Championship - Ipswich Town vs Norwich City FC Preview & Matchday Thread

[Cabanas Blue]

The good news is they are unlikely to sack Wagner now and even Sutton is saying good things about Town which is very surprising, and we can forget the disappointment of today if we can get something from Leeds.COYB.

[hallamblue]

They played like a League One side. Playing with 11 men plus a ref behind the ball, and hope to hit us on the break. Their first goal ( first shot on goal as well), was offside, and handball before he hit. Oh and let’s not forget the THREE fouls not awarded to Town players in their build up .

WTF did we have to do get awarded free kicks today? What a complete c nut of a ref!

scum’s rough house tactics basically sum up their level. They couldn’t match us for football. Mid table shower of shyte they are.

But I’d take that point against a derby rival and beat Leeds and Leicester ,which were capable of, as no emotion in this games.

Had Broadhead not tried to rip a hole in the back of the net everytime he took his shots in the first half, he’d have had a hat trick, no doubt about it.

We move on . Nothing lost … scum will no doubt have an open top bus parade in “ celebration “. But if they’re honest with themselves they’ll acknowledge they got away with one today, against a team they’ve spouted as punching above their weight and having played no one yet. Well we certainly played no one of note today.

[hallamblue]

Their second goal would never have stood in the Ordmier League with VAR.

Win our next 2 games and all will be forgotten.

So BOTH their goals shouldn’t have stood then ?

[Blue Wilf]

Definitely the poorest team we have seen here for many months. We didn't take our chances and the officials were hopeless (as usual). Having watched them back, both of their goals were offside. However.. a point v Leeds and a point v Leicester and we will still come out of a very hard December in amazing shape. Anything more than that will be a bonus. They are a poor team going one way (down) and their fans celebrating wildly at the end after they lost the lead shows how poor they are. Take the disappointment and move on.

[JohnnyB]

Disappointed not to win, but a draw in the context of the performance is no disaster.

It has to be remembered that even if the worst case scenario should come to pass and we lose the next two (which I highly doubt) and Leeds win their next three, we'd still be in the automatics... with very winnable games in QPR and Stoke coming up and very likely some excellent new signings too.

Was interesting to hear Sutton say he thinks we will go up, and the reason he gave is our performances.

[hallamblue]

He’s still a complete arse hole!

[Cabanas Blue]

Disappointed not to win, but a draw in the context of the performance is no disaster.

It has to be remembered that even if the worst case scenario should come to pass and we lose the next two (which I highly doubt) and Leeds win their next three, we'd still be in the automatics... with very winnable games in QPR and Stoke coming up and very likely some excellent new signings too.

Was interesting to hear Sutton say he thinks we will go up, and the reason he gave is our performances.

Yes I was very surprised at what Sutton was saying I just hope he's right trouble is him saying things about Town are usually wrong.
I'm watching the Leeds game thay are very good but 0-0 on 39 minutes

[Andym]

Can’t add much more really. We should have scored 3 before our first goal. Completely dominated the first half.
A bit more even in the second. Two points dropped but that’s a Derby for you. Just happy with how we played.
Norwich were a rough side, surprised they managed too get seats without a single yellow. Onwards and upwards.

[JohnnyB]

He’s still a complete arse hole!

Oh yeah totally

[TODD66]

He’s still a complete arse hole!

Very true.

I thought he must have been having some sort of mental breakdown.

Totally out of character.

[Charnwood]

Leeds dropped 2 points at home too after being held to a 1–1 draw by Coventry so there’s still a 10 point gap between us and 3rd place and 17 points between us and 6th placed WBA although that could reduce to 16 points if they win their game tomorrow at home to Stoke City.

[arana peligrosa]

RIght off the bat it's a frustrating score. You can add other labels to it like disappointment and underwhelmed but above all else we're still in a great position to challenge and very likely to at least get a play-off place by end of season. Not confident enough right now to expect an auto promotion, season still has a far course to run.

Haven't viewed Pink Un forum as yet, don't have the time or inclination right now but can kind of picture how it's going to be. 'They haven't beaten us since dinosaurs roamed the earth etc', fans there whipping themselves to a frenzy they escaped defeat and the run remains intact but f*ck them in all truth. We're much more likely to get a promotion than them and we are right now, arguably East Anglia's best team and superior to them. We didn't win today, they got lucky and escaped with a point but the bigger picture being we should have won and they can consider themselves real fortunate to have taken something from the trip. Even those with a real hatred of us would be honest enough to admith they got away with something they didn't really deserve.

