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Play up Pompey, we're doomed, doomed i tell ya!

Discussion in 'Ipswich Town' started by Spanish, Mar 20, 2021.

  1. itfcptc

    itfcptc Well-Known Member

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    Really good post Nuggets, for me we've really lacked a real coherent recruitment strategy since ME has been here and it's probably one of the biggest reasons behind our failure and that isn't necessarily just talking about transfer fees, that's about who we recruit, how long we recruit them for, whether we sell players when receiving a good offer and the fact we let players contracts run to the end and either leave on a free or leave them waiting. It really has left us with totally unbalanced squads.

    This summers transfers are going to be crucial and I know I've been banging on for the past couple of seasons on here saying our squad isn't good as people think but I'm now going to say we also need to be careful not to chuck the baby out with the bath water. Individually nearly every player in our squad has talent, the squad just has an awful balance and we don't have players with the character or experience to do well collectively in this division. That doesn't mean with a few very good signings they can't be successful here.

    I've said for a few years, any manager we recruit at Town under Evans needs character to basically be the main figurehead for the club. We need more of the same on the playing staff. Either way Paul Cook has got a very difficult transfer window ahead and some really tough calls to make. I'd say this is probably the most difficult transfer window I've know a Town manager to face.
     
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  2. TopBunk

    TopBunk Active Member

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    I think the whole squad needs an overhaul too many players are used to losing games.
     
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  3. San Diego

    San Diego Sir Mediator
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    And there will be a big change to the squad this summer. I can see there being quite a few players released and 3 or 4 brought in to create a spine to the team. The squad is too bloated and needs trimming down in numbers. If Cook has to contend with the level of spending that Evans has shown recently I would say that it will take at least 3 windows to add all of the players needed.

    We can be successful under Evans but patience from the fans will be key as Cook slowly assembles his team over the course of 2/3 transfer windows. It's taken us 14 years to slip to this lowly position, it won't all be undone in one window. Anyone that thinks that Cook is somehow going to magically put everything right this summer will have plenty to moan about as that is probably not going to happen.

    In truth I would rather just be told that the squad rebuild will take some time and have those expectations of instant success tempered a bit. For too long it's been all about promotion/play offs whatever with managers making short term decisions (lots of loans) based on getting results only, instead of having a clear strategy of improving slowly year over year. Sure we're Ipswich and most believe that we shouldn't be in League One but what is needed to get us going in the right direction will take longer than 1 transfer window and I think some supporters would do well to realise that.

    What we will see after pre-season will be a team that puts in the effort and has a clear way of playing. I trust that Cook will recruit the players to fit his style and will not suffer slackers in the squad. You either pull your weight or you find a new club. As I said before, a team full of players that put the work in will get results.
     
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  4. Buckyohare

    Buckyohare Well-Known Member

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    I think that's very true San Diego, there's no quick fix here. we've fallen very far and its going to be a slow road back. We seem to have shrivelled up as a club; this Lee O'Neil fella seems to have some pseudo football director role as 'General Manager of Football operations' and he's in charge of the academy. really? Thats a helluva lot for one bloke, and ive no idea if he's even up to it. these are major roles to fulfil and our success falls on them being done well. its so much more than 11 blokes on a pitch and a manager on the touchline. thats fine at Sunday league level though...

    To Hampys point about Butcher and Dyer, im still very unconvinced. unless they show appetite for management and some success together n the pro leagues, like Burley did prior to taking over ITFC... im not even sure they even applied for the job when its been vacant did they? and who's the no1 and who's second in command in that combo. rhetorical question Hampy! As much as I like the idea of two former players taking us back to glory, im afraid I feel they are set up to fail in the current club ownership and I just don't want to see them being screamed at on here and elsewhere for the sack when it inevitably turns sour. it'd tarnish our fond memories of them. Do we want that?

    and it almost certainly will turn sour. Lamps at Chelsea is the latest example. Gerard wining with Rangers; well, my cat could manage that team to wining ways in that league... I'd say there's a 1% chance Butcher/Dyer will lead us back to PL glory.

    As to the idea that it worked taking a punt on Sir Alf, Bobby and Burley, well, even those managers would struggle with managing us to success right now the way we're run.

    And being realistic, we had some fun in Div 1 and one amazing PL season, then Burley left after a dismal relegation failure following one Leicester-esque season of glory which kinda started the rot we're still in now. we never really recovered, all the best youth was gone, the money was wasted etc etc. 20 years later we're now an average L1 team racking up debt. The table doesn't lie, does it?

    which brings me full circle; Burley had great youngsters coming through (which im not sure we have now), an ownership that had a vision; a clear 5 year plan we all knew of and could get behind and even then we got up into the PL by the skin of out teeth on that dramatic day in Wembley after 2 failed attempts in previous seasons. it was fun times, but it wasn't without its misery either. and it wasn't easy. it took a lot of time with all the other pieces of the club's jigsaw in place.

    As San Diego said, it's going to be a long haul with small incremental changes and hopefully, some deeper plan at ownership level. which is where I lose confidence because there's basically no one in their with any understanding of how to drive a football club forward along with the purely match day football aspect. its big business, not just sport after all.
     
    #44
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  5. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    Dyer is working hard to get into management. It’s been his goal for a while and I’m sure it would have already happened by now if he were white. Butcher and Burley put themselves forward when Hurst was appointed and Butcher is in a coaching role. I’ve no doubt he’d love to be involved more with the first team.

    I’m very happy with Cook’s appointment, but that’s on the back of a couple of wasted years with Lambert when we could have been giving them a go.

    They would demand everything from the players and level us up tactically in ambition. My rationale is that the passion and blue blood could give us an extra 30% and make us far more competitive plus bring that pride back to PR.

