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Your Ipswich Town XI of the 2010s

Discussion in 'Ipswich Town' started by Nuggets, Oct 29, 2019.

  1. Nuggets

    Nuggets Well-Known Member

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    With the decade almost over, and a long wait until the next league game, it seems like a great opportunity time to reflect on the past decade and cobble together an Ipswich Town XI of the 2010s. With Paul Jewell, Mick McCarthy, Paul Hurst, and Paul Lambert all spending time at the helm during this time, the decade will probably be remembered for a stolid effort to survive, one season of hope, and then a gradual decline to an eventual relegation. The rules are simple, players are judged between their performances from 1st January 2010 to the present day and are purely judged for their on-field Ipswich Town performances during that time. My XI for this rather forgettable decade is:

    Bialkowski

    C. Edwards – Chambers – Berra – Cresswell

    Waghorn – Skuse – Bishop – Lawrence

    Murphy – McGoldrick


    GK: Bartosz Bialkowski
    Three-time Player of the Year (in consecutive seasons) and contributed to the spine of Mick McCarthy Ipswich Town sides that over-achieved in the middle of the decade. For years he was rated as one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship, particularly his performances in a 2016/17 season where we narrowly avoided relegation. However, a poor 2018/19 season culminated in Ipswich’s relegation to League One. Steadily rebuilding his reputation at Millwall.

    Honourable mentions: Gerken, Fulop

    LB: Aaron Cresswell
    Arguably one of the best Ipswich Town left-backs over the past couple of decades, Cresswell always seemed destined for Premier League football following Paul Jewell’s astute decision to sign him from Tranmere. After 132 appearances in an Ipswich shirt, Cresswell has had a solid career at West Ham United and is back in the first-team picture at the Hammers after a poor opening day performance in this season’s 5-0 defeat against Manchester City. He currently has three England caps.

    Honourable mentions: Mings, Knudsen

    CB: Luke Chambers, Christophe Berra
    For a three-season spell between 2013 and 2017, Luke Chambers and Christophe Berra were a reliable centre-back partnership at the heart of the Town defence. With 318 (at time of writing) and 174 appearances respectively, Chambers and Berra contributed to the solitary play-off campaign of the 2010s in the 2014/15 season. Berra’s handball and red card in the semi-final, second leg match against Norwich played a significant part in the eventual defeat. With Berra departing in 2017, the defence never looked quite as solid. Berra is now at Hearts in the Scottish Premier League, while Chambers is still captain at Town, but his ability and reliability has decreased in recent seasons.

    Honourable mentions: Webster, McAuley, Tommy Smith

    RB: Carlos Edwards
    A problem position for Ipswich over much of this decade, Kane Vincent-Young may have the ability and consistency to make the position his own for the coming decade. However, we’d have to go back to Carlos Edwards to find our best right-back of the decade. A model professional and solid captain, Edwards started as a right-winger under Roy Keane, but was moved to right-back under Jewell and won the Player of the Year award for 2011/12.

    Honourable mentions: Pennington

    LW: Tom Lawrence
    Lawrence’s goals and performances in the 2016/17 campaign ultimately kept us in the Championship. Several of Lawrence’s eleven goals in a Town shirt could be included in a Goal of the Season montage and looked like credible winners, particularly his efforts against Preston and Reading. A drink driving offence has sullied his reputation, and possibly his legacy, but his 2016/17 campaign is arguably the gold standard of individual brilliance in an Ipswich shirt over the past decade.

    Honourable mentions: Fraser, Celina

    CM: Cole Skuse, Teddy Bishop
    Two long-time servants of the club, Skuse has 249 caps and Bishop has 78 caps at time of writing. Skuse, one of the top interceptors of the ball in the 2017/18 season, has been a consistent midfielder in Town sides normally accustomed to punching above their weight in the second tier. Bishop, an exciting and naturally gifted midfielder, has been less reliable after a succession of injuries. However, his undoubted ability and impact in the 2014/15 play off season, along with being a rare positive in struggling 2016/17 and 2018/19 seasons, ensures Bishop deserves his place in the team and edges the equally injury-prone, but talented, Jonny Williams. It will be interesting to see how an ageing Skuse and Bishop, without an appearance so far this season, will contribute to Town’s fortunes over the next few years.

    Honourable mentions: J.Williams, N'Daw, Leadbetter

    RW: Martyn Waghorn
    The Martyn Waghorn show in 2017/18 saw us finish as a solid, mid-table side. A team that looked more than the sum of our parts with Waghorn in it. Notching double figures for both goals and assists, the departure of Waghorn was one of the primary factors in our goalscoring issues in 2018/19 and subsequent relegation. His effectiveness from set pieces, and ability to create something in an otherwise stodgy-looking side, were under-rated abilities we arguably still have not replaced.

