Next Year!

[Lewis]

Totally disagree with you on this one Luke. Ipswich Town have always been primed on being a decent passing, footballing outfit. Currently our backline couldn't pass water, we definitely need someone who is confident on the ball if we are to get any success next year.

The best sides I think you'll find DO have players capable of bringing the ball out from the back and spraying the ball about i.e. Ingimarsson for Reading and dare I say it Unsworth for Sheff Utd.

The biggest culprit in our backline for distribution is Naylor IMO. He always makes it look so difficult to pass a ball, and I can't help thinking a fairly nippy middle-aged defender comfortable with the ball at their feet would help De Vos enormously.

The fact that our midfield have been so anonymous recently is because our backline are missing out the midfield and therefore players like Garvan and Juan have become ineffective. Therefore we NEED players comfortable with the ball at their feet to accomodate the style of play to suit our players.

To say you NEED to hoof the ball from the back is wrong. Reading's backline rarely hoof it, and if we go back to our more successful days under Burley, with the backline of McGreal, Venus, Clapham, Wilnis etc they were all capable of starting moves from the back and bringing the midfield into play. Currently we don't have that option available, and I'm just hoping Joe looks carefully at this over the Summer.

Point taken mate, Definatly agree about Ingarmarsson, But Unsworth !?! He is a older version of McEverly
Whatever happens IMO we need to sort out this backline! thats something i think we will ALL agree on!

Unsworth was pretty fantastic for Sheff Utd all season. Played a major part in them going in up, not that I was surprised, I rated him highly when he was here. In some ways as a player, he's got everything we havn't - great physical strength, a decent (if not astounding pace) for a defender with such a size, and a gritty hard-man attitude that takes no sh*t and knocks people flying when needed. Sums up how you succeed in this crappy division.

Totally agree, and the fact that he was comfortable on the ball meant that he would have made an excellent addition to our squad. But it was not to be, and we shall have to find someone in a similar mould if we are going to be successful next year.