Championship - Ipswich Town vs Cardiff City Preview & Matchday Thread

[Frosty]

Ipswich Town V Cardiff City



Saturday 2nd September 2023 – 15:00

Portman Road







Pre-Match Thoughts - Mike



Town's second Eleven managed to finally get the job done in the Second Round of the Carabao Cup at Reading FC on Tuesday evening, but nor before the fans had been made to sweat it out through the lottery of a penalty shoot out which was somewhat disappointing considering Town had pretty much dominated the game without being particularly good themselves.

Town contrived to hand the Hosts the lead within the opening Ninety seconds as some keystone cops defending from both Cieran Slicker in the Town goal and new boy Brandon Williams saw the ball somehow end up in the net with Williams getting the last touch, not that he knew too much about it. That effort on goal from Reading was going to prove to be one of the only ones they were to have throughout most of the evening as Town looked to not only get back into the match but to go on and win it too.

From what I have seen and heard from reports and eye witness accounts it was hardly a classic but Town were the ones on the front foot and creating all the chances, several had come and gone before Cam Humphreys made the most of some good work down the Right from Omari Hutchinson to chest home the latters cross from all of a few inches out, it was deep into injury time and no doubt changed the mood within the Town dressing room at half time.

The second half was to continue in a similar vein with Town on the front foot and looking the most likely to get the Third goal so it came as little surprise to anyone when Freddie Ladapo fired us ahead just before the Hour mark following an exceptional defence splitting pass from Lee Evans which out the chance on a plate for the Number Nine to score his first goal of the campaign.

Town went looking for the killer Third which would not come but the game seemed to be comfortable until the last couple of minutes when Reading somehow plundered an equaliser right at the death to send the tie into a penalty shoot out. Quite what George Edmundson was doing was anyone's guess, it was said he felt he was fouled but for me that was such flimsy defending to allow himself to be beaten so easily and gift them the chance to level the tie, its far from the first time we have seen hi beaten like this and I guarantee it won't be the last.

Thankfully the shoot out proved to be a bit of an ante climax as Reading produced some abysmal kicks to make our job easier, with Chaplin, Evans & Taylor all converting well it was job done as we clinched our place in the hat for the last 32 Third round draw and a potential shot at One of the big boys, or dare I say it Norwich "scum" City.

To our credit we bounced back from such an early setback to get the job done but we do love to make it hard for ourselves and following on from the Defensive errors Saturday it would appear nothing has been learned as we produced a couple more here too.

I am not going to lie I worry about the strength in depth of our defence, for me and based purely on what I have seen, which in some cases isn't much, we need strengthening. I just don't think at this moment in time George Edmundson, Brandon Williams, Cieran Slicker & Janoi Donacien are good enough for the Championship slog ahead, add to that the injury concerns surrounding Harry Clarke and we look vulnerable, using Dom Ball as a defender is not the answer either so for me we have Woolfenden, Davis & Burgess plus the goalkeeper., we have Forty Eight Hours to sort this out or I fear we will lose games due to a fragile squad rather than ability on the pitch.

Elkan Baggott is getting positive reviews and could come into the fold but is he the answer by himself, clearly not, we need a big and experienced CB to compliment what we already have, finding One at such short notice won't be easy, I just hope Mark Ashton can pull his normal Rabbit out of the hat.

As much as it is good to win in any cup match you cannot beat the Bread & Butter of League Football and thankfully we return to Championship action this Saturday as Cardiff City head to Suffolk with League Points on the line. Prior to the season kicking off the Bluebirds were fancied to struggle and so far there hasn't been an awful lot to suggest otherwise. They did a creditable draw at Leeds Utd on the opening day but it was a Leeds in turmoil at the time, defeats to Leicester City & QPR followed before they did manage to beat basement club Sheffield Wednesday at home last weekend. Cardiff have also managed to progress through to the Carabao Cup Third round too with wins over Colchester Utd and Birmingham City away.

This is a game that Town will undoubtedly be targeting a win from and why not, confidence remains high despite the Leeds setback and we certainly won't be coming up against a Seventy Five Million strike force this time. It is vital we bounce back in the league at the first time of asking and anyone at home gives us that chance but when it's an opponent who are not being looked on favourably we have to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and take it to them from the off. I can see Cardiff struggling to contain us if we are on our game and a Fourth win in Five is a very real possibility here, Twelve points from Fifteen would represent a super start to life back in the Championship, now go and make it happen !!!!! Town win for me. COYB'S.



The Opposition – Cardiff City FC - Honours



League


First Division
Runners-up: 1923–24

Second Division / Championship
Champions: 2012–13
Runners-up: 1920–21, 1951–52, 1959–60, 2017–18

Third Division
Champions: 1946–47
Runners-up: 1975–76, 1982–83
Play-off winners: 2003

Fourth Division / League Two
Champions: 1992–93
Runners-up: 1987–88, 2000–01

Southern League Second Division
Champions: 1912–13


Cup


FA Cup
Winners: 1926–27
Runners-up: 1924–25, 2007–08

Football League Cup
Runners-up: 2011–12

FA Charity Shield
Winners: 1927

Welsh Cup
Winners (22): 1911–12, 1919–20, 1921–22, 1922–23, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1955–56, 1958–59, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1987–88, 1991–92, 1992–93



