Championship - Ipswich Town vs Preston North End Preview & Matchday Thread

[BlueBalls]

Williams should've replaced Clarke weeks ago, likewise Hutchinson should be replacing Burns. It won't be long before Taylor gets the nod in front of Luongo either.

[Ricco]

Yeah Clarke shouldn't have been allowed near the team if he wasn't 100% fit. Hopefully this might give hum a chance to do what he needs to do to get back to his best without the pressure of having to play.

[Bluemike]

Not too many were bemoaning Clarke starting when he put us ahead against Blackburn, Williams is deffo a step up but even with Clarke in we've won virtually every game. In McKenna we trust.

[Blue Wilf]

I just can't wait to go to football every week! Such fun and entertainment. Great to see the old place full again and rocking (where were you when we were sh*t though... ) - williams was a revelation but from where I sat, I thought his chase and tackle back was a red all day long as he got the guy on the shin full on. It made me wince! He needs to keep the passion but take care or Clarke will be getting his chance again when he gets suspended... the irony was that 30 seconds after the tackle, he was announced as MOTM so much fun, such great entertainment - I love this team!

[Steve]

Williams should've replaced Clarke weeks ago, likewise Hutchinson should be replacing Burns. It won't be long before Taylor gets the nod in front of Luongo either.

Blimey. couple of weeks ago Luongo was scoring the winner against Blackburn and was the bees knees, now you are ready to replace him?

Last game Burns scored a fantastic goal and was superb against Hull. Lets leave the selections to Kieran for so far he hasn't placed many if any feet wrong

Enjoy the times we are having and in the manager I certainly trust

[Shed on tour]

Another 3 points in the bag. Thought in the 2nd half several players were looking tired and I do wonder if in the 2nd half of the season our type of high energy game will eventually catch up with us like it did with Leeds under Bielsa. Anyhow, just going to enjoy the moment as long as it continues.

[Andym]

Blimey. couple of weeks ago Luongo was scoring the winner against Blackburn and was the bees knees, now you are ready to replace him?

Last game Burns scored a fantastic goal and was superb against Hull. Lets leave the selections to Kieran for so far he hasn't placed many if any feet wrong

Enjoy the times we are having and in the manager I certainly trust

Have to agree. He knows better than we do. When he came in I thought he was a very good manager. He got an underperforming squad playing better football. But he gets better and better. Whoever is in the squad, he improves them.

Tremendous first half. The equaliser came when we overstretched ourselves. We have the ball away too much but very entertaining. Second half wet didn’t touch the ball for 15 minutes. As I said before the game, in think the players are knackered. But we held on, scored a good 4th I and they can have a break now. Can’t believe some of the football we play.

[Steve]

Another 3 points in the bag. Thought in the 2nd half several players were looking tired and I do wonder if in the 2nd half of the season our type of high energy game will eventually catch up with us like it did with Leeds under Bielsa. Anyhow, just going to enjoy the moment as long as it continues.

I do wonder though Shed if come January reinforcements just like last season will bolster our ranks. I do see your point but I feel under this regime Ipswich already will have plans

[hallamblue]

Milks was talking post match about that . He said it won’t be more numbers in but a likely exchange in players regarding a step up in quality . Which means players would either be dropped from the squad or exit club?

[Steve]

Milks was talking post match about that . He said it won’t be more numbers in but a likely exchange in players regarding a step up in quality . Which means players would either be dropped from the squad or exit club?

For me I can see Lee Evens being taken out out the squad purely because of injury which will I believe open a space up. I agree with you Liz but its who then to drop. Right now its all open of course. Some time off then they go again but a three game blanket between us and 3rd spot is massive this early in the season

Its not lice we only played lower league position teams either. Preston, Sunderland, Hull, Southampton, Cardiff and yes lost against Leeds which still say maybe a point was fair, but anyway not doing to bad for a promoted team are we?

[hallamblue]

Goals from the game here guys


https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/s ... 84/ipswich

[hallamblue]

Milks was talking post match about that . He said it won’t be more numbers in but a likely exchange in players regarding a step up in quality . Which means players would either be dropped from the squad or exit club?

For me I can see Lee Evens being taken out out the squad purely because of injury which will I believe open a space up. I agree with you Liz but its who then to drop. Right now its all open of course. Some time off then they go again but a three game blanket between us and 3rd spot is massive this early in the season

Its not lice we only played lower league position teams either. Preston, Sunderland, Hull, Southampton, Cardiff and yes lost against Leeds which still say maybe a point was fair, but anyway not doing to bad for a promoted team are we?

I’d have taken it before the season started that’s for sure Steve …

I’m wondering if we can maintain this very high intensity to our games as the season progresses though?

Not sure how many international breaks there are left in the season coz the 10 day break is a godsend to the players not involved tbh.

