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The problem is obvious. This is our midfield and here below you'll see my long rant regarding Skuse. Perhaps it's tiresome for some to see my yet another criticism of him but Mick's distinctly weird affection to Skuse is the reason why we aren't among those teams with 66 points and perhaps also a reason why we won't get promoted.

Yeah I know I'm 'picking on him'. Yeah I know he's my 'scapegoat'. Yeah I know many people will disagree with me and I'll get slated for talking 'sh*t'.......... It can't be that 'sh*t' though given that there are some Town fans who still think that released pest Paul Taylor would have offered us something.

By no means I'm saying Skuse is a bad player. My point is there are some games that we need DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS than him strolling in our own half. Three games from last week for example :

1. We're 0-2 down at Norwich, we're chasing opponents, we have to take a risk and attack and what does Mick do? Takes Bru off the pitch the forward thinking player and leaves far from inspirational Skuse on.

2. We're 1-2 at Leeds. Need some inspiration need someone who could guide this team in midfield. People are astonished with team selection and Mick explains some players need resting. Somehow his beloved boy doesn't need a rest.

3. Brentford today. Of course full 90 minutes as he doesn't need to get rested and he wasn't good. In the last 30 minutes when we restricted ourselves to long balls and extremely pathetic hoofing there was once again no-one in the middle who could guide this team. What does Mick do? Takes Chaplow off who himself had a decent game, lively and hungry Chaplow and leaves Skuse on.

I know some will tell me that he's been an integral part of the team who's been in the top half this and last season. However when he misses games through injury we somehow produce very good displays and results so we can do without him. Am I talking sh*t? Let's check the facts in league games.

He missed 3 games last season and we won all of them. Brighton away 2-0 and Derby home 2-1 were actually one of the best performances of that season. For the reason only known to Mick he came back to the winning team in the subsequent game against Nottingham (actually Nottingham reserves as they were beset by injuries) and we drew 1-1. The third game he missed was the last game of the season and 2-1 win over Sheffield Wed.

This season. He missed Derby away 1-1 draw because of injury and we produced really impressive display in the second half. In that game Tabb wasn't a 'winger' as he was playing in the middle and did OK.
Another games he missed were THREE HOME WINS: Rotherham 2-0, Wolves 2-1, Watford 1-0.

Home defeat to Derby 0-1 was the only league defeat he missed. Bizarrelly though I think we missed him that day as he wouldn't have been as bad as Hyam was on that day.

He missed away 3-1 at Millwall next week. And now one of the quite overwhelming stats from last 5 games. We've won only one of them (Birmingham) and scored 4 goals after he was subbed !!!!

So ever since he's joined Ipswich he missed 10 games in which we WON 8, drew 1 and lost 1. ENOUGH SAID !!!! Clear evidence that we could easily do without him but for Micks odd affection to him.

-----

People might say his role is to protect back four. If that's the case I'd rather an ilk of player Karl Henry was in Micks Wolves team. An ilk of nasty player for any opposition to deal with. As I've mentioned above there are games when we would need different kind of midfielder. Someone like Magilton (yes I loved Magilton as a player, completely opposite though as a manager), someone who would be able to guide the team, to organise it in the middle, to shout at others, to be an inspiration.

What's next? Nothing is going to change. Unless injured he'll obviously play full 90 minutes in both next extremely difficult away games at Middlesbrough and Watford as Micks intention is going to be to stop opposition playing. Both these teams have plenty of options re attacking midfield whereas we have ..... Skuse and Tabb. Both of them wouldn't have a place in any of other promotion chasing teams.

8 - 1 - 1 when Skuse wasn't playing. Facts are speaking for themselves !!! It's beyond me to comprehend why he's so priceless to Mick. A midfielder with quality who would be able to distribute the ball, to carry the ball, to be able to unlock the defences instead of Skuse and then our place in the top 6 would be safe. Simple as that !

Anyway it's only my humble opinion (I know that many will disagree) that the problem lies in what he in particular and entire midfield keeps producing.

Excellent research Mach! You've based your criticism of Skuse on facts. I think you've made a very good point. Why the hell can't MM see that FFS!

number 9 wrote:Excellent research Mach! You've based your criticism of Skuse on facts. I think you've made a very good point. Why the hell can't MM see that FFS!

I've based on criticism on what I've seen in him when watching our games. Those facts in numbers are an addition to my appraisal.

The "a" not being a "the" in the thread title suggests there are others who are problems. Who's a close second to Skuse? Tabb? I ask because I only see TV games.

Good facts in this post that make quite a convincing argument.

