" By the sound of things it wasn't a great display by us, but do I care? No not at all. " Couldn't have put it better myself - I could HAPPILY criticise so much we do as when I play football I HATE hoofball. I play CM or wing! I cannot stand it. However - whether people like it or not, it's getting us very very good results this season. We require one win max ( Wolves / Brentford HAVE to win BOTH of their games and should we win ONE that's not enough - unreal ) Brentford play lovely triangles - but we're ahead of them. AV IT! coyb.
Great to meet you as well, Westy. Shame we couldn't hold on for the win but Fingers crossed we'll see each other at Wembley
Oh yes or a game before Forest appeals and looks like I'll be at Blackburn now! We may play ugly but it's what we do, and for the most part we do it well. Like anyone I really would love free flowing passing footy - footy I could understand more / footy that made more sense to me. But I will put my opinion on style to one side SHOULD we get results. If we don't, we're not making progress then in no way shape or form would I be backing what we were doing. However, I can see major progress being made so I will always support progress.
Good result today,I saw the match on $ky and thought it was fairly typical of our performances this season.We don't half make it difficult for our selves 1)by not holding onto the ball well enough,even when we aren't under direct pressure and 2)so often lack any width/people making themselves available off the ball.This is not calling for "champagne football" just basic tactics to take the pressure off our,for the most part,magnificent defence.
Couldn't agree more, even if our overriding strategy is not to get beaten, spending more than 10 seconds in possession without a hopeful ball forward would make things a little less tense, and could possibly open up an opportunity.
A bit off topic this but I think whatever happens this season, there is a good chance that Berra will sold in the summer. There must be premier league scouts watching him & he has been (certainly for the last few weeks) our best player by a mile - IMO, best CB we've had since De Vos. We may get some good money for him but how do we replace him - would certainly be a much bigger loss for the team than Mings or even Murphy
We replace him by moving Chambo back into the middle, where he should be because he sucks arse at full back. Hopefully it doesn't happen though.
Potential for offers for a lot of our squad, but last summer we lost one of our most important players. Mick will have a replacements before he sells. Or if not, as SD says, we go back to the Chambers Smith partnership that was successful pre-Berra
Berra really is the glue to that defence. Saves Tommy time and time again, organises Mings and helps the RB Chambers out of position. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tommy move on this summer - we have to keep Berra!
Agree all Berra is different class isn't he. I never thought I'd say this, but get them HOOFING Mick, win the headers, make the opposition fans go MENTAL. Win the 5050s we're an absolute nightmare to play right now. Watford couldn't muster a single shot on target vs us - they are a classy outfit. Wolves managed ONE on target yesterday. Away at two very good outfits = one shot on target vs us. Incredible stuff. Beat Nottingham Forest and no ifs and buts, we're top 6. COME ON. No side would fancy playing us over two legs. Anyone remember Inter Milan v Barcelona c league semis with Mourinho at Inter? Probably 25% possession Inter, smacking, hoofiing, being ugly, doing everything sides hate. IF we come 6th, chances are we'd play open expansive Bournemouth or Norwich City now. More than happy to do that to either of them.
Really? Norwich or Bournemouth, you want one of the best two, sadly we will not beat either, we are not that good, if i was one of the other sides, Ipswich are the team i would want to play because we hardly go at teams and have no plan B should we go behind, maybe in a one off final we have a chance but over two legs.....
After watching yesterdays match, i wouldnt give most of the team more than 5 out of 10, in a game of such importance that is not good, we got away with it, Wolves looked poor tbh!! I thought our midfield was poor and that includes Parr, who i rate!! Nobody gets their foot on the ball and runs with it, the ball is treated like a bloody hot spud, our passing is piss poor, how many chances did we create yesterday? I cant remember any, which is not good in a game of such importance!! I just hope, whoever we get has a few injury probs and an off day. Will we be good enough if we go up, nowhere near but with the riches comes lots of decent new signings, so i pray we get a bit of luck and make the promised land!!
Berra was absolutely immense Spanish, unreal. From a neutral point of view, a footballing point of view, I too would give the majority of them a very poor score. Probably 4/10. From a workrate point of view, annoyance point of view, doing what the manager asked them to do? 8/10. " Nobody gets their foot on the ball and runs with it " - that's because of the instructions the management is giving them! Likewise asking how many chances we created - how many did Wolves make? That was the aim of the game, stop Wolves playing and we did it perfectly.
