Hey all, can give my views now just got back from a poker tournament in Gala Bristol, god that was a long ( and unsuccessful I may add !! ) slog ! Firstly, I would say on general play 3-0 perhaps flattered us. But lets move onto a review as I saw it of our players. Stockdale - Very assured debut. 1 v good save second half, and another good one pushed wide. Good debut, good communication, pleased ! Cresswell - Looks a cracking player. Very good debut, liked what I saw. Good going forwards, not shy in the tackle and good defensively. Delaney - Not bad at all, good blocks etc. Did what he had to well, and actually TRIED to pass the ball to feet. Well played. Ingimarsson - Good debut. Looks like he's a ball passer, which really helps distribution. Dealt with high balls well too. Edwards - Solid at right back. Didn't go forwards overly, and wasn't at all caught out positionally ( makes a change I hasten to add ! ) Kennedy - Good distribution at times, however for me often wasn't in the game. Did what he did well, however feel someone else could do this role better. Bullard today would have really loved it..... Bowyer - Cracking debut. Bite to the midfield, good in the pass / challenge - exactly what Norris isn't. A fantastic bit of business. Leadbitter - Better today than usual. Passed the ball quite well, and not always backwards. Good solid display. J.E.T - Must confess I wasn't remotely impressed. Looked lazy and often uninterested. Will need matches for sharpness but I really don't see what he offered us today that Carson wouldn't have. Happy when he was subbed. Attitude is going to have to improve somewhat as I can't see the fans being overly supportive if he shows that much interest in other games. The chip from your shoulder for not being Arsenal standard will have to go in order for you to make it.... Martin - Cracking game, very well taken goal. Well done Jewell regarding Martin, giving the lad a go. Under Keane he would have been sold. Really did well going forwards and offered a lot defensively. J.E.T will have to take a similar " I've left a big club and need to make a career " approach and could learn a lot from Lee... Chopra - BLISS, we finally have a goalscorer. Ran his socks off, good link up play and took his two goals very well, especially the first. He'll score goals-a-plenty if we feed him... Subs Smith did fine when he came on, as did Carson. Overall I thought we offered a good account of ourselves. However, its only the opening day. Look at last season, we beat Boro away 3-1. Take the season before, Norwich lost at home to Colchester 7-1..... You can only beat whats put infront of you though. As for Bristol City, when they passed the ball on the deck to me they WERE a threat. However, for whatever reason they seemed to employ more often a long 30 yard crossfield pass into the strikers. That seemed to be their number 1 tactic to me, and I hope their fans aren't treated to that every week. It isn't fair. Another point I will make is our defending set-pieces. Our marking/ jossling / first to the ball was VERY VERY POOR. City missed two free headers from 6/ 10 yards out, at least 1 should have been a goal or on target minimum. We are rather small and I fear we could concede quite a few goals from set pieces....... Hopefully someone who goes to various games can write a decent report for me to read. I always enjoy seeing other peoples comments on games, its interesting to see what people think. Likewise, I'll be interested to hear other Ipswich AND Bristol City's fans of todays game.
What about the formation Westlake - was it more 4-5-1 or 4-4-2? What did you think? With all respect to Bristol City we need to keep our feet on the ground, there are more difficult opponents in this division.
It was very much 4-5-1 with Kennedy holding with Martin on the left flank early doors with JET from gladiators on the right, until them two switched. JET really could do with moving however he was good in the air and did battle when the ball was within 2 metres of him...!
I had you guys down for a win yesterday but did not expect that kind of scoreline, so well done on that count. It also re-inforced my belief Bristol City are going to struggle this season, more so if they do lose Nicky Maynard. Still a long way to go but a cracking start to the season and already you are 3 pts ahead of Leeds Utd
It was nice to see Leeds lose. It was also nice to learn that Norris has joined a club that can't even field five substitutes let alone the old seven
Bristol City weren't 3 goals worse than us. That's for sure. If your keepers going to come out twice, arguably when he didn't for at least 1 if not both and doesn't get there, then problems will arise..... However, their general play and often doing 40 yard crossfield passes into the striker was at best by 30 minutes " so very predictable " so I was more than happy with them doing that. In fairness, there was the odd occasion when it appeared they could get a result from that, but as a tactic it was so very overused. I guess really I'm not given our midfield enough credit. We harried theirs very well and didn't give them space to operate. Off the ball everyone ( apart from JET ) tracked everywhere and really bust a gut. He WILL have to put considerably more effort in I'd say..... Carson for me at this stage with it appearing a proper 4-5-1 however attacking wise we definitely committed numbers, I would have much rather the lad playing 90. That said, it was good to get a look at JET, and Carson with his pace is a fantastic sub to bring on v tiring legs.
Of course they were! All this about how they gave away bad goals is just bollocks. All goals condeded are bad the difference is we now have a top quality striker who can stick away the chances presented. Yes it was a cracking performance yesterday and we beat Bristol at a canter. Lets not spout this crap about how 3-0 flattered us! I know cos I was there!
We had 4 shots on target for heavens sake. Yes we played well yes we were the better side and everything else, however not convinced 3-0 was the most fair reflection on the game. Very very happy with the win but I'm trying to give an abject conclusion so yeah ! Bring on the Carling cup tuesday, then bring on Hull
Fair play Westy all I am saying is that we have a great win away from home keeping a clean sheet in the process and then we start to say things like "oh well the scoreline flattered us!" You were at the game the only time theyt seriously caused us problems was when they scored the offside goal early in the second half. If that had been allowed then of course it would have been game on again. Apart from that we were comfortable and the game was won when Martin scored the 2nd.
Thanks for the reports I think we're going to need a bit of patience with JET. I'm sure QPR fans were slating Taraabt for being lazy and uninterested at the start of his QPR career but support the lad and he will grow in confidence and his quality will come through. We have 9 other players who are willing to do the hard work so that JET can create things with a few moments of skill, just as QPR did. And while I'm comparing us to QPR, they had a small squad as well and did OK. Can't wait for the Hull game. Hopefully we will have Andrews, Struna and a CB by then and I will start to believe that we can be the 'dark horses' we are being billed as by many pundits.
Sounds like the lads did really well yesterday both individually and as a strong unit . Have to say tho i'm still on the fence regarding JET . I really hope he does come up with the goods and its only fair to allow him to get a few games under his belt , but i really dont think it will . So far imo he has not done one single thing to make me think otherwise . A lot of you guys out there seem to think the best is yet to come , but at the end of the day he is supposed to be until recently a premier ship football player so should be showing some of his potential regardless of whether gelled or not . hope i'm wrong but i dont think he's one for us . thoughts coyb
Was at the game saturday, Chopra did well to finish those goals as they were both fairly tough IMO. He stayed very composed quality finishes that others would have easily missed. David James helped you guys out a treat Good luck for the rest of the season
