Our defence are due a good game and a clean sheet. Particularly Rusty - I am currently very nervous every time I see him challenge for a header as it is invariably either lost or headed into a dangerous area. I don't know what has come over him the past few weeks but he needs to cut out the basic errors and be stronger. Seb did well on Saturday but whenever he has possession and is pressed by the opposition forwards you can see disaster looming. What we do need to do is actually start playing at the onset of the match rather than give the opposition control for the first 15 minutes until we settle down. The difference between our performance in the first 10 minutes of the first and second halves both this week and last has been huge. I don't know if it is nerves or if AN has just kicked some backsides at half time but certainly on Saturday we looked like a different team second half.
Martin doesn't cope well with big strikers wanting a wrestling match. He's much better when he's dealing with movement, etc. I'd generally say the same about Bassong as he's pretty quick, but at least he can do the physical battle too. On that basis I think I'd almost prefer them to have Vossen up front, or even Bamford than Kike who's a big guy. Generally, though, my concern for next week is not our defence, strange as that might sound against Boro. We can expect them to come out attacking frantically in the first 20 mins, whereas we start pretty slowly. So long as we can see that first rush out, we'll get a toehold in the game. The real question is whether we can break down their defence.
If I was a neutral I would be emptying my piggy bank to pile in on Boro at those odds. In the 2 games against Brentford they looked a class act and you can't just ignore the fact that they beat us home and away in the league. As far as Rusty is concerned you do have to bear in mind that Murphy has bullied every other centre back during the course of the season - the main reason his team of no hopers got to the play offs.
You could argue that Rusty did well to stop Murphy getting a meaningful header towards goal and it was a combination of a defence on it's heels and Ruddy being a touch slow that allowed Smith the goal. Not saying I would argue that, but you definitely could. Russ isn't quite strong enough in the air at the moment, it's clearly his biggest weakness (And not a good one to have as a CB), but I have to say his distribution is fantastic. There were a fare few attacks he set up in the second half by playing great balls into Jerome or behind Ippy's defence for Redmond. He also reads the game quite well and generally pops up in the right place.
Yes, he is very good at that, but needs to win headers against the opposition, as I'll bet Boro have worked out that that is his weakness.
'He also reads the game quite well and generally pops up in the right place.' Agree with the last few posts, and especially this. Martin is an excellent reader of the game and did incredibly well at this in our first season back in the Prem. But he's not so good against the big physical presence. He needs to up his game in the final if we're going to have any chance of the Prem.[/QUOTE]
He was totally outjumped, well he managed to get a few inches off the ground, for the header leading to the binners goal. No spring in his legs at all. Which is a little worrying for a central defender.
This Whatever league we're in next season, AN must buy a decent CB who has height and can jump (Curtis Davies of Hull has been mentioned if they are relegated) and move Rusty back to RB!!!
Hi Rick, to be honest I was not clear in my original comment. By the 'penalty changed everything' I did mean not just the goal that ensued but of course the fact that Ipswich were reduced to 10 for possibly the rest of the game and extra time if neccesary. To their credit they did well to come back to 1-1 and that is where my comment about freezing comes into play as it was very nervy for a while. I would hesitate to try and call the result as all bets are certainly on.
I thought we were all over them until the goal went in. The man down actually made it a bit more confusing, because it meant the Binners went even more defensive and I thought we got a bit complacent straight away afterwards. If they hadn't got a red card, it's impossible to say of course, but I think we were less likely to have gone to sleep.
Psychologically playing against 10 can be more difficult because everyone knows what should be happening and then to lose a goal and go back to 1-1 could have been disastrous. Our second goal couldn't have come soon enough, let alone the third.
They ran their socks off chasing us down in the first half very effectively but the way we started the second combined with their fatigue looked to me like we'd have won regardless of the sending off. TBH if we had been a bit more clinical or gone for it a bit more in the last 15-20 minutes we could easily have got another goal or two to add a bit of gloss to the score. I think that AN has some tough calls to make on Monday - does Ryben replace Martin (I doubt it, can't see the skipper being dropped for the final), Wes or Dorrans, who to play up front now that Grab is available. On another matter entirely is BJ carrying a knock as he has looked a bit knackered and not his usual buccaneering self the past couple of matches?
