Ipswich Town vs Reading Match Preview

[lucy]

Even Norwich 3 up at Watford.

Why the f*ck can't we score....

Because we are getting to the box and then stopping. I'm sitting here and nearly everyone around me including myself are extremely frustrated.

[arana peligrosa]

How many more f**king opportunities are we going to waste this season. Why can't we beat teams like this, particularly with a home advantage ?

There's still time left to do something, but this is another frustrating experience. Someone score there and at least salvage a point if nothing else.

[lucy]

17 bloody shots we have and still can't score!

[TODD66]

How irritating

[Charnwood]

Just seen the table and bloody Norwich are just one point behind and steaming!

It's more than irritating Todd.

[lucy]

Just seen the table and bloody Norwich are just one point behind and steaming!

It's more than irritating Todd.

You didn't have to sit there and watch.

[Charnwood]

Just seen the table and bloody Norwich are just one point behind and steaming!

It's more than irritating Todd.

You didn't have to sit there and watch.

You've lost me there Lucy, not exactly sure what you mean.

[lucy]

Watching us play like we did and not being able to score.

[arana peligrosa]

That's it the game is over and we have ourselves another loss against another opposition team we should have taken points from.

To say this is frustrating is putting it mildly. In fact at times at like this I wish I had lost all f**king interest in the game when given the opportunity then days like this could have been further avoided.

The bottom line is we're simply not consistent enough to really challenge for a promotion place. The setbacks against Wigan and Brighton for example could have been considered unfortunate but this is one loss too many to say we've been unlucky. The stats say we had the majority of possession today, more shots on target to theirs, and created more openings but what's the good in that when you can't convert your opportunities.

Mixed day for other opposition teams with one or two others having setbacks themselves but Derby stick the knife in, and lo and behold Norwich are now right behind us having won their respective game today. Still in a good position but this season will take further years off my life and I don't know where it will end.

Hopefully with us in a play-off position, but there's too many f*ck ups and missed opportunities underway that will seriously jeopardize that objective. Another disappointing day for the support, but as always, we move on and face the next fixture and whatever it may bring. Frustrated, angry, concerned - it's all those things.

[Charnwood]

Looking in from the outside we clearly look fragile and incapable of making the most of our opportunities when they come our way. However stats alone don't always tell the full story.

Hopefully we'll soon start picking up reports from those who were at the game and maybe when we do we'll learn more about what actually happened and how concerned we should be.

[number 9]

We are trusting you MM...so when will our loanees have an impact on results?...like other clubs?...you said trust me, right? Luckily, two teams above us lost today...otherwise we would be on the hind end of a gap...probably not the best place to be. And speaking of the hind end of a gap...here come those Canaries! Oh dear!

[Dubai Blue]

What price a local derby playoff final?

[Dubai Blue]

Well it's a funny league this one. We don't have the right to beat Reading. It sounds like we had loads of attempts and they defended deeply and results like this happen, ask Middlesborough, their stats look the same against Leeds.

The fact is that amongst others we have games against Norwich, Watford, Middlesborough & Bournemouth to come yet. There will be plenty more twists and turns but as long as we win those we should be in good shape come Blackburn.

[marko69]

I wouldn't be saying the "we have no right to......." comments at this moment in time. Moods are going to be very fragile, and whether they have a right or not, they should be beating Reading , AT HOME, at this point of the season. YES, Boro should've won today also, but no one REALLY gives a monkeys bawbag what Boro do..... F**K BORO, and everyone else.

Big BIG loss today, Mick. Arguably the biggest so far......, really need to be burying Brum on Tuesday before the Six digit cyclops people from No-F*ck game next Sunday.

[larrylamb]

Well back in from the game , note that those who listened to streams it seemed we were ok ..!! we were not..!! first 15 mins aside..after Reading scored for much of the play they sat back , took their time with everything and tried to hit us on the break but even then they were p*ss poor to be honest.

As for us our M/F apart from Bru who had a decent enough game were devoid of any creative play , Tabb put himself about but created little Bishop and Skuse were so,so to be honest. Defence was poor playing lots of balls across the back but bugger all else apart from Mings who just lunched aimless balls and seldom attacked players in front of him when he had the chance , he really was poor again today. On occasion even missing effort to close down Reading a few times for which there is no excuse ..Parr should be starting in front of him with his current form , not sure why MM has not given Parr the chance to be honest.

