Ipswich Town vs Bristol Rovers Preview & Matchday Thread

[Steve and Jo]

Totally agree Mike, one win and we'll be firing again.. Today after two goals down i thought we played some real decent stuff

Its not miles away, Jackson and Norwood looked good

[Steve and Jo]

Thinking enough changes.

Unless Chambers is fit

[arana peligrosa]

Should be beating opposition like this particularly at home period. Collectively the players available when fit seem capable but there's something clearly amiss out there. Expected victory after being let down in the Coventry mess and was once again disappointed. So what if one or two key individuals were missing today, the rest of the names available should have been enough to take a result but you hand the opposition a two goal start and you got it all to do.

Just for the record Lambert has overseen 17 wins from some 60 games since coming in for McCarthy a little over twelve months back. Don't know about anyone else but that represents something of an unsatisfactory return. Don't know where it will all end but maybe focus should be forget about finishing first place and go for the other automatic promotion position. Wycombe seem a very capable team and will prove hard to overtake. Too much inconsistency amid team changes and other things holding the club back. First time playing Bristol Rovers in the league since 1992 read somewhere, hope the omens are favorable as that season the team at least saw a promotion out of a lower league.

[hallamblue]

Would be nice if Sears and Bishop could breath new life into this team. It sure as hell needs something ; and quick !

Liz, are you saying you want more changes!!! Lol, that said I said exactly this at the game today, Bishop is the player we miss the most, he's the one that makes those mazy runs into the box and commits defenders, I also said while I am not a big Sears fan I can see him and Jackson as a very good front partnership, both have pace which for me is key

Well yes I am really . There’s a massive difference between bringing two players who could really lift the team, say (Sears for Edwards), and (Bishop for Nolan) than making wholesale team changes , which is what Lambert constantly keeps doing.


But my comment regarding sticking with yesterday’s team ( not necessarily the formation) is bourne out of a desperation really , for Lambert to stop these ridiculous wholesale changes he’s making for every game we play. If he’d just stop doing this, we might stand a chance of getting a run going.

[hallamblue]

Should be beating opposition like this particularly at home. First time playing Bristol Rovers in the league since 1992 read somewhere, hope the omens are favorable as that season the team at least saw a promotion out of a lower league.

Rovers haven’t beaten Town at Portman Road apparently, since 1958!!! And by all accounts they shouldn’t have done so yesterday either.

[AzzurroMark]

Mick Mills commented yesterday on Radio Suffolk about the rotation and i have to say i wholeheartedly agree with his opinion. He was basically calling for a settled team, where the players are selected because they merit it and not any of this apparent "i will not play you today, but i will give you a game next week". Which to me smacks of trying to keep a large squad happy. A player has to have earned the right to play to make them hungrier, make it next to impossible for the manager to leave you out.
Yes, as Mick mentioned, make wholesale changes in the cup games IF you need to give fringe/young players a chance,. The fact that so many teams (sadly in the case of the FA Cup, IMO) field weakened sides these days probably being behind his comment.
The other time where squad rotation is useful is where there is a heavy run of games, i.e over Christmas, but then changes should be minimal.

[hallamblue]

Spot on AM

Btw....

These are the number of changes Paul Lambert has made to the first team over the last 7 games . Ridiculous!

10
4
6
11
6
8
6

[derick_ipsw]

One thing noticed. Sorry Derick or whoever else who might not like this

Today we missed Chambers. Simple, Would we of lost today if he was playing? For me i don't think so, Wouldn't of won either i doubt but that defence today looked unsure and rocky

Results are proving that you maybe correct. Maybe Chambers is missed. There i have said it.

[hallamblue]

Thinking enough changes.

Unless Chambers is fit

Yes we definitely need Chambo back in the side. We miss him a lot any fool can see that !

[Marvinbay1973]

I completely agree there is too much rotation.
In fairness though you can't play the same 11 when key players get injured, Norwood, Downes, KVY, Chambo over the last few weeks.
The concern for me is lack of goals, even though we gave it a go yesterday I couldn't see us scoring 3.

[Andym]

In my opinion, we missed Chambers for so many reasons. Apart from his organisation and leadership, I think Woolfenden looks half the player without Chambers beside him. In fairness the defence struggled for the goals yesterday because our fullbacks just don't get close enough to cut out crosses.

But the other statistic that I think shows how much we miss Chambers is this one: Yesterday we had 22 shots, 11 were blocked. Bristol had 12 shots. Only 1 was blocked. Chambers really does put his body on the line and get in the way. We missed that yesterday.

Apart from losing the ball for the second goal, I thought Dozzell had a good game, as he did in the first half last Saturday. Not just his passing, he is challenging more for the ball and working harder off the ball. Maybe he can still make an impression.

Agree with lots that's already been said. The worst part of the game (apart from the defending for the goals) was the poor quality of corners. We also lacked width, which was what the substitutions were supposed to correct. Oh, and Holy's kicking was dire.

But I thought we fought, we played some good football, and even when passes went astray you could see what we were trying to do. I'm happy with that, some enjoyable stuff to watch. Bristol were niggly and did all they could to frustrate, and sat very deep in the second half. But we'd have done exactly the same if we'd been winning away I guess. But we did the right things, trying to play football. Watching that made a happy man very old. No, I mean an old man...….