[Andym]

Not sure how many international breaks there are left in the season coz the 10 day break is a godsend to the players not involved tbh.

It is. We definitely ran out of steam second half today. But a great result, and a huge gap to third.

[Blue Wilf]

Question - did no-one else feel that the Williams challenge was reckless? I don't particularly care but just thought it was a bad one?

[number 9]

Another 3 points in the bag. Thought in the 2nd half several players were looking tired and I do wonder if in the 2nd half of the season our type of high energy game will eventually catch up with us like it did with Leeds under Bielsa. Anyhow, just going to enjoy the moment as long as it continues.

Good point. Leeds were flying when Bielsa was manager. I loved how they played, but as you say it did catch up with them. High scoring matches are exciting and rewarding…if you win. I’ve said before we’re conceding too many goals. I hope that’s what KM means when he says we can improve in certain areas.

With that said, another super win for the super blues! Tighten up defence, and we’re definitely going up.

[number 9]

Just looking at the table, we’ve conceded the same amount of goals as Millwall in 15th place. Yeah I know you’re saying f*ck off 9, we’re killing it. If you want automatic promotion you have to bring that number down. It’s a long season and we won’t always score so many goals.

[Mauswara]

Just looking at the table, we’ve conceded the same amount of goals as Millwall in 15th place. Yeah I know you’re saying f*ck off 9, we’re killing it. If you want automatic promotion you have to bring that number down. It’s a long season and we won’t always score so many goals.

How many have Millwall scored 9?

[Bluemike]

Just looking at the table, we’ve conceded the same amount of goals as Millwall in 15th place. Yeah I know you’re saying f*ck off 9, we’re killing it. If you want automatic promotion you have to bring that number down. It’s a long season and we won’t always score so many goals.

f*ck off 9, we're killing it.

[Shed on tour]

9
We have conceded 11 goals at home, which averages nearly 2 a game, but only 2 in total away from home. Usually you would expect it to be the other way round. I think this might be one of the things that KM was referring to in his post match interview when he said there are areas where we need to improve on.
Although as you say we need to bring that total down at home it really is hard to complain too much as the entertainment being served up is unbelievable. If there are any home fans in the country getting better value for money at this moment in time than us then all I can say is they really are lucky sods!

[Charnwood]

Just looking at the table, we’ve conceded the same amount of goals as Millwall in 15th place. Yeah I know you’re saying f*ck off 9, we’re killing it. If you want automatic promotion you have to bring that number down. It’s a long season and we won’t always score so many goals.

…. and we won’t always concede as many either. I’m sure there must be others like me who just love watching a game we win 4-2 over a game we win 1-0 with our one shot on target over 90 mins.

At the moment as soon as we finish one game I can’t wait for the next. Just sit back and enjoy it, it’s not been like this for years.

[hallamblue]

Question - did no-one else feel that the Williams challenge was reckless? I don't particularly care but just thought it was a bad one?

Yer, it was a mixture of rush of blood to the head possibly and sheer determination to win that game yesterday. I also wonder if it was a case of “ payback” for some of the reckless , cynical unpunished challenges from PNE players in that first half. If we got away with one, they got way with 4-5 challenges like that, and do you know what, it’s nice to see our players showing a bit of physicality at last. For too often we’ve been a soft touch. I loved it and that incident had the desired effect of revving up the crowd who were struggling with a bad case of anxiety and nerves and were struggling at that time to keep singing . That incident worked wonders.

I’d love us to sign him but I think his wages would be prohibitive.

[hallamblue]

The thing about our defence is the point I keep making. We are not good enough when the ball comes into our box. Our central defenders are weak in “ defending”… I’m not talking about the build up play when we start our attacks . That’s not defending, it’s the attacking phase of play. I want to see what this Axel can do in at CB….

[hallamblue]

Just looking at the table, we’ve conceded the same amount of goals as Millwall in 15th place. Yeah I know you’re saying f*ck off 9, we’re killing it. If you want automatic promotion you have to bring that number down. It’s a long season and we won’t always score so many goals.

…. and we won’t always concede as many either. I’m sure there must be others like me who just love watching a game we win 4-2 over a game we win 1-0 with our one shot on target over 90 mins.

At the moment as soon as we finish one game I can’t wait for the next. Just sit back and enjoy it, it’s not been like this for years.

It is great from a fans point of view to see so many goals Andy … but without a shadow of doubt McKenna won’t be pleased with the defensive side of things, and will be looking for a collective and individual responses. If he doesn’t get it , January isn’t far away.

[number 9]

Just looking at the table, we’ve conceded the same amount of goals as Millwall in 15th place. Yeah I know you’re saying f*ck off 9, we’re killing it. If you want automatic promotion you have to bring that number down. It’s a long season and we won’t always score so many goals.

f*ck off 9, we're killing it.

I knew there'd be one!

