Premier League - Ipswich Town vs Everton FC Preview & Matchday Thread

[Bluemike]

Still pissed off this morning and McKenna’s interviews are becoming repetitive. We need a change in approach, formation and personal.
Team for Brentford....

Muric

H. Clarke O'Shea Burgess Davis

Hutchinson Morsy Taylor Broadhead

Hirst Delap

4-4-2

I know we all see games differently but I can’t agree with McKenna when he says the margins in the first half were very small. Yes Clarke missed that chance early on and if he had put that away it might have been a different story but for me I felt Everton were well in control of the game even in the first half.
If it had been a boxing contest and went to the scorecards for me it would have been a unanimous decision all round.

Agreed, our ONLY decent move was when we carved them open and Clarke missed the sitter. I felt Morsy was ploughing a lone furrow in Midfield and did ok but we were often overrun in that department.

[hallamblue]

The single biggest problem we have and not just this season, is our consistent ability to gift soft goals when we're not even under particular pressure. Every single game we do it and it's down to basics .

Clear the bloody ball, and stop pissing about with it in our own box!!!

[AzzurroMark]

I am going to get shot down here I know, but please remember these are my opinions and in my eyes are just as valid as anyone elses (it doesn't mean they are right....or wrong ).

Questioning various things is what a forum is all about, and I know that just because someone expresses a different viewpoint it doesn't mean they are giving up on the team, but let's just step back and look at the bigger picture here!

We came up with a rookie manager and a large percentage of a L1 team. Despite spending big, we still have (so I understand) the smallest wage bill by a long shot, FFP (or whatever it is called) will see to it that that remains the same until (hopefully) we can establish ourselves. We have the least experienced squad of players, even the two other promoted sides had a good backbone of Premier League experience. Even with a magician of a manager staying up will be a very tall order!

Yesterday we had a L1 CB pairing, one (Burgess) who must be as rusty as hell. Our first choice back line was decimated and we just can't possibly afford (yet) to have top quality all across our squad. Greaves and Tuanzebe are massive misses for us and to hear that Johnson also had an injury is not ideal either. On the latter (and no I haven't seen him play yet), surely like so much of our team, had an off day at West Ham and just needs a run of games?
Our central midfield too is weakened by Luongo & Cajuste being out, and while only bit part players so far they do at least give KM other options.
We also missed out on getting another striker in the transfer window, though I'd personally rather go without than to have signed Broja! That lack of an extra striker is definitely costing us right now IMO as I feel that is where we are suffering in particular. As good as his goal return has been so far, it's not fair to heap so much expectation on a rookie 21 year old in Delap. Plus it can make us so much easier to play against. Take Southampton as a case in example, Russell Martin doubled up on him and virtually nullified him.

Was I expecting things to be going better so far? Of course I was. I was always writing off the first two games, but we have shown grit, you only have to look at the Villa game, the only game I have seen so far (their away form is pretty awesome) to see just how good we can be. While it was backs to the wall against Brighton, we still showed that we can defend well and that Muric can be decent.

As for the Omari conundrum, I'm prepared to trust KM's judgement on him - he see OH in training, knows what he wants of him, knows his strengths, knows how he performed on the right for the U21s. Think back to last year, OH as exciting as his cameos were early in the season, because of Keiran he ended the season as one of the better players in the Championship. How do we know that KM hasn't seen a role for Omari that he is getting him fully used to, something that no other player in our squad offers? He is a young lad who is still learning in arguably the toughest league in the world. He will improve greatly in his current position under the tuterlage of KM.

My biggest concern is that the fans will start to turn (no doubt some already have, but they're the type this club don't need as supporters). Yes, we are making mistakes and they are costing us big time, but we need to support those lads. If they start to feed into any negativity or groans from the stands, that is when players start to go missing and eventually the whole thing collapses.

As difficult as it is, hold onto that positivity of the last 2 seasons, the joyous scenes of the promotion party, the excitement of reaching the top flight. Nobody ever said it would be easy, and yes, the lack of a win is frustrating, but as both MA and KM, along with the players have said/implied, we must stick together, we are stronger as one.

Trust the process

[Blue Wilf]

I actually agree with most of what you have said AM. I want to trust the process in so many ways bug the fact remains that many of these players as you say are inexperienced at this level etc but be that as it may, that will not stop us going down as they are not (yet) good enough. We simply don't have enough time to wait for them to find their feet. I know that's always the conundrum for teams getting promoted (which is why most go straight back down) but maybe we are seeing just that problem. The Championship to PL gap is clearly widening and making it harder and harder.

Look at Everton - they are no great shakes at all but they always survive despite this simply cos they have been in the PL for so long their underlying skill levels are better than the newly promoted teams.

