Ipswich Town vs Derby County Match Thread

[Cam the Ram]

12 points from a possible 30 away to bottom half teams and 10 points from a possible 18 away at top half teams. And 2 of the 3 wins away at bottom half teams included the narrow 1-0 against Wigan who played with 10 men for 75 minutes and the opening day win vs Reading who probably deserved to beat us. You'd have hoped the experiences against the likes of Millwall, Bolton and Rotherham would be enough motivation for games like this but it seems it's still not enough

[Day]

2 minutes ago, AdamRam said:

For me it wasn’t the result that was a concern but the performance. It wasn’t that Ipswich raised their game, it was our levels that were very poor and we looked more like a relegation side than one battling for promotion. 

An opportunity missed in my opinion.

Disappointing to say the least, but those teams may have also put poor performances in down Portman Road, all 4 with no disrespect have squads that “should” have no difficulty rolling over Ipswich, but they don’t. 

It’s a weird league, one that rarely makes sense and difficult to understand how teams can put in Jekyll and Hyde performances. 

You have fans writing us off this morning for it, but win the game in hand and we’re only 6pts off the top two, shows there is inconsistency throughout the promotion contenders,  whilst last night is difficult to swallow it would be foolish to simply say we’re not good enough that’s that.

We was Saturday, not Wednesday, similar story for many. Have you noticed Lampard’s hair thinning at the back since his arrival? That’s not natural hair loss, that’s him pulling it out not understanding how you can go and put in such a lacklustre performance knowing what’s on the line.

Loads say it’s an entertaining league, personally I can’t wait to see the back of it

[Cam the Ram]

6 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

Looking at the numbers, our ball retention was worse than I thought.

Only one player in the starting line-up finished with more than 80% pass completion (King, 94%). Of the subs, only Bryson managed it (100%, 18 passes).

Roos: 16% down on his average. (43%)
Bogle: 4% down. (77%)
Keogh: 15% down. (69%)
Tomori: 13% down. (69%)
Malone: 19% down. (50%)
Johnson: 2% up. (76%)
Holmes: Average. (77%)
Wilson: 2% up. (78%)
Lawrence: Average. (75%)
Waghorn: 13% down. (62%)

 

That means our entire starting XI (minus King) were, on average, 7.6% worse at passing than they usually are. Which doesn't sound like much but is a pretty huge margin.
The back 5 in isolation were a crazy 13.4% worse at passing the ball.

 

For reference, against Hull, we had 6 players in the starting XI with at least 80% pass completion (Roos, Keogh, Tomori, Huddlestone, Bryson, Holmes) and every player, bar Jozefzoon, beat their average.

It's almost as if the usual holding midfielder who can find little pockets of space to receive the ball, before then finding a pass to someone in a lot of space was on the bench with his replacement being someone who struggles to find the space and struggles to pass ?

Huddlestone should be the first name on the team sheet every game unless it's an absolute necessity to rest him (preferably cup games). And it's criminal to bring him along as a sub and then not use him in a game that's crying out for a midfielder to control the game

[TheresOnlyWanChope]

Some crazy posts on here. Disappointing to not win but maybe Ipswich should get some credit? It’s a tough league. 

A lot of posts complaining about team selection, I thought maybe we had selected some academy players but looks like we had a strong team out there. I am happy we will be taking the FA cup game seriously. Makes a change from manager after manager treating it like a meaningless competition, unfortunately it rubs off on the fans; some fans on here are saying they’re not even bothered about Saturday! Have a word with yourselves. 

I think while it is disappointing, we at least have taken a point yesterday even though by all accounts we were poor. Maybe the team selection was wrong, but who knows, maybe another team would have lost. Desperate for us to put a run together but some of the overreaction and negativity is unhelpful.

8points from last 4 matches plus a chance at a quarter final is reason to be optimistic. 

Roll on Brighton

[MACKWORTHRAM]

31 minutes ago, David said:

We’re not the only top 6 hopefuls to go to Ipswich this season and come away with a 1-1 draw and beating them on home turf. (Sheff Utd yet to play at home)

I know this is little comfort after last nights performance, but we’re not the only team that struggles against teams down the bottom end of the table. 

