[Archived] Ipswich Away

[JBiz]

Play a youngster.

To single him out are you for real ?

This is his second season and its coming to a close and hes yet to score, yet to create a goal, yet to do anything other than hack the opposition down.

Varney had time with us, got the same grief and never scored, yet a promotion chasing team bring him on tonight.... Mick McCarthys opinion or a fan on here?

Nobody thinks CB is the quality we want, but we are playing a hand we have. Why play youngsters who are not ready? Do you think he would've signed Jackson, or played Bennett upfront like he has if we had a super youth ready to burst on the scene?

Ridiculous once again.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Well apparently PL's 'thoroughly unimpressed' with the team tonight. Hopefully a couple of them are hobbling onto the bus with size 10's stuck up their arses.

Well I was thoroughly unimpressed with PL's starting line up and so was Chris Sutton.

I know the players were jaded, but it just reminds me of Big Sam fulfilling a fixture against Arsenal or Liverpool

Well I am going to Brentford with my lads, so you all know what that means, so sorry in advance!

I do hate it when we are s**t!

[JAL]

Varney had time with us, got the same grief and never scored, yet a promotion chasing team bring him on tonight.... Mick McCarthys opinion or a fan on here?

Nobody thinks CB is the quality we want, but we are playing a hand we have. Why play youngsters who are not ready? Do you think he would've signed Jackson, or played Bennett upfront like he has if we had a super youth ready to burst on the scene?

Ridiculous once again.

Why play Brown when's he's clearly not good enough ?

[garnersfags]

Like what?

If Graham is injured and Watt unfit... Who else is there to choose from? To single him out when quite a few underperformed seems daft, once again.

I would play practically any other player in the squad before Brown.

Ward would, in my view, be just as effective for example, but no-one would advocate that.

PL just HAD to sign a replacement for Brown in January.

No excuses.

That decision has resulted in us still not being safe at Easter. A championship goalscorer would have secured us a few more points by now.

[Leonard Venkhater]

I would play practically any other player in the squad before Brown.

Ward would, in my view, be just as effective for example, but no-one would advocate that.

PL just HAD to sign a replacement for Brown in January.

No excuses.

That decision has resulted in us still not being safe at Easter. A championship goalscorer would have secured us a few more points by now.

I feel the same about Henley!

[DE.]

We were awful tonight, but I have to stress that Ipswich were no better. The game would have ended 0-0 had it not been for a bizarre penalty decision and Adam Henley. Not going to go into the game too much as it was rubbish - hoof ball galore from both teams, the ball spent more time in the air than it did on the ground. We deserved nothing from tonight, but neither did Ipswich. As I said earlier, in a fair world both teams would get no points for such a pathetic showing. The beautiful game it was not. I think it's the first game I've been to where the announcement of added on time at the end of the first half was met with boos.

We had a good first ten minutes, but the game quickly descended into a nightmare of hoofing, bad passes and fouls. The standard of football was pretty disgusting for the second professional tier of English football.

As far as ratings go...

Steele - 6 - Didn't really do anything wrong. Both the penalty and second goal were well taken. Could have caught a few times when instead he elected to punch, but otherwise OK.

Spurr - 5.5 - Got up and down the line. He lacks quality and pace, but you can't fault his effort.

Hanley - 5 - A shaky night, made a few errors which would have been punished by a better team. Got into a couple of tangles with Duffy, a lack of communication there at times.

Duffy - 6 - Won practically every header, and there were plenty of them.

Henley - 2 - Terrible player. Pace is his only asset, and he doesn't even use that effectively. A boy playing a man's game. At fault for the second goal and his passing was appalling most of the game.

Grimes - 5.5 - Looked decent when he was on the ball, but that wasn't very often. Struggled to impose himself on the game, but that's to be expected from a young player. Had touches of class but no real impact.

Akpan - 4 - Looked lost for huge portions of the game. Committed a few fouls, otherwise no contribution.

Evans - 5 - Did OK before going off. Nothing special.

Bennett - 5 - Again, can't fault this player's effort but no quality whatsoever. Won a few fouls and delivered a couple of decent set pieces, but went missing for periods too.

Brown - 5.5 - I actually thought Brown did OK (based on low expectations). He had a few nice touches, worked hard, laid off a couple of nice passes and got stuck in. No quality whatsoever and absolutely no threat as a striker, but he certainly wasn't as bad as I feared he would be.

