I am rather happy with our start to the season. Only four points from the playoff zone, in contention is something we have really been in the last 7 or 8 years, we've had a few absolutely shocking starts. A little annoyed with a few points dropped, the Derby 4-1 to 4-4 springs to mind , could have had arguably another 5 points on the board. Never mind, lets hope it balances out ALA Blackpool. Very happy with how Mick is running the club. Has used the loan market correctly, signing up Tabb/Murphy and McGoldrick. Using it again very cleverly in my eyes with Tunicliffe, and to quote Mick ( or something similar ) he has stated he ONLY wants to sign loans if they are good enough/ready to go STRAIGHT into the team. How I DO NOT miss Keane or especially Jewell on that front, blimey was it 13 loanees or something ridiculous we had under Jewell one year? For once, we are actually loaning OUT our own players, with players getting the opportunity to get fit/impress and come back into the side, ala Taylor. Hopefully it will push Hewitt on, same with Wordsworth when he goes out, and it will do Mr Marriott no harm whatsoever. Hunt appears a particularly good addition to the left side, offering balance. According to one poster, he gave the best first team performance in an under 21 match he could remember. Pay as you play appears very sensible, very minimal risk. I must confess I have only seen Ipswich once live this season at Reading, and as you know, I am not due back until May 16 so season is probably over for me. How about the rest of you, happy, unhappy, reasoning? I'm the happiest I've been with Ipswich since Magilton 07/08, however could Mick be another Royle for us? I think the jigsaw is coming together rather nicely at Portman Road
Hi westy. Hope all well in Thailand. I would echo most of those sentiments. Some needless points dropped,derby obviously,when our defence is one of our stronger areas. Mick is building a fairly competitive team and we are in touching distance of top 10 and playoffs. I will be happy with top 10 after the last few seasons struggles. With our lack of funds MM has utilised the loan market well and not brought in a load of mercenaries. Dids is doing what a lot of us thought and scoring in patches then goes a little lean again. Hunt certainly could compliment cressy nicely down the left and may be a shrewd move. Overall quite satisfied so far. Far from perfect but us fans are fickle and will never be happy. Areas for improvement for me would be to find ourselves a decent keeper although gerken is holding his own and still missing an out and out goal scorer. Murph never will be and dids seems better just behind creating for himself and others.
I hope Mick is not another Joe Royle. I'm sure we would have been promoted if he hadn't been so negative about his own team. After all this it's now time for Evans to back the manager in January. We need to get a serious right back in first and foremost, an attacking midfielder and some wide men.
" I hope Mick is not another Joe Royle. I'm sure we would have been promoted if he hadn't been so negative about his own team. " Is this a late April fools comment, have you had a bad day or what other explanation can you possibly come up with to that conclusion? Royle got us from 22nd after a 3-0 defeat at Grimsby, sorted out the squad and just missed out on the play offs. Then two campaigns with zero money, selling players and into the play offs. Dear god, what the hell was he supposed to do. He was absolutely fantastic with us, end of.
He was always moaning Joe Royle, I never liked him. He's held up as some kind of hero. Yes we had problems but he still had a handy set of players compared to what we have had for the last five years.
How's it going Westy, enjoying your time abroad? I am happy with where we are in the league and expect us to finish in the top half. I would say that was the minimum requirement for us to be able to say that progress has been made. Top six is not beyond our reach yet but realistically I think we will finish above tenth but just short of a play off place.
I'll tell you who I admire - Harry Redknapp, Gus Poyet, Gianfranco Zola, Ian Holloway, Brian McDermott, Gary Johnson, Roberto Martinez, Roberto Di Matteo, Brendan Rogers. I'll tell you who I don't admire: David Moyes, Sam Allardyce, Sean Dyche, Steve Lomas, Kenny Jacket, Martin Jol, Manuel Pellegrini, Nigel Clough, Lee Clarke, Paul Ince, Darren Ferguson. So it's definitely not true that I don't like anybody. Mick McCarthy would be somewhere low down in the top third and Joe Royle would be somewhere in the bottom half. You can say I'm not being realistic talking about some of those managers but there's a good reason Joe Royle packed in management after Town save for a stint with the mighty Oldham Athletic.
You admire Harry Redknapp - the complete personification of a cheque book manager but don't admire a manager who gets a team competing whilst having his best players sold off. Not quite sure I understand why but each to there own. Onto the original question, We are pretty much where I was hoping and expecting us to be. No humiliations, not struggling not relying on loanees. I not impressed with our style of play and if this question was asked before the Blackpool game I would also be questioning our plan b and ability to make changes which have an impact. The style issue is hopefully just the first part of our transformation as MM has done wonders in making us hard to beat etc etc. Hopefully once he is satisfied that we are stable he will then bring in a bit of style to the play. If it was a school report it would be a B+
Well said TB, you said everything about our situation that I couldn't be arsed with writing earlier (having just woken up)
I think you'll find the cheques were mainly written before Redknapp came in and you only need to look at where they were to see writing a cheque isn't the whole answer (but of course it helps). He has consistently achieved. I'd say expecting but not hoping. I would have hoped to carry on from last year and be challenging this season.
Anyway back on topic.....i think we are about where many of us thought we would be........we have let a few points slip through our mitts but drawn a few games that last season we would have lost. Also IMO our performances overall have been a major improvement on last seasons ( apart from a blip in a couple of games lately) and i am also glad that we have not been on the end of any hammerings that early last season happened every other week. I think a good run after Christmas could see us grab a play-off place better to make a late charge than to peak too soon. I'd like to see us only adding one or two quality players between seasons rather than the wholesale changes we have seen in the past 4-5 seasons.