I don't really want to berate either players or the manager on this board.
Suffice to say that if I was manager, Skuse would not get into my team.
In fact, there wouldn't really be a need for a holding player in my team as follows (assuming all players fit):

-------------------------Bailkowski-------------------------
-----------Chambers------Smith------Berra---------------
Parr---------------------------------------------------Mings
--------------Bishop------------------Bru-------------------
-------------------------McGoldrick-------------------------
--------------------Sears---------Murphy-------------------

rossi wrote:Good facts in this post that make quite a convincing argument.

I don't really want to berate either players or the manager on this board.
Suffice to say that if I was manager, Skuse would not get into my team.
In fact, there wouldn't really be a need for a holding player in my team as follows (assuming all players fit):

-------------------------Bailkowski-------------------------
-----------Chambers------Smith------Berra---------------
Parr---------------------------------------------------Mings
--------------Bishop------------------Bru-------------------
-------------------------McGoldrick-------------------------
--------------------Sears---------Murphy-------------------

Thats actually a very good shout Rossi.

I would though have Skuse in for away matches as has been said he does a lot of the unseen tackling ,blocking play and general spoiling of the other teams momentum.

marko69 wrote:The "a" not being a "the" in the thread title suggests there are others who are problems. Who's a close second to Skuse? Tabb? I ask because I only see TV games.

Tabb without a doubt, Marko. In fact, I think he is worse than Skuse.

Mach as you know from when we meet up we don't see eye to eye regarding Cole Skuse's worth to the side, suffice to say I think it is a tad harsh to single him out for such criticism but that is not the reason for my post, I just want to reply to one part of it.

Mick's distinctly weird affection to Skuse is the reason why we aren't among those teams with 66 points

Totally wrong Mach, we are not among the teams on 66 points for loads of reasons but not down to Skuse.

0-1 defeat at Reading, lost a point cus McGoldrick couldnt deal with a simple header and gave it to the striker to score, 1 point lost.

1-1 Draw at Derby Luke Hyam fluffs virtually an open goal to win the game, 2 points lost.

2-2 draw at Forest, Mings loses his man at the far post deep into injury time. 2 points lost.

1-1 Draw at home to Blackburn, needless freekick conceded by Berra in stoppage time, Blackburn score forom the free kick, 2 points lost.

0-1 Defeat at home to Derby, schoolboy f*ck up by Tommy Smith led to goal, 1 point lost.

1-2 Defeat away at Leeds, hopeless defending by Mings and Bialkowski leads to a goal, Smith awol for second goal and Murphy misses penalty. 1 point lost.

1-1 Draw at home to Brentford, miss of the century by Murphy costs us the win, 2 points lost.

These are just a few examples and I could list quite a few more, I believe Skuse cost us a goal at Birmingham in the 2-2 draw but that aside there are far more reasons why we are not in the batch of teams on 66 points. I fully accept that he does not create much going forward but as I have said before that is not his game and is not what he is there for, the attacking Midfielders (Bishop, Hunt, Bru, Anderson, Tabb) are the ones who should be doing that part of the job, how can he do that too when he is deployed in front of a ropey back Four ? MM has said that Skuse is the first name on the sheet when fit so you believe he is getting it totally wrong here ?

I honestly believe stats can be used in all manner of ways to make things look good or bad and they are very often misleading, I have not used stats for that very reason, instead I have selected several facts as to why we dropped points in certain games which at the moment is costing us a place in the top six.

'We win as a team, we lose as a team' - MM and players will invariably say.

Players don't select themselves, neither do they deliberately make individual mistakes. If they could be better, suddenly improve their technical abilities/decision making then they would; but then they would probably be playing at a higher level!

In criticising Scuse, Tabb etc, we need to remember that they will be working to the manager's instructions, within a pre-determined game plan and individual marking responsibilities etc. In formulating their roles and responsibilities MM will take account of their strengths and weaknesses - similarly for all players, with the aim of getting a positive team performance out of them. Individual errors are just part and parcel of the game; it's just that the better players make less of them!

Certainly can't see MM changing much any time soon.

bluemike wrote:Mach as you know from when we meet up we don't see eye to eye regarding Cole Skuse's worth to the side, suffice to say I think it is a tad harsh to single him out for such criticism but that is not the reason for my post, I just want to reply to one part of it.

Mick's distinctly weird affection to Skuse is the reason why we aren't among those teams with 66 points

Totally wrong Mach, we are not among the teams on 66 points for loads of reasons but not down to Skuse.

0-1 defeat at Reading, lost a point cus McGoldrick couldnt deal with a simple header and gave it to the striker to score, 1 point lost.

