First let’s get it out of the way. Ipswich are not a brilliant side, but they’re a very good one on their day and they played well here and thoroughly deserved their three points. They pressed the play well, countered superbly and were ruthless when it mattered. On this performance it’s not difficult to see why they’re up in the mix with us and challenging for a play-off place and there’s no shame in losing to them.
I was really pleased with our fast start. We were quick out of the blocks and got our noses in front within a couple of minutes and I can’t really remember the last time we’ve done that with any conviction. But after 10 minutes or so and even before Ipswich equalised, it started going a bit pear shaped and you could sense something wasn’t quite right.
I noticed Lee Camp, the defence and the majority of the midfielders seemed a little bit jittery and nervous on the ball. Ipswich were pressing high and fast, with a good defensive shape from their front men and the pitch looked a little on the bobbly side. Although there was no reason to panic, a lot of them looked uncomfortable in possession.
That, combined with the way the Tractor Boys pressed us, meant that we either hurried passes or had to play awkward passes that put us into situations where we were likely to lose the ball. This mainly manifested itself with the ball ending up with Damien Delaney whose only option was to play it zonally up the pitch or back to Lee Camp, who either cleared rather poorly or played the ball to another defender before it eventually found its back to Delaney or back to him.
I felt it was a disaster waiting to happen and I was convinced that Lee Camp did not want to play in his full backs from goal kick positions, but kept doing so anyway presumably because this is a style of play we’re trying to introduce. It would be nice for the players to recognise that sometimes it’s not working and just take some responsibility and change things if required, especially if there appears to be a collective problem. Anyway, we ended up conceded a soft goal which was pretty much our own doing and that was a result of not adapting quickly enough or heeding the warning signs, which were getting greater by the second.
There were so many times when we didn’t control the ball properly even when we had the chance and time to do so. That often led to our men overrunning the ball and misjudging it, or not getting it under proper control or connecting properly with it and that all led to the detriment of the quality of our play and led to many mistakes being made continuously and in dangerous areas of the pitch.
By the same token the balance of the formation was a little bit disjointed, with Samuel Di Carmine not getting enough support in the lone striker role, so when we did get it forward we didn’t have much chance of hanging onto it or finding players in positive positions.
Having said all of this, we did start the second-half well and had a decent period of pressure from the off. We made better use of Wayne Routledge and overall it was a lot more encouraging than in the first period. But football can be cruel, and at vital moments in the match we were punished for our mistakes. Ipswich took full advantage of individual errors and our hesitancy in possession. Gavin Mahon lost the ball after taking a heavy first touch, which so many of our players were guilty of doing on the day and as quick as you like, the ball was with Pablo Counago and he finished beautifully to give them the lead.
From here we had to press on and try and find a way back into the game and when you throw caution to the wind you’re always prone to being hit on the counter attack and Ipswich were doing that well all day and duly finished us off with a relatively straightforward ball over the top that was taken very well by Jon Walters. I also thought David Norris was excellent for them up top. He held the ball up and linked play ever so well.
That put the game beyond doubt but I was pleased that we kept going and continued to drive forward looking for a goal. It’s important that your team continue to try and play the right way regardless of the score, so that’s a small positive to take away as it’s easy to give in situations like the ones we found ourselves in here.
I think the aspect of our play that was most disappointing was the type of passing we chose in and around the defensive and midfield areas. The balls were often popped up high in the air or at awkward heights or troublesome angles and we never really recovered from that or improved this part as the game went on. Perhaps it was the pitch, but perhaps it was just a bad day at the office for some of them too.
I don’t think there’s any reason to hit the panic buttons over this result, because there’s lots to play for yet and in many ways we didn’t have our strongest starting eleven out there on the day. We’re not quite at a point where we can afford to do that against sides like Ipswich, especially if things don’t seem to go your way like in this match where we were quite ragged overall.
On a closing note I was quite disgusted by the treatment that Gavin Mahon received from our supporters. Booing one of your own is just so unnecessary and doesn’t set a good example to the many kids visiting due to the ‘Kids fo a Quid’ promotion the club ran. I was also equally appalled by the amount of expletives coming from fans around me in the presence of so many children. We should be ashamed of ourselves and learn to set an example and show some patience, really.
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