First half was pretty dismal,looked like a typical mid table clash with neither side able to impose them self on the match. Second half we looked a bit better and got behind them for the two goals.Hyam looks a decent replacement for Douglas who shouldn't walk back into the side once his suspension is over.As others have said it's just a shame our best player is once again not really ours.
It's been like that for years Al. Gio, Dj Campbell, Williams and Fraser. It's a similar situation for many clubs in our league and lower. Form a solid spine of decent players and supplement with quality you can't afford in the form of loans. Still doesn't excuse the style of football a team plays, regardless of spending levels.
It may not excuse the style of play, however, with 17 to go we're 6th. Do I like the way we play? No. Is it likely to change anytime soon? Probably not - that said on TWTD a few did say we tried to keep the ball on the deck more second half so that's good. End of the day, whether people like it or not it's a results business first and foremost. Football isn't iceskating, you don't get extra points for style. Agree re the loanee however it's a season long loan and we've used the market the correct way so I have no issues with this at all. Sure it's unlikely bar Bournemouth going down and us going up ( happen to think they will stay up ) but it's a lot better than Paul Jewell's hilarious loan approach. Both Niles and especially Fraser have helped this season be more than decent to date. Another class loanee and we'll have a real chance. Gotta feel sorry for Pitman, and well done Varney for coming back and contributing!
A good win after a terrible first half with AMN posing but achieving absolutely nothing, its no wonder he was taken off at HT and Bru brought on. The second half was entirely different with Town dominating for long periods with Fraser and Sears instigating attacks down both flanks but why do we leave ourselves open to being hit on the break? We got lucky a couple of times when Reading missed when it looked easier to score, wheres the defensive discipline gone? Im still disappointed we didn't bring some quality in but that was a good 3 points last night and an impressive second half.
It's easy to focus on the result rather than the football when you don't pay to sit in front of it in the freezing cold
I don't really want to start a 'results vs style of football' debate on here, but I think we're all in agreement that promotion is the main objective, at least from a short-term perspective. The riches you get for just showing up in the Premier League, these days, is crazy. While most teams around us seem to be 'speculating to accumulate' with regards to their financial spending, we seem to just get by with a strong core of first-team players, a bucket-load of passion, and an admirable endurance up to the final whistle. Will it get us to the Premier League? With luck ,we'll get a play-off spot. And from there, who knows? I'm not a regular at Portman Road anymore, and that's more down to the ticket prices than the style of football, but from the several games I've seen this campaign, we seem to be passing the ball around on the floor more than last season.
True enough....... .......but do you feel better walking home after a scrappy win or a total football loss? Might be hard to answer as we haven't tried total football for a few decades...
Agree Nuggets I've not been too often this season but from what I have seen it's certainly been a marked improvement this season. Still not perfect but getting there I would say.
Based on the sixteen games I've seen this season there is zilch improvement in the quality of our play!
I completely disagree that it's a results business. If it was a results business they wouldn't allow fans into the stadium or have football on TV. At the end of the day it's an entertainment business. All my favourite memories from following Ipswich are all entertaining games and the glory of football Mick takes all the fun out of football. The only game I have fond memories whilst we've had Mick in charge is the playoff match last season and that was more for the atmosphere than anything else!!
As we all know we don't play the most attractive football by any stretch and stats can be misleading but here's the shot stats from the last 5 league games. This clearly shows at least we cause teams problems and have a hard working bunch that give it all for their manager. Must've been some 'entertainment' in there somewhere, particularly the Leeds game. 18 v Readings 12 18 v Brums 13 18 v Prestons 12 17 v Leeds 4 14 v Burnleys 8