I am getting negative with the team (a bit) although much of it is not their or KM's fault for the above reasons. However, to then expect us to stay up, not try other formations (like 2 strikers), playing more direct sometimes is all well and good for the managers 'philosophy' but it does not earn us points! We have played against so many park the bus teams over the past 4 seasons yet we seem unable to apply their logic when sometimes we need to do exactly the same thing to others!

I really want us to stay up and build but in all honesty, after 8 games against a range of top/bottom teams can anyone on this forum see where 35-40 points is coming from? I sure as hell can't...

[Bluemike]

A lot of what you say is correct, however I am concerned that we don't seem to learn from our mistakes, add to that no amount of good coaching has thus far eradicated the ridiculous errors we continuously make, I mean it doesn't matter What League you are in Burns should not be making that error, it's schoolboy stuff.

I don't agree regarding Hutchinson though, he doesn't fit the central role at all, Eight games now and pretty ineffective in all of them, the U21's played him wide and you saw the results, also he was switched to wide right yesterday and the improvement was instant, stevie Wonder can see what role suits him best.

Maybe we are all expecting too much too soon and pinpointing certain games for wins, which I myself have done , is silly because the disappointment rises when we lose like against West Ham and Everton. To lose Tuanzebe and Greaves for long periods of time is a disaster because Woolfenden and Burgess just aren't good enough, it's that simple, while O'Shea is not much better so we really are looking down a barrel now. I wish we could bring back Baggott tbh.

The thing is we all look at needing a certain amount of wins and a certain amount of points, we don't, we just need more than Three other teams, that could actually be 25 points, who knows ?

I don't agree with the theory that others feel in that we bought with relegation in mind, the club are hell bent on staying up and establishing the club in the top flight. I'm sure we will improve and get back to what we did in the opening Six games but will it come too late ? The injuries have certainly not helped.

Finally, McKenna needs to take a step back and re-evaluate our tactics etc going forward cus there are signs that our approach has been found out already, we need a positive and aggressive plan B. For me the team has to be built around Morsy, Greaves, Davis, Tuanzebe, Delap, Szmodics and Hutchinson when they are all fit and in their correct position, that's a pretty decent core to work from, sadly I do feel at this early stage our recruitment in some players has been poor (Johnson, O'Shea, Phillips, Clarke and Muric) that's just my opinion on what I've seen, I wanted Jack Clarke here but now I've seen him, albeit still early days, he's not up to this level consistently enough.

[hallamblue]

We got promoted too soon as the song goes.
People refer to our squad as championship in origin. But it's not. It's League One. I think only 2 players in the last promotion had previous Championship experience, the rest were / are League One. So it's a hrlluva leap for them.

On the other side of the coin is the 11 new players brought in, during the summer. No way have they formulated a full understanding as a team yet. They barely play 2 weeks at a kind before these sodding international breaks, ruin any rhythm we may start to build. And of these 11 newbies, how many havd meaningful PL experience? One? And his game is need of a complete rebuild by all accounts, which is why we've got him ....then we have the injury list.... I could go on.

So the cards are wrll and truly stacked. I'm expecting more players in and a few outgoing in January. Not ideal but we have no choice. Our biggest problem will be trying to get players with meaningful experience agreeing to join us.

Oh and I agree with all you've said AM ...

[Mach_Polish_Blue]

We need to be more defensive minded at Brentford as Woolfenden and Burgess will need a help. They are too slow therefore we have to be more compact at the back.

But McKenna won't do it I am afraid. Play like we did at West Ham and we'll get spanked again.

[Ricco]

My quick thoughts in order to prevent enormous rant:

I know defence is a worry, we've conceded 16, but there are 7 teams who have conceded 14 or more, we have not be blown away.

Liverpool at home 0-2, Everton at home 0-2, that's is what concerns me. Why have we not learnt and begun to improve? I know there are injuries, but even with injuries we have more players available now than we did against Liverpool.

8 games and we've seen Hutchinson on the right for mere minutes. I'll continue to scream for Szmodics (who has been essentially played out of position and dropped for some reason) in the centre and Hutchinson on the right, I don't care if we play flipping Walton on the left, just give those two a go in there. I can't see how every man and his dog see Hutchinson on the right apart from McKenna.

[hallamblue]

I think he's almost using Delap as a number 10....

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

I don't think it matters who we might get in January - sure we have inexperienced players in the PL, but for me the problem is KM and how he is setting the team up to play. I remember during the close season him saying after every acquisition that that particular player totally bought in to what his vision was for the PL. So he plays 4-2-3-1 regardless, because that's what he wants to play. He plays Hutchinson in the middle because he sees him as a number 10, despite what he does on the right. Etc, etc. His vision worked in L1 and Championship, but it's not working in the PL. He needs to look at what he has available, and build a formation around that, rather than blindly keep banging away at his ideal.

