Oxford up next...

There’s a long way to go though, and we’re not out of reach yet.

 

It’s amazing in football, how a bad run can encourage a team to roll their sleeves up and go for it. Question is, does McKenna have the dressing room still?

 

I still hate 1 up top and I'm not so sure our 3 CB's is working either!!

 

Not an enjoyable match today. Could barely see anything, audio screw up at the start from useless iFollow and a poor result in terrible conditions.

 

From what I could see through the fog that was our worst performance for a long while.

Come on KMc sort it out!

 

Thought that was pretty poor stuff tbh, passing poor, shooting poor and defending poor......pour me a drink

 

Weve not been right for a few games now with players not showing the form of Oct / Nov, but the top two just keep winning and are pulling away from us and the big question is can we stay in a play off position ? I know that sounds like a daft statement but our form lately has been dreadful whereas some teams below us are starting to close the gap, what do we think ?

 

As touched on above, depends whether it’s a blip or if there is some discontent amongst the squad. It’s a big squad, there will be egos. There will be damaged egos. Edwards must be livid to not be involved. Hladky and Ladapo also stick out. The central defenders in particular are not at it. Is Morsy getting frustrated? But I’m speculating. What characters are they? By the way, why is Luongo with us? His presence only encourages this problem.

 

All very disheartening, and tbh I thought the ref was going to call it off.

Our current form shows no sign of a decent run. We seem to have a collective failure as to where the goalposts are.

KM has his work cut out. Lets hope for a stirring morale boosting win at home on Tues.

 

I think the goalscoring is only half the story. Last season we weren’t conceding many goals at all. We went on a terrific run of shut outs. I think we’ve stopped being solid at the back in favour of chance creation, which we’ve not then been able to convert. Of course, eventually the midfielders will get fed up with working so hard to create chances to no avail. So really McKenna needs to go back to the drawing board and get us a stable base again.

 

I think youre right, nobody is surprised anymore when we concede a late goal in fact we are almost expecting it, so much so that we know that 1 goal is not going to be enough to get a win or a draw, our solid defence of not so long ago looks flimsy at times, our subs come on and our game plan goes to hell, so called good strikers cant hit the target from a few yards out or gift the ball to the keeper with a scuffed shot.
I know we are not top flight or anywhere near and its easy to forget we are 3rd tier but if we are to progress we have to start converting more of these chances, maybe the new signings are the answer and time will tell if they are but i agree that we need to go back to basics and at least give ourselves more of a chance.

 

Hard not to be glum this evening. But a new year collapse is something of an ipswich tradition and evidence from earlier in the season and earlier in McKenna's reign gives me assurance that it will get better.

I agree with comments above that we need to get back to feeling solid, if that means selling some good defenders in respect of squad harmony then that has to be considered.

 

We’ve got used to Evans letting everything down but I have faith in the owners to make the right calls at the right time. I’m sure they will be giving McKenna their whole-hearted backing for another season and a half at least. The bit that really bothers me is potentially losing Morsy in the summer, who should really be with a top flight club and who we’ve built the team around.

 

Arguably the worst result and performance under McKenna so far. The conditions were poor, but they were poor for Oxford too. We created chances, but failed to take them. Defensively, we switched off too many times and gifted Oxford two goals. These are recurring issues we’ve flagged on here for weeks.

There’s still a lot of football to play, but we desperately need a run of wins (particularly playing five of the bottom six over the next several weeks). Hopefully the new strikers adapt quickly. Hopefully the rumours of disruptive players are overblown. And hopefully either/both of Plymouth or Sheffield Wednesday go through a poor run of form themselves to give us a chance of playing catch up!

 

Here’s an interesting situation developing. According to McKenna, both managers wanted to abandon the game around 74 minutes when the conditions had deteriorated but were told by the referee that the result of 1-1 would stand, as 75 minutes would have passed by the time of the abandonment.

However, the EFL and FA rules both contradict this - there is no mention whatsoever of 75 minutes and the rules clearly state the EFL Board will decide whether to replay or record the result of any match with a duration falling short of ninety minutes, calling into question both the integrity of the referee and the result.

I can see this game being replayed.

 

Not a chance as Robinson said something totally different and said he told the ref that the game should carry on!!

 

And the curse of KM not winning away in front of a crowd greater than 8200 continues.....

 

Very frustrating, even though we play quality football have quality players and probably the best most expensive squad in the division we don't look like we're going to win promotion this season.

A team that wins promotion doesn't concede late goals after dominating matches, a team that wins promotion scores last minute goals and finds ways to win.

For all of McKennas strengths I feel his naivety is holding us back. We've cried out for an identity for years and now we've got one but it's gone too far the other way we won't stray from those principles we've become too ideological and teams have figured out how to play against us. McKenna is being tactically out thought in every game at the moment and he seems incapable of changing it or having a plan B. When he first joined his substitutions and adaptability to change things in a game were refreshing after Cook but what's happened since then, he seems to have got set in his ways.

We're too predictable, I remember under the Burley years and Royle years we played high tempo good football but crucially the players could mix it up, play intentional long balls, play off the second ball but also we had players on the pitch who were given the freedom to change tac in the game. We currently have a game plan and stick to it no matter what is going on, we have to pass it from the back, we have to not panic, no urgency, no worrying if we're one nil down we'll just keep sticking to it. It feels like McKennas methodical approach leaves little freedom for players to change tactics of their own accord in a match. No matter who we bring in striker wise they also always seem so isolated...why is that?

It's quite embarrassing given our resources and that we try to play like Barcelona of the early 2010s that we look like a fading force in div 3. Thankfully the teams outside of the playoffs aren't in great form currently, if things continue as they are given the form of the teams around us I could see us finishing 6th.

This is the first time I'm concerned we're not in the automatic promotion race, I'm trying to not chuck the baby out with the bath water but we seem more concerned with playing pretty football at any cost over winning games and as i said teams who win promotion don't concede as many last minute goals as we do. I've cried out for years under ME era for us to play better football and didn't care if we went down because I couldn't bare watching us under Mick any longer, it was like watching paint dry but to be fair watching our CBs pass it around amongst themselves for half an hour isn't the most entertaining at times, it can be like watching Italian football or even a training game at times.

If we don't put some performances in over the next 6 games that's it for this season and McKenna will need to learn quickly on how we need to improve tactically..like alot of our past managers it feels like when the going gets tough they become even more stubborn.

 

You make many valid points PTC, the most significant weakness that is costing us lots of points is KM's last 20 mins tactics and subs, and not coaching the players to see the game out, being out-thought basically. If we had done so over this past 4 weeks, we would be top of the league ffs!

I still admire what he has achieved and have faith in him - but he needs to learn and get savvy quickly! And I dont believe in the rumours of dissatisfaction amongst the players.

 

To his credit he seems to have harnessed a good team spirit and ethic amongst the players (from the outside looking in). We seem to have all the ingredients now for success just lack in game management