It won't happen FM, MM has already stated he is more than happy with the current squad and doesn't need to add to it!! TWAT
I didn't think that'd go down well. When asked about a replacement for Oar, Mick says we have cover in Toure, MN and...... Tabb
Mick never panics, just his way of saying he's not going to panic buy. I would be incredibly surprised if he isn't always on the look out for players to bring in
Good Spanish thanks, I see you're still your usual self. Not able to post as much these days and to be fair whilst I think there's lots to be positive about and Mick has done a great job, supporting Ipswich doesn't excite me at the moment. As I said in another post Mick just seems to take all the fun out of football doesn't he?
My feeling is that the whole Cup experience undermined us, and potentially derailed our season. MM's team choice, players' attitude, underperforming, Subs not taking their chance to shine, MMs people management skills, Club lethargy, 2 decent players leaving, supporters' frustration and 3 forgettable games in dismal 10 days. I like others used to love the FA Cup...a thrill in often otherwise drab seasons and grim cold grey winters. But now?! Totally agree we urgently need fresh talent in as soon as. If not, my ITFC passion will seriously wane! Need to win next 2 games, get back on track quick...others will...are picking up their winnable points again and surging ahead.
Micks way is to try and bore opponents into submission and grind out results, this is OK for the odd game against better teams but week in week out is just not acceptable! Football is supposed to be entertainment but our football is driving the fans away and if we carry on in this manner I can see attendances falling drastically next season. Especially as our most exciting player won't be here next season and I can also see Sears being snaffled up by a mid table Prem side! With his new contract I think things are very cosy for MM, does he give a **** about the fans, does he bollix, the man is an arrogant, pig headed dinosaur of football and I can't wait for him to go, sadly it will probably be at least 4 years, nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
Well 1-0 down at Brum then sadly Douglas does a challenge befitting a kid / Hyam. Shame. A long way back 45 vs 11 men away from home 1-0 down. These variables do happen in footy, unfortunately we have to get onto the next. We're only a point off the play offs with 18 to play ( though Wendy with ££££ / Hooper / Forrestieri ) are clearly an issue and Brighton have kicked back in. Going to be tough to make it, but I'd always back us. It looked like it'd gone totally wrong last season until we pulled off Watford away out of the bag. Irate with Douglas costing us any chance of turning that Brum game around. 3 games out, rightly so. Shame it didn't work out for Oar - I wonder if one more will be coming in before Reading H ?
Finally getting round to my debrief of the weekend (if anyone has any interest in it) I want to open with my biggest gripe. The midfield. What on earth are the instructions given to Skuse & Douglas? Once again we knocked it around at the back only to then have to hump it upfield as there were no options. Neither Skuse or Douglas engage with play when the ball is behind them, they are effectively a tennis net when we have it at the back and only kick into life when the ball goes past them. They spent little/no time in possession with their back to goal. Simply not good enough. As for the match itself, it was actually a pretty even affair. You could argue the toss as to whether it was a 'competitive championship match' or it was a 'dreadful game of football'. Either way, there were 2 glaringly obvious comparisons that could be made. 1. Donaldson occupied our defence all match. The bread & butter defending for Smith & Berra let them down as they couldn't out muscle & outmanoeuvre the physical target man. Compared directly to Murph, who won practically nothing in the air, giving their centre halves a pretty easy day... Which leads on nicley to... 2. The movement from midfield to link up with the target man was poles apart from both teams, Birmingham had players willing to gamble on any knock downs and get on the ball in the final 3rd and most importantly drive with the ball, regularly committing defenders & creating space. We on the other hand looked to give it to Murph or Fraser & watch on hoping they could do something with it. It became so predictable it was borderline embarrassing. Also Sears offered absolutely nothing, in fact the past few games he has been a spectator at best. He is completely wasted when he isn't playing up top alongside a physical striker. The match itself was pretty close so I didn't leave distraught with the loss, only at the self imposed limitations on the team. Key moments went against us. The 1st goal was classic championship football (and reminiscent of Ipswich defending of recent years). The other two were well taken goals (2nd in particular was a beaty) The red card was a fair decision (I would have been howling for a red card if it was the other way round) but overall the ref seemed hell-bent on making the day about him and could have given us a lot more when Fraser was clattered (probably on 5 or more occasions) most notably karate kicked in the head late in in the penalty area and when Donaldson kicked out at Knudssen as he was about to take a throw in, but these things happen and I'm sure we'll get some big decisions go our way between now & May. One of the rare positives was that Luke Hyam looked quite good when he came on. I am usually very critical of his distribution but he looked to be positive (and fairly composed) on the ball. He deserves a run in the team to hopefully add a bit of life into our monotonous midfield. On another day we could have won it & with 11 I would have fancied us to get a point but we move on (hopefully taking some lessons from the match)
Scowey,your assessment of our midfield could apply to, probably, 90% of the home games I've seen this season.It really is beyond depressing.I'm not sure if it's a result of the instructions they are given or their limitations as footballers (probably a bit of both).