Jackson - 3 - Ran around a lot, but for absolutely no gain. The effort was there but it was painful watching him try to get involved in a game that he had no grasp on. Weirdly the majority of our long balls went to Jackson (who rarely won a header) as opposed to Brown. Figure that one out.

Subs:

Lenihan - 4 - Looked poor. Bad passing, committed fouls, lost the ball in dangerous areas a couple of times.

Gomez - 4 - Only on for sixteen minutes but had no impact on the game at all.

Watt - 4 - As above.

Ultimately this was a poor match contested by two poor teams. No idea how Ipswich are so high in the table, but even if they do get into the playoffs there is no chance of them going up I'm afraid.

As for us, we didn't lack effort but hugely lacked in quality. I feel bad for the hardy souls who made the trip to Ipswich tonight - you deserved better than that.

[tomphil]

Akpan is turning out to be just exactly what the Reading fans told us when we signed him. Get's stuck in but other times is way of the pace, capable of some good stuff and a few goals but error prone and collects cards like Xmas. Trouble is every time he makes a cock up or switches off it costs us.

I did also mention that putting Henley in is always risky and I'd explore any other option I could think of for right back other than him. He's way out of his depth in this league.

[JAL]

http://mobile.rovers.co.uk//news/article/paul-lambert-blackburn-rovers-ipswich-town-3009386.aspx

Akpan has held his hands up, quite literally. Let's see a reaction on Saturday please. Fed-up with these rubber dinghy men.

Lambert should look at himself for playing players like Brown and Henley both send out the wrong message to players and fans alike.

Just hope Lambert isn't a 'soup taker' !

[G Somerset Rover]

Akpan is turning out to be just exactly what the Reading fans told us when we signed him. Get's stuck in but other times is way of the pace, capable of some good stuff and a few goals but error prone and collects cards like Xmas. Trouble is every time he makes a cock up or switches off it costs us.

Fed up of berating this guy but he's just a lummox with no footballing ability whatsoever. Another in a long list of players that we need to ship out in the summer. Easier talking about who we should keep.

[tomphil]

Fed up of berating this guy but he's just a lummox with no footballing ability whatsoever. Another in a long list of players that we need to ship out in the summer. Easier talking about who we should keep.

Well you can see why Reading who aren't much better than us wanted rid. We were desperate at the time and for a free he's not done too bad initially but he's been found out now I think. If we could upgrade he'd be ok as a squad man maybe.

[DE.]

Akpan would potentially be OK in the 'destroyer' type role (similar to the Axe), but we're asking him to do far more, which is ridiculous considering his total lack of technical ability. Akpan was further forward than Brown numerous times tonight, which I can't understand. My housemate asked me what our shape was supposed to be and I couldn't tell him. A goalkeeper, a back four and then a bunch of players running around aimlessly.

[tomphil]

Akpan would potentially be OK in the 'destroyer' type role (similar to the Axe), but we're asking him to do far more, which is ridiculous considering his total lack of technical ability. Akpan was further forward than Brown numerous times tonight, which I can't understand. My housemate asked me what our shape was supposed to be and I couldn't tell him. A goalkeeper, a back four and then a bunch of players running around aimlessly.

Agree, Akpan was also all over the shop on Saturday whilst Lenihan was struggling in the centre and Leeds were winning that battle. He's not being used correctly at the min because as you say he's a Champ version of the Axe.

[BrisRover]

Regarding people posting about Sutton's comments criticizing Lamberts system. It appears Lambert has a set system and it is up to all the players in the squad to prove they can play to that system. As there is no chance we are getting promoted i think he's testing all his players to see who fits in to his plans and who doesn't. Sorting the wheat from the chaff. Teams that get promoted are consistent in the way they play. Consistency breeds confidence. It's clear that there are quite a few players in the squad that don't cut the mustard but Lambert can't be blamed for playing these peripheral players given the congested fixtures of late. Whilst I hate seeing us lose the silver lining for me is that as long as we don't get relegated these loses further strengthen Lamberts argument that the squad needs a major overhaul and rather this be blatantly obvious now as opposed to a few weeks into the new season.

