To be honest Norwich didn't look like Barcelona and hoofed the ball more than us.......but without the finesse that we manage.
My Ipswichaphobia has completely gone I sincerely hope you guys go up this year with us . Since living here I am yet to encounter anyone as bad as the people I lived with in London. Sitting outside the Inkerman catching some rays having a pleasant afternoon in your town.
Well it gets no worse than the Inkerman lol..........have a swing at the punchbag if you get frustrated at the result
Creditable performance against a side which showed glimpses of Prem quality when they chose or we allowed them to move the ball about quickly.Sears and Murphy still out of sorts really,but Ward shows potential and it's good to have someone who shows an inkling of getting past his man and to the byline,wish he'd do it more. Knudsen and the CBs played well but Chambers is still the weak link. I thought Douglas offered more than Skuse but there's little to choose between them.Bart had little to do. The draw was probably a fair reflection if you discount the potential mistakes from the officials.
An alright result but I'm less than impressed with the four calls that went against us. Terrible linesmen today, got three wrong.
Have to take the point. I can see how the lino disallowed the first goal, Norwich stepped out and Dougie was in. Happens. I thought until their goal out the blue we were the better side albeit with creating little, then they were after the goal until half time. We huffed and puffed, put in a shift. How Murphy wasn't subbed was beyond me he hid. Douglas was better than Skuse ( off day for me ) and Bru ( who was better than he has been of late, fair play ) Different game on tv than in the ground Spanish I would say where you can see the movement in CM. Dougie was very decent today - like you I'm not a fan though and we do need better. The defence looked very decent today. What the hell happened to Knudsen!? He had a cracker today. Back four and keeper very good actually had a nice balance. They tried to get the ball down and play more. Negatives - * Lack of creativity. * Tempo with the ball waayyyyy too slow. * Sears was poor again today. Needs to show and offer he really didn't do much wide left. Yes not his position but has to do more. Soooo weak for the Nodge goal. We need another CM / wide man / Striker. I like the system we are much better suited to it. Play 4-4-2 and Nodge would have pulled our pants down. Much better, but clearly room for improvement. We need a few faces in. Lets hope we get them for September 1. Seen the highlights, which Murphy incident are we chatting about? first half or second?
I thought we played well in the first half but tailed off in the second. We really must learn to take our chances when they appear, but by and large there were positives and on another day with decent officials we could have won 3-1 My only real negative is Murphy, yes he worked hard but he is so slow and I fail to see what he brings to the party, we must have an alternative as I feel he is way past his best now
Murphy battled well imo, won plenty of headers/flick ons but sadly he was flicking on to nobody! 433 is bullshit, its more like 451 coz most of the time the wide players are dropping back to defend and then the ball is hoofed up to Murphy who is on his own!
On paper it was a complete mismatch so I think we can call it a good day, we played well and took the game to them most of the time and apart from when they aimlessly played the ball from side to side it was good entertainment, Naismith looked completely disinterested but to be fair to him he didn't expect to be playing Championship football within months of signing for the Budgies from Everton. Grant Ward was easily man of the match and looks a great signing, Bishop looked good when he came on and everyone else put in a shift but I would still prefer Tommy Smith alongside Berra, if we had a bit more attacking quality in midfield I'm sure Murphy would be scoring freely but the service to him is predictable and mediocre at best. On the Budgies board someone was saying we were a f****** terrible side and he wouldn't want to have to watch that f****** ****e week in, week out, but they were glad to hoof the ball when under pressure and their general standard of play wasn't exactly top class and it certainly wasn't a case of being dragged down to our level, I think it was more a case of expecting an easy win that didn't materialise. What disappoints most is the attendance, I don't know what the away allocation was but there was less than 2000 away supporters which is not how I remember it from past matches maybe people are preferring to watch the match live on TV at home or at the pub and keep the costs down, sign of the times? I hope not.
We have to stick with the 4-5-1 / 4-3-3. SADLY at 4-4-2 at the minute, CM we're getting our pants pulled down. We did second half vs Brentford. I'd like to see us stick with this as it makes us a hell of a lot more solid, but the key is the wide 2 and 1 from CM getting a lot nearer to Murphy otherwise like Spanish is saying he can win the flick ons till he's blue in the face but he needs help. Also, if he's so isolated it's very difficult for us to score. The 3 in defence with us from last season all tried a lot lot more to get the ball down and do things a bit more simply. That should stand us in good stead. Providing we can beat Preston, 8 points from 5 would be quite a decent start. Plenty to build on. Clear as day we need 3 in, but should we get the right ones we could do alright this season..... COYB
That's a fair assessment Westy, although the service to Murphy was predictable and he was usually outnumbered he still won his fair share of headers but no one was there to run on to them, that just a soul destroying exercise for Murphy and a lesson in pointlessness for the team, if that's our tactic then Murphy has to have close support from runners alongside him or its just giving the opposition the ball. What do you think of Webster Westy? I think he's promising but not as reliable and solid as Tommy Smith but time will tell, Grant Ward has been terrific and he can stay fit and in form he's going to be a crucial part of the side, any thoughts on any new players before the window closes? My mate in Sweden reckons we are looking to loan a 19 year old Norwegian from West Ham called Samuelson who plays in midfield so we might still be able to strengthen.