I'm not saying get rid of him - in time I think he will become a very good manager at PL level. But at the moment he is floundering, is devoid of ideas, and needs help.

[Ricco]

We're not buying big in January, no chance, particularly if relegation seems a real possibility/probability. They've already rolled the dice and spent a lot in the summer, they're not going to double down and risk the financial security of the club.

I feel we have the players at the club to survive, however I think we're a long way from utilising them and finding the winning formula.

[arana peligrosa]

Brentford ahead would have one time or another be a winnable fixture or at least something where you'd expect us to take a result from but they've improved greatly and another blank could well come to pass. Asking to change formation time and and again seems or is futile as the manager seems to know no other way but if we're stuck with a (banal) intransigent approach then at least try to have players on the field that should ideally be there right from the start other than reduced to a sub capacity and not even participating (when rightly they should be)

Muric as a last, I don't know, just haven't got the confidence in that one name as to whether the club name can survive or even make a go of this season. One further time maybe it's the defense directly ahead of him that's a greater concern but we're conceding more goals at an early stage that would have envisaged back in July and while the attacking potential is there, names just either aren't involved when they should be or some are struggling to adapt to competition at the highest level.

Something needs to be addressed here before we find ourselves in a position at a relative early stage of season where safety can't be salvaged although with that in mind it's only a handful of games in and there's no real sense of panic as yet. All we need is a first win, some further encouraging draws or results and can take it from there. Longer we go without victory, more doubt will emerge, less self-belief in the own players abilities or even McKenna himself. At least in terms of competing with the rest at the now highest level. Didn't imagine it to be easy when making it back, was under no illusions, but imagined before time three points should have emerged someplace before now.

[hallamblue]

We're not buying big in January, no chance, particularly if relegation seems a real possibility/probability. They've already rolled the dice and spent a lot in the summer, they're not going to double down and risk the financial security of the club.

I feel we have the players at the club to survive, however I think we're a long way from utilising them and finding the winning formula.

I doubt we will buy in January. It's a bad time to buy. But we might try to loan.... but January is a bad window to do business full stop. We might not have a choice though...

Your last paragraph underlines Rossi's point. Mckenna needs to adapt, something I've also alluded too.

[ITFC2024]

My line up for Brentford:

Muric

H. Clarke O’shea Greaves Davis

Morsy Taylor

Hutch Szmodics Chaplin

Delap

Chaplin on the left? Really?

You have to remember, that starting lineups are relative because players naturally move to where the ball is. Obviously I know that isn’t Chaplin’s natural position, but when he came in he was all over the pitch. His quick one touch passing enabled us to gain some presence in the midfield.

Ok you’re probably right about Burns. I was wrong, but Hutch is still gonna need help. Chaplin looks like he’s ready to take the PL by the balls and he needs to be fit into the starting eleven. J. Clarke was frustrating to watch and he needs to be benched. We’re all pulling at straws in hopes for survival and we won’t agree on everything. However, KM needs to start earning his 5-mil and come up with another plan to keep us in the Prem.

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

My line up for Brentford:

Muric

H. Clarke O’shea Greaves Davis

Morsy Taylor

Hutch Szmodics Chaplin

Delap

Chaplin on the left? Really?

You have to remember, that starting lineups are relative because players naturally move to where the ball is. Obviously I know that isn’t Chaplin’s natural position, but when he came in he was all over the pitch. His quick one touch passing enabled us to gain some presence in the midfield.

Ok you’re probably right about Burns. I was wrong, but Hutch is still gonna need help. Chaplin looks like he’s ready to take the PL by the balls and he needs to be fit into the starting eleven. J. Clarke was frustrating to watch and he needs to be benched. We’re all pulling at straws in hopes for survival and we won’t agree on everything. However, KM needs to start earning his 5-mil and come up with another plan to keep us in the Prem.

It's not about being right or wrong - we all see things differently and in any case in football there is no one definative answer. I know we have problems defensively, especially with Greaves and Tuanzebe out - but I am far more concerned that we have only scored 6 times in 8 games - that tells me we are not creating enough chances. I would play a 3-5-2 formation - Hutchinson, Morsy, Phillips/Cajuste, Chaplin/Broadhead, Davis as the middle 5, and Delap with Hirst or Szmodics (depending on who we're playing) up front.

[Ricco]

Yeah, that's it Rossi, we have been promoted twice off the back of scoring goals, it's what this system does (it also leaks a lot of goals), so we either have to outscore teams or change to something radically more defensive and try to pinch points here and there, something McKenna has never shown any sign of doing.