League 1, League 2, National League and beyond 2021/22

[merman]

19 hours ago, RareBirds said:

 

Mission achieved!

 

I mean... what? Where did that come from?

I know Doncaster are rock bottom, but there was no way you could have predicted SIX. (11 shots, 7 on target - could have had another in stoppage time when we hit the post).

 

Evans was on fire, three goals and an assist. Celina creating and breaking. Burns to Bonne is looking like a productive partnership too.

[filecore]

On 23/09/2021 at 19:33, RareBirds said:

One of the great footballing regrets of my life was going to the FA Cup game against Lincoln in 2017 - there were lots of Lincoln there (from memory we gave you one of the main stands as it was peak McCarthy so hardly any Ipswich fans were going to games, especially Cup games). They were selling half and half Ipswich and Lincoln scarfs outside.

That was one of the great away days. That's when the dormant fans started to see something special was happening and didn't want to miss out. 5000 in the Cobbold stand. 

[RareBirds]

49 minutes ago, merman said:

 

I mean... what? Where did that come from?

I know Doncaster are rock bottom, but there was no way you could have predicted SIX. (11 shots, 7 on target - could have had another in stoppage time when we hit the post).

 

Evans was on fire, three goals and an assist. Celina creating and breaking. Burns to Bonne is looking like a productive partnership too.

 

And up until the first goal it was absolutely turgid - dreadful weather, neither team being able to trap the ball, more throw ins than passes. Then a lose ball, Burns absolutely roasts his man (they made a substitution at half time purely to stop Burns, and then the next three goals came down the other side through Celina drifting out there) and suddenly we looked like an upper League One quality team! Morsy makes a huge difference (like someone's older brother coming in - he just seems bigger and better than everyone else) but the system does finally seem to have 'gelled' (to use Cook's phrase). People actually know who they're supposed to cover etc (it helps that Morsy is shouting at them all game). 

 

I'm sure we'll get injuries but there are some good players that might be sidelined - where does Edwards fit in (and he looked unstoppable in the matches he's played), we seemed to be planning everything around Vincent-Young being an attacking right back but we're so much more stable with Donacien in there, Pigott wasn't even on the bench last night! Nice problems to have I guess. 

[neoELITE]

Three points yet again thrown away. 

 

Cambridge, Lincoln, Fleetwood and probably Portsmouth. That's 8 points in the bin. We'd be miles clear. I hate us holding on to a win. We're shit at it. FFS. 

[Cosmic_Guru]

36 minutes ago, neoELITE said:

Three points yet again thrown away. 

 

Cambridge, Lincoln, Fleetwood and probably Portsmouth. That's 8 points in the bin. We'd be miles clear. I hate us holding on to a win. We're shit at it. FFS. 

Tell me about it.  So incredibly frustrating.

Today however we seem to have absolutely dominated Northampton, won away for the first time, and move up to 11th, not far from the playoffs 

[wev]

Lol Notts County fell apart in the last 20 minutes against Woking

 

[Angles Morts]

Absolutely gifted Burton a goal, then pushed well for the equaliser. Pretty gutting as they didn’t look like scoring anyway, but at least it ends the losing streak. Two weeks off now because of 3 national team call ups!

[Gigawatt]

59 minutes ago, neoELITE said:

Three points yet again thrown away. 

 

Cambridge, Lincoln, Fleetwood and probably Portsmouth. That's 8 points in the bin. We'd be miles clear. I hate us holding on to a win. We're shit at it. FFS. 

I think this was a lucky draw for us. Plymouth should have been 2 or 3 up at half-time. Our second-half was better, but if I’m honest I think the last-minute penalty was a bit soft and I’m not sure the draw was deserved. 
 

On the plus side, it was great to meet @filecore in the flesh, my first real-life mukker encounter!

[neoELITE]

17 minutes ago, Gigawatt said:

I think this was a lucky draw for us. Plymouth 

 

We're Argyle. 

 

This is in my living room.

 

My first game.

 

 

[merman]

Accrington Stanley, who are they?

 

oh, the team that have beaten us. 2 shots on target from the Tractor Boys, one goal.

[neoELITE]

38 minutes ago, merman said:

Accrington Stanley, who are they?