We created little and although we had more possession only a handful of real chances , but nothing clear cut..we were poor again and despite the 2 wins we need to step up a bit or we could find ourselves out of the top 6 , and if i were to bet now on the top six unfortunately i would not have money on us..despite the great season and what MM has achieved i see us as a team that will come up short as we have done nothing so far to improve our squad with quality players...decent back up loans are just no enough to at this point of the season , we need players that actually lift the team...not back up.

Unless they realize what they Derby means to town supporters and improve our overall play we could get a real tonking at Carrot road with our comparative play and form.!!!

But frustration aside, MM & TC have done well with what we have as has the squad on the whole but we may just fall short. Play offs whatever the outcome would be success for the season to be honest.!

[Shed on tour]

Well we could have been playing until midnight and still wouldn't have scored.

We huffed and puffed but at no stage did I think we were going to get back in the game today. Just didn't have a plan b. Mings was really poor and Smith again did not look confident at all. The concern for me is if Murphy doesn't score you just wonder where the goals are going to come from.

Really do need to put in a performance on tuesday night now or else confidence will be really low going into the Norwich game.

[Bluemike]

Well I wouldnt read too much into the stats you may or may not read on this game because quite simply and apart from the opening 15 minutes we were bloody poor today and did not deserve to win the game. It all started so well in the opening minutes, all the play in their half/box and 3 or 4 efforts on goal, albeit comfortable for the keeper but it looked positive. As is so often with Town we gift them a goal out of absolutely nothing, bloody Mings stands off the striker and from god knows how many yards out it finds its way into the net, I think Bialkowski needs to look at himself too because it looked poor, Mings, who quite frankly was bloody rubbish all afternoon needed to close the guy down but he is getting a tendancy to "amble" when more urgency is required. To be honest our performance got worse and worse from this point on, yes we huffed and puffed but there was little fluency and quality, no-one can fault the effort but once again against p*ss poor opposition we were found wanting. I must say though, what the hell do we have to do to get a penalty because one of the Two we appealed for looked a stone wall spot kick but it was not to be.

The second half improved slightly but again we seemed incapable of putting together two or Three passes, from the moment they scored Reading had tried to shut up shop and frustrate us and it was working. Half chances kept coming our way but Federici for the most part was comfortable, in fact Reading had as many chances to increase the lead as we did to level it up. The introduction of Parr definitley improved things slightly, he really needs to start Tuesday but it was all pretty predictable in truth. Our distribution from the back was woeful and with ball at feet we looked so shaky, especially Mings, Smith & Chambers who were all garbage today, Smith has gone backwards, ok in the air, laughable on the deck. The game really petered out for me over the last 15 minutes and you felt we were not going to score and so it proved.

Once again we miss a golden opportunity to get ourselves right back into the mix, results went our way for the most part and we bottled it. hard to praise too many in the Blue shirts today but Bru & Skuse did ok while Murphy & Sears worked hard, Parr looked decent when he came on. As for the negatives the defence need to do more when it comes to supply, the balls forward from the back were disgraceful, and with the exception of Berra who was the best of a bad defensive bunch the rest were terrible, Bialkowski also needs looking at because at times his positioning is awful, should a fit again Gerken come back in ? Maybe. Someone needs to tell MM that Teddy Bishop is no winger, we are wasting his talent out there and he needs to be in behind the strikers somehow. Smith really does need to be droppped, either put Chambers there and have Parr at RB or even give Matt Clarke the chance because it cant be any worse, Smith has struggled for a fair old while now. Mings is young and is running on empty I feel, he will still have good days like Fulham last week but his levels are dropping at times, hopefully he will ride it out. I felt Murphy did well but I wonder if his vision was impaired at times, sometimes he seemed to get caught on the blindside but no complaints from me regarding the front Two.


There is no doubt it is a blow, we cant hide that fact but it isnt terminal yet, anything other than a win Tuesday and it could be, results went our way today barring the odd one and we havent lost too much ground, but too many performances like today and we will slip further down. How I would love the reading Centre back Michael Hector in our line up, what a super player that lad is.

[Shed on tour]

Just so fecking frustrating.

Sometimes I just hate this game! Should be used to it now though with ITFC.

[Charnwood]

Reading through Larry, Shed & Mike's reports it sounds exactly like the Rotherham game all over again.

Two steps forward and one step backwards.

I've a horrible feeling some of these dropped points against lowly teams are going to come back and haunt us come the end of the season. Hopefully someone will come on here and tell me I've got it all wrong.