[allanncd]

If we are not carefully we could get dragged into a serious scrap.. Rotherham have picked up a bit.. Need to win on sat

Ipswich at home to Rotherham this Saturday and if they as poorly again, an away win is a distinct possibility. Brentford away becomes a massive game as the gap may be down to just 4 points with a trip to Rotherham to come. What I have just seen at Ipswich was an an abject and clueless performance which only emphasised that there is still much to do to stay up and that this squad is a million miles from mounting a promotion push (even in League 1) next season. Henley, Spurr, Jackson and Bennett are simply not Championship level and Watt needs a summer programme at Weightwatchers.

[Darwen Rover 007]

Perhaps we should be playing 3-5-2 system?

With Marshall / Conway either side of Lenihan and Evans; Gomez just in front or behind pulling the strings and two up front?? This could work with the personnel we have right now...

And by the way I understand we have glimpse of class from Watt but absolutely unacceptable not to be fit at his age and as a pro!! Shocking!!

[SoldierMo]

Sign up kemar roofe

[G Somerset Rover]

Ipswich at home to Rotherham this Saturday and if they as poorly again, an away win is a distinct possibility. Brentford away becomes a massive game as the gap may be down to just 4 points with a trip to Rotherham to come. What I have just seen at Ipswich was an an abject and clueless performance which only emphasised that there is still much to do to stay up and that this squad is a million miles from mounting a promotion push (even in League 1) next season. Henley, Spurr, Jackson and Bennett are simply not Championship level and Watt needs a summer programme at Weightwatchers.

Blimey, didn't realise we still had to play Rotherham away - penultimate game of the season too. Who would fancy these rubber dinghy men away there when we need to fight tooth and nail for a result? Let's hope our safety is long secured by then for that reason.

[Neal]

Sign up kemar roofe

Something yours truly has been saying for about 6 months. Great player.

[garnersfags]

Thanks to DE for the comprehensive report, it's really appreciated.

[Spalding Rover]

Just got in from the game. Thanks boys, took 2 off my nephews to there first game, think they will become liverpool or united fans.

Worst game of football i have ever seen, and i have watched a lot of peterborough! Ref was crap but that is the normal now days. No idea about the penalty didn't look any different to any other corner, think evan there players were confused. Was planing on getting tickets to Forest but might give it a miss now. Was a long way to go to watch Hanley be the only decent player. Bring on next season!

[1864roverite]

Seen the goals both terrible efforts by rivers players. Henley will not make it at rivers he understood enough. As for Brown well words fail me

[arbitro]

We started brightly and could have gone in front but the Rovers fans I sat with all agreed that the first goal would be crucial. Enter Dope Akpan to give Ipswich a lift. I honestly don't know what goes through some players minds. The second was down to the jittery Henley.

In the bigger picture it confirmed something that all sensible (I noticed the half wits were joyous with our defeat last night) Rovers fans knew - the squad is simply not good enough. If the Indians don't back Lambert we will really struggle next season.

214 Rovers fans there last night.

[MCMC1875]

Seen the goals both terrible efforts by rivers players. Henley will not make it at rivers he understood enough. As for Brown well words fail me

Regarding Brown, Chris Sutton summed it up politely on Radio Lancs, "He hasn't scored in 37 games and he won't score because he doesn't get in the right positions."

[Parsonblue]

Shocking performance from all concerned. A six hour journey there, the players don't turn up - apart from the first 15 minutes - and then a nightmare journey back due to road closures meaning a 4-15 arrival home! The players ought to be thoroughly ashamed of that performance against a very average Ipswich team who look anything but top six material. I thought Henley, Duffy and Hanley looked OK until the second goal when Varney robbed Henley, took out Duffy with a wonderful pass and then Murphy sold Hanley the dummy before finishing with an inch perfect shot into the corner of the net. The lack of effort after we went behind was inexcusable. We badly missed Graham's leadership up front but far too many players showed last night that they are simply not consistent enough to get us out of this division.

[DE.]

Just got in from the game. Thanks boys, took 2 off my nephews to there first game, think they will become liverpool or united fans.

After watching that the poor boys may be put off football completely! Although in fairness what we saw was closer to some unnamed sport where the aim is to keep the ball off the ground as long as possible. A lot of head tennis last night too. Even Allardyce would have found it too much.

The only positive is that (hopefully) some of these jokers will have conclusively played themselves out of the club last night. I wouldn't care if 80% of the players on the pitch last night never played for the club again.