[Shed on tour]

Thought Taylor looked a lot more impressive when he came on yesterday. Involved in the 4th goal, also played a lovely chip pass to Jackson to set up another chance as well as having a snap shot from the edge of the box which was saved by the keeper.

[Charnwood]

Just looking at the table, we’ve conceded the same amount of goals as Millwall in 15th place. Yeah I know you’re saying f*ck off 9, we’re killing it. If you want automatic promotion you have to bring that number down. It’s a long season and we won’t always score so many goals.

…. and we won’t always concede as many either. I’m sure there must be others like me who just love watching a game we win 4-2 over a game we win 1-0 with our one shot on target over 90 mins.

At the moment as soon as we finish one game I can’t wait for the next. Just sit back and enjoy it, it’s not been like this for years.

It is great from a fans point of view to see so many goals Andy … but without a shadow of doubt McKenna won’t be pleased with the defensive side of things, and will be looking for a collective and individual responses. If he doesn’t get it , January isn’t far away.

I know you’re right Liz and it does need sorting and like you I want to see Axel fit and play too as he might just be the missing part of the jigsaw. I just can’t believe the depth we now have in the squad and how many goal scorers we have in the team.

[Andym]

I agree about the number of goals conceded being too high. However, the first goal really came from us being too adventurous and were caught 2 on 2 at the back. I guess that's why we keep scoring but also why we concede too.
The second goal was more of a concern to me; not the nature of it but that for 20 minutes we just couldn't get hold of the ball. For all our excellent play yesterday, particularly in the first half, I think we gave the ball away with poor passes more than in any other game this season. If your fullbacks are going to push up, then either someone has to drop back to cover or you mustn't give the ball away (or both). I think (as I said earlier) we suffered from playing too many high-energy games. Still, we ended up worthy winners.

Regarding the opposition, Preston were dirty and cynical in the first half. They couldn't stop us without dragging us down or kicking us. Whereas on Tuesday I thought the ref was excellent and got though the match without issuing a single card, I thought yesterday's needed to be much firmer. I know refs don't like to issue too many cards early on, and he did dish out 3 I think, but it could - and should - have been more. As a team they resorted to dirty tactics and he should have picked up on that to stop it.

[Charnwood]

…. and we won’t always concede as many either. I’m sure there must be others like me who just love watching a game we win 4-2 over a game we win 1-0 with our one shot on target over 90 mins.

At the moment as soon as we finish one game I can’t wait for the next. Just sit back and enjoy it, it’s not been like this for years.

It is great from a fans point of view to see so many goals Andy … but without a shadow of doubt McKenna won’t be pleased with the defensive side of things, and will be looking for a collective and individual responses. If he doesn’t get it , January isn’t far away.

I know you’re right Liz and it does need sorting and like you I want to see Axel fit and play too as he might just be the missing part of the jigsaw. I just can’t believe the depth we now have in the squad and how many goal scorers we have in the team.

I’ve just counted we have 15 different goal scorers with 8 players scoring 2 goals or more and we’ve only played 10 games.

[Bluemike]

Thought Taylor looked a lot more impressive when he came on yesterday. Involved in the 4th goal, also played a lovely chip pass to Jackson to set up another chance as well as having a snap shot from the edge of the box which was saved by the keeper.

Agreed, he looked very good and for the first time really impressed me.

[Bluemike]

I agree about the number of goals conceded being too high. However, the first goal really came from us being too adventurous and were caught 2 on 2 at the back. I guess that's why we keep scoring but also why we concede too.
The second goal was more of a concern to me; not the nature of it but that for 20 minutes we just couldn't get hold of the ball. For all our excellent play yesterday, particularly in the first half, I think we gave the ball away with poor passes more than in any other game this season. If your fullbacks are going to push up, then either someone has to drop back to cover or you mustn't give the ball away (or both). I think (as I said earlier) we suffered from playing too many high-energy games. Still, we ended up worthy winners.

Regarding the opposition, Preston were dirty and cynical in the first half. They couldn't stop us without dragging us down or kicking us. Whereas on Tuesday I thought the ref was excellent and got though the match without issuing a single card, I thought yesterday's needed to be much firmer. I know refs don't like to issue too many cards early on, and he did dish out 3 I think, but it could - and should - have been more. As a team they resorted to dirty tactics and he should have picked up on that to stop it.

What was as clear as day too was the Ref bottled it when the guy who had already been booked deliberately handled the ball while on the floor, we got the freekick but the guy should have walked.

I wasn't overly impressed with Preston tbh, second half we were bang average and yet still beat them comfortably, they will drop down the table for sure.

As for Williams tackle, it was superb and everything I want to see, passion, determination, and a will to win, as Hallam says we've been so weak since the days of Taricco that it was great to see plus he got the crowd really fired up, we need that cauldron like atmosphere more often.