Ipswich 1-1 Derby

Ipswich 1-1 Sheff Utd

Ipswich 1-1 Norwich 

Ipswich 1-1 Villa

 

Derby 2-0 Ipswich

Norwich 3-0 Ipswich 

Villa 2-1 Ipswich

Didn't realise that. But 3 of those are above us.

How did they get on at Rotherham, Bolton and Millwall?

[Cam the Ram]

Just now, Davide said:

Some crazy posts on here. Disappointing to not win but maybe Ipswich should get some credit? It’s a tough league. 

A lot of posts complaining about team selection, I thought maybe we had selected some academy players but looks like we had a strong team out there. I am happy we will be taking the FA cup game seriously. Makes a change from manager after manager treating it like a meaningless competition, unfortunately it runs off on the fans; some fans on here are saying they’re not even bothered about Saturday! Have a word with yourselves. 

I think while it is disappointing, we at least have taken a point yesterday even though by all accounts we were poor. Maybe the team selection was wrong, but who knows, maybe another team would have lost. Desperate for us to put a run together but some of the overreaction and negativity is unhelpful.

8points from last two matches plus a chance at a quarter final is reason to be optimistic. 

Roll on Brighton

What overreaction? We've played 10 of the 12 teams from the bottom half away and have struggled against the majority of them. At this point I think we've seen enough to react exactly as expected which is to be concerned as to why we're making things so difficult against the lesser teams. Fair enough I think everyone would accept the odd off games here and there against worse teams, but we're 6-7 months into the season and are showing the same types of performances against struggling teams now as we did in the 1st couple of months against the likes of Reading, Millwall and Bolton

[SaintRam]

2 minutes ago, Cam the Ram said:

It's almost as if the usual holding midfielder who can find little pockets of space to receive the ball, before then finding a pass to someone in a lot of space was on the bench with his replacement being someone who struggles to find the space and struggles to pass ?

Huddlestone should be the first name on the team sheet every game unless it's an absolute necessity to rest him (preferably cup games). And it's criminal to bring him along as a sub and then not use him in a game that's crying out for a midfielder to control the game

We are a better team with Huddlestone in it. 

But he's only started 14 games. Ergo, Richard Keogh has played 17, or more than half his games without him. And his season average is 84%. Tomori has played half his games without him and averages 81%.And, as far as I can tell, their games with Huddlestone haven't seen them spike above their average - which means their games without Huddlestone can't have seen them spike below often.I get that people are upset he was on the bench, but if you think his presence would have reversed all of these performances you are mad. We have had some woeful performances with Huddlestone in the team (1-0 loss away at Rotherham, for example).

And to be honest, the fact he didn't make it on the pitch at all suggests to me he definitely wasn't 100%, so my only question about the lineup was why he was on the bench at all. If he's not ready to play, don't put him in the 18.

[AdamRam]

2 minutes ago, David said:

Disappointing to say the least, but those teams may have also put poor performances in down Portman Road, all 4 with no disrespect have squads that “should” have no difficulty rolling over Ipswich, but they don’t. 

It’s a weird league, one that rarely makes sense and difficult to understand how teams can put in Jekyll and Hyde performances. 

You have fans writing us off this morning for it, but win the game in hand and we’re only 6pts off the top two, shows there is inconsistency throughout the promotion contenders,  whilst last night is difficult to swallow it would be foolish to simply say we’re not good enough that’s that.

We was Saturday, not Wednesday, similar story for many. Have you noticed Lampard’s hair thinning at the back since his arrival? That’s not natural hair loss, that’s him pulling it out not understanding how you can go and put in such a lacklustre performance knowing what’s on the line.

Loads say it’s an entertaining league, personally I can’t wait to see the back of it

Whilst I agree that saying we are not good enough is an overstatement, you also cannot overlook the performance based upon the league being inconsistent. It’s irrelevant what other teams did at Portman Road, and whilst we are still in the mix for promotion, albeit autos or through the play offs, fans are quite right being critical and questioning the performance of both the players and manager after last night.

Im still a big advocate of FL, and believe he is doing a great job here, but by the same token I’m not going to continue with my rose coloured glasses on when it looks like he has made a mistake and pretend it was a one off result that doesn’t matter, I’m sure he will be the first to admit this is still a learning curve for him.