Lots of positives to take from it such as we could have been well ahead at one stage of play and we at times - often probably - were superior to them. We got crowds back at PR, playing out to near capacity often enough and having the best time of it for something near 20 years. Norwich fans can enjoy their point and escape, but we're equipped now to achieve something far more than them in what remains of the season or time ahead.

Thought a draw would come to pass before the game was even underway and wasn't proved wrong. Don't like them but in games of this nature all things are possible. Brush it under the rug and move on to the next challenge.

[AzzurroMark]

My piece, for what it's worth:

I thought the ref had a decent game, not brandishing yellow cards too early. Yes, perhaps both Norwich goals had calls for being offside at some point!

I was in Wymondham where I know 4 town supporters were hugely outnumbered by Norwich fans, but the banter was fantastic. They were delighted with the result and I have to question (apart from Broadhead's misses) did we truthfully do enough to deserve to win the game? I have enjoyed banter today with Millwall, Spurs, West Ham and Leicester fans who all thought this result should not be season defining. Trying to see this through neutral eyes and I thought it was a good derby game, despite my disappointment.

[shabba]

Can’t fault the team, excellent performance and dominated the game. Missed chances and weird goals against but we didn’t lose any points on our big lead ahead of 3rd and 4th so a good day still.

Oh and no Morsy booking.

I personally felt the ref was excellent, allowed the game to flow and didn’t give constant small fouls etc.

KM was spot on after the game saying he’d rather be stood on that side the the performance and feeling unlucky than barely creating anything etc.

Excellent run of games recently, full credit to the boys.

[AzzurroMark]

I personally felt the ref was excellent, allowed the game to flow and didn’t give constant small fouls etc.

Glad i am not the only one to see it that way. I have seen far worse refs. Refereeing a derby game requires a bit of common sense and this ref had that.

[Ricco]

Really is a glass half empty vs glass half full reaction to that game, I don't know what to think. Don't know if I should be frustrated they didn't win, or happy they put in a performance and didn't lose.

Leeds inability to capitalise again is a big bonus, but then we failed to capitalise too!

Unbelievable stats in recent years against them, we used to be smashing them in every area, now they're a bogey side...

[hallamblue]

I personally felt the ref was excellent, allowed the game to flow and didn’t give constant small fouls etc.

Glad i am not the only one to see it that way. I have seen far worse refs. Refereeing a derby game requires a bit of common sense and this ref had that.

Fair enough if he applied that free flowing appriach to both teams, but in my view ( and Mikes as he was constantly commenting as such during the game), this ref gave us virtually nothing throughout the whole game. Scum players especially in the first half got away with some particularly cynical challenges and weren’t booked. So they continued with their shyte housery … even inciting the SBR after they’d scored. I personally hate this player incitement , and it should be stamped out by refs by booking players who try to incite the home crowd. The ref had no balls today IMO, trying his utmost NOT to be accused of being a “ homer ref” in s derby game. Gutless .

[Andym]

I personally felt the ref was excellent, allowed the game to flow and didn’t give constant small fouls etc.

Glad i am not the only one to see it that way. I have seen far worse refs. Refereeing a derby game requires a bit of common sense and this ref had that.

I thought he handled it well too. There could - and should - have been some earlier bookings, but he have the early free kicks to calm it down.

[marko69]

Looking at the mixed comments……… who’d be a ref eh? Tough gig.

With you Ricco in that last paragraph. They’ve turned into a bogey team. People of a certain age, 40s/50s remember it being a guaranteed 3pts game.
Really thought Ipswich would pump them Stockport County style today.

[Blue Wilf]

He was consistently good in the first half and consistently poor in the second half. He failed to deal with a number of cynical tackles ((2 leading up to their first goal). That meant that when he started to book people (well our player - Burns), it was for a tackle that was far less serious than many that had preceded it. How is that consistent? For me however, he was better than the so called 'assistant referees' who (as they always are) were shockingly poor and failed to notice infringements right under their noses. Just what is the point of these cretins?

[hallamblue]

Just seen a photo of their first goal : it’s MILES offside ffs, absolutely bloody miles offside.

[valleyroad]

My piece, for what it's worth:

I thought the ref had a decent game, not brandishing yellow cards too early. Yes, perhaps both Norwich goals had calls for being offside at some point!

I was in Wymondham where I know 4 town supporters were hugely outnumbered by Norwich fans, but the banter was fantastic. They were delighted with the result and I have to question (apart from Broadhead's misses) did we truthfully do enough to deserve to win the game? I have enjoyed banter today with Millwall, Spurs, West Ham and Leicester fans who all thought this result should not be season defining. Trying to see this through neutral eyes and I thought it was a good derby game, despite my disappointment.

