Ipswich Town v Cardiff City preview and matchday preview

[lucy]

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Parr, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Bru, Maitland-Niles, Sears, McGoldrick, Murphy. Subs: Bialkowski, Malarczyk, Emmanuel, Douglas, Oar, Coke, Pitman.

Cardiff: Marshall, Peltier, Morrison, Connolly, Fabio, Ralls, Gunnarsson, Whittingham, Ameobi, Revell, Mason. Subs: Moore, Malone, Tamas, O’Keefe, Pilkington, Noone, Kennedy. Referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire).

[J4ck22]

All of our strikers just seem to lack confidence in front of goal. It sounds like we're making things happen but the forwards just can't finish it off.

[pathay]

sounds as if its all going the way I predicted/

[arana peligrosa]

What's happening there ? Any score ?

There's three recognized forwards in the starting XI that another poster put forward and still can't find a goal ? Someone get it together, don't want further points dropped damn it.

[Tangfastic]

What's happening there ? Any score ?

There's three recognized forwards in the starting XI that another poster put forward and still can't find a goal ? Someone get it together, don't want further points dropped damn it.

No score.... it will come.
BlueMike and the rest are willing the ball in. Patience.

[arana peligrosa]

Don't have patience in abundance these days. Fact of the matter it's into the last five minutes and still nothing to show from the team. As always a number of cautions and bad challenges but (as for) the most fundamental objective of soccer - can't put the damn ball in the opposition goal.

Someone sort something in the few minutes remaining and get the team back on track

[James Scharmann]

Back to back clean sheets at home but couldn't find the back of the net...

[pathay]

Did warn you in my earlier post. I can't speak for your team but I did say that Cardiff are bloody awful and that's why I with a couple of thousand others have stopped attending.

[hallamblue]

Hiya pathay. Were you there today? I thought your team looked soild in the man to man battles and quicker than us ( but every team appears to be to be fair!), and you were well organised I thought. You pressed us high up the pitch from the first whistle and took a while to adjust tbh. Town battled away. But in truth e are abteam devoid of confidence and nothing seems to be going our way at the moment. Every bounce, every tackle of a 50:50 ball goes the opposition way as does refs decisions. No doubt it'll come good again at some point, but by then any chance of securing a top 6 place will be long gone. Murphy looks like a lost soul. Didzy isnt a player to have when moral is low IMO, as his body language is poor when things dont go his way.

Tuesday night is a must win game IMHO .

[marko69]

Tuesday night is a must win game IMHO .

Yep.

[barmy billy]

I'm prepared to admit that I listened to the first half and then opted to watch the rugby World Cup Final which was absolutely brilliant. Those men really do make footballers look like nancy boys.

I think I made the right choice.

[Frosty]

I'm prepared to admit that I listened to the first half and then opted to watch the rugby World Cup Final which was absolutely brilliant. Those men really do make footballers look like nancy boys.

I think I made the right choice.

Not a bad result either BB

[barmy billy]

I'm prepared to admit that I listened to the first half and then opted to watch the rugby World Cup Final which was absolutely brilliant. Those men really do make footballers look like nancy boys.

I think I made the right choice.

Not a bad result either BB

I have to say Frosty, what a fabulous team the All Blacks are. They are strong in every position and incredible at the breakdown: there are just no weaknesses. Although the Wallabies did well to get the score back to four points there was never much doubt about the outcome. As for Dan Carter - sublime, shame he is retiring at international level.

Well done.

[pathay]

[quote="hallamblue"]Hiya pathay. Were you there today? I thought your team looked soild in the man to man battles and quicker than us ( but every team appears to be to be fair!), and you were well organised I thought. You pressed us high up the pitch from the first whistle and took a while to adjust tbh. Town battled away. But in truth e are abteam devoid of confidence and nothing seems to be going our way at the moment. Every bounce, every tackle of a 50:50 ball goes the opposition way as does refs decisions. No doubt it'll come good again at some point, but by th


I wasn't there today I don't even travel the twelve miles from home these days. When I read your comments I can't believe you were at the same game as my friends and our local reporters who have all said it was another poor display from our bunch and are calling for Slade to go. 7 hours of football and not looking to score. If they were better than yours then I feel sorry for you. there are calls for Dave Jones to be called back so that shows how desperate things are getting.

