Is today a watershed moment for Mick?

[hallamblue]

and his loyalties towards certain players and player combinatio
This poster has some valid points I think.

timkatieadamitfc added 21:00 - Oct 3
I'll start by saying I've never moaned when things aren't going as I would like them too and always believe you should back manager/players,but that is where the positives stop.I am getting sick and tired of reading the same posts(Bart for Gerken,play proper full backs,chambers for smith,Skuse/Douglas can't play together or just plain not good enough.I agree with all of them,I had such high hopes at the start of this season even more so after the first half dozen games,but the last few games have shown where we really are.How can we have the forward line and scored so many goals and still be in minus figures,this defence wouldn't cut it in the next league down never mind this one,seriously.Until this issue is taken care of I hate to say it but there is no way this team is getting out of this league,someone posted last week along the lines of if you are struggling and your forwards are not scoring then play Ipswich and they will see right.AT THE MINUTE COULD NOT BE MORE TRUE.Our back five is laughable/shocking/shat/useless you take your pick.

[barmy billy]

I don't think today is a watershed moment, but I do think MM needs to ring the changes and shake things up. He simply cannot go on putting his trust in the same old faces even if it means dropping his captain and his other favourites.

[osborne77]

For me it's more about the kind of club we want to be. Do we really want to carry on with yet another journeyman manager on his way down? Someone good enough to stop us being relegated to the third tier but who will never get us promoted even if like last season we had one player who had an exceptional year. Someone so blinkered that he is compelled to select solid triers who fit his principles and play them out of position rather than our best starting eleven. Someone who lacks the tactical nous to make inspired changes when we are losing or consolidate our lead when winning.

Personally I think that the time is right to give a promising lower league manager a go and risk relegation for the chance of good football and maybe happier times. I know we were all a bit bruised particularly after Keane and Jewel and administration and just wanted a bit of stability rather than falling any further but do we really want to carry on like this?

Of course the big flaw in my plan is that I don't have any names to suggest. I don't have the time to keep up with, let alone watch, lower league football. Taking a bit of a punt did work with Ramsey, Robson and Burley though and even though the latter seriously overstretched us financially but at least we had some great times again and played some good football. I don't expect us to ever do a 1961, 1978 or 1981 again but frankly being a town fan has just lost something for me over the last few years.

Ipswich from when they still let you take milk crates in to stand on until I die. Just don't want to have to put up with uninspiring, unimaginative, one dimensional football until I do pop my clogs. I know a lot of people like to sign off with "in Mick we trust" or similar. I do trust him to keep us in mid table unless we have another year when some one like Murphy (who up until then had been average at best) has some fairy dust sprinkled on them. Maybe we should aspire to be a bit more though.

Like Barmy says, we need to ring the changes but I've never seen anything in MM to suggest he has that ability to or more worryingly even sees the need to.

[jeremy rusher]

Some players were signed by the club on the cheap and if it worked out then happy days.We could of bought in one or two quality players after selling Mings....but we didn,t.

[ollie3686]

I don't think today is a watershed moment, but I do think MM needs to ring the changes and shake things up. He simply cannot go on putting his trust in the same old faces even if it means dropping his captain and his other favourites.

Agree 100%, he has this attitude to not drop players and let them 'ride the storm'. This was ok with say hyam last year when his poor form was being compensated by the rest of the team. But now with the likes of Douglass, Gerken and Murphy (sorry Murphy) to name just a few we need to think about dropping these players.

Look at Bialkowski - he sadly lost his father, and his place in the team for it. But he's back, and wouldn't have made half the mistakes as Gerken did. Why are we not playing him. In pre-season all we hear about is 'competition for places'. It's b******s. In reality to get in our team you're hoping for an injury or personal issues from your counterpart.


With regards to sacking Mick, in my opinion completely wrong decision. And I was first on the band wagon to sack Keane and Jewel (feel free to look back at some of my old posts, I got grief on it when the view wasn't agreed by as many). I now genuinely believe the issue runs far deeper our manager. Keane and Jewell were poor managers, with a budget. Unfortunately mick is a good manager, with no budget. Really think Derby are going to struggle this season? I doubt it. Evans has lost interest in this club now. I believe his intentions were good, but he's had a wake up call with Keane and Jewell. I Really don't buy that the £8m from kings has been even close to reinvested. In fact, I think we're still spending our initial fee for Cresswell. Unfortunately I think this club is going no where now but don't think a new manager is going to help.

[Tangfastic]

Not sure it's a watershed moment.... but it seems that MM is making a rod for his own back and sense a siege mentality with his own stubbornness.

Christ.... I'm hearing him say things like it's not like us to make defensive errors.... It is!!!! We've had 2 clean sheets out of the last 22-23 games.... that's us.... that is not a blip.... That's what we do!!!

And then saying we need continuity .... continuity to keep on making the same mistakes?

It's looking at him straight in the face, but he seems like he wants to prove a point rather than make changes. That seems more important than freshening up the side.