[Bluemike]

it wasnt as bad as Rotherham Charny, I felt looking at Reading's team that they are in a false position, they have some good players, but it is all down to what we do and today we just didnt play well, no great mystery just one of those days.

[hallamblue]

Players playing out of position.

Chambers RB
Smith CB on wrong side of CB pairing
Bishop wide right

Players not playing , who should be.

Parr at LB
Ambrose MF...goal threat?
Stewart Winger . On bench at 1 - 0 down and MM brings on f**king defender !!
Connolly Winger. Lightning pace, loves to take players on. On vench at Fulham nowhere to be seen today, WHY

Players playing who should NOT be.

Smith. Just bloody woeful
Mings. Either run out of steam, or just plain bloody arrogant and believing all this PL hype.
Tabb. Should be on the Bench at the expense of flair / attacking players.



We are effevtively throwing away the best chance we have had in over a decade of gaining promotion because we are unwilling to flout the gutless FFP rules, unlike the rest of this division.


The momentum is now frankly gone. We gave been in poor form since start of New Year.Frankly I cant see how we will get it back, because MM's tactics have been sussed and there is no plan B. W e are a one trick pony , Murphy and now he's playing with an injury there is no one else to score the goals. FACT.
MM persists in playing a team predominantly made up of workaholics at the expense of a balanced one with worknethic AND flair.

MM persists in playing numerous players OUT of Position. WHY???


Make no mistake, we will be out of the top 6 by next Sunday, and will only have ourselves to blame. We have pissed away numerous chances to put daylight between us and the other top 6 teams.

I'M TOTALLY PISSED OFF WITH THIS f**king HOOOOOF BALL WE PERSIST WITH.
f**king SORT IT OUT!

[J4ck22]

Christ, it wasn't THAT bad... Reading blatantly parked the bus after scoring so no wonder we struggled to break them down despite having all of everything. Reading are a bottom club who got an early goal from nothing and used took the opportunity to grind out the rest of the game and unfortunately it worked. Not a big deal.

[hallamblue]

Lets see if you think its not a big deal by next Sunday when we're out of the top six. Im sorry but I would have to disagree with you, we WE'RE that bad today...as we were at Rotherham. I think we are running out of steam and how many players saw fit to hoof the bloody thing today? Why bring on defenders whdn the game is crying out for attackers with pace. It was utter crap today. Mings failed to close down their winger (he spent moet if thd game just wandering around , wtf does he think he is, seriously?? Whilst our GK needs to seriously review why he didnt get within a country mile of quite a tame shot.

[marko69]

Thank you very much for the reports. Appreciated.

This is the second attempt at this post..... Previous one was probably too strong. Your very last angry paragraph is spot on, Hallamblue. I'm completely racked off with the "one of those days" excuses.

It's a massive season for ITFC and the supporters, longest serving club in the championship etc etc....., it's the beginning of the business end of the season, and losing at home to Reading, after the fans have seen what the team are capable of, is highly irritating. For me, and no doubt many others, "just one of those days" isn't good enough.

[Mach_Polish_Blue]

Thank you people for your reports.

I'm really angry and upset. The result shouldn't come as surprise though given the way we're playing and players we use.

Though I wasn't at the game there is nothing new for me regarding some issues.

No I won't be talking about lack of transfer activity as we still seem to be doing wrong things with the players we have. Some could tell me that it's Mick who sees players every day on the training pitch and knows better than everyone else but his persistence with playing Chambers as right back is pissing me off. It's glaringly obvious that he isn't a right back and his distribution is far from good. As a full-back he has to offer some good crosses at times and be really quick. All he does though (same as Mings who's a shadow of player from first part of the season) is HOOF. All our fullbacks can muster up is a f***ing hoof.
The same relates to Smith. Just hoof it forward to anyone and anywhere.

We sold Cresswell last summer so it was obvious we needed a full-back and we got a really good full-back in Parr. And that good full-back keeps warming our bench most of the times because our centre back plays as right back. WTF is that?

Bishop..... he has openly admitted that playing in the centre is his favourite option. Played as right midfielder today. Then we needed some changes in the second half and who was one of the subs? Paul Anderson..... PMSL !!! Paul Anderson was supposed to be a game changer wasn't he? At the same time we had a right winger on the bench in Stewart. He gets a few minutes in both FA Cup games against Southampton yet he isn't considered for league games. What was the point of bringing him in then? Waste of money in wages.

