If it was down to me ( it's not, much to everyone's disappointment) I would play our strongest side and try to keep the momentum up.
I am opting out,can't remember the last time I was going to be in Ipswich but chose not to go to a home game.Just can't be assed to spend money/time on such a game where we invariably show how little strength in depth we have and get knocked out by "inferior" opposition.
Mick has changed the team a fair bit ....but still a strong side imo.....also a pretty attacking line up.
Gerken, Chambers, Digby, Smith, Knudsen, Douglas, Bru, Dozzell Ward, Sears, Grant That's a strong side, all in all. I would have liked to see Kenlock and Emmanuel given a start (especially the latter), but I guess it's not a good idea to completely overhaul the defence. I'm presuming Douglas is playing the Skuse role with Bru and Dozzell pushing forward. And that front three looks very pacy and dynamic, hopefully Sears can bag himself a goal. I don't really know what to expect in the cup games anymore, but I'm hoping we can win this quite comfortably and keep the momentum going. The match against Barnsley was a classic tale of two halves, but credit to McCarthy who seemed to have a epiphany at half-time and realised that playing natural wingers out wide helps with the balance of the team. (What were those green alert to the stewards all about by the way? And what the hell happened with stoppage time at the end of the second half?)
I think Grant will be in the middle with Dozzell pushed forward tbh......I also think the Sears Ward Dozza and Grant can switch about a bit to keep the opposition guessing.
haha oh yes 5-0 on the way eh. Amazed he's gone quite so strong - I thought both full backs would have been given a chance. No way back for Stewart now ( thank christ ) that's the end of that.
Seems either odd or very promising that we are playing Sears up front on his own(?).. by the looks of it anyway, with Ward and/or Dozzell playing just behind him. Let's just hope the back four realise this and don't just hump it forward looking for Murphy. Looking at the line up I'm hopeful for a good performance (and result) and will predict a 3-1 win. Goals from Sears, Ward and Dozzell
Reality check or a potent reminder of McCarthy's apparent disregard for cup games? We're fielding a fairly strong side, and both Bishop and McGoldrick are now on, so it's difficult to use the 'not taking it seriously' excuse here. I'm interested to hear back from the guys who went to the game, according to the stats, it's looking fairly even approaching the final ten odd minutes.
Well, by all accounts, had we been playing one of the better sides on Saturday, we would have been at least 3 down by half time. So, maybe Sat was a freak result and we are as **** as i thought we would be. i hope not btw!!
I think it's too early to start calling/speculating that anything is a freak result. Barnsley did not look like a bad side on the weekend, although I agree if we are to finish in the top six, then beating Barnsley at home is to be expected really. The first half was dire, really boring football, but we had players playing in their natural positions in the second half and things clicked (with the possible exception of Chambers, who, despite being our right back for the past few years, still doesn't look comfortable there). Two pacy, attacking wingers really benefited the side, so what went wrong tonight? Complacency? Misfortune? Or maybe we're not as good as we think? I've always said I don't give a rat's ass about the League Cup, and I stand by that as the league should always take priority. But I never want to see us lose, especially against lower league opposition. Hopefully we can put this match behind us and go again at Brentford. I just hope Mick doesn't look at that result and drops the likes of Grant, Ward, Dozzell etc for the old favourites. I know a couple of players may need resting, but we have to have Ward and Grant on the wings, we need that threat from the wings that Sears and Bishop do not provide because they're more effective down the middle. Despite the joy of our second half performance on the weekend, we only had Skuse as the defensive midfielder and so many attackers going forward. Yes, it's what we like to see, but looking at that line-up tonight, Douglas was our only defensive-minded midfielder and I just wonder if Stevenage did what Barnsley done so effectively, and counter attacked us for the goal.
Our goalkeeper did make a couple of good saves it's true.....but that's his job..........on another day they could of scored but then so could Sears and Murphy .......but they didn't ...
