Other Football League 2018/19

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, DE. said:

Lambert talks a good game at times but there's no way Ipswich should be going two months without a win in League 1, nor should they be conceding 5 goals against Lincoln or 4 at home to Peterborough. They can still go up automatically but they desperately need to find some consistency in the next few months. Apparently Lambert is worse than Mowbray when it comes to unnecessary rotation which is causing a lot of their problems. 

Totally agree with your analysis. So would it be fair to suggest that perhaps whilst Lambert initially had the fans eating out of his hand with what he was saying rather than what he was doing, pointing out the flaws of his predecessors and culminating as many possible excuses and restrictions as possible to blame and complain about, ultimately as time has gone on it has become evidently clear that there are serious doubts as to whether he is actually capable of turning that club around at all. What was the reaction to the ridiculous 5 year contract?

His recent managerial record is shocking with a twinge of a desperation to give up as soon as possible thrown in so I am unsurprised that he is under fire. i felt that considering his record last season and inability to even improve on the inept Hurst's record, he was very lucky that the inevitable criticism has taken so long.

[chaddyrovers]

22 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Totally agree with your analysis. So would it be fair to suggest that perhaps whilst Lambert initially had the fans eating out of his hand with what he was saying rather than what he was doing, pointing out the flaws of his predecessors and culminating as many possible excuses and restrictions as possible to blame and complain about, ultimately as time has gone on it has become evidently clear that there are serious doubts as to whether he is actually capable of turning that club around at all. What was the reaction to the ridiculous 5 year contract?

His recent managerial record is shocking with a twinge of a desperation to give up as soon as possible thrown in so I am unsurprised that he is under fire. i felt that considering his record last season and inability to even improve on the inept Hurst's record, he was very lucky that the inevitable criticism has taken so long.

Yet the owner decide to back his manager and give him a long term contract. Tell you what he thinks. 

Complaining about a manager who has 4th in the league. 

Think Ipswich fans need a big reality check..

[Mattyblue]

Of course Ipswich fans aren’t going to be happy about being outside the promotion places in the third division. 
 
They haven’t been at this level for over 60 years.

[roversfan99]

40 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Yet the owner decide to back his manager and give him a long term contract. Tell you what he thinks. 

Complaining about a manager who has 4th in the league. 

Think Ipswich fans need a big reality check..

Owners make mistakes just like everyone else. Just because it happened doesnt make it right. 

Lambert failed to improve Ipswich last season and is underachieving outside the promotion places after 2 months of dismal results, more fool them for giving a poor manager such a long contract.

[chaddyrovers]

11 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Owners make mistakes just like everyone else. Just because it happened doesnt make it right. 

Lambert failed to improve Ipswich last season and is underachieving outside the promotion places after 2 months of dismal results, more fool them for giving a poor manager such a long contract.

4th in league with loads of games to go. I remember certain people on here complaining about us being top 6 and asking for Mowbray to be replaced. 

I'm sure Ipswich will be top 6 possible top 2 come end of the season. 

I don't really see what the all the negative is about. 

[DE.]

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Totally agree with your analysis. So would it be fair to suggest that perhaps whilst Lambert initially had the fans eating out of his hand with what he was saying rather than what he was doing, pointing out the flaws of his predecessors and culminating as many possible excuses and restrictions as possible to blame and complain about, ultimately as time has gone on it has become evidently clear that there are serious doubts as to whether he is actually capable of turning that club around at all. What was the reaction to the ridiculous 5 year contract?

His recent managerial record is shocking with a twinge of a desperation to give up as soon as possible thrown in so I am unsurprised that he is under fire. i felt that considering his record last season and inability to even improve on the inept Hurst's record, he was very lucky that the inevitable criticism has taken so long.

The reaction to the five year extension was understandably largely negative, as it came at the beginning of January when they were well into the two month winless run. Even Lambert's more vocal fans amongst the Ipswich support are starting to see that he's largely smoke and mirrors. He may get Ipswich up on the basis of squad quality alone, much like Mowbray did with us, but Ipswich have nowhere near the same level of quality we did so I'm not convinced. They don't have a Raya, Lenihan, Mulgrew, Dack, Graham - even a Bennett or Smallwood. Very average team with an average at best manager, but still should  be good enough to go up automatically. If they don't then I think they will be down there for a while.

