Great win tonight!! Things are looking alot more positive now!! Sounds like Barnett is exactly the kind of player and foil for Chops and DJ that we've been missing for years!! Sounds like Smith is showing form aswell, I think he could go on to be a steady performer at this level. Not sure about Orr though, never been convinced by his performances when I've seen him and Edwards still doesn't seem as threatening going forward from RM as he was at RB!!! Lancs I think you're getting slightly carried away on the whole finally a manager who appreciates Hyam front, as he's only played 1 game, if that was the case PJ and Keane both did aswell. Before you can come out with a statement like that McCarthy will have to play him for a large stretch of games!!
Tyrone Barnett is going to be an awesome player for us alongside DJ! I have watched this guy play a lot and he has pace & power and will compliment DJ. Great move from MM in bringing him here!
Hyam MOTM. Definitely. Great performance. Well deserved win. Murph's goal was outstanding. Woo-****ing-hoo!!! I predicted a drubbing. Ha ha!!!
What me senile San Diego?...come on mate..maybe wrong side of 60 and long suffering fan for 50 years plus, but I can still get excited during a match to share stuff! I am now very excited and like everyone ready to enjoy Ipswich footie once again. Grateful to those early reports on the game itself - what a spark Hyam and N'daw are together. MM clearly the Main Man! Onwards & upwards...
Hyam has been used as both a defensive midfielder and more of a box to box midfielder. I think calling him creative would be wrong but he normally make the sensible pass which can then lead to us attacking. He is strong in the tackle for such a small guy and dont mind putting himself about. Personally I like to see him in front of the back 4. If you want a comparison I would suggest hes a bit like Mascherano in style. Obviously not at the same level but will swarm around and then normally play the simple ball but is capable of making the odd run forward. He has a bit more attacking sense than Masch which is an added bonus. I think he failed/ fails to hold down a regular place due to his yellow card record which is very worrying. His yellow last night was for getting involved in something after an undesputable free kick was awarded and he ran half the width of the pitch to put his pov across. A couple of sloppy bits of play also gifted Forest a few chances so he is by no means the undroppable genius that some suggests, which I think mainly comes down to his age and the fact he is a local lad but he is a very talented lad. If we can control his temprement then we have the possibility of having a real star on our books. He would make my first 11 most weeks and I hope he continues to impress so that in a couple of games time NRC doesnt walk straight back in - I know who I prefere to play
Was great to see him keeping his place. He's the best CB at the club for attacking the ball which is something I've been saying for a while. If he sorts his positional sense and decision making he could be a very solid player
I dont get the much maligned Tommy Smith comment personally.Smith done very well last night and his own goal was unfortunate but in general he is a decent young player with a few weak areas to his game. A lot of people I know and also on this board has NEVER had a problem with him. He has made mistakes and some have said he should never appear for us again but I think you could say the same comments about several players - Murphy is another fall guy, Drury, Martin, JET, Chopra, Henderson, Chambers and probably every other player has had comments about their ability to perform at this level consistently enough.
All except Hyam, for some it seems the sun shines out of his backside! But in all honesty I've been saying for a couple of weeks that N'Diaw and Hyam should play in the middle together so I'll claim that one From what I've seen of Hyam he is a very solid and compact player and what has been so impressive of him is his commitment and enthusiasm to get on the ball, something that has certainly been missing. He makes no attempt to hide on the pitch and I think this is a good opportunity for his development as there is still a lot for him to learn but I think we are all happy to see him learning by playing week in week out, even if he does make the odd mistake
King, As I said when replying to SD, I think Hyams main downside is his discipline. Some one pointed out his stats to me when we were having this debate last season. I said he should be playing every week and my mate called up his record from somewhere and its almost a yellow card every game. I guess thats why managers havent trusted him. As much as I like Hyam and I do rate him highly , I find it strange that a lot of fans will ignore his performances when we get hammered or when he has a below expected performance. You can guarantee grumbles about most other players but very little about him. I take it his Ipswich upbringing means we will go softly on him but other youngsters from further afield get a bashing.