1-1 Draw at Derby Luke Hyam fluffs virtually an open goal to win the game, 2 points lost.

2-2 draw at Forest, Mings loses his man at the far post deep into injury time. 2 points lost.

1-1 Draw at home to Blackburn, needless freekick conceded by Berra in stoppage time, Blackburn score forom the free kick, 2 points lost.

0-1 Defeat at home to Derby, schoolboy f*ck up by Tommy Smith led to goal, 1 point lost.

1-2 Defeat away at Leeds, hopeless defending by Mings and Bialkowski leads to a goal, Smith awol for second goal and Murphy misses penalty. 1 point lost.

1-1 Draw at home to Brentford, miss of the century by Murphy costs us the win, 2 points lost.

These are just a few examples and I could list quite a few more, I believe Skuse cost us a goal at Birmingham in the 2-2 draw but that aside there are far more reasons why we are not in the batch of teams on 66 points. I fully accept that he does not create much going forward but as I have said before that is not his game and is not what he is there for, the attacking Midfielders (Bishop, Hunt, Bru, Anderson, Tabb) are the ones who should be doing that part of the job, how can he do that too when he is deployed in front of a ropey back Four ? MM has said that Skuse is the first name on the sheet when fit so you believe he is getting it totally wrong here ?

I honestly believe stats can be used in all manner of ways to make things look good or bad and they are very often misleading, I have not used stats for that very reason, instead I have selected several facts as to why we dropped points in certain games which at the moment is costing us a place in the top six.

That ^^^ is a quality post. Top drawer stuff.

Cole skuse put in a man of the match performance tonight unlucky not to get on the score sheet too!!

Indeed he did, he was excellent, but then again I have thought he has played well for weeks now.

bluemike wrote:Indeed he did, he was excellent, but then again I have thought he has played well for weeks now.

He is a very under rated player goes about his job quietly and un noticed

SKUSE, THERE HE IS....
SKUSE THERE HE IS....

MOM

Maybe Skuse read Mach's bollocking...

bluemike wrote:Mach as you know from when we meet up we don't see eye to eye regarding Cole Skuse's worth to the side, suffice to say I think it is a tad harsh to single him out for such criticism but that is not the reason for my post, I just want to reply to one part of it.

Mick's distinctly weird affection to Skuse is the reason why we aren't among those teams with 66 points

Totally wrong Mach, we are not among the teams on 66 points for loads of reasons but not down to Skuse.

0-1 defeat at Reading, lost a point cus McGoldrick couldnt deal with a simple header and gave it to the striker to score, 1 point lost.

1-1 Draw at Derby Luke Hyam fluffs virtually an open goal to win the game, 2 points lost.

2-2 draw at Forest, Mings loses his man at the far post deep into injury time. 2 points lost.

1-1 Draw at home to Blackburn, needless freekick conceded by Berra in stoppage time, Blackburn score forom the free kick, 2 points lost.

0-1 Defeat at home to Derby, schoolboy f*ck up by Tommy Smith led to goal, 1 point lost.

1-2 Defeat away at Leeds, hopeless defending by Mings and Bialkowski leads to a goal, Smith awol for second goal and Murphy misses penalty. 1 point lost.

1-1 Draw at home to Brentford, miss of the century by Murphy costs us the win, 2 points lost.

These are just a few examples and I could list quite a few more, I believe Skuse cost us a goal at Birmingham in the 2-2 draw but that aside there are far more reasons why we are not in the batch of teams on 66 points. I fully accept that he does not create much going forward but as I have said before that is not his game and is not what he is there for, the attacking Midfielders (Bishop, Hunt, Bru, Anderson, Tabb) are the ones who should be doing that part of the job, how can he do that too when he is deployed in front of a ropey back Four ? MM has said that Skuse is the first name on the sheet when fit so you believe he is getting it totally wrong here ?

I honestly believe stats can be used in all manner of ways to make things look good or bad and they are very often misleading, I have not used stats for that very reason, instead I have selected several facts as to why we dropped points in certain games which at the moment is costing us a place in the top six.

All the above are from a collective group of players who make mistakes like any others,we have scored many goals and saved many games from teams making similar errors,the difference is we have not worked out how to eradicate them by changing the personnel responsible and this shows in the second half of the season when teams now know our weaknesses.

Yes and those mistakes are the reasons we are not still in the top six which was the point of the post.

I've been one of the main Skuse critics and the man was immense today according to reports (I didn't go today). Hats off from me.

He is 1 booking away from a 2 game suspension, so that might cheer you up!!

It's nothing to laugh at cus that will be a big blow.