v Ipswich Town (a) - 23/9/23

[philipl]

Watching Southampton v Ipswich.

Ipswich should be at least 3 ahead on Southampton gifts (Hirst badly missed one). My worry about this one is it has less venom that a walking football pre-season friendly. I fancy our Sunderland game will be a full bloodied affair yet Ipswich not only have an extra day's recovery, I doubt there is so much as a bruise or a graze on their players at half time and nobody will be anywhere near being out of breath.

For a so-called passing team, Southampton are statues making it easy for Ipswich to pick up the mistakes off the player on the ball. 

Southampton being so woeful makes it difficult to assess Ipswich but I have seen nothing to worry or scare us.

[ItsRoverZ]

5 minutes ago, philipl said:

Watching Southampton v Ipswich.

Ipswich should be at least 3 ahead on Southampton gifts (Hirst badly missed one). My worry about this one is it has less venom that a walking football pre-season friendly. I fancy our Sunderland game will be a full bloodied affair yet Ipswich not only have an extra day's recovery, I doubt there is so much as a bruise or a graze on their players at half time and nobody will be anywhere near being out of breath.

For a so-called passing team, Southampton are statues making it easy for Ipswich to pick up the mistakes off the player on the ball. 

Southampton being so woeful makes it difficult to assess Ipswich but I have seen nothing to worry or scare us.

Ipswich are the type of team we completely fold against, look at Plymouth this season, Rotherham away last season. It will be similar to those I feel, solid basic team but you know how we fair against those 

[philipl]

Ipswich did absolutely nothing to win that game as Southampton gift wrapped the 3 points for them.

Southampton offered no sustained pressure in the second half and a better team than Ipswich would have murdered them - like Sunderland did.

Southampton giving the ball away and playing into trouble caught the eye but Ipswich are a bit sloppy as well.

What needs to be noted is Ipswich are a team of giants.

[simongarnerisgod]

i think we`ll do very well to get anything on saturday,ipswich are absolutely flying,us coming off two hard games and against a big hostile crowd

don`t want to do a mercer but this has home banker all over it.not many sides will get anything at ipswich this year

[tomphil]

Lets get past tonight first before we write Saturday off.

[had.e.nuff]

not a happy hunting ground for us cant remember that many wins at portman road been a few times and not seen us win

[MarkBRFC]

Last win there was 94-95 I believe.

[jim mk2]

Last time I went to Portman Road was our first season down after relegation from the Premier League under the wonderful Steve Keen. The match ended 1-1 but we would have lost if they'd taken their chances.

I won't be going this time - it's a long way home after a defeat which Iooks inevitable on current form

[R0verb0y]

Funnily enough, I hope for at least one point - and, possibly, all three - from this game.

For me, it's a bit like the game at Watford the other Sunday: a good way away from home; playing a team whom you'd expect to be favourites to win; and a b'stard of a journey to get there and back.

A 'Home' banker - and a possible tonking for us - on the face of things, then.

And yet, this is Rovers we're talking about; and not just our Rovers; but JDT's Rovers! Who can, as they proved at Rotherham last season, fail to pick up any of the three points that the form book said we only had to turn up to collect.

But, similar to this season when we're: away to a team who are already: one of the favourites to pass straight through the Championship from League One to the Promised Land; and coached by a youngish coach who seems to have succeeded Michael Carrick as The Latest Great New Thing in Coaching Football In England, I just have a hunch that we'll bring all three points back.

Which is doubtless the kiss of death!!

Edited September 20, 2023 by R0verb0y

[LeftWinger]

Rovers will start well - miss a couple of great chances - then Ipswich will score a goal out of nothing and go on to win 3-0.

Hirst is nailed on to score as well just to rub it in.

Pears will be questioned about his efforts for the second and third goals.

 

[R0verb0y]

43 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Rovers will start well - miss a couple of great chances - then Ipswich will score a goal out of nothing and go on to win 3-0.

Hirst is nailed on to score as well just to rub it in.

Pears will be questioned about his efforts for the second and third goals.

 

... JDT will "do an Arteta" (= substitute the goalkeeper) and Waldstedt will - finally - start his Rovers' career.

[DE.]

I remember watching the first 45 minutes of Ipswich's opening match against Sunderland and saying they were overhyped and with the squad they had they were going to do well to finish mid-table. The next 45 and 6 games since, Leeds aside, have proven that to be a foolish take indeed. Whilst their squad isn't anything special individually, as a collective they are far more than the sum of their parts. McKenna has them set up in a way that perfectly suits the squad they have, and every player knows their role and what's expected of them. This will be a tough match and our defence is going to need to be very solid to avoid defeat. With JDT in charge I always feel like we have a chance of winning matches, but it'll come down to which Rovers turns up on the day, and how well we start. We still haven't shaken the inability to pull ourselves together when we go behind, so I think the first goal in this one will be crucial. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by DE.

[neophox]

After losing to Sunderland.... we may produce a shock on saturday.

[1864roverite]

Pasting coming our way 3-0 loss

[tomphil]

14 hours ago, tomphil said:

Lets get past tonight first before we write Saturday off.

Well we could go and get a one nil win but much more likely to lose heavily with this seasons style.

