God, I travelled round trip of 300 miles in those days to see Giovanni and said at the time if we all chipped in, we had to keep him. Spurs player wasnt he? Tore up the right hand side leaving fullbacks for dead, and his crosses were sublime.
Christ gaffer I've just had a mental picture of Gio cutting in from the wing and scoring against the Budgies right in front of us, the North Stand went mental and yes we could have signed him but Evans didn't go for it, compare that to what we have now.
That game i just remember Gio and Pablo were on the same wave length and were a class above. If they had played like that most games teams wouldn't have stood a chance. That game ironically considering what we were singing to Norwich fans was the beginning of the end of us.
I found this Gio Youtube clip ITFC v NFC for all those years ago, was it only 10 yrs? Makes you weep as to what we have become. Attachments area Preview YouTube video Giovani Dos Santos vs Norwich please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Giovani Dos Santos vs Norwich Should be compulsory viewing for players at training breaks, or do they have training and tactics sessions in the week?!
That Alan Quinn goal is one of my favourite ever goals. The pass by Pablo into Gio, then the one touch through ball onto Quinn for the finish was beautiful. As I said Pablo and Gio that day were in another level. That was the last time I remember watching a town team I recognise as Ipswich. What we'd do to go back to that point and change the course of history. Even low and behold imagine if we'd appointed Paul Lambert then instead of Keane...would things have been different?
Motivation, enthusiasm, energy, the extra mile, allied to great skill on & off the ball, is not just about money, its very much to do with how you are being managed,led, inspired, uplifted and encouraged and praised. All things seemingly and sadly lacking on & off the pitch at Ipswich.
Interesting question Hampy, everyone including PL & us 10 yrs younger, more funds available, yes, Club was a thriving buzzing place, managers keen to come here, PL in his prime. Who knows? As you say, we cant change history!
Lets not forget about natural ability, you can have the best manager, coach, and motivator in the world but it doesn't mean you will turn out the best players, when it comes to our squad its difficult to see any of those players being transformed, you can't develop whats not there.
There are very few clubs who are poorly run who do well even if they have a good manager. This is my main concern currently
It’s very, very rare that natural ability comes into it at all. That’s only really true of flair players and that physical attributes can give you a bit of an advantage in some positions. Attitude and coaching through from youth to first team are the main factors and in Klug, in spite of other clubs having Category One set ups, we have a top youth coach. Messi undoubtedly has a gift but Ronaldo manages to compete at the same level through hard work and dedication. If any player in our squad showed half the dedication of Ronaldo they would be playing in the Premier League. Even Kayden Jackson. We are not asking for that level of dieting and fitness regime, we’re asking for a basic level of dedication to stay behind after training and practice your free kicks and to eat sensibly and not overdo the alcohol.
I agree that decent coaching goes a long way to making a good player. If Evans continues as owner and the budget remains the same then we need a manager who can coach players to become better over a manager that can't.
One of the main things before we pick apart coaching is whether we manage to get a manager who is able to get his first choice 11 out for the majority of the time. No questioning Lamberts tactics etc. has been strange but he's rarely had even 50% of his first team available and match fit the past couple of seasons
It’s happening to Klopp this season, it happened to Mourinho last season. Mourinho managed to do better last season with all his top players out. It’s football. But if it goes on for a long time it’s not misfortune and it’s never an excuse. Klopp’s reserves are injured. Lambert doesn’t have reserves. Playing a centre back at right back for so many games is actually shocking.
We haven't played a RB consistently at RB since David Wright 2010, 11 years ago, not saying ME is involved in not choosing to have an established RB at the club but there's an awful lot of puzzling things which pre-date Lambert, infact alot of them seem to predate the majority of our managers over the past few years.
Quite right and I don’t know how any club can hope to be successful without three or four useful full backs in the squad.