[hallamblue]

Lol lovely post Andy and agree with it all .

Let’s just see what Lambo does for Pompey game. I have a feeling we might see a little of Freddie .


Happy Christmas to you and your family xxx

[Bluemike]

Agree with every word of that Andy (except the old man bit lmfao). It's not until you lose something that you realise how important it is to you and Chambo's absence typifies that perfectly, you are spot on about Woolfy not being the same player, Wilson struggled big time yesterday. We need the skipper back and quick.

[ashfordblue]

Spot on AM

Btw....

These are the number of changes Paul Lambert has made to the first team over the last 7 games . Ridiculous!

10
4
6
11
6
8
6

Fooking hell Liz, if PL doesn't know his best team from these constant changes, then his brain is scrambled, I can see if a manager makes a few changes in his early tenure, with the one or two changes for injuries etc, and cup games aside, once you know your best 16, fooking stick to it, I know that we have the players here to practically walk this league, so the necessity for massive changes week in week out is not warranted, if he continues in this pattern of squad rotation for the foreseeable future, he will be digging his own grave for getting the push, I honestly think the majority on here can pick a team of 16 that would be very competitive in this league, over to you BM, SJ, Del boy, Liz, Andy, Ricco, Marco, etc, the only other thing is to thin the squad down in Jan window, and retain only the quality players that can do the job.

[Dubai Blue]

Do we know much about Chambers' injury? It was the neck as I remember but we are not getting many updates it seems to me. Let's hope he is close to a return.

[Bluemike]

He was touch and go for yesterday I think so I'll be surprised if he isn't back at Portsmouth next week

[derick_ipsw]

Do you think the attendance being 1000 down on normal this season was down to people starting to loose interest or Xmas shopping?

[Bluemike]

I think it's Christmas, hope so anyway, second and losing interest would be ridiculous but it would be in keeping with the fickleness of our fanbase.

[marko69]

In my opinion, we missed Chambers for so many reasons. Apart from his organisation and leadership, I think Woolfenden looks half the player without Chambers beside him. In fairness the defence struggled for the goals yesterday because our fullbacks just don't get close enough to cut out crosses.

But the other statistic that I think shows how much we miss Chambers is this one: Yesterday we had 22 shots, 11 were blocked. Bristol had 12 shots. Only 1 was blocked. Chambers really does put his body on the line and get in the way. We missed that yesterday.

Apart from losing the ball for the second goal, I thought Dozzell had a good game, as he did in the first half last Saturday. Not just his passing, he is challenging more for the ball and working harder off the ball. Maybe he can still make an impression.

Agree with lots that's already been said. The worst part of the game (apart from the defending for the goals) was the poor quality of corners. We also lacked width, which was what the substitutions were supposed to correct. Oh, and Holy's kicking was dire.

But I thought we fought, we played some good football, and even when passes went astray you could see what we were trying to do. I'm happy with that, some enjoyable stuff to watch. Bristol were niggly and did all they could to frustrate, and sat very deep in the second half. But we'd have done exactly the same if we'd been winning away I guess. But we did the right things, trying to play football. Watching that made a happy man very old. No, I mean an old man...….

Excellent post, Andy. Loved reading that from a good "old" supporter!

[hallamblue]

AshfordBlue:
...... the only other thing is to thin the squad down in Jan window, and retain only the quality players that can do the job.

AB that is an excellent observation tbh , if the Club / Lambert did choose to offload a lot of the peripheral players it would not only reduce the wage bill and possibly free up some space for a COUPLE of quality players, but would in many ways force Lambert to pick his strongest eleven players and stick with them and a formation.

It’d end ( hopefully) this ridiculous squad rotation system he’s using. Which I’m sure he’s only doing to try and keep everybody happy in the squad and actually may be watering down the very urgency / competitiveness amongst the players , he’s trying to foster.

So yes, a smaller squad would be beneficial I think

[AzzurroMark]

Some really nice posts in this section. Andym your views on the match are a breath of fresh air and i thank you. There were a lot of things we could (quite rightly) be negative about and i don't blame, nor criticise those who see it that way, your points are very valid. It is nice that someone can enjoy the match, see the players' intentions where moves have broken down and to generally come away happy. Listening on Radio Suffolk, it certainly sounded like an exciting performance to me.

[Ando]

Caption 1 girl in the crowd “f*ck he’s got a nice arse”

Caption 2 only jump that ugly lot are getting this weekend

[AylesburyBlue]

Caption 1: Bristol do local high junp challenge. As you can see there appears to be a real commitment to jump highest, this is probably a result of the prizes:
1st prize: A night with Jennifer Anniston
2nd: A night with Amanda Holden
3rd: A night with Kate Garraway
4th: A night with Julian Clarey
5th: A night with Ann Widdecombe

[AylesburyBlue]

Caption 2: Jump if your an overpaid cu*t

[marko69]

Hahahahaha..... Julian Clarey before Anne Widdecombe. Superb