8 appearances, 2 sub appearances, 1 yellow for ipswich in the league this season total career: 32 appearances, 5 sub, 8 yellow, 1 red from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/bsp/hi/football/statistics/players/h/hyam_432384.stm
tractorbhoy that's exactly the sort of stupidity that 3 years of Keane and Jewell will drive you to. He is a much better player than Tony Vaughan or Adam Tanner and George Burley didn't think twice about giving them Premier League game time. Cresswell isn't local and the reason he comes in for some very mild stick is that he plays every week. I am just as annoyed that Shane O'Connor was wasted, as things turn out he would've been great as an understudy to Cresswell and option on the left wing. We have let so many players slip under the radar and now it's refreshing that finally one of them is getting the recognition they deserve.
Wright, I looked myself to see how things had changed after posting that. His record for last season was 5 yellows in 9 appearances so might not show the whole picture. I put that together with his pointless yellow from last night and came up with a possible explanation for his lack of games. It might not be right and as you have shown the overall picture doesnt point to that fact so obviously. There may be another reason no manager has trusted him regularly but I have no idea what it is
Maybe it's the same reason that their pathetic teams shamed out club and let so many talented players who have gone on to bigger and better things: they were ****ing clueless.
Im not sure what point you are responding to tbh so not sure how to reply. I have made points about both Tommy Smith and Luke Hyam in this thread and both have been positive in the main. The only thing I think which may be seen as criticism wasnt my pov but what I thought managers might think. Im not sure how Burley/ Vuaghan/ Tanner fits into the equation so cant reply on that. On Cresswell getting stick, I have heard plenty on here/ in pubs saying he is never a left back and we should either play him in Midfield or drop him so I wouldnt say he is immune from criticism. Not sure what point your making about OConnor but I also thought he done well when he was here but havent heard of him since he left so Im not sure if we were right in letting him go. I probably wouldnt have done though. We have let plenty of decent players go. I think we should have kept quite a few of the youngster who have been turned away to be replaced by 'established names' who havent been able to do the job required. Your right players do deserve recognition of a good performance and they also shouldnt be written off after 1 bad one. Sorry if I missed the point you were trying to get across.
You said that Hyam is local so he's getting an easier ride. You also said that we are forgetting the times when he plays and we lose or he doesnt perform. It's absolute nonsense. The very point I made about Cresswell is that he is getting that kind of criticism because he is in the team and it has nothing to do with him not being local. But Hyam has more of an impact on our performance and results because he is so influential in the middle of the park. i can quite easily use soccer base to work out some stats on our results with him in the side and I'm sure it'd be a significant improvement on results with him left out.
Someone said on TWTD that we have a 50% win rate with Hyam in the team, I haven't worked it out myself so I'm not sure if that's a fact but it sounds about right. The great thing about him is that for some reason when he is on the pitch the players around him respond and play better (evidenced by N'daw last night!). He might not create the chances himself but his determination and bravery really seems to get noticed by the other players (and fans).
Lancs, thanks for clarifying things. You threw me with the whole Burley etc references amongst other things. I do think that fans are more lenient with their own local players than ones from further afield. I think we all like the idea of an ITFC team made up with a large number of youth team players and especially ones that were born and bred in the town. Conversation I have had confirms that for me. Other group of friends may feel totally differently so thats just my opinion based on what I have experienced. For example one person I know refused to believe Hyam played in the 6-0 defeat at Blackpool this season because in his view 'we would never concede that many with him in the team'. I had to print out the match review before he would believe me! Im wasnt blaming the defeat on him and not even suggesting it was in anyway down to him or the way he played. I held the whole team accountable equally so I said he should share responsibility with the other 10 or however many featured in that game - it was a point my mate refused to accept! In general I do not mean to play down his performances. I would prefere to see him in midfield over Leadbitter/ Norris/ Bowyer/ NRC and countless other players who have a bigger reputation then him but fail to impress as much. I agree that our record with him in the team is probably a lot better than without him.
Wright them win stats wouldnt surprise me. He hasnt featured that often for us and we have often seen runs with him in the team. When Jewell 'stumbled' across a team it had Hyam and Drury as two of the midfield 3 we went on a nice little run. This season he has appeared in 9 matches (7 starts) and has seen us lose 3, draw 3 and win 3 in a fairly poor season which isnt a bad record. Unfortunately the defeats have been Leicester (as sub)/ Blackpool/ Shef Wed but in all of those it has been overall team failures.