If you take the results v Bournemouth this season we've already done them on away goals............. Both tough sides but if we get there I think we'd give any side a good game. Sure, it may not be pretty but I couldn't care less. I really couldn't! Mick's done a superb job, and it's likely to be our first play off campaign since 04/05 - I could nitpick this that and the other that I'm unhappy about but with this being our best season in 10 years personally right now, and considering what happened Friday with my nan I couldn't give a flying f***! Lifes too short.
Firstly, sorry to hear about your Nan, Westy. I hope you enjoyed the match. I realise I'm a bit late to the reaction here, but I think, tactically, that was a good performance, but in terms of actual player performances, we were poor. Firstly, we mostly stopped Wolves from playing, limiting their chances, while frustrating the crowd and, ultimately, getting something from a difficult game. On those counts, we obviously succeeded. But we looked haphazard and indecisive on the ball, we rarely strung several passes together, we barely had a spell of sustained dominance, we created little, and offered an indication that, should we secure a play-off place, we probably wouldn't be hanging around for long. Now that last point isn't exactly a negative. There are a few on these boards who will seemingly hate McCarthy no matter if we finish fifth or eighth this season, but he has undoubtedly improved this club and has inspired some impressive, consistent performances from a squad that, on paper and in terms of pre-season expectations, were not expected to be challenging for promotion. Should we achieve a play off place at all, and after yesterday's result we took a step closer, then I don't think we should be critical of McCarthy at all. In the grand scheme of things, a top six finish would be excellent. Back to the match, and Berra had a brilliant game. I was disappointed with Mings, whose gradual decrease in form was perfectly encapsulated by yesterday's performance. We were completely over-run and looked pedestrian in midfield. Jonathan Parr stood out as having a disappointing game and Bishop was anonymous. Tabb and Murphy also disappointed. But we got the point and, ultimately, the result is what counts. The home game against Forest is crucial. Win that, and should results go our way, we might be able to get away with just a point at Blackburn, which will be a difficult match considering we have not won at Ewood Park, in the league, since 1991. Side note: Congratulations to Needham Market for taking a closer step to the Isthmian Premier League after a 2-2 draw at home to Harlow Town. A brilliant atmosphere, just a shame they surrendered a two-goal lead in front of a decent-sized crowd, but a win in their final game of the season will see them move up the football league ladder. Always good to see Suffolk sides do well. Ian Westlake plays for them too! Side note 2: Apologies in advance if half of this doesn't make sense, I'm seriously hungover today. Spanishs' Siesta Summary: Good result, and stopped Wolves playing, but overall, a poor attacking performance. We continue to look unsure in possession, pedestrian in midfield, and poor games in particular from Mings, Parr, Tabb, and Bish. Brilliant from Berra. Still in play offs and punching above our weight. Nottingham - crucial.
I didn't see the match but reading the comments are what make it so difficult for me at the moment. When you read comments like our play is a 4/10 but I would take that every time or Nuggets first two paragraph then I cant agree. Football for the club is without doubt a results based business and from that point of view we are working wonders but we pay out 30 quid a game/ 450 quid a season ticket (whatever way you go) in part to follow the club but also for me, because I love watching football as an entertainment. We just don't do that. Rarely have under MM and I cant believe we ever will. I suppose I am lucky in a way because every manager that I have seen overseeing things at PR bar one has been a footballing man, admittedly with mixed results. The one exception was RK, whose negative hoofball didn't work and who I hated so it was very easy to want him gone. (to put that into context I started going regularly around 1995 when I was in the last few years of high school) Im just going over old ground really but this post is more about the varying stances us fans take rather than the way we play. None of them are wrong as we all post what we feel in our hearts and heads but for me, its ok to huff and puff through some games but you really need something behind the result. It appears from other posts, there are followers who only care about the result, some who only care about the style and probably every variation between the two. Its amazing how even a winning team cant keep us all satisfied.
Agreed regarding your last point, Tractor Bhoy. In an ideal world, we'd be watching a successful Ipswich side get results while playing attractive, attacking football. Unfortunately for that, you need the right coaching set-up with that ideology, but you also need very good, technically proficient footballers. Teams like Bournemouth and Brentford like to play it on the ground and they're fairly successful, but of course there are sides that play it on the ground that are not doing well this season. As much I don't like shelling out £30 for a ticket and watching direct, cautious football, I personally believe it would be worth it if it results in promotion and we're playing Premier League football next season.
Tb, i absolutely hate the way we are playing, it really is Sunday league stuff, absolutely no skill and flair. Now and then you have to win ugly but every bloody week............ We are a laughing stock snd would i take a win every week playing like this, over a mixed bag of results but playing champagne football? Nope, i like football, not rugby, so give me a mixed bag of results playing attack minded football and actually running with the ball, over winning playing hoofball, all day long!! Just glad i dont pay to see it!!