 

oh, the team that have beaten us. 2 shots on target from the Tractor Boys, one goal.

 

Are Ipswich up for a relegation dog fight?

[filecore]

3 hours ago, Gigawatt said:

On the plus side, it was great to meet @filecore in the flesh, my first real-life mukker encounter!

Just back. Likewise! Entertaining game. See you soon.

[merman]

On 02/10/2021 at 20:10, neoELITE said:

 

Are Ipswich up for a relegation dog fight?

 

Unless things pick up before Christmas, we could get dragged down into it. Just need some consistency because the players are talented enough, it’s gelling as a team.

[RareBirds]

Absolute garbage on Saturday (watched it on I Follow). 

 

Something that I've been hung up on since we got relegated to League One has always been the need to have a simple, repeatable tactic that works in all weathers / grounds and can be effective against any team. Wycombe is always my example - they had a big bloke up front and knocked it up for him to challenge / cause chaos amongst the central defence. Cheltenham this year - long throw ins that are better than corners. Not saying you can only get out of the league playing long balls etc, but you need something simple and repeatable to fall back on if Plan A isn't working. 

 

Ipswich's tactic is so bloody complicated - it looks brilliant when it works (and going forward it has worked quite a lot this year, it has been the defence that has let us down most weeks) but away against Accrington Stanley in driving rain in a very open stadium we just had no clue in the second half. No idea how we could make it work against a team playing a well drilled pressing game in conditions that weren't conducive to knocking it about and intricate passing. We don't have a plan B - I thought we did after our equaliser in the first game of the season (long ball from keeper, flicked on header, goal - playing a 442 for the last 10 minutes) but we're so inflexible at the moment.

 

Are we up for a relegation battle? I still think the players we've got are too good for it to be this ineffective for too much longer - it has to click at some point (please!). However, Cook has to be more proactive - too often it's just like for like substitutions. We weren't in the game at all in the second half and he waited until Accrington took the lead before making a change. Not that either was really effective. 

 

 

[filecore]

Quote

Something that I've been hung up on since we got relegated to League One has always been the need to have a simple, repeatable tactic that works in all weathers / grounds and can be effective against any team. 

 

There's some teams that really knock it about well in league one - "proper football" some would say.   That doesn't always win you matches. As you ascend the leagues, the higher you go the more the "proper footy" takes ascendancy, but you will come up against some effective teams that don't play in that style, and if you play at theirs on a Tuesday night in the rain then you can get unstuck. Wycombe, Rotherham  etc might play a more agricultural style, and it works up to a point for sure. Wycombe have proved that.  If ipswich can gel and get playing the passing game on nice surfaces, they'll be there or there abouts, but you do need to be able to grind out those away games (or at least get a point) on bobbly pitches. 

[Cosmic_Guru]

Football; Bloody Hell!

 

Incredible game which finished Sutton Utd 4: Port Vale 3 and sees us move up into the playoff places with a game still in hand.

 

Beautiful warm sun, our biggest league crowd for ages. Sold out away end, giving it some when they (deservedly) went 2 up in the first half.  We scrambled one back before half time, equalised via a perfectly planted own goal header, only for them to go ahead again from a ranged strike into the corner (hate those ones).    Credit due, we didn't give up and scored twice, the second time in injury time, to send the home fans absolutely crazy.

 

My favourite spot is always along the rail at pitch side off towards the away fans, and usually that empties out second half when we kick toward the home end, but the ends were swapped this time around.  Cue absolute mayhem when the goals went in just in front, and the need for an instinctive straight arm, backside out, brace against the railing to protect myself and a gaggle of young kids to my left from a couple of 2/3 lad deep surges which fortunately didn't have the added momentum of going down a terrace.  

 

Still buzzing.

[grounded_dreams]

If things couldn't get worse for us Southend United fans, we loose 4-0 against Chesterfield, just outside the relegation zone now.

More protests as fans come onto to the pitch with a 'Martin Out' (chairman is Ron Martin) banner.

After the match protests outside and in the streets then the club release a statement to inform that our manager Phil Brown and assistant Craig Fagan have been relieved of their duties effective immediately.

The ways its going, likely to be a third consecutive relegation.

[Cosmic_Guru]

Sorry to hear that @grounded_dreams, not familiar with your particular background,  but it seems to happen far too frequently across every league.