1-3  Ipswich

[R0verb0y]

1 hour ago, neophox said:

After losing to Sunderland.... we may produce a shock on saturday.

Funnily enough, this wouldn't surprise me. Like I said above, it could be a rewarding result for those who are able to go.

[roversfan99]

Really important game, lose and then its the bottom end that comes closer into sight. And hard to muster up much in the way of reasoning as to why we can be confident of a win. Ipswich are near the top but their side is nothing special.

How do we change things considering our squad is paper thin and packed full of kids? Change in goal is obvious as Pears will continue to cost us, but for some reason Tomasson is blinded by how poor he is and/or the new keeper isnt anything special. Defensively we have not been good enough all season, I think thats as much down to the way we set up. We signed a holding midfielder who was a regular in the Dutch league but he cant even make the bench. Wharton has been poor all season but its hard to justify dropping him, Travis is important too, Garrett isnt ready and Rankin Costello is never a midfielder in a 2.

Going forward, I have no idea how we can even change it. Sigurdsson I presume certainly wont be fit enough to start or even feature. Ennis remains in the Ayala role keeping Gallagher company and Dolan and Markanday are not even good enough to make the bench. So its left with Hedges who is tidy but seldom makes the right decisions in the box and Moran isnt a wide player. Then up front, it says a lot when Telalovic is not even considered a better striker than Dolan in Tomassons eyes.

Some of the fluid passing football is great to watch but we arent scoring enough and that wont suddenly change, its not bad luck, our players just arent good enough. The budget cuts have left us with a shell.

[chaddyrovers]

               Pears

Brittain Hill Hyam Pickering 

              Tronstad

         Travis  Wharton

Moran  Leonard  Szmodics 

Subs:- Wahlstedt Carter Wharton JRC Garrett Telalovic Hedges Dolan Sigurdsson 

Edited September 21, 2023 by chaddyrovers

[K-Hod]

Worried about this one now. Not to worry though, we’ve only got Leicester after that. If that ends up being three successive defeats, it will not do the players heads any good.

[sharpysharps86]

After last night I'm very worried. Rovers simply HAVE to start scoring some of those chances because Ipswich have been clinical so far. I'd snap your hand off for a draw at this point, but I can't see anything other than an Ipswich win.

Can't see JDT changing the starting 11 much, but I really do think it's time for our 850k goalkeeper.

                      Wahlstedt

Brittain     Carter     Hyam     Pickering

     Travis      Wharton     Szmodics

     Hedges     Leonard     Moran

Leonard deserves to keep his place up front because he's now our only fit striker to have scored two league goals this season, which tells its own story!

I'd drop Dolan out of the squad entirely. You kind of get the feeling he needs a kick up the arse, especially with the contract situation. See how he fares in the U21s for a week or two. If Siggy is ready then put him on the bench.

[Wheelton Blue]

Play like we did in te second half last night, and we'll be on for some real pastings.

This could be one of them.

[joey_big_nose]

Think we have to play a bit more defensive in this one. I would make a few changes. Put in an extra holding midfielder - I would have said Garrett but he was absolutely shambolic last might so Tronstad to come in. 

              Wahlstadt

  Brittain Hill Hyam Pickering 

    Travis  Wharton. Tronstad

    Moran  Leonard  Szmodics 

[Mercer]

Ipswich is one tough one - McKenna has done a great job there, talks a lot of commonsense, has an edge about him and is one to watch.

Pears, Hedges and Dolan must not start.

Pears - IMO, should have stopped Sunderland's  all important second goal.  Think Pears has already cost us too many points this season, he's a third rater.  Arteta has shown how it's done - Raya over Ramsdale and having said that, Ramsdale is an England goalie!  Unbelievable if Leo, a full Swedish international,  not now given the gloves.

Hedges - a liability.  Doesn't take responsibility, poor judgement, makes rash decisions and misses too many golden opportunities.  JRC back to full back where he excels and Brittain (who has found his feet and can play further forward) in place of Hedges.

Dolan - IMO, he's utter dross and offers nothing, get him and his big head out the feckin building.

Would start again with Leonard up front.  Has shown he gets in the right places and last night's finish was very clever going back across goal.  Should a change be necessary, a striker for a striker with Semir replacing Leonard.

I shudder when I look at our next three games - Ipswich (a), Leicester (h) and Coventry (a).  More likely to be in the bottom six rather than the top six after that little lot.

[booth]

Perish the thought, but should we drop Dolan and go 4-4-2 with Semir and Leonard? With our attacking options being so lightweight maybe two heads are more of a handful than one.

[superniko]

1 minute ago, booth said:

Perish the thought, but should we drop Dolan and go 4-4-2 with Semir and Leonard? With our attacking options being so lightweight maybe two heads are more of a handful than one.

Not sure how you incorporate Szmodics into that without being really overrun in midfield (and he is 1st name on the team sheet currently).

Leonard, Szmodics, Moran + 1 on the other wing until Sigurdsson is fit for now (IMO) - personally don't think Dolan (every one seems to agree), and Hedges (good squad player) are up to starting in a team with expectations. Do we try pushing either Brittain or JRC higher up on that wing? or maybe 4-3-3 instead to bulk up the midfield.