[hallamblue]

Fickle fans eh lol. Every club has em. The I couldn't see us scoring in open play and our GK was the busier of the two. It's the low level of vonfidence in the Town side that I can get figure out . where the he'll has that never say die and hard to beat side we had last season gone?

[hallamblue]

I'm prepared to admit that I listened to the first half and then opted to watch the rugby World Cup Final which was absolutely brilliant. Those men really do make footballers look like nancy boys.

I think I made the right choice.

Not a bad result either BB

Brilliant result Dave. Still got my All Blacks jersey from when I was in Christchurch in 2004 .

[arana peligrosa]

Seven games without victory by my math and it's all to easy to berate the manager further but obviously wasn't in attendance today, haven't got the clearest picture of all that occurred, but took instant umbrage when reading the managers comments and his satisfaction (once again) that the opposition were kept out for the entire game i.e. that's as good as a win then..

Cardiff as Pathay mentioned aren't probably the force of past seasons and have had something of a confidence crisis (themselves) in recent weeks so guess a draw today was (going to be) the most likely outcome. Two sides maybe that are down on their luck and have seen better days - that require a colossal kick in the as* to get moving once again.

It's still early in the season maybe, but for sure, it's going to be damn difficult to once again be a top six side next May. I don't want another six or seven months of pissing around in mid-league, I'd like to see the club back challenging again for the promotion places (as before)

With McCarthy it's just not happening. Decent individual, don't wish him any harm, but the next stop could well be the welfare line if something isn't done soon. 'Pleased with a point' ? f*ck that, I'd be hoping for something a little more substantial.

PS Offer congratulations on New Zealand winning Rugby's World Cup if that is the case. A very recognized (and by all accounts) deserved honor.

[hallamblue]

Just to reinforce your point I'd add that we are now all but a quarter way through the season with the usual tough Xmas period to come. If we don't start.picking up a few wins we will get dragged into the shyte. Not good. Not a knee jerk reaction. Just a realistic view.

[lucy]

Well i had more fun watcing the Fireworks in Christ Church park then i did the football. No attack, no effort and all this hoof ball is becoming very very very very annoying

[ashfordblue]

As Pathay has said, If Cardiff are s**t then with us having the home advantage, we are absolute S**T as well, all the top teams are gradually pulling away from us now, my Dark horse for this season were Sheff Wed, and they are proving me right at the moment, I can see at the end of the season the top six will be Hull, Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley, Derby, Boro, Fulham, Brighton will slip up and lose a few games, at this rate I think we will struggle at around 16th place if were lucky, but you cant keep losing and drawing and expecting to keep up with the ones mentioned, it just wont happen.

[Bluemike]

I would just like to clarify before anyone starts, I totally blame Jamma for the Five game winning run stalling and being delayed Four days, it will commence Tuesday.......Trust me !!

As for the game and how I saw it. Well even I am finding it so frustrating right now watching us, once again we found the going tough against what I though was a very poor Cardiff side, I certainly didn't see it the same as Hallam in as much as I thought Cardiff for ordinary all over the pitch and were there for the taking, a half decent side would have won it at a canter. As for us, we did ok in patches but nothing more, the first 20 minutes saw us fail to get into the game at all but as the half wore on we came more into it and had the better of the second half of the first 45. Daryl Murphy was very unfortunate not to get off the mark for the season with his header being deflected onto the woodwork and that was the closest we came really, one or two other chances went begging. At the other end Gerken pushed one around the post from distance.

The second half was much the same although we did step it up a little bit and looked slightly the better side although we had to thank gerken for one cracking save that he got down low to save from Ameobi to keep it level. Once again we employed all Four strikers at some stage and once again we looked shot shy and lacking any real cutting edge. The fans have been screaming out for players such as McGoldrick, Parr & Bru and have got their wish but there is little in the way of improvement from those who were playing before, maybe with the exception of Parr who did pretty well. We just need to get ourselves ahead early in a game to hopefully give us some confidence because at present we have very little. It is ironic that in the last Two games we seem to be getting the defence looking a little bit tighter only for the offensive side of the game to go to pot !!!

Individually this is how I saw the boys yesterday :-

Gerken....So pleased for him close to MOTM last week at Forest an d for me our clear MOTM yesterday, he didnt put a foot or a hand wrong all afternoon and did everything that was asked of him. All the forums will be quieter this week for sure.