For what it's worth I thought Lambert did a decent job during the brief period he was here, but it wasn't really long enough to judge how it would have panned out long term. I don't think he would have relegated us like Coyle did, but I don't think he would have gotten us close to the promised land either. Mostly mid-table finishes watching crap football. So pretty close to what we already have.

[oldjamfan1]

15 minutes ago, DE. said:

The reaction to the five year extension was understandably largely negative, as it came at the beginning of January when they were well into the two month winless run. Even Lambert's more vocal fans amongst the Ipswich support are starting to see that he's largely smoke and mirrors. He may get Ipswich up on the basis of squad quality alone, much like Mowbray did with us, but Ipswich have nowhere near the same level of quality we did so I'm not convinced. They don't have a Raya, Lenihan, Mulgrew, Dack, Graham - even a Bennett or Smallwood. Very average team with an average at best manager, but still should  be good enough to go up automatically. If they don't then I think they will be down there for a while.

For what it's worth I thought Lambert did a decent job during the brief period he was here, but it wasn't really long enough to judge how it would have panned out long term. I don't think he would have relegated us like Coyle did, but I don't think he would have gotten us close to the promised land either. Mostly mid-table finishes watching crap football. So pretty close to what we already have.

Pretty fair analysis there I would say DE.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

6 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I was surprise Norwood didn't start yesterday..

The defence shouldn't be conceded 9 games in 2 games

He came off injured against Liverpool. Maybe they're saving him for the replay ?

[chaddyrovers]

10 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He came off injured against Liverpool. Maybe they're saving him for the replay ?

Ipswich have a replay with Liverpool?

[DE.]

3 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Pretty fair analysis there I would say DE.

I have to listen to Ipswich fans gripe every day so I'm unfortunately well versed in their issues. Whenever they've asked me about Lambert I've simply said he wasn't here long enough to form a solid opinion, but overall he talks a lot without producing much. I think last season they were just glad to have anybody other than Paul Hurst, and there's no doubt Lambert is very good at PR spin and getting the fans on his side - especially when he's happy to take veiled digs at previous incumbants in the manager's seat and even the owners. I was kind of stunned Marcus Evans gave him a five year contract when previously Lambert had been low-key blaming Evans for Ipswich being in the position they're in (and passive-aggressively mentioning walking out on them) but it feels like Lambert has a way of talking out of both sides of his mouth and never saying anything specific enough to get him into serious trouble. It's always "read between the lines" type comments which can be dismissed as a misunderstanding if he's put on the spot. 

He's a sneaky character imo and not a particularly good football manager. He might have been a decade ago but then so were a lot of people. The simple fact is he wouldn't be managing in League 1 if he was as good as he tells everybody he is, so you just have to take much of what he says with a pinch of salt and instead analyse what he's serving up results-wise.

Personally if I was an Ipswich fan I'd be unhappy with the way things are going. Being 4th isn't the end of the world but they owe that almost entirely to their early season form which was very good - up until November. Since then they've began falling away and losing ground rapidly. It's kind of the opposite to us where we started the season poorly but improved as time went on. Ipswich are going in the other direction which is obviously not a good thing and should be setting alarm bells ringing.

Edited February 2, 2020 by DE.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Ipswich have a replay with Liverpool?

Sorry, I'm getting confused with the lad who came off against Liverpool with a similar name. Unless I've got that wrong as well !

[chaddyrovers]

Bringing Steve Kean into this argument is just ridiculous after his time here. 

Coyle never did but alot of Ipswich fans look past the Norwich situation when he was appointed 

[DE.]

Yeah I don't think the Norwich connection has ever been much of an issue. I rarely hear it mentioned or referenced. Much like with Coyle the primary concern is that what's happening on the pitch isn't very good.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Bowyer sacked at Bradford. Their fans are rejoicing online. 

[Tom]

To be fair to him he gave it a right good go 

[Bbrovers2288]

Bowyer isn’t a great manager, not bad for a crisis club keeping them up, can scrape draws but as an attacking top of the table side- no way 

[Blue blood]

4 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Bowyer sacked at Bradford. Their fans are rejoicing online. 

Not surprising. The fans have been incensed for months. Negative tactics, odd selections, prickly post match interviews. 

To be fair I bet he never expected to manage a club and he's had the opportunity at 3 clubs now. His record since leaving suggests we weren't wrong to part company with him. Would make.a terrific scout and possibly be a solid part of a backroom staff but not cut out for the number 1 role. 

