Ipswich Town v Hull City preview and matchday thread

[shamm]

Hull has real quality. Deserve their spot at the top.

[arana peligrosa]

Whatever their manager said to the team at the interval has worked. Hull creating more chances than before and taken over possession also. Going to be tough to get back into this but a point would still represent a commendable score against the league leaders if we can manage it.

Save individual names the trouble, by declaring we are now down into tenth position as it stands. Bru comes on in place of Hyam.

Sears Pitman and Murphy all involved but zero shots on target for Town thus far ? Sort it out.

[patthegimp]

According to ITFC player we have had no shots on target. Is this true? As the home team how can we not have 1 shot on target.
St Jude , patron saint of lost causes, take pity!

[arana peligrosa]

According to ITFC player we have had no shots on target. Is this true? As the home team how can we not have 1 shot on target.
St Jude , patron saint of lost causes, take pity!

That would appear to be the case. Disappointing to see but apparently the players did OK despite this setback. Easy to concede that we were playing the top team this league has to offer but we finished with four attackers up front and still couldn't find a way through.

17,000 were in attendance but don't know how many Hull brought down for the trip. It's not too late to rule out a play-off finish but we're making it increasingly hard for ourselves as the weeks pass.

That's eight games with Hull City and not a win to be found but at least they'll most likely be an EPL team next season so we won't continue with the statistic. Do I think we will be promoted ? In all honesty No.

Maybe on another night it may have gone our way but in the end they wanted it more, and however you feel personally, Steve Bruce has done a fine job with them and will have earned their promotion (as mentioned) which now looks likely. For those at the game today, what you may have witnessed, was two teams : but going in opposite directions.

[marko69]

For those at the game today, what you may have witnessed, was two teams : but going in opposite directions.

I'd hope so. If they were going in the same direction, there'd be a sh*t load of OG's scored.

Or maybe Ipswich would've shot them OFF target as well.

[Charnwood]

No clean sheets in our last nine games played since 2 Jan is a worry especially when it coincides with not a single shot on target. Not many of us expected to get anything much out of this game so it's too early to get unduly concerned, however it is time for MCCarthy to concentrate on making the defence a bit meaner. This will definitely be a requirement at Huddersfield on Saturday as they score at least once almost every game, in fact they've not failed to score in any of their last 17 which is pretty good going for a side sitting in a lowly position in the league table.

Looking forward to reading Mike's report to see how well we played, hopefully better than the stats suggest.

[lucy]

Freezing cold, poor football all round.

[Bluemike]

Despite expecting to be beaten tonight I have to say I am disappointed after tonight's performance. The first half was actually pretty good from us, after Hull had started the better we gradually forced our way into the game and the second half of the first belonged to us. Bialkowski only had one save to make from a snodgrass free kick while Murphy hit the post following some good work from pringle while Berra had a decent effort blocked. It was a pretty even first half which raised expectations somewhat that we could get something from the game.

As is so often the case we failed to show for the second half and after conceding in the first couple of minutes we just faded and offered very little going forward. Again we resorted to lumping hopeful balls forward to Murphy and Pitman, the former really was poor tonight, a shadow of the man from last season. We really lacked any creativity from midfield and aside from some good work from pringle and one or two runs from Sears it was all very drab.

Defensively Smith did ok but again our fullbacks were often stretched and under pressure. Hyam and Douglas created little and hardly got forward to support the strikers. We had sod all on the bench to bring on that could make a difference. In truth Hull were pretty comfortable in the second half and deservedly took the points, that extra quality shone through when it mattered..

It was a game that I felt we would lose so no great surprise but the excuses need to stop now starting at Huddersfield Saturday, I would suggest it is pretty much a must win, for me we have to take 7 points from the next three games to keep us in the hunt, it can be done but our confidence is low and that has to be addressed. A little bit of luck wouldn't go amiss either ad we aren't getting much at the moment. It's time to stand up and be counted, Huddersfield here we come.

[Charnwood]

The top four teams in the Championship all won tonight and appear to pulling away from the rest of us. Fifth & sixth place still look up fir grabs however we need to put together a string of decent results if we want to keep in touch with the chasing pack. Our next three games are all against teams lower than us in the table, seven points from nine will be required if we want this to happen, if not a mid table finish will be on the cards which would be a little disappointing after our decent start to the season.

[Charnwood]

We must have been posting at the same time Mike, but at least we both agree on what's required going forward.

If you were disappointed then we must have been quite poor.

What's worrying is when we come out in the second half in a poor frame of mind and fail to show up, what the f*ck does MM say to them in the break, cos most teams come out after the break fired up, but not us!

The mention of that dreaded phrase "hoof ball" is also a worry....

Sadly it doesn't bode well.....

....although with Cardiff and Preston playing one another on Saturday, if they draw and we can pick up a win at Huddersfield we'd find ourselves back at 8th and back in touch, so all is still finely balanced.