Chambers....A bit better from the skipper and actually put some decent delivery into the box during the first half, wasnt up against any great shakes on this occasion and it showed.

Berra....More like the old Berra, he had Mason in his pocket all afternoon really, solid in the air and on the deck but god his distribution is woeful to say the least.

Smith...A fairly solid performance from Tommy with no major scares, steady if unspectacular.

Parr... Did well, defended well when called upon and tried get forward when he could, a big step up from Knudsen.

Maitland-Niles... A bit better form AMN, he won a few in the air and did a bit of defensive work too, still needs to create more going forwardthough as the strikers have little to feed off.

Skuse... He did what he does, sat deep and mopped up in front of the back Four but again created little for the strikers going forward.

Bru...Not as influential as last week and at times looked a little flat footed for me, he does try to pass the ball more than most but where is that cutting, killer ball ??

Sears... AWOL for the first 25 minutes, Freddie came into the game a little bit after that but for me he is being wasted out wide. The guy was on fire in the first games of the season when played through the middle as a proper striker and this is where he HAS to play, if not he can't be starting as he is no winger and at times had to drop so deep to even get a sniff of the ball. One of our main dangers but he is being totally nullified by playing out wide.

McGoldrick... Offered little and created nothing, his first touch is dreadful these days and time and time again he turned into trouble by being too greedy, as Hallam says when the going is tough he is not what is required for the fight. Disappointing.

Murphy...Just what has happened to the big man ? Put through for Two one on ones and both times he had no confidence to get a shot away on his weaker Right foot, both chances closed down. He was unlucky with the one that marshall tipped onto the bar but I fear this season is going to pass him by if he doesnt score soon. He did win a bit in the air but still some way off the Murphy we all loved last time around.

Bolton really has to be a must win for many reasons, failure to win this and even I will start to believe it ain't going to happen. I think we need to keep most of the team that started yesterday but with Sears as the central striker that started the season, for me I would start him with Murphy as I always prefer a big man up there to win the flick ons etc. Tommy Oar would come in on the wing for me with McGoldrick dropping out.

[arana peligrosa]

Always worth a read through post-game response on TWTD and there is a decent section of support that offers some no-nonsense candid opinion. Point being a large majority (without sounding the obvious) are against the manager, i.e. frustrated and disappointed not just with recent weeks, but for a greater proportion of McCarthy's management. Lo and behold read somewhere that this very weekend signals three years since McCarthy was appointed here at Portman Road. What have we seen in that time, one promotion charge aside (and subsequent failure) there hasn't been all that much to get excited over. A lot of calls for Royle to return but in reality it isn't going to happen.

Had to concur with one poster in that should a win occur over Bolton in the next fixture, a significant number will look beyond the sh*t of past weeks, a new dawn will arise, and McCarthy will again be held as some figure of savior. (In other words the season will be salvaged and we can prepare once more for a promotion challenge)

Believe that and you'll believe anything

It's going to take a fair amount of victories in the weeks ahead to even get in the play-off mix once again, one or two wins and revert back to what we have seen in past weeks will not be enough.

[Frosty]

Cheers everyone for the kind words regarding the AB's winning the Rugby World Cup.

The truth is I would rather see Town start winning games again if I had to choose.

thanks Dave

[Andym]

Pretty much agree with BlueMike's post. Not great but some patches worth watching. Parr worries me but not as much as Knudsen. He (Parr) lacks height and also looks so ungainly with the ball at his feet. we really are short of a decent fullback.

Agree about McGoldrick's first touch deserting him, and Sears being wasted out wide. I'd prefer to see us playing Murphy & Sears centrally with McGoldrick just behind - as I think Hallam suggested many times last season - but this would leave us with no width as our fullbacks don't get forwards enough.

On the positive side, it was good to see the central defenders play well. Bru had a decent game and Gerken was my man of the match. Didn't have loads to do, but was pretty near faultless. His save in the second half was excellent. He got down very quickly to a difficult ball that was bouncing, and, equally importantly, managed to hold on to the ball as a Cardiff striker was closing in. Compare his performance to a couple of supposedly excellent keepers in the Man City v Norwich game.....

I never expect promotion. We aren't good enough for that. But it was a game which had its moments of enjoyment, notably the last 15 minutes of the first halfwhen we could easily have scored 2 or 3.