I'm definitely not anti-Mick. We owe him for giving the football club some pride after years of being a circus act..... and he's working with little investment.... But he's not setting standards!
Doing nothing comes across as accepting poor standards.

Picking the same players and offering up weak excuses.... His man-management now has to come into question as well selection and style of play.

Too early for MICK OUT, but things have to improve quickly as Micks using up his credit with the fans. Once that's gone.... It's open season on Mick.

[tractorollson]

I do question some of his decisions eg why is bart not playing now and buying douglas was a huge mistake he offers nothing.

[hallamblue]

A fair few good points in this post I feel, ( taken from twtd).........albeit a bit long !


** These are his thoughts ***

Noot really sure where to start with today. Frustrated, deflated and p*ssed off is how I'm feeling. So many things were wrong today, quite literally every player should fear for their place in the team.

Part of the reason we insist of lumping it forward is simple. We dont have balance out wide so it's pointless playing it to the full-back and working our way forward and we have 2 central midfielders who are happy to pass backwards and sideways, but no one who comes, picks the ball up for Berra/Smith and drives forward. Douglas did it twice last week and we scored from one drive and got a dangerous free kick from the other. The jig is up for Douglas, I genuinely hope he doesn't play for us next to Skuse ever again.

I'll start with MM. He got it terribly wrong today as he has ever since Preston away. Gerken needs to be dropped for Bart - Regardless of form or man management, Bart is the far superior keeper and the fact Gerken has first 10 goals in 5 league games is surely means that Bart will get a chance?

I didn't want to jump on the Chambers bandwagon but it's obvious to see that his lack of quality at full-back is hurting us. Don't get me wrong, I love Chambo - He's our passionate captain who has helped link us fans to the club again, but as a football player, he's not been good enough this season and should be dropped. He's never been great going forward but you could always rely on him to be defensively competent at least, but that has creeped out of his game now too. He's ineffective.

Our whole back line has been poor throughout 2015 if I'm honest. Our solid base seems to have crumbled. Berra looks a shadow of his former self this season and the only defender I think has really looked competent is, funnily enough, Tommy Smith. I think Parr needs to play at RB with Knudsen LB and offer some genuine balance once again.

Our midfield have been p*ss poor since Brentford. Why is that? In my eyes, we've slipped back into a state of lack of creativity. That's not just the center two, but our wingers are struggling too and aren't helped by the lack of balance at full-back. Remember when Hyam and Skuse used to play in the middle and we all hated the lack of creativity? Why have we resorted back to that with Douglas and Skuse? I'm getting bored of saying it now but having Skuse and Douglas in the middle doesn't work. Skuse is the tidy player who controls the game, so why is the identical Douglas playing next to him and just watching the game pass by? His legs look gone to me. We have Bru on the bench, time to bring him back into the fold.

AMN has no end product. He's a bright prospect and offers something, but that "something" isn't really in the final 3rd. One thing that annoys me is his insistence to come central rather than stay wide. Take your man on out wide and drag their back line backwards and it will create space, but he just glides into the middle and often lacks a final pass or shot/cross. Is that because he knows Chambo wont offer him anything on the overlap? Possibly, but he's also very young and will need to learn that side of his game. We often play Fraser whos a proper wideman on one side, so why play an similar winger on the other side and offer little balance? We already lack balance at full-back, let alone our wide midfielders! That would probably explain why everything goes down our left hand side when Fraser is playing. I'd be looking at Tommy Oar to offer some genuine wide play and threat on one side with Fraser on the other.

Toure is a CF. Why is he playing RM? Fine, he's OK there and has a decent cross, but it also means he has to come back and defend, which he obviously cant do as he gave away a silly penalty. Our wide players need to be both forward thinking and defensively able, and I cant say that our full-backs and wingers offered that today.

Why play Murphy ahead of McGoldrick? A FIT MCGOLDRICK NEEDS TO START GAMES! It's that simple. Pitman has 3 goals this season, McG has 3 goals and 4 assists, Sears has 4 goals and Murphy has 0 goals and 0 assists. Guess who started today though? The whole point of squad depth is so you can swap players in for players out of form or unfit yet keep that quality in your team - Why has Murphy just waltzed back into the team ahead of McG who has scored 3 and assisted 4? That's beyond me, especially with Mick's "Work hard and work your way into the team" ethos. MM's insistence to play our top goalscorer out wide to fit an abundance of strikers onto the pitch is bizarre too.

Subs weren't good enough today either. We are chasing the game and MM chucks on 4 strikers - Fine, we need goals, but we've totally sacrificed any actual creativity to get the ball to those 4 strikers! I would have much rather saw McG, Oar and Bru come on and offer some genuine creativity through the middle and outwide rather than Pitman who needs supply.

Alot of things were wrong today and summed us up this season. Mick is a loyal man, he has revived some of these players careers and given them a chance, but some of those players (Murph, Berra, Douglas, Chambo, Skuse, Gerken) are throwing that back in his face with poor individual performances. It's time for MM to lose faith in some of those "dogged" players and pick his team on tactical merit and a team he thinks can win the game, not to just try and plug his old and faithful into a team with some fillers.