    Honourable mentions: Grant Ward

    ST: Daryl Murphy, David McGoldrick
    We have a few options here - which informed my decision to line up in a 4-4-2 formation - with McCarthy’s Town sides typically containing three or four potent strikers in a squad. Freddie Sears’ impact in 2014/15 and his longevity at Portman Road also deserves as a mention, as does the promising potential of Connor Wickham at the start of the decade. Brett Pitman also had a knack of being a goalscoring threat with a penchant for an overhead kick. However, there can only be two candidates here. Daryl Murphy, our all time 12th top goal scorer, alongside the smooth footballing skills of David McGoldrick was our most potent strike-force in the 2010s. Murphy only really took off in Town colours in his third spell at the club, when he joined permanently. His goalscoring prowess in the 2014/15 season, where he dragged us into the top six by plundering 27 league goals, was an emphatic response to doubters of Murphy’s talent. McGoldrick, a more enigmatic talent, was a composed and efficient striker with 45 goals in 142 Town appearances. Injury-prone, he finally achieved a sustained run in the first team and promotion to the Premier League, albeit with Sheffield United after departing Ipswich on a free transfer.

    Honourable mentions: Sears, Pitman, Wickham


    Who would be in yours?
     
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    Last edited: Oct 29, 2019
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  2. stretchyboy

    stretchyboy Well-Known Member

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    Sorry...honourable mention for N'Daw....are you serious? Have we not had anyone more worthy?
     
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  3. stretchyboy

    stretchyboy Well-Known Member

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    On a serious note...tricky.

    A couple of changes from your team...

    I'd go with Fulop in goal
    I'd put in McAuley for Chambers
    I don't think Bish has done enough, so will go for (drum roll.......Norris)

    Other than that, i reckon the rest will be the same as you
     
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  4. Bigalreigned

    Bigalreigned Well-Known Member

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    David Wright just about scrapes into the time period and would probably be the best right back?
     
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    Last edited: Oct 29, 2019
  5. Nuggets

    Nuggets Well-Known Member

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    I must have a distorted memory of N’Daw, but I always thought he was a fairly accomplished defensive midfielder? Norris should’ve got a mention by me though.

    I do like McAuley, and I’m not the biggest fan of Chambers - but he’s been in the team for several years and, aside from the last couple of seasons, has been pretty solid. McAuley was only in the 10s for a season and half, while Wright was only in the 10s for half a season, so Carlos edges it at right back (particularly as he won a Player of the Year gong at the time, which admittedly is not much of a compliment).
     
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  6. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    Bart
    KVY / McAuley / Smith / Cresswell
    Walters / Bullard / Downes / Williams
    Wickham / Murphy

    Player of the decade: Murphy

    KVY is the best right back we've had at the club since David Wright. Woolfy just misses out to Tommy Smith but with more games under his belt I expect him to be in the 2020s team of the decade. Walters, Bullard and Williams - three players who could change a game and make things happen. It's been a sorry decade for CDMs Skuse, Hyam, who are just not worthy of a mention.
     
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  7. Nuggets

    Nuggets Well-Known Member

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    Sorry, but KVY in the team of the decade? On the basis of what, several good games against League One opposition? Bullard at central midfield is also stretching it, in my opinion. He had half a season good form on loan, then his form dropped off a cliff when he signed permanently. He was the sort of player that held the team back in the Jewell years. Yes, the options at central midfield are shockingly thin on the ground, but at least Skuse can point to some consistency over a few years.

    Downes, KVY, and Wolfenden will hopefully be solid candidates next decade, but they’ve done next to nothing so far this decade, especially in the Championship.
     
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  8. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    Any other decade and KVY would not get a look in but Carlos Edwards was not even a right back, he was a winger dumped into the right back role because we had no right back, likewise Jaime Peters and numerous other names. We would not have the top position in League One without him in the side so in the absence of any serious competition KVY is in.

    Some of your picks were very short term so not sure that's a basis for exclusion.
     
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  9. Nuggets

    Nuggets Well-Known Member

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    But ahead of the likes of Carlos Edwards, who won a Player of the Year award in a difficult Championship season and was a decent captain?

    While the likes of Lawrence and Waghorn were only here for one season, they were arguably the best player in those respective seasons and contributed much more, at a higher level, than the likes of KVY, Downes, and Wolfenden have managed thus far.

