Crawley away in the pizza trophy

About to start, unlike the video stream on my laptop which is just spinning again.

 

Come on Ipswich!

 

1-0 Crawley

Another bloody goal I missed as I mess with the stupid website to get video!

 

1-0 at half time.

I didn't get to see much so far as I've been spending all my time trying to get the website video to work on two different laptops and a PC. Finally got the stream to work at 43 minutes in the game!

 

From what you’re saying Yorkie I’m glad I didn’t bother!TBH I can’t get my head around these 7-00 KOs.

 

2-0 now.

Still watching on my phone as the website is ****in' useless!

 

Unbelievable, a clear hand ball in the box not given!

The rules are a joke and so are the referees, it's almost enough to just give up on football.

 

And now the referee bottles giving a second yellow card to a Crawley player who had just been booked. Called the captain over from half way acoss the pitch to have a chat instead.
I can't believe what I'm watching.

 

Not happy with that today, not happy at all.
Not the result or the performance, just Lambert and refereeing.

Lambert's line up was a big **** you to this trophy and Ipswich fans who have pride in their team and now have to say they got knocked out of the pizza cup in the group stage. I can't stand Paul's approach to cup games, it's worse than McCarthy's and that's really saying something. We don't have a game for 11 days and he puts a team like that out.

That was unfair on the lads that played and did their best but this isn't introducing them to men's football, it's just the U23s playing with their mates in a cup match. They won't gain much experience from this at all, you really get that when you play in the first team with the seasoned pros around you giving you help.

And the referee, my goodness what a disaster. Didn't give a clear hand ball in the box and then couldn't bring himself to book a player minutes after giving him a yellow card. It was astonishing to witness!

 

That line up - what the hell? I’ve seen stronger starting line ups in our U23 games this season!

 

Jesus

 

Don’t know what the rules are for this competition but wouldn’t be surprised if we face a fine for fielding such a weakened side?

 

The bigger frustration for me, was the Pompey FA cup game.
Two weeks til the next league game, he shoud've played a stronger team then, and then used the fringe players to play in last nights micky mouse game.
A number of players are now going to have gone 3 weeks between games, so therefore will surely be a little ring rusty.

Fielding weakened team in any competition to "save" them for the bigger league games has done us absolutely no use whatsoever.

Play your strongest XI in every game, and if some are feeling the effects of it, then drop them....but i think we're all wasting our breath on this one

 

We'll get a 5000 pound fine for that team yesterday, same as we did against Gillingham. Lambert already said it doesn't matter because we earned 10K for the win against the Gills.

 

Even more than that - if we’d had a go in the Cups over the years we would have got at least a few big pay days, gate receipts, TV money, prize money that would have paid for the players we keep getting told we can’t afford.

 

I'm sick to death of our attitude to Cup competitions, we play weakened teams, we clearly don't give a toss about losing, what is beneficial for players as young as 16 to get beaten ? I thought we were broke and drowning in debt but we pass up the opportunity to get big money ties, and this goes on year in year out regardless of who the manager is, perhaps I don't understand this because I'm not clever enough but the fact that our Club has become a laughing stock is really pissing me off.

 

This cup is a joke though, shows you the greed in the game, how can Premier league teams have their under 21 teams play in the competition but we get fined for playing our under 21 team. I think it was Lambert sticking 2 fingers up to the powers that be, I'm not sure how much it will benefit those young players though

 

Exactly, let's just look at the basic math from the trophy.

10000 pounds for a win. If we'd won all three we would have gained 30k. Instead we won one match for a financial gain of 10k. We've then been fined 5000 quid twice for intentionally fielding a weak team and are back to earning nothing from playing three matches. Factor in to that the costs of playing those games - travel, appearance fees, goal/clean sheet bonuses if any, Covid testing and we've come out of the pizza cup losing money.

It's not financially smart and it's not good for the fans who want to see us at least try to win every game of football.

 

If there is any consolation, there aren't any 'cup distractions' anymore and we can fully focus on getting out of this league. With this truncated football season, we're playing more mid-week league games than any other season. I believe the squad can handle it, we have more numbers and better strength in depth than most of the teams in this league - on paper, at least. My main concern is that we've exited cup competitions at the first round for several years now, and it hasn't really helped us become a more consistent league side. With the noted decline over the last few years, I almost wonder if this squad needs a deep cup run to bring a bit of momentum and positivity around the place.

Whatever way we cut it, there is more pressure on Lambert to deliver promotion. He can't really have any excuses for not finishing in the top six, at least.

 

Unless you are playing four games in a week there is time to recover between a Saturday and a midweek game.

We see time and again our momentum is lost with international breaks and cup games. Meanwhile I've noticed that most of Paul Hurst's signings are regularly starting and most of the rest of the XI predates him. Lambert has had four transfer windows. Apart from the crammed medical suite, a very good goalkeeper and a struggling forward, where are the rest of his players?