[grounded_dreams]

6 minutes ago, Cosmic_Guru said:

Sorry to hear that @grounded_dreams, not familiar with your particular background,  but it seems to happen far too frequently across every league.

 

Cheers, unfortunately it does seem to be happening far to much with smaller clubs like ours.

For an overview of our current situation (prior to the latest concerns and protests over the  last few weeks) this article by the local papers sports reporter is a heartfelt read.

[wev]

What's your take on Collymore trying to get involved @grounded_dreams?

[grounded_dreams]

7 minutes ago, wev said:

What's your take on Collymore trying to get involved @grounded_dreams?

 

He was part of a consortium that discussed with our chairman last summer about potentially taking over but nothing occurred.

Collymore was at the game last Tuesday, but Martin (chairmen) reckoned he was just there as a fan, nothing else.

I think it would be a good thing tbh, he seems to have a passion and drive to want to help the club in some manner.

 

We've had some amazing players over the years, including Freddy Eastwood, David Crown, Peter Butler, Brett Angell, Dave Martin, Chris Powell, Ronnie Whelan.

But he is still in my book, the best player I've ever seen play for us, it was electric every time he got the ball.

[wev]

I was growing up in Nottingham when he was a hero to that team from Nottinghamshire. 

 

He, at the very least, seems very vocal on Twitter about the condition of Southend 

[grounded_dreams]

6 minutes ago, wev said:

I was growing up in Nottingham when he was a hero to that team from Nottinghamshire. 

 

He, at the very least, seems very vocal on Twitter about the condition of Southend 

 

Remember when he moved to Nottingham Forest and being in the away end at the next game at the City Ground.

We just constantly were singing his name, think all of our fans wished him well to progress his career. We were way to small for him.

Plus, with addons, we made over £4million from his sale to Forest.

[neoELITE]

Just leaving this here. Games in hand don't count.

[neoELITE]

Oh dear! Charlton lose, Bolton lose, Portsmouth lose, Ipswich can only draw. There's one massive club at the top of League 1. 

 

Green Army! 

 

A cracking 1-3 at Oxford. We're home on Tuesday to Bolton. We're unbeaten now in 12 games. 

[filecore]

1 hour ago, neoELITE said:

Oh dear! Charlton lose, Bolton lose, Portsmouth lose, Ipswich can only draw. There's one massive club at the top of League 1. 

 

Green Army! 

 

A cracking 1-3 at Oxford. We're home on Tuesday to Bolton. We're unbeaten now in 12 games. 

 

Fair play to Plymouth, going well so far.

 

I couldn't get to Lincoln today but I know an imp who  will be making his report shortly!   I had the opportunity to groundhop and take a short trip to the Den to see Millwall v Luton. Millwall were pretty poor tbf. I think Lincoln would have given them a game. Luton good at what they do and deserved winners. And Millwall missed a penalty.  As you can imagine 2-0 down and missing a penalty , then the atmosphere even in the family stand where I sat was fruity.  I do note however that it obvious that the club are doing everything they can to try to banish the Neanderthal element at Millwall through lots of means and it was good to see a diverse crowd in the family stand.   I enjoyed my visit. 

[Cosmic_Guru]

Getting a nosebleed now.  Tough test against Swindon on Tuesday though.

[filecore]

15 minutes ago, Cosmic_Guru said:

Getting a nosebleed now.  Tough test against Swindon on Tuesday though.

Going amazing! A good friend of mine in the 92 club is coming to yours for the Walsall game on the 30th to update his 92. Fingers crossed for you both.

[Cosmic_Guru]

6 minutes ago, filecore said:

Going amazing! A good friend of mine in the 92 club is coming to yours for the Walsall game on the 30th to update his 92. Fingers crossed for you both.

Excellent.  Hope he brings us luck like the chap I stood next to against Carlisle.

[Gigawatt]

Well deserved win for Lincoln today, and only our 2nd home win of the season.  Definitely the best performance we've seen at home this season with a lot of energy and pressure, which eventually paid off in a stoppage time winner.  Tense for the last 15 minutes after Charlton equalised with their only real attempt of the game.  It was great to see a really positive performance and I hope we can take this into our next game on Tuesday and get some momentum going.