Minority Report 2017/18 - Ipswich Town

This was my first chance to see the team this season. I have read a lot, mainly on the BBS and from what I had read, I expected mayhem. I expected all the new players to be well out of their depth, and the team a certainty for relegation. What I saw was plenty of players with lots of promise. I also saw a lack of team structure and misunderstandings galore. Do not get me wrong here, this team is going to struggle until Christmas. Thereafter, the players will adapt to their new surroundings, to their fellow players and to their new coach, and they will gradually improve. It will be like watching Lee Johnson’s team on steroids. People who read me regularly will recognise the word PATIENCE. That is hard if you are not the patient sort. If you want to see improvement and you want it now. I am patient and I like to watch gradual development. I like to watch young players as they gradually improve over the weeks and months. Our current strategy suits me right down to the ground.


It would not be Minority Report if there was no comment about formations. Ipswich started 3-5-2 as they have all through pre-season. I was genuinely surprised that we abandoned 4-4-2 in favour of 4-5-1. It was soon obvious that we had schooled our central mid-field all week on what to expect from their central midfield and we matched them with few alarms. We never looked totally secure at the back because the team lacks the understanding that 20 odd games together brings, but by half-time, we were one ahead and it could have been more. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got.


At half time, Mick McCarthy changed to 4-4-2 and we looked lost. Our central 3 in mid-field looked around for the players they had been schooled to mark and had been marking all the first half, and they were no longer where they had been told they would be. Williams stuck to his task of marking the space in front of our back four, even though Ipswich no longer had Nydam breaking from midfield to join his forwards. Potts was even more troubled. He was a player looking for a new role, and finding nothing. We had 3 players where only 2 were needed and fewer players elsewhere than we needed. I was left scratching my head. If I saw it, then so did Hecky. Why did he not react? Why did he not match their 4-4-2 by adding Ugbo up front with Bradshaw, who had played well in the first half. Well clearly, he has to have his reasons, and perhaps his reason was that they had worked all week on one system, and he feared a car crash if he asked new players to play 4-4-2, off the cuff. By the time we did change, it was all too late. The damage had been done and it was too late to put it right. Nevertheless, in the short time that he was on the field Harvey Barnes had 4 quality touches. I am really looking forward to seeing him develop.


There was much to look forward to in the play of many of the new lads, but the outstanding contribution came from McCarthy at full back. Pearson on the other flank had a much more difficult time, particularly against Iorfa in the first half. The second was easier as Iorfa was withdrawn to full back. Williams struggled a little first half, but got stronger as the half progressed. The change of system at the start of the second half left him struggling to come to terms with his new role and he was at fault in the Ipswich winner as he lost the ball in a dangerous position. For me Potts struggled to carve a niche for himself in that formation and I cannot understand how he can be used effectively. Ugbo came on when we had already lost control of the game due to the Ipswich change in formation and the service up to him was mainly poor. Because of that, conclusions are hard to draw. If you can tell anything at all from just a 10 minute appearance, we have much to look forward to in the performances of Barnes.


So that is it. Minority Report is still alive and kicking. There is much to look forward to if you like to watch a team gradually improving. Keep the faith!

 

A cheer from the assembled inmates went up here at Kaht Towers as I announced that the Minority Report had returned!

In all honesty my Lord I agree with much of that, especially the comments on McCarthy and Barnes. I also thought Ugbo and Hedges showed promise. But in Potts, I thought we had found the ghost of Paul Digby. That running style - as though his legs were tied together - and the overall casualness reminded one of our one-time prodigy. Still, we have Izzy, McGoohan and the great one himself - Mamadou - to look forward to. As fo Moncur, he should be taken aside, made to say ten Hail Mary's and shown a video of Scunthorpe United highlights to serve as a warning. And a visit to Mamadou's barbers wouldn't go amiss.

Venez vous rouges!

 

Can I ask what promise you saw in Ugbo he was shouldered off the ball every time the ball went near him . It wasn't a friendly or practice match for youngsters to find their feet this is the real thing. Losing is crap . Happy losing day .

 

The lad looks very mobile to me and seems to have a good touch. You need to be perceptive to see the latent promise in a player. After all, if he had knocked in 20 goals for Chelsea in the Prem last season I doubt he would be ours to loan. Think outside the box a little, Mr Plobby.

 

Agree with you McCarthy looks very promising linked up well with Hamill at times I for one am not worried I believe we'll turn things round coyr

 

Lots to be positive about, but the sting is that we lost a game we could and should have won.

Losing games we should have won is, despite the annoyance, better than losing games we were never in (like Bristol).

Agree about Potts. Just don't understand Hecky throwing him straight in when he looks totally out of his depth. controversially perhaps would much preferred to have Mowat in there today. Yes he has been below expectations, but we know there's a player in there somewhere. With plenty of championship experience.

Thiam, Lindsey, Fryers (big hope he can can perform), McGeehan, Isgrove and others to come in. Not to mention the game on game improvements we will hopefully see.

Only area I would say we look weak is CB. Roberts was a beast for us. If we only sign 2 more players I would love one to be an experienced no nonsense centre back. And one to be a target man up top to hold ball, take pressure off and get on the end of free kicks and crosses.