The Manager – Erol Bulut









League Table as at 30.08.2023








Form Guide




Ipswich Town




6 Aug Sunderland 1 - 2 Ipswich Town

12 Aug Ipswich Town 2 - 0 Stoke City

19 Aug QP Rangers 0 - 1 Ipswich Town

26 Aug Ipswich Town 3 - 4 Leeds Utd






Cardiff City




6 Aug Leeds Utd 2 - 2 Cardiff City

12 Aug Cardiff City 1 - 2 QP Rangers

19 Aug Leicester City 2 - 1 Cardiff City

26 Aug Cardiff City 2 - 1 Sheffield Wed






Head to Head








Match Referee – Gavin Ward









IPSWICH TOWN 2 CARDIFF CITY 1

[arana peligrosa]

Is that the kid who'll be taking charge. Shame they couldn't find someone more senior to officiate but if we play like we can and use the home advantage it'll go a long way to taking a result from it.

Notice they only got 1 win from 4 thus far but Leeds had a similar record when coming here last league game and took off four goals and a victory from it. All things are possible out there.

Got to imagine the Reading win should serve as something of a catalyst towards another victory. If we play like we can, and the defense holds out this time, then there's no reason why we shouldn't be looking to take three points from it.

[marko69]

Erol Bulut ? Has he been a prominent name in the soccer? Never heard of him. Great headline if he’s sacked. “Erol gets the……”
Unless its pronounced “Boo Loot”
That’d still be ok I think. Read the headline in French accent. “Errr monsieur , Erol get theee, how you say….. boo loot.”

Thinking Ipswich get back to winning ways in the league this week. Looking at 3-0. 3 of the 4 goals v Leeds will have been scrutinised by manager and players and those misunderstandings and gaps will be sorted. I KNOW Leeds are £70M etc etc but their goals were definitely not.
Sticking neck out…… clean sheet, 3 goals and Denny61 to tell me i’m not realistic if that goes mams north.
If a defeat, we can all go out and get “boo lootered”

REF CAPTION:

Ref: “Live long & prosper”
Bluemike: “Thats wrong. But go get an extra finger from someone in Norwich. You’ll be sorted.”

[Bluemike]

Ref.. . " push pineapple shake the tree"

[marko69]

Ref.. . " push pineapple shake the tree"

Does Agadoo play for Cardiff?

[Bluemike]

Ref.. . " push pineapple shake the tree"

Does Agadoo play for Cardiff?

He's their coach.....

" ok boys, to the left, to the right, jump up and down, and to the knees"

[shabba]

Can’t wait - my first game of this season.

Hopefully Hirst is back.

[marko69]

Ref.. . " push pineapple shake the tree"

Does Agadoo play for Cardiff?

He's their coach.....

" ok boys, to the left, to the right, jump up and down, and to the knees"

Haha

[Bluemike]

Over 28k sold so far, limited tkts left

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

I think it's going to be a far tougher game than many think. 2-2 for me

[Andym]

I think it's going to be a far tougher game than many think. 2-2 for me

I agree. I don’t think there are any easy games this season. Unfortunately I can’t be there today.

[Bluemike]

No game is easy, we have stepped up a level after all, Sunderland, Stoke and QPR weren't easy but we won them all.

[marko69]

Got a feeling ipswich will get hammered today. Maybe 3-1 Cardiff.

[marko69]

On second thoughts, no. Draw.

Yep. 1-1

[marko69]

No…… going back to original tip.

2 or 3 nil ipswich

[marko69]

One of those will be right. …..covered.

[Cabanas Blue]

Hirst starts surprising as he's hardly trained.

[smaltydude]

Looking good. The better side so far

[Charnwood]

Cardiff not going to be easy to break down. This looks like being a frustrating afternoon especially if the final ball isn’t good.

[Charnwood]

Lucky escape for town on 15 mins. Great save by Hladky and follow up deemed to be offside. Could easily be one behind but we’re not.

[lucy]

Losing 0-1 Aaron Ramsey

[Charnwood]

It’s been coming for a while, we’ve allowed them to slow the pace of the game and run at us on the break. We give them far too much space and they go in front with both Harry Clarke and Woolfie not closing down their man.

[Bluemike]

Cardiff by far the better side, some players look out of their depth, Clarke, Burgess, Burns. Broadhead and Chaplin done f*ck all again and Hirst now off injured

[lucy]

George Hirst is off Injured Ladapo on

[Charnwood]

Looks precautionary for Hirst but maybe he should’t have started. Good opportunity for Freddie to show his worth. I’d love to see him score.

[lucy]

Looks precautionary for Hirst but maybe he should’t have started. Good opportunity for Freddie to show his worth. I’d love to see him score.

I was surprised to see him back so soon. I thought Jackson may of been given the start again.

[Charnwood]

We need to be more clinical in front of goal and if we were we’d be level on 42 mins.

[Charnwood]

It’s a shame we’ve allowed Cardiff to slow the game down to walking pace. If we have any desire to win this we need to up the tempo. How Cardiff aren’t two up god only knows, we really got away with one there in first half added time.

[Cabanas Blue]

George Hirst is off Injured Ladapo on

Freddie did more in 3 minutes than Hirst did in 35 he should never have started with only one days training and he missed a very good chance.

[Bluemike]

George Hirst is off Injured Ladapo on

Freddie did more in 3 minutes than Hirst did in 35 he should never have started with only one days training and he missed a very good chance.

Exactly !! People need to get off his back.

That first half was woeful