[Mattyblue]

This made me laugh...

Bowyer Ball

[DE.]

17 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Not surprising. The fans have been incensed for months. Negative tactics, odd selections, prickly post match interviews. 

To be fair I bet he never expected to manage a club and he's had the opportunity at 3 clubs now. His record since leaving suggests we weren't wrong to part company with him. Would make.a terrific scout and possibly be a solid part of a backroom staff but not cut out for the number 1 role. 

Makes you wonder what we could have achieved if Bowyer had been assistant or head of scouting, with a proper manager at the helm. Of course the idea of a 'proper manager' being hired under our current owners is fantasy-land stuff, but with the squad we had back then any manager worth his salt would have at the very least had us in the top six. 

[USABlue]

47 minutes ago, DE. said:

Makes you wonder what we could have achieved if Bowyer had been assistant or head of scouting, with a proper manager at the helm. Of course the idea of a 'proper manager' being hired under our current owners is fantasy-land stuff, but with the squad we had back then any manager worth his salt would have at the very least had us in the top six. 

I always felt it was his dad doing the scouting.

[Blue blood]

1 hour ago, DE. said:

Makes you wonder what we could have achieved if Bowyer had been assistant or head of scouting, with a proper manager at the helm. Of course the idea of a 'proper manager' being hired under our current owners is fantasy-land stuff, but with the squad we had back then any manager worth his salt would have at the very least had us in the top six. 

Indeed. I'm all for giving people a chance and promoting on merit and some kind of scouting role plus some coaching would have made Bowyer a very valuable asset. Even a marginally better manager with that squad would have achieved playoffs at the least. 

[Husky]

On 03/02/2020 at 14:22, Bigdoggsteel said:

Bowyer sacked at Bradford. Their fans are rejoicing online. 

He won't be out of work for long.

I'm sure there are thousands of East Lancs Happy Clappers looking for a children's football coach.

Edited February 4, 2020 by Husky

[DE.]

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/big-ipswich-town-interview-bartosz-bialkowski-1-6500191

Some brutally honest comments from Bialkowski about Paul Hurst's time at Portman Road:

Quote

"We obviously ended up going down to League One but from the start we knew it was going to be a long season after the appointment of Paul Hurst," he said.

"We sold all our best players and tried to replace them with 10 or 11 without Championship experience. It just wasn't right and we knew it was going to be a long season. We believed we would be okay but the Championship is a hard league. It just wasn't to be.

"It didn't work out but, to be fair to him (Hurst), he came here with his ideas and wanted to do everything he could to do well in the Championship. He had done a very good job at Shrewsbury but it didn't work out and he moved on and we moved on.

"But we knew it was going to be a hard, long season."

"I wasn't ever told and that's the thing," Bialkowski said of the Norwich incident. "I didn't have a problem with being dropped if it was the best thing for the team, no problem at all. But the problem I had was that he didn't speak with me at all and didn't speak to Deano (Gerken) either.

"I needed a bit of respect from him to tell me. Pull me before the game because he obviously knew he was going to do that. That was the problem for me.

"I think most of the team felt exactly the same thing. There was no connection at all between us and him, no connection at all.

"After we lost at Exeter in the cup on penalties he spent a long time in the dressing room going into senior players and telling us we only care about money and things like that. That was shocking.

"Listen, I've never had any problem with managers before and I've always had a good connection with them. He's the first one I've had no connection with.

"Money is important in your life, no matter what you do, because you want to do everything you can to support your family. But to make the sign for money (with his fingers) in your face is just too much. It's not the case because we are playing for our futures and for our families and want to stay in the game as long as possible. I didn't get that thing, none of us did.

"From that moment we knew we wouldn't kick on. He said we could speak to him at any time but all you could see at the training ground was his office door slightly open with his feet up on the desk. You didn't want to go there.

"The game where we beat Swansea away from home was just before the international break and I think that win extended his stay. I think he was going to go before that."

So what was the feeling in the squad when Hurst was sacked, the day after a 2-0 loss at Leeds in October 2018?

"Relief. Just relief," he admitted.

"We knew the time was right for him to go and the next day we had a day off so the players went for a meal together in the afternoon and we were just kind of waiting for that news to happen because we knew.

"Even before the Leeds game you could see he (Hurst) was a bit down. After the game he was even more down so we knew this was the time he was going to go. I think he knew it too."