Yet, after all that, did you lot hear MM's post match interview on Radio Suffolk? He knows that the team is playing poorly, he knows that players he's put faith in aren't repaying him and he knows that 1 win in 7 games is worrying - He's a man who has transformed this club, taken us to a top 6 finish only 5months ago and a man who will get things right. MM will be the first to admit that he's got things wrong and I have faith that he now sees that and will change things accordingly.

On another note, I can see why people are calling for Mick to go, but it's reactionary and frankly, bonkers. MM has had 3 successful years with us and all that isn't going to be thrown away because of 1 month of awful performances - MM has sorted us out once before and he will do it again.

[arana peligrosa]

I believe it's been longer than one month don't you..

As before we had four recognized strikers involved yesterday and not one goal to show for it. Still early days this season but Murphy hasn't been as prolific as before, McGoldrick while back from injury, has for me been disappointing, Sears I felt could have done better, as for Pitman still a new signing of sorts and yet to fully fit in perhaps but would maybe expect a little more by way of goals. We have the players there, players that can do a job i.e. get us goals but it's not coming together right now as we would have hoped. As always the manager is directly responsible for getting the best out of the team.

Just going round the same track here but as far I can see (doubtless it hasn't been lost on other supporters) there would appear too much disregard for say cup competition (i.e a chance to achieve something other than the league) and all emphasis on the league - and even then, how far are really going in that department ?

You (we) always say "it'll be better / improve in the next league game" but more often than not it does not. I really want to give the manager a chance here but sooner or later, at one stage or another, something will give way and actions will be undertaken.

[hallamblue]

I think the main problem which has affected both the defence and the attack, is the poor midfield paring of Skuse and Douglas.

Initially this was beyond MMs control due to the injuries we had sustained to key creative players , Bru and Bishop. But with the likes of Bru back in the squad , there can be no reason to continue with the pedestrian Douglas, who like Hyam, does not "fit" in a Skuse pairing.

The weaknesses in our defence are laid bare for all to see. Again poor pairings at CB. The wrong player at right back, (opponents week in, week out, target Chambers for his inability to stop any half decent winger whipping crosses in and goals continue to be conceeded as a result), and GK (Gerkin does not inspire confidence in the back four, I think its as simple as that).

The poor midfield dynamics causes increased pressure on tge back line becuase our xlow midfield ars unabkd to stem counter attacks from opponents, and equally lack the guile to set up any of the four strikers we have played in one combination or another.

Mick needs to change tact, and quickly.

[number 9]

http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... _1_4260844


Even Warnock thinks we need to invest! I do like what he says about MM, though. Personally, I think MM is the right man to get us promoted...but he can't do it all by himself. Players will have to be at their best, and ME will need to reach in his pocket come January. If neither of those happen, I think we'll certainly be in the championship next year.

[hallamblue]

Do you know NW was all but a Town manager!

We'd been in ndgotiations with him , and He thought it was all done and dusted, but apparently Town were not prepare to pay the compensation to Warnocks club, so went after RK instead. What a shame we took that path

[barmy billy]

Do you know NW was all but a Town manager!

We'd been in ndgotiations with him , and He thought it was all done and dusted, but apparently Town were not prepare to pay the compensation to Warnocks club, so went after RK instead. What a shame we took that path

I know 'Colin' always got a fair bit of stick off ITFC fans, but it was usually good natured and he played up to it. I always rated him as a manager and think he's a really nice bloke.. I read the EADT article and wished he had come here instead of Keane

[Bluemike]

Would rather have had Pol Pot instead of keane.

[arana peligrosa]

I know Warnock put together a decent team at Sheffield United that got some standout results for a time and went a distance in both domestic cup challenges but not entirely aware of his work elsewhere. Last I heard he was with Crystal Palace but wouldn't have been able to duplicate his success with the former.

Would have jumped at the chance to see him here, if only for one season. (Unfortunately) Keane is / was a more recognized name and I think maybe some were thinking he could be a success here, but had doubts before his first game, and was proved correct. Seems in retrospect a case of appointing name over ability.

Warnock was a manager who would not hesitate to show his emotions during interview and in that sense was the polar opposite of Keane (who would invariably quietly sound his way through post-game comment with the same Seagal-faced demeanor)

[number 9]

http://www.sudburymercury.co.uk/sport/a ... _1_4267728

Good article here on where we stand...interesting to see how many former championship clubs during our tenure have gone up. (I didn't think it was necessary to create a new thread for this)

[barmy billy]

http://www.sudburymercury.co.uk/sport/a ... _1_4267728

Good article here on where we stand...interesting to see how many former championship clubs during our tenure have gone up. (I didn't think it was necessary to create a new thread for this)

Particularly those that went as low as Leagues 1 and in some cases 2 before coming back up and looking reasonably good in the Premiership.

[marko69]

Not too sure about the writers point about the fans at PR. You can't get any more noisier (or indeed hostile) than Leeds Uniteds Elland Road; doesn't give those arseholes any advantage.

[hallamblue]

Having an arseole definitely gives you an advantage I'd say marko.