Back From The Game - Ipswich Town

[Chaney]

not many mentions of the bazooka of a long throw from Antonio that earned that corner we scored from, that could be lethal to us in future.

[Woodcote Royal]

By general consensus, Ipswich were the best side we have faced this season. By general consensus, they will be in the mix at the end of the season and whilst, IMHO, neither side deserved to lose, we were the ones who went home with all three 3pts.

I worry for who those failed to enjoy a tactical battle between 2 good sides..............................the Championship close to it's best, in my view.

I thought it was an intruiging game, and enjoyed it for what it was. That doesn't mean there was a lot of good entertaining and high quality football on view.

Like others, I said Pearce would have to play well for us to win and, in fact, I would not have picked him, but he had one of his best ever games for RFC. That's why we should all be beside ourselves with joy at having Brian McDermott as our manager.

Who the hell who would you have played instead then?

I've supported Pearce at times, but I still accept he is a limited player. In the right side, asked to do the right job, he can get by in this division but he's not going to set the world alight.

Add to the mix his astute signings such as Harte (inevitably slagged when signed by those who had never seen him kick a ball ) and other products from our academy such as MoM Jem Karacan (yes, at long last, Sidwell has been replaced!!!) whom he has given the time and space to flourish, and assertions that mere survival is all we can hope for are looking more ridiculous by the day.

Sidwells been replaced? It was one good game, a one that was an attritional battle and not a game where technique was going to be required.

According to some we didn't need to replace Sidwell in the first place, Gunnarsson already did that before he left right?

From what I saw last night, we are one or two signings away from making QPR look over their shoulder. Bring it on.

Not sure I'd go quite that far, but I do agree we're not a million miles away from been a good team in this division. That says as much for the division as it does our squad of players though.

It's frustrating that we're so close yet, in my view, so far from being right up there!

To cover a few of your points. Had Bryn been fit I would have played Harte at centre half and Stretch at full back.

Karacan has had more than one good performance and if he doesn't quite match up to Sidwell when he fist arrived here, he's very close. Sidwell's technical ability was never much to write home about! My view on the greedy one was always that he was seriously over rated by many and a replacement was well within our budget. Nothing that has happened since then has changed my view..............................including that we paid a heavy price for Coppell refusing to spend his budget.

As far as potential signings are concerned, I believe it's just a case of McD keeping his powder dry until he decides where to strengthen.

If the likes of Cumming can improve so markedly, I'm sure he feels that Long, Church and Hunt are not far away from negating the need for a striker. He will have some funds available for the rest of the season but only a fraction of what he would like and he will put it to best use as and when he sees fit.

Pure conjecture, I know, but I believe he has the means to make those 2 signings but, only has one chance to get it right and we will, as per normal, need to plead poverty to get what we want at a price we can afford.........................watch this space!!!

[brendywendy]

Nothing that has happened since then has changed my view..............................including that we paid a heavy price for Coppell refusing to spend his budget.

apart from record bids for Fae, scott brown, and john mensah?

[WoodleyRoyal]

Good game. Annoying kids nearish the back of Y24, where is there parents honestly?

the one who keeps screaming "come on reading"?

he is quite possibly the most annoying punt i have ever had the pleasure of sharing a football stadium with

[Z175]

Incredible effort from the lads - we sweated blood for those 3 points.

Re: their left back - Do some people not realise jimmy was too injured to play? He never once tried to beat a man with pace last night! Inevitably given his form you jsut play him whatever but he gave us almost nothing but credit him for playing anyway.

Tremendous performances from :
Shaun Cummings
Alex Pearce
Jem Karacan
Hal Robson-Kanu
Shane Long

You just would never have imagined it a month ago. And for all those players thats two/three in a row they have been great. Well done Brian for sticking with them when we all wrote them off!!!!

[Dan - B15 Royal]

'Greed but the best player of the night was the Ipswich number 2 - he was simply outstanding!

This lad Peter's is the only full back i have seen in this division who can handle Kebe and keep him quiet. He was great aginst him last night and did the same job on Kebe twice last year, resulting in Jimmy being replaced up at Portman Road due to lack of effectiveness, and he was once more replaced last night, as he was quiet and carrying a niggle.

Otherwise a real gritty performance last night, good to see we didnt fold to Town's robust heavy duty football and were happy to put ourselves about and getting challenges in across the park, and keen to get to eavy 50/50 first. In pevious years we would of bottled last night, and let them steal the 1-0 win, so real credit to the team for battling till the end and picking up a hard earnt 3points.

[Woodcote Royal]

Nothing that has happened since then has changed my view..............................including that we paid a heavy price for Coppell refusing to spend his budget.

apart from record bids for Fae, scott brown, and john mensah?

Like every other club we had bids turned down. We also had deals lined up that he elected not to go through with. Replacing a moderately talented water carrier who has been largely anonymous since the day he left us should have been child's play

[Hoop Blah]

So you would've picked Pearce then?

You just confused me by saying you wouldn't pick him!

