch, we saw a few phases of our flowing style especially after subs came on. Baggies looked good in the 1st half and should have scored.

Are players just tired, perhaps overcoached, I dunno. Maybe we put out a total fresh team v Saints and have a free hit, and romp home in style v QPR in front of packed PR.

What I do know is 3 promotions under KM would be a great achievement. Lets wait to see if any of present squad are prem quality.
 
I don't think I buy into this southampton being a free hit.
If they beat us, then the pressure is really on, where we have to win at QPR.
I say we should go out and try and get the win to close the season off with no pressure
I agree I've not been convinced of this team all season and not confident they'd definitely beat QPR.

Every times we've had good opportunities to really push on this season we haven't, but we have had the knack of just about clinging in there.

We've had tight promotion races in the past when the pressure can make it a tough watch but it is entertaining. There's that pressure on us the last few games but it is painful to watch at times, given the quality we have I cant believe some of the situations we get ourselves into in the games and the lack of quality in our play. I would say most of our forward line play poorly 80% of the time, they make the wrong decision, lose the ball, misconstrued, misplace the pass, decide to run into a crowd of players rather than running into the space ahead of them but then they produce that bit of quality every now and then, that's been Philogene and Clarke for me all season.

I really hope we beat Southampton because not sure my blood pressure will cope with needing to win on the last day
 
A poor game but another point earned towards our goal of promotion.

It looked a tired performance for most of it today. Not necessarily physical tiredness, but mental drain from playing so many games. We've had a couple of 7/8 game runs in the last few months that have worn the lads down a bit.

As ptc says, our forward line is pretty poor the majority of the time but moments of magic keep getting results. Azon will never make it as a striker and I feel McK has been starting him in the last couple of games because he feels that Hirst is not going to give everything he can with a World Cup on the horizon.

Jaden and Clarke are both frustrating but equally talented at times. Their overall output will not be enough if we reach the prem though.

Greaves was good at LB but I was thinking we should bring Johnson on to haul Kipre off halfway through the first half. Taylor battled well.

And so we move on to the Saints. Will Kieran rest the strongest team to hope for victory at home to QPR or go for it to secure the points as early as possible?

It's a tough run in we've had compared to others, with midweek matches and another to come when nobody else is playing and have a week to recover. I'm torn between resting the main team to be fresh for QPR or just throwing it all out there on Tuesday.

Come on Ipswich!
 
Good points SD, no professional sportsman or woman should have to play such a run of extra games due to pitch, turf, weather postponements. Until the FA penalise, fine or award points, this absurd issue will continue in what is probably the most demanding league schedule in Europe.
 
A poor game but another point earned towards our goal of promotion.

It looked a tired performance for most of it today. Not necessarily physical tiredness, but mental drain from playing so many games. We've had a couple of 7/8 game runs in the last few months that have worn the lads down a bit.

As ptc says, our forward line is pretty poor the majority of the time but moments of magic keep getting results. Azon will never make it as a striker and I feel McK has been starting him in the last couple of games because he feels that Hirst is not going to give everything he can with a World Cup on the horizon.

Jaden and Clarke are both frustrating but equally talented at times. Their overall output will not be enough if we reach the prem though.

Greaves was good at LB but I was thinking we should bring Johnson on to haul Kipre off halfway through the first half. Taylor battled well.

And so we move on to the Saints. Will Kieran rest the strongest team to hope for victory at home to QPR or go for it to secure the points as early as possible?

It's a tough run in we've had compared to others, with midweek matches and another to come when nobody else is playing and have a week to recover. I'm torn between resting the main team to be fresh for QPR or just throwing it all out there on Tuesday.

Come on Ipswich!
Agree with most of your points SD although I do quite like Azon, for me he's the one forward who's the opposite of what I said in my last post. 80% of the time he's pretty good, connects play well, works hard, makes good runs, takes up good positions in the box, but as soon as he's front of goal he fluffs it.

I also really like Hirst but I don't like the Hirst of this season, he's great in leading the press but only if those around him follow suit and we don't seem to do it with the same intensity this season. Although yesterday when he and Burns came on it did improve. Which I don’t understand, is this something we're not working on with the new players? Hirst worked so well in a cohesive unit and was one of the main players who took us to the next level and brought the best out of others. This team is more of a team of individuals and to he honest he's not great as an individual. We're far slower in our build up and that means he's trying to hold the ball up and play with his back to goal which isn't one of his strengths. We play far less through the midfield, cut inside a lot more and take on players rather than running into the space.

We had this debate between him and Delap last season, where Delap was clearly the better player but as a team we looked far better with Hirst in the team.

I feel the same about Kipre, he's definitely a liability, I thought it all season. He's a Championship version of Nsiala, to use the % analology 90% of the time he looks superb, strong, calm on the ball, unbeatable but at least once a game he'll beat himself. I think Johnson has done a pretty good job of coming in for Leif and I think we've actually looked more solid defensively with him there.
 
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Azon does do some good things on the front line but if you can't find the net consistently, you won't continue to get minutes as a striker for long.