    If Cook doesn’t get us promoted next season we need to give it a go. All the time Evans has not wanted to rock the boat and has gone for low risk and low reward whereas they would be high risk, high reward.
     
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  6. San Diego

    San Diego Sir Mediator
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    So Cook has to be replaced if we don't get promoted next season then Hampy?
     
    #46
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  7. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    I believe he will. But if he can’t do that, why is he here? The standard is really poor and he is not taking over a side struggling at the foot of the division. If we are close and finish third by a point then of course it’s not such a simple decision to make and maybe there is progress and there are the signs he should see out his contract. But if I were Marcus I would be saying that continuing depends on us going up next season.

    We need to have a bit more ambition and urgency about us. Other owners would be firing him if he didn’t get us promoted THIS season.
     
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  8. San Diego

    San Diego Sir Mediator
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    Well obviously going off my post above I'm naturally going to disagree with you. This whole promotion at all costs is, in my opinion, the exact mentality that is hampering our progress. Short term decisions, only worried about the next result and constant pressure to deliver success hasn't been a method of doing things that has been great for us lately, has it?

    How about we let Cook lay some foundations before we build our fancy mansion? If he has to appease supporters who cry out for instant success he may not get the time to do what's really needed here.
     
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  9. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    I don’t think that’s what’s been happening at all. All I’ve heard since Mick McCarthy was appointed was that we’re a great club who deserve to be doing better and a barrage of excuses for why we are underachieving - usually financial, often how the landscape has changed and so on. We extended Lambert’s contract and that’s no motivation at all. It’s all too comfortable for the manager and the players to keep putting 60% in and pick up their paycheques.

    We also have a ridiculous number of loans and continuously develop other clubs’ talent. It’s up to the owner whether those deals are done. So it’s entirely possible to have a framework for the club to have a long term focus whilst the manager is focussed on winning football matches with what’s available to him. I would say it would be completely ridiculous for him to be spending pre-season starting to prepare the squad for the way he wants to play in 2022-23.

    Getting out of League One is such a small ambition for the club. It’s barely an achievement at all. We have been utterly pathetic under Lambert and it can’t be allowed to continue. The fancy mansion is European football. The foundations are in the Championship. At the moment we haven’t even got a plot of land. We’re just renting a two bedroom terrace.
     
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  10. Nuggets

    Nuggets Well-Known Member

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    Good points. I also don't think we need to rip the squad apart. I do believe we have good players here. You can't look at KVY, Wolfenden, Dozzell, Bishop, Edwards, Downes, Jackson, Judge, and Lankester and say they are poor footballers. They have talent. They're likely over-rated by many of our supporters, as some of those lads are academy products. But I think, technically speaking, they are good players. For me, it's just the mindset of the players. So many of our players appear too reluctant to actually be on the ball and initiate attacks. It's either sedate sideways passing (literally passing the buck) or the older players who hit long and direct. And that becomes so apparent against the bigger name clubs in this division or against teams that are in good form. That's where I think the players need to be coached to be more adventurous and take risks in the attacking third. Ultimately, that's been down to Lambert and his coaching staff in recent years. Take Lankester - he was playing well in a struggling Ipswich Championship side two years ago, but after a long injury and limited game time this season, he appears to have gone into his shell. The mindset of the club is too complacent. They don't like being under pressure. In so many games I've watched this season, we're usually fine on the ball when we pass it around, but there is an inherent reluctance to get forwards and too many attacks break down in that final third. We are then hit on the counter so often and when you're fielding a back line like Chambers, Ward, Wilson, and Nsiala - and midfielders like Skuse - we're often chasing shadows.

    I hope we bring in a few 'leaders' in the summer. I don't think there are any on-pitch leaders at the club. Too often when we concede, our heads drop. There is a lack of resilience in this squad. There is a lack of vocal authority on the pitch. The key positions we need improvement are:
    • left-back (release Ward and bring in serious competition for Kenlock)
    • centre-back (McGuiness out, would rather Wolfenden partnered with a more vocal, experienced head who's better than Wilson/Chambers)
    • defensive midfielder (let's face it, we don't have anyone in the middle willing to take the game by the scruff of the neck and put themselves about a bit)
    • a good winger (who can provide several goals a season)
    • a better back up striker (not sure if Jackson will be here. Keep Norwood. Release Sears and Hawkins. Parrott will be gone).
     
    #50
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  11. itfcptc

    itfcptc Well-Known Member

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    Yes completely agree, lots of good technical players in there but too many who haven't got the mileage at a good level, which is alot to come into a team who have been on a downward slide for years. We've been relying on so many players to prove themselves at this level or as a first team footballer or that they've recovered from a long term injury to turn out club around. We definitely need some hardened pros in the team next year and not someone on their last pay packet, someone with a good 5 years left to form a core of players who will allow our other players to flourish.

    I agree with the areas we need strengthening, the problem is they're positions that have needed strengthening for about the past 6 transfer windows. Hopefully because a number of players are out of contract this time it might mean Cook unlike previous managers will be able to bring them in, rather than be sold the line by ME you have a good enough squad we'll supplement it with a few loans if you need it, when clearly it hasn't been good enough for some time. I can't remember the last time I looked at our squad and thought it was a truly well balanced squad, who should do well.
     
    #51
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  12. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    We’ve got two levels that we need to hit. Competitive in League One and competitive in the Championship. To be competitive in getting out of League One what we need the most is a CDM and lots more fire power. To be competitive at Championship level we need a complete squad overhaul, so if we don’t go up this season we need to start doing some of that work in the summer so we haven’t got it all to do the year after. If we do go up then Evans needs to spend millions to avoid us dropping back down and losing even more millions.
     
    #52

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