I thought the referee was excellent. Handled the match really well. Let it flow and managed the players really well. For me got all the big calls right.
Been really impressed with Josh Smith as a referee and reckon he'll be Premiersip ref shortly.

The game was really one of Ipswich wasting gilt edged chances in the first half especially. Poor defending on both goals but overall i thought Town played well. Really look an outstanding side at times and i personally think they will go up. Well short of Premiership standard though, a bit like Burnley are finding out.

Norwich will be happy with point but in the bigger picture they are well short.

[marko69]

Just seen a photo of their first goal : it’s MILES offside ffs, absolutely bloody miles offside.

Yep, it really was.

[TODD66]

I know it shouldn't be so but out of the 3 upcoming games including today this was the one that I wasn't worried about dropping any points.

Bigger fish to fry this season where our next two games are arguably far more important than the Derby, a game that possibly took on far greater importance over past seasons because we were floundering around in the league and only had those 2 games to look forward to.

[hallamblue]

Well our next two games are against PL squads really aren’t they. We’ll be the underdogs!

[valleyroad]

Just seen a photo of their first goal : it’s MILES offside ffs, absolutely bloody miles offside.

Speak to assistant referee not referee.
You need a photo ? Angles etc ??
I saw sky drew a line and it looked close.
Anyway its split second decision, actually the blink of a human eye ?
This type of stuff is why we have VAR, great eh ??
Freeze frames, frame by frame, multiple camera angles. The human being gets the blink of an eye.
Btw i don't regard anyone fron Norwich as scum for supporting a football team. Rivarly is one thing but this is the wrong side of the line ??
All a sideshow. Ipswich never beat Norwich because they failed to defend the box twice and missed gilt edged chances. Forget anything else and move onto winning at Leeds

[Andym]

Btw i don't regard anyone fron Norwich as scum for supporting a football team.

I agree. For teams like Ipswich and Norwich, most of us support them by an accident of birth - or at least where you live. That should be applauded, far better than the trophy hunters who support the big teams while having no connection to them.

[marko69]

Just seen a photo of their first goal : it’s MILES offside ffs, absolutely bloody miles offside.

Speak to assistant referee not referee.
You need a photo ? Angles etc ??
I saw sky drew a line and it looked close.
Anyway its split second decision, actually the blink of a human eye ?
This type of stuff is why we have VAR, great eh ??
Freeze frames, frame by frame, multiple camera angles. The human being gets the blink of an eye.
Btw i don't regard anyone fron Norwich as scum for supporting a football team. Rivarly is one thing but this is the wrong side of the line ??
All a sideshow. Ipswich never beat Norwich because they failed to defend the box twice and missed gilt edged chances. Forget anything else and move onto winning at Leeds

Valley….. the guy is on his knees in the 6yd box when it comes over from the right. He’s a yard offside to the nearest ITFC defender. Not close at all.

[valleyroad]

Just seen a photo of their first goal : it’s MILES offside ffs, absolutely bloody miles offside.

Speak to assistant referee not referee.
You need a photo ? Angles etc ??
I saw sky drew a line and it looked close.
Anyway its split second decision, actually the blink of a human eye ?
This type of stuff is why we have VAR, great eh ??
Freeze frames, frame by frame, multiple camera angles. The human being gets the blink of an eye.
Btw i don't regard anyone fron Norwich as scum for supporting a football team. Rivarly is one thing but this is the wrong side of the line ??
All a sideshow. Ipswich never beat Norwich because they failed to defend the box twice and missed gilt edged chances. Forget anything else and move onto winning at Leeds

Valley….. the guy is on his knees in the 6yd box when it comes over from the right. He’s a yard offside to the nearest ITFC defender. Not close at all.

Just watched it back on sky. Have a look at Davies stopping the cross he is playing him on. At first look i thought he was well off until i saw Davies.
Sky drew a line and nobody coul tell. Would need VAR !!
He might actually also be behind the ball as its crossed.
Also if we go down this line, Norwich could say Wolfie was came from offside position and pushed defender. Hurst was grabbing and pulling on 2nd goal. Both nonsense but you get my point.
Its not the reason Town dropped points

Also conduct of fans before the match with Norwich bus and 80 yer old Delia Smith's car is why all this "scum" talk is not good enough

[Charnwood]

With a stricter referee Morsy would have been booked in the first half and missed the next two games against Leeds United and Leicester City and for that alone we should be grateful. For me the referee allowed the game to be played as all games used to be played and how I prefer to see them played. I thought it was quite refreshing although it took a bit of time to get used to as it rarely happens these days.