First half was the worst 45 minutes I've seen for a long time. It's no exaggeration to say that Ipswich could have been 5 or 6 up. The defence were inept both individually and collectively. Without Foster we're an utter shambles at the back. The midfield were so non-existent that after 10 minutes Davey moved the utterly clueless Leon from the centre to the left wing out of harms way. It was too late by then though as we were already 2 down. If Davey had any balls he'd have taken Leon off there and then rather than waiting until half time. For the rest of the half Campbell-Ryce was deployed in a withdrawn defensive midfield role. Bizarre Second half was much better, but it had to be. We played a strange formation with Campbell-Ryce, De Silva and Butterfield making up a 3 in central midfield while Devaney operated down the right and we completely ignored the left side of the pitch. Bogdanovic got half a chance and coolly slotted home. We were the better side for much of the half without really creating an awful lot. Then with 15 minutes to go Davey inexplicably conceded the game as he withdrew Devaney and went with three up front. Again. It didn't work. Again. We created nothing else and lost. If that's the best you can do Simon you shouldn't be a manager. The official MOTM went to Bogdanovic and I wouldn't argue with that. He said in his interview he was a goalscorer. Well, he got a chance and he scored a goal. You can't ask for more. Last week a few people on here said we weren't in a relegation scrap. Think again. In my opinion we still need a left footed left back, a left footed left sided midfield player and someone to replace Howard. And if the Souza and Moore perform like that when Foster is out of the team we need another central defender too.
Thanks Jay - you are normally pretty balanced. One thing - why the obsession with a left footer on the left? I know it's convential wisdom but many successful Prem sides don't have that.
I just think it's the best way to play I think it gives your side more balance. You can attack at speed on both sides of the field which leaves the opposition vulnerable. Today was a prime example. Every one of our attacks came down our right, so Ipswich just shoved more defenders out there. Had we a decent option down the left we could have switched play but we had nothing. We became very predictable.
Average Not nearly as bad as many people claim. Not a patch on what others claim. He's done OK, no more, no less.
RE: I just think it's the best way to play I guess it's all about availability - if it's good enough for England, Man Ure, Everton, Villa - and that's the ones of the top of my head. I'm trying to think of Premsides with a genuine left footer and I can only think of Boro with Downing. Probably more. I just don't think there is anything wrong with JCR and Devaney. Course if JCR has to get drafted in to help in the middle then....
RE: I just think it's the best way to play We could have a half decent atacking force down each flank if JCR and Devaney stayed there or alternated as they have done before. Although Devaney was tosh tonight.
I thought Devaney was his usual self Some good, some bad. He got over three really good crosses in the first half and followed it up with three absolutely appalling ones. Imho that's typical Devaney.
I'd like to give a bit of praise to Muller...(& other thoughts). who gets inexplicable abuse on here at times but if it wasn't for him, we'd have been absolutely humiliated by the half time scoreline. Moore and Souza as a partnership were awful, Van Homoet had his worst game for a while. Hassell did reasonably well at times but we missed him in central midfield. Anderson was non-existent in the first half, and I don't know why we persist with JCR's "roaming sweeper" role. As much as Macken tried, his phobia of penalty areas continued. He needs to watch "Frickley standard" striker Bogdanovic and learn that once you've laid the ball off, you need to make an effort to get inside the penalty area. Devaney & Van Homoet put about 8 crosses between them in the first half into the Ponty End, and the whole first half was a disgrace. 2nd half we were better, and Bogdanovic did what he said he would do. Got half a chance, on his weaker side, and buried it. And then almost conjured a magic equaliser when he looked up wide of the penalty area, saw Wright off his line and hit it early but it landed on the roof of the net. He also looked to see where Macken was before going for flickons (note to Odejayi.) Very promising debut and hope his injury wasn't serious as he was limping a lot at FT. Foster & Colace need to come back ASAP, and I'll add - we most certainly miss Brian Howard. Also, I'd trade in the left footed left back and the winger if we could go out and buy someone like Jon Stead. Thats the best forward partnership I've seen at Oakwell all season and was so impressed with Stead's movement, workrate, hold-up play, and goal tally. Top performance from him IMO.
RE: will we be in the championship next season if he stays I said a few times at the end of last season that if we sell Howard and don't replace him with a goal scoring midfielder then we'll be relegated. I stand by that.
I apologise Jay I said that we weren't in a relegation scrap, but clearly we are. Inept. Clueless. The Devaney substitution killed us completely.
Have to admit I thought Devaney looked exhausted... but if we were gonna switch it then Rigters should have gone and played on the wing. I'd have left Devaney on if he felt that he could continue, but he looked spent to me.
I can see JCR and Muller legging it TBH that would not at all surprise me... sadly I see us dropping, and blowing away the £15 million each club in the Championshipis to get next season.I so hope Patrick is more far sighted and now realises that Simple Simon is a one way ticket to oblivion
RE: I apologise Jay The Devaney substitution was an attempt to change things when an understandably lacking in match fitness Devaney was knackered and there was sod all left to do except what he did. Accepted, it never works for us. Nobody can seriously think that if Devaney had stopped on we would have got a point. Can they? He'd done nothing thus far and if Davey had done nowt, everyone on here would have been screaming about it. Davey did what all managers do. Route 1 in desperation.
Absolutely spot on assessment. We must be so easy to defend against as we just do not have a left side to our play. What the fook has Davey got against left-sided players? The only one in the entire squad is El Haimour and the less said about him the better. Davey's said he's only looking at strikers during the window, but as welcome as another would be, you have to say the need is greater on the left hand side of midfield and a replacement for Brian Howard. Mind you, we look a bit thin at centre half all of a sudden. We're 3/4 through the season and need half a team. In other words it don't look good.