[Magicmark]

Missed 15 minutes of the first half due to an accident on the A140. I was surprised how good we were in the first half,some nice passing,Pringle looked sharp,i thought we were the better team first half.
Second half we failed to turn up,think some of the players didn`t make it out of the dressing room.Ok we could of nicked a point at the end,but there was not must to cheer about,saying that i enjoyed the evening and havent given up hope of us getting something out of this season.

[bluejacko]

I dont know if it was a case of the players not showing up for the second half!
to me Hull upped their game but we have no second gear so had no chance of matching their quality.

[Tangfastic]

No major surprise I guess.

huddersfield could well give us a better picture of where we are.

On the other hand, if we expect to lose against Hull, then we're not really prepared to step up to the PL.

Is this part of a dip in form or have we gone as far as we can this season? If it's just lack of confidence, then it's up to Mick's man-management skills.... no more talk of money/investment... Mick's happy with his squad so he better get them revved up.

Good to hear positive things about Pringle.

[marko69]

For the people who like a wee wager down the bookies or online......., I wouldn't be backing ITFC @ Huddersfield for the win.

Charnwoods interesting stat of the Terriers scoring in all of their last 17 games; its highly likely that they'll strike at least once in this game. With a bit of luck, (as Bluemike alluded to) hopefully someone steps up with a cracker and the club can get the draw. Obviously a couple of crackers would be nice!

I suppose 1-0 isn't a complete disaster. When I checked the results last night, I was half expecting.....,
Brentford 3 Wolves 0
Bristol city 0 Brighton 4
Ipswich 0 Hull 5

As bluejacko said, Hull may have shifted up a gear, and if so, the result isn't too bad against the top dogs. Or tigers.

Yeah, well done HULL TIGERS. Is that your name now? Hull tigers? sh*te eh? When will Hull Tigers go back to league 2 where they belong? Wigan were trying their hardest to get back there!

[herforder]

Read MM's post-match comments; possibly the most honest to date. Comparing apples with pears.

Unless and until we pass and retain the ball better - no matter who the opposition- we will progress no further in this or any future season. The second half resembled a mouse struggling valiantly to lift an elephant; Hull simply upped their game, and we had no effective response. Murph playing wide right!?

Pringle and Sears probably the pick of the bunch; and we won't be playing Hull - who are the complete and real deal - every week. We move on - but MM/TC have loads to think about ahead of Huddersfield.

(Detected that he might be considering the loan market).

[Mr.Punch]

The game was lost from the moment Hull scored, the crowd, players and MM/TC. knew it.
A very disappointing evening, bye bye play-offs. We now need to win about 8 from 14 for play-offs or 11 from 17 for promotion. It's not going to happen - we're even worse than naridge and that's saying something

[number 9]

Read MM's post-match comments; possibly the most honest to date. Comparing apples with pears.

Unless and until we pass and retain the ball better - no matter who the opposition- we will progress no further in this or any future season. The second half resembled a mouse struggling valiantly to lift an elephant; Hull simply upped their game, and we had no effective response. Murph playing wide right!?

Pringle and Sears probably the pick of the bunch; and we won't be playing Hull - who are the complete and real deal - every week. We move on - but MM/TC have loads to think about ahead of Huddersfield.

(Detected that he might be considering the loan market).

Thought the same thing...he didn't dish out the usual BS. Have to say though, losing 0-1 to Hull isn't that bad. The loss is disappointing, but Hull are quality in this league. I hope you're right about the loan-market hint. Still can't believe MM said he was happy with the squad. It's obvious to everyone; we need a bit of help.

[jaykay]

not a great night of football.sat frozen all night.we were unlucky with the shot that hit the post and ran along the goal line.thought we should have had a penalty,but saying that that smith was lucky not to get booked or even sent off.hell knows where our 2 centre backs were for their goal.only pringle and douglas were near diame when he ran on to the through ball on the centre of the d .at the beginning of the season,with pittman,frasier and niles joining us thought we would be alot better this year.so did most on here think that,so with beter players brought in it must be down to other things,eg tactics and players under no pressure to preform well.no one better to take their places and on better contracts.it seems we only got one plan the same as last year the big hoof and teams have worked that one out.if we dont win next week,then only a top ten place is all we can hope for.either evans has to gamble a little money next year or give the youngest a chance, not more 30 years old journey men

[marko69]

not a great night of football.sat frozen all night.we were unlucky with the shot that hit the post and ran along the goal line.thought we should have had a penalty,but saying that that smith was lucky not to get booked or even sent off.hell knows where our 2 centre backs were for their goal.only pringle and douglas were near diame when he ran on to the through ball on the centre of the d .at the beginning of the season,with pittman,frasier and niles joining usthought we would be alot better this year.so did most on here think that,so with beter players brought in it must be down to other things,eg tactics and players under no pressure to preform well.no one better to take their places and on better contracts.it seems we only got one plan the same as last year the big hoof and teams have worked that one out.if we dont win next week,then only a top ten place is all we can hope for.either evans has to gamble a little money next year or give the youngest a chance, not more 30 years old journey men

Frasier and Niles? And Daphne, Roz & Eddie? SUPERB!! I'm travelling down for autographs.

[lucy]

Derby have won their game which is a pain for us.