    Either way, it's all subjective and meant to be a bit of fun. Perhaps the most worrying issue is the lack of credible options in some areas and the ease it is selecting a few players. It really has been a terrible decade, and the last time we went ten years without top flight football was back in the 50s, when we were a relatively new club on the up and yet to break into the top division.
     
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  10. Southcoastoldgaffer

    Southcoastoldgaffer Well-Known Member

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    Good timely post Nuggest to remind our addled brains how poor we have been. Interestingly, from your list, most could, should have been kept here under inspired competent management & ownership, rather than sold off..and what a difference that team could have made!
     
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  11. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    Player of the year is not always the best player. Stockwell and Counago were always popular but never the most talented players on the pitch. Edwards was a decent winger but never a defender.

    I think you're right though that most of us would come up with more or less the same squad but struggle to make a solid XI. Choose any other decade from the 60s to the 2000s and there is an absolute embarrassment of riches to choose from.
     
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  12. itfcptc

    itfcptc Well-Known Member

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    Counago is probably one of the worst examples you could of used here, he was always the most talented player on the pitch. Other players just weren't on his wavelength or it was a cold rainy day
     
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  13. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    I beg to differ. I don't think he was the same player at all in his second spell.
     
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  14. itfcptc

    itfcptc Well-Known Member

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    Good idea Nuggets, although what it highlights to me is what a terrible 10 years it has been, probably the worst in the club's history? There are very few standout players, that doesn't mean we haven't had good players, sometimes it's just the team or situation they have found themselves in. Some players were bang average others had a good half season and that was about it.

    Let's not forget Mr Keane took us into this era, probably the worst part of it.
     
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  15. itfcptc

    itfcptc Well-Known Member

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    We must be talking about a different player. Are you saying people liked Counago because he worked hard?

    For me his talent was never in doubt and funnily enough I actually preferred him in his second spell at the club. The last time we beat Norwich he and Gio were on another level in that game
     
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  16. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    If we put it into perspective, he'd walk away with it now. But in an era when we had the likes of Bent, Armstrong, Stewart or even Kuqi - not even close.
     
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  17. itfcptc

    itfcptc Well-Known Member

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    Just had a look and I'll be honest I couldn't even name a starting 11. So I've divided it up into sub categories

    For me there are only 4 players in the past 10 years who have played consistently well over a period of time who would definitely make it into the 11 and that is:

    Bart
    Berra
    McAuley
    Cresswell

    Other players who came close but I could quite easily justify why they wouldn't make it who have made a high number of appearances over the decade are:

    Chambers - 2 good seasons at CB, then played out of position as a pretty poor RB and now only just starting to look half decent at CB again. I think if he'd played CB all of this time he would be in there
    Skuse - Never rated him under Mick, thought his talent was wasted, picking up now but still not good enough to justify being in
    McGoldrick - Talented but thought in a Mick team he made us look very unbalanced
    Murphy - Probably the closest to being in the starting 11 out of this list. But in reality he had 1 exceptional season and the rest were pretty average
    Sears - Similar to Chambers, if he'd have played his entire time here in his favoured position with a target man alongside him rather than on the wing I'm sure he'd be up there

    Honourable mentions (not at the club long enough or only just made it to the 2010s):

    David Wright - Solid RB, who we have only just replaced but only just made it into the 2010s
    Walters - Great player for us when he first joined but think by 2010 he was in a poor run of form.
    Fraser - Very talented player on loan from Bournemouth who had a great season at PR. Probably our best loan signing (maybe Bullard aside for it's importance)
    Bullard - Had a great half season where he dragged us up the league almost single handedly. Unfortunately never hit the same heights after that. But I have not seen a midfield player since at the club who dominated a game as he did.
    Townsend - Even though he was sent back by us (another one of Keane's baffling decisions) was probably one of the most talented wingers I've seen at the club

    One's for the next decade and this season:

    Kane Vincent-Young - arrived just a bit too late to be included but so far looks like he'll be a great player for us
    Norwood - Similar to KVY, arrived a bit too late to be included but think he'll go on to be an important player for us over the next few years
    Downes - Again only come onto the scene in about the last season, perhaps not quite enough to make it but hopefully will be a mainstay in the team over the next few seasons.
    Woolfy - Same as Downes
     
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  18. johnnywarksmoustache

    johnnywarksmoustache Well-Known Member

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    Johnny Wark is the first name to be put down in any Ipswich Team in any era. <ok>
     
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  19. stretchyboy

    stretchyboy Well-Known Member

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    Terry Butcher for me...probably because I was a centre half myself
     
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  20. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    Not quite seeing the logic here gents. Town XI of the 2010s means players who turned out for us in the 2010s, as far as I understand it.
     
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