I know you've got a 4 year bee in your bonnet about Sidwell, but Karacan now isn't near to being as good as Sidwell was when we first signed him as a player at a very similar age to Jem. That doesn't mean Jem can't be a decent player at this level.

[Svlad Cjelli]

When he says "moderately talented water carrier who has been largely anonymous since the day he left us" I don't know if he's talking about Sidwell or Harper, tbh.

[brendywendy]

Nothing that has happened since then has changed my view..............................including that we paid a heavy price for Coppell refusing to spend his budget.

apart from record bids for Fae, scott brown, and john mensah?

Like every other club we had bids turned down. We also had deals lined up that he elected not to go through with. Replacing a moderately talented water carrier who has been largely anonymous since the day he left us should have been child's play

just saying he didnt refuse to pay money to replace sidders as you said, he tried very hard to- and the two players bid for before fae would have done enough to keep us up easily imo.
the only gripe should be that coppell wouldnt spend record cash on his 2nd/3rd choices, and imo thats also fair enough

[Woodcote Royal]

When he says "moderately talented water carrier who has been largely anonymous since the day he left us" I don't know if he's talking about Sidwell or Harper, tbh.

Who mentioned Harper other than you?

[Woodcote Royal]

So you would've picked Pearce then?

You just confused me by saying you wouldn't pick him!

I know you've got a 4 year bee in your bonnet about Sidwell, but Karacan now isn't near to being as good as Sidwell was when we first signed him as a player at a very similar age to Jem. That doesn't mean Jem can't be a decent player at this level.

Would have picked Harte over Pearce had we had the cover in midfield and there was pre-match doubt over Bryn's fitness

[brendywendy]

but pearce had a truly impressive game vs one of the better strikers in teh division in scotland.
and hartes not been caught out massively at FB in any of his 4 clean sheet games.

[TFF]

Decent performance. Thought our defence was outstanding, especially in the last few minutes with Harte and Pearce playing centre-back.

I'd agree if it weren't for the fact that Ipswich were unlucky not to score at least twice in added time. It was chaos at the back.

[Hoop Blah]

So you would've picked Pearce then?

You just confused me by saying you wouldn't pick him!

I know you've got a 4 year bee in your bonnet about Sidwell, but Karacan now isn't near to being as good as Sidwell was when we first signed him as a player at a very similar age to Jem. That doesn't mean Jem can't be a decent player at this level.

Would have picked Harte over Pearce had we had the cover in midfield and there was pre-match doubt over Bryn's fitness

Ermmm, we didn't have the cover in the midfield, so you're saying you would've picked him?

To be fair, I wouldn't pick him if we had better options either...we didn't though, so still a bit miffed by you're original post. Not that it matters at all of course.

[RoyalBlue]

apart from record bids for Fae, scott brown, and john mensah?

Like every other club we had bids turned down. We also had deals lined up that he elected not to go through with. Replacing a moderately talented water carrier who has been largely anonymous since the day he left us should have been child's play

just saying he didnt refuse to pay money to replace sidders as you said, he tried very hard to- and the two players bid for before fae would have done enough to keep us up easily imo.
the only gripe should be that coppell wouldnt spend record cash on his 2nd/3rd choices, and imo thats also fair enough

Perhaps it's also accurate to say that the Chairman tried very hard not to spend too much money replacing Sidwell. Afterall, he and you both know too well that money talks. Bid enough and your bid will not be turned down, as Hoffenheim recently demonstrated! Maybe Coppell was never given enough money to stand any real chance of a successful bid.

[Woodcote Royal]

just saying he didnt refuse to pay money to replace sidders as you said, he tried very hard to- and the two players bid for before fae would have done enough to keep us up easily imo.the only gripe should be that coppell wouldnt spend record cash on his 2nd/3rd choices, and imo thats also fair enough

Coppell only bought second choices, refusing to sign anyone who would have walked into the side ahead of one of his favorites. A Robbie Savage or Nickie Butt would have been within our grasp and add to this James Harper having to play whenever there was an "R" in the month was the difference between mid table and relegation. If Stoke, Buirmingham and Fulham can manage it so could we.

[Woodcote Royal]

but pearce had a truly impressive game vs one of the better strikers in teh division in scotland.
and hartes not been caught out massively at FB in any of his 4 clean sheet games.

I think you understand, my original point was that I was wrong and
McD was right

[Woodcote Royal]

Perhaps it's also accurate to say that the Chairman tried very hard not to spend too much money replacing Sidwell. Afterall, he and you both know too well that money talks. Bid enough and your bid will not be turned down, as Hoffenheim recently demonstrated! Maybe Coppell was never given enough money to stand any real chance of a successful bid.

He spent all that would have been required on Fae

[Royal With Cheese]

Which one was the number 2 btw? The left back?

Yes. He was awsome. Kebe wasn't fully fit but the number 2 (Peters I think his name is) had him sussed from the outset, never gave him any time on the ball and timed tackles perfectly. Not short of pace either. Preimership bound on that display.

RwC - you were there??!

I certainly was. I haven't seen a game this season we haven't won. You should be paying for my flights over!