Mick has said that Connolly has been signed for first team action. Was he really? Stewart can't get a game, nor can Henshall (who's at Blackpool on loan), nor can Connolly. Who does then do the job on the wings? On the right side Bishop who isn't a winger or Anderson who is fooking pisspoor and himself has no clue about crosses and deliveries. On the left side our 'winger' is .... Tabb.

We can bemoan lack of worth additions but the decisions re our current players are very baffling.

We may win on Tuesday against Birmingham but if we're gonna play Chambers as right back, Bishop/Anderson as right winger or Tabb as a left one against Norwich it's gonna be massacre and I'm not looking forward to it.

4-3-3 worked spot on for us earlier this season. Why don't we continue that?

Have a worrying feeling that some stupid decisions are gonna cost us place in the top 6.

[hallamblue]

If MM persists with Chambers at RB next Sunday , and Smith in at CB on the wrong side of the CB pairing, scum will rip us apart. FACT!

Parr HAS to play.


one quick point about Anderson ( who I agree has been very poor), the stats show that he is the Town player with most assists (7).

[J4ck22]

Lets see if you think its not a big deal by next Sunday when we're out of the top six. Im sorry but I would have to disagree with you, we WE'RE that bad today...as we were at Rotherham. I think we are running out of steam and how many players saw fit to hoof the bloody thing today? Why bring on defenders whdn the game is crying out for attackers with pace. It was utter crap today. Mings failed to close down their winger (he spent moet if thd game just wandering around , wtf does he think he is, seriously?? Whilst our GK needs to seriously review why he didnt get within a country mile of quite a tame shot.

I seriously don't see it. This happens every bloody time we lose. You're questioning why Parr (a proven wide threat) was brought on instead of Stewart (played 30 mins all season) or Connolly (Total random Irish league player)? It seemed the more logical choice. Pace doesn't make any difference when a team parks the bus like Reading did. We came at them for the whole game and unfortunately nothing came off. I'm sorry that I can't see the complete catastrophe that today supposedly was, but somehow after this whole mess we're in, I remain optimistic that we might JUST escape relegation.

[lucy]

I agree with the people saying Parr has to play. He came on at Millwall scored a goal and played really good. He came on last week at Fulham in 2nd half and again put a good performance in. We got him in for a reason as Mach said to replace Cresswell so why he's not playing i don't know.

[hallamblue]

Lets see if you think its not a big deal by next Sunday when we're out of the top six. Im sorry but I would have to disagree with you, we WE'RE that bad today...as we were at Rotherham. I think we are running out of steam and how many players saw fit to hoof the bloody thing today? Why bring on defenders whdn the game is crying out for attackers with pace. It was utter crap today. Mings failed to close down their winger (he spent moet if thd game just wandering around , wtf does he think he is, seriously?? Whilst our GK needs to seriously review why he didnt get within a country mile of quite a tame shot.

I seriously don't see it. This happens every bloody time we lose. You're questioning why Parr (a proven wide threat) was brought on instead of Stewart (played 30 mins all season) or Connolly (Total random Irish league player)? It seemed the more logical choice. Pace doesn't make any difference when a team parks the bus like Reading did. We came at them for the whole game and unfortunately nothing came off. I'm sorry that I can't see the complete catastrophe that today supposedly was, but somehow after this whole mess we're in, I remain optimistic that we might JUST escape relegation.

Lol yes ok I accept your point of view.

But it will be a bloody catastrophe when dtopnout of the top six having had not so many weeks ago a gap between us and 3rd place and some 7-8 points between us and teams in 7th / 8th.

If we've been doing do well since the turn of the new year where have all these points evaporated to?

[Charnwood]

For one reason or another MM is obsessed with playing a back four of Chambers, Berra, Smith & Mings if all are fit and clearly this confines Parr to the bench.

Most if not all fans would prefer to see an extended run given to a back four of Parr, Chambers, Berra & Mings with Smith used as back up, however for reasons known only to him McCarthy seems reluctant to try this other than when forced to.

Given recent results which has seen us drop from our end of year position of 2nd just one point off the lead and 10 points clear of Norwich, to a position which feels akin to "hanging on".....I think our leader is definitely going to have to ring some changes and freshen things up.

He did it for the midweek game against Sheff Wed after the horror show at Rotherham, hopefully he can do it again after today's disappointing performance.