On Lambert and the season post-Paul Hurst:

Quote

The first impressions of incoming boss Paul Lambert were good, but the damage had already been done.

"He was in the stands for the Millwall game and, Jesus Christ, I've spoken to the boys at Millwall and they've told me our Ipswich team that day were the worst they have seen in the Championship. You could see that," Bialkowski said. "But he brought everyone together and everybody enjoyed working with him from the start. It was good.

"The first thing he did was call four or five of us to his office, the senior players, and tried to get everyone together again. He asked us about the whole situation, what it's like in the dressing room and he told us he would motivate us to do it and stay up.

"He showed us stats from previous seasons which showed it was doable, but I think the damage was already done. The majority of us I think had accepted the relegation way too early, maybe in October or November. You could see it.

"There was no spark, even in training and no belief that we could do it. It was hard for Paul Lambert to do something.

"I think he still believed we could do it. We were trying to believe it and we were trying to be positive, anything to get a first win under him and then a second one. Maybe after that the momentum could take us somewhere but it wasn't to be.

"It was such a weird season because no matter what you did it felt like everything was going against us.

"Everything we tried didn't work and it felt it was all against us. For me personally I had a shocking season and wasn't happy with myself or my form. But it did feel like we had no luck whatsoever."

On Mick McCarthy:

Quote

"He was so good. One of the best if not the best I've ever worked with," Bialkowski said.

"He always had time for you. Not just the players but every member of staff at the training ground or the stadium. Everyone speaks so highly of him. That was his strength.

"He could get everyone together and we did whatever it took to play for him. It was a shame he walked away from the situation.

"Maybe the football wasn't entertaining enough for the fans and you can understand that, but when you look back at it he had a tough job to do. He was working on a lower budget and signing players on frees and loans and he was doing an incredible job.

"Obviously you want to enjoy the style of football you're playing but as a football player you are enjoying it when you're winning, no matter how you do it. I don't care what people say, I don't want to lose games but play well. I don't want that because it's points that matter in this league and in footballl.

"When you look at the summer under Paul Hurst we spent God knows how many millions - we obviously sold players as well - and he had money to spend. Mick didn't have that money to spend but we were still a stable Championship club. Maybe mid-table, with an outside chance of the play-offs, but we were doing well."

"So many people wanted him out for some reasons but it was hard for us as a group of players because we knew we weren't going to get any better than him," he said.

"You need to understand him as well. He did so many good things for the club but he was on his own. How would you feel if your own fans were slagging you every game and chanting bad stuff at you? How would you feel? It's just pure emotions.

"He was on his own and was trying to defend himself. He's an experienced manager and knew what he was doing.

"Most of the Ipswich fans wanted to get a young and hungry manager, even from a lower league, to do the job. It didn't work out. Maybe the fans knew the risk, maybe they didn't, but some just wanted him out.

"It hurt everyone. Most of the squad really enjoyed working with him and it was a sad thing to see.

"There was a game against Hull at home and we lost. He got us together on the pitch and we thought 'oh no, this is it' but no. He just said 'don't worry about the fans, they just want me out. They're not shouting at you they just want me out. Keep doing what you're doing because you've been very good for me'. That's the kind of guy he was.

"We knew he was leaving at the end of the season but when he walked out after the Barnsley game it was a real shock. We didn't know that was coming."

Quite rare to hear a current player speak to openly and candidly about recent events. Hurst sounds like a total buffoon. Lambert comes across as a positive person but without the answers to change a really bad situation. No surprise to hear Mick was loved by the players and it's obvious the players were hurt by the way the fans turned on him. 

[Mashed Potatoes]

15 minutes ago, DE. said:

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/big-ipswich-town-interview-bartosz-bialkowski-1-6500191

Some brutally honest comments from Bialkowski about Paul Hurst's time at Portman Road:

On Lambert and the season post-Paul Hurst:

On Mick McCarthy:

Quite rare to hear a current player speak to openly and candidly about recent events. Hurst sounds like a total buffoon. Lambert comes across as a positive person but without the answers to change a really bad situation. No surprise to hear Mick was loved by the players and it's obvious the players were hurt by the way the fans turned on him. 

Yes - very interesting. Perhaps it shows how little supporters know.

[Mattyblue]

Some supporters. Was the same here with Allardyce. Pulis is another.