Lots to be positive of. And once we're up and running I hope we can build some momentum. Hoped it would be today. Hope now it will be Tuesday.

 

This week's minority report is spot on. Patience and keeping the faith as mantras for this season are appropriate. Today hecky was out thought by mick's change of tactics at half time. For once this board seems to show some consensus. Bradshaw shouldn't have been taken off and nor should Hammill. For me it would have been Potts off and ugbo on and revert to 442. Hedges faded and Barnes should have been brought in earlier. For whatever reason hecky decided differently.
We've all got to be mindful of the fact that this group of players have only been together for a few weeks. We know the history. Pointless continually moaning about them that's gone. Trust in the management team to work with this promising new group and in Heckys words...."create new heroes".
To repeat and echo red rain.........PATIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Great report on the game. I decided to sleep on it and let the dust settle before replying. I agree with lots that you said especially the part about patience. Its tough but we need to have it. I had a funny feeling at the game yesterday, at one point i was excited as i felt that once we gel we'll be great but at other times it was difficult to watch.

We froze a little in the second half and didn't really have an answer to the attacking onslaught that Ipswich provided just after the break. Lets be fair, of the 4 forwards that Ipswich had, 3 of them could walk into our team. Waghorn cost £1m, looks a good buy.

The Moncur moment was massive. I was 100% sure that he'd score, so much so that i was screaming at Bradders to pass it as i was more confident in Moncs bagging.

As for Bradders, i thought that he had one of the best games (at Oakwell) that I've seen him have. I was suprised that he was subbed but kind of understand it too. He held the ball up well and was competative in the air. How he missed that header, i don't know but not much that we could do about that.

Potts, didn't get involved enough for me. Went missing for large spells. When we are back to full strength then he'll struggle to hold down a first 11 place. Might be wrong though.

Jackson, did ok to be fair. Yeah he has mad moments but you could say that Gus does too.

If you ask me the one major thing that screamed out at us was this. We need a leader. A midfield marshall. A Conor. A Redders. I'm hoping that McGeegan can be that man. For me its a priority. I'll be patient though. I promise.

 

A very enjoyable read and Minority Report. Cheers for that and I generally agree with it. I really liked the look of right hand side of McCarthy and AH in the first half. Promising.

 

Here are some more thoughts about systems for anyone interested in that sort of stuff.


There is no magic system. Whatever the system, teams are matched 11 v 11. So what is the purpose of systems? Systems are there for the following reasons:


1. They can take advantage of a perceived strength.

2. They can cover a perceived weakness.

3. They can take advantage of a perceived weakness of an opponent.

4. They can cover a perceived strength of an opponent.


The important thing to realise though, is that strengthening a team in one area weakens the team in another.


Let us look what Mick McCarthy did yesterday as an example.


He started with 3-5-2, with his two wing backs (particularly Iorfa) pushed on into midfield. This meant that his team were weak on the quick counter attack at full back positions, but it meant that his team were strong in the central midfield area where Nydam was allowed to push on to support the front two.


Hecky countered with 4-5-1, essentially a more defensive formation, which weakens the attacking potential in order to strengthen central midfield. Of the 4 potential reasons for picking this system, it strikes me that he did so because he thought that Ipswich would be strong in that area. In other words, he was reacting to what he thought the opposition would do, rather than dictating to the opposition what they should do. Tactics are all about whether the coach is being pro-active or re-active. Because we are a new team and our players have not played sufficient games together yet to be a team that is greater than the individual parts, Hecky has no option. He must be reactive. When Hecky starts becoming pro-active, it will be the first sign of a coach who is more confident that his team has gelled.


But we were on top in that first half because we exploited the weakness in the 3-5-2 system with our wide players. Both Hedges and Hammill had decent first periods because the Ipswich system gave them more space, particularly on the quick counter. They were able to get lots of crosses in, and even though we had only one player in the centre, he was supported by Potts and particularly Moncur. Even the chance that Moncur had saved by the Ipswich keeper came from a quick break into the space vacated by Iorfa.


McCarthy changed to 4-4-2 at half time. In other words, he strengthened at full back and he strengthened wide midfield, but he weakened central midfield. By continuing to play 4-5-1, we were theoretically stronger in central midfield, but we failed to take advantage of the mismatch in that area, simply because the player that were playing there did not know how to. They had been schooled all week to play in a particular way, and when the game changed, they had no experience or instructions to fall back on. In such circumstances, you generally play one midfield player who as a sitter, and two others who take turns to support the forward. The more defensive alternative is that you play two sitters and one player supporting. All that I could see was a very deep midfield player (Williams) still patrolling in front of the back four, waiting for a runner from the Ipswich midfield who would never arrive, and two ahead of him in a turmoil of confusion in a desperate search for a new role. We effectively took two players out of the game, allowing Ipswich to take advantage of our confusion. Even so, Ipswich got back into the game when they outnumbered McCarthy down our right side and manufactured enough space to produce an accurate cross to the back post. It was a key indicator of the strength of 4-4-2.


I remain convinced that we should have matched their system with our own 4-4-2. It would have been re-active rather than pro-active, but at least players understand their roles in 4-4-2, and I am still unsure why Hecky saw what I saw and opted not to change until it was too late, but I would be the first to admit that he knows far more about the game than I do, and I am sure he had his reasons.