A few fans also were slating others for having an opinion on here last night, that called out points for improvement or where they thought Derby went wrong, they weren’t saying the season was over, just trying to discuss it, on Saturday it was the opposite, seems you have to fall into one of two pots on here at the moment and have to watch what you post if you dare fall in the middle and just want to have an honest discussion about the game ?

[Carnero]

2 minutes ago, Cam the Ram said:

We've played 10 of the 12 teams from the bottom half away and have struggled against the majority of them. At this point I think we've seen enough to react exactly as expected which is to be concerned as to why we're making things so difficult against the lesser teams.

Maybe we're not actually that much better than them?

Neither are we that much worse than the teams above us.

Welcome to the Championship.

[Day]

1 minute ago, AdamRam said:

Whilst I agree that saying we are not good enough is an overstatement, you also cannot overlook the performance based upon the league being inconsistent. It’s irrelevant what other teams did at Portman Road, and whilst we are still in the mix for promotion, albeit autos or through the play offs, fans are quite right being critical and questioning the performance of both the players and manager after last night.

Im still a big advocate of FL, and believe he is doing a great job here, but by the same token I’m not going to continue with my rose coloured glasses on when it looks like he has made a mistake and pretend it was a one off result that doesn’t matter, I’m sure he will be the first to admit this is still a learning curve for him.

A few fans also were slating others for having an opinion on here last night, that called out points for improvement or where they thought Derby went wrong, they weren’t saying the season was over, just trying to discuss it, on Saturday it was the opposite, seems you have to fall into one of two pots on here at the moment and have to watch what you post if you dare fall in the middle and just want to have an honest discussion about the game ?

Look back at the piece I was quoting, I am not overlooking it nor have I attempted to play it down at all, in fact I have said nothing on the game itself unless you count the post on Huddlestone possibly not being capable of playing 3 games in a week.

All I have done is look outside our own little bubble and said that writing off our chances of top 6 would be foolish at this stage, which others have this morning and last night. 

[Day]

12 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Didn't realise that. But 3 of those are above us.

How did they get on at Rotherham, Bolton and Millwall?

How did Norwich do at Preston last night? End of the day it doesn’t matter if you pick your points up away to bottom of the league or top of the league as long as you pick up the points and have enough come May to finish in the top 6.

It’s the Championship, none of it makes sense if you start looking at the who beat who then beat them, I just wanted to highlight we’re not the only promotion hopeful to come away from Portman Road with a point and thought they should be picking up 3.

[Brammie Steve]

I still reckon Timi Elsnik would be a good player to come off the bench @ 60 mins.

Bit difficult when we've loaned him out to Northampton though.

Onwards and (?) upwards!

[Cam the Ram]

17 minutes ago, Carnero said:

Maybe we're not actually that much better than them?

Neither are we that much worse than the teams above us.

Welcome to the Championship.

And yet we quite comfortably have the worst record away to bottom half teams of any of the top 7. Apologies for expecting too much from a team with our quality. I'll dim my expectations next time

[Cam the Ram]

2 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Didn't realise that. But 3 of those are above us.

How did they get on at Rotherham, Bolton and Millwall?

I'm bored and got nowt to do so will have a look at the top 7's records vs bottom half teams ?

Leeds:

Home - 25 points from a possible 27

Away - 14 points from a possible 24

Norwich:

Home - 21 points from a possible 24

Away - 14 points from a possible 21

Sheff United:

Home - 19 points from a possible 21

Away - 24 points from a possible 30

West Brom:

Home - 18 points from a possible 24

Away - 16 points from a possible 27

Bristol City:

Home -14 points from a possible 27

Away - 17 points from a possible 27

Boro:

Home - 12 points from a possible 21

Away - 15 points from a possible 24

Derby:

Home - 13 points from a possible 15

Away - 12 points from a possible 30

 

So we're the only team from the top 7 not achieving over 2 points per game away at teams from the bottom half. However, 1 positive note is that we've coped quite well at home against the teams we should beat on paper and still have plenty of them left to play

[Tamworthram]

5 minutes ago, Cam the Ram said:

And yet we quite comfortably have the worst record away to bottom half teams of any of the top 7. Apologies for expecting too much from a team with our quality. I'll dim my expectations next time

Maybe we have but as David said, at the end of the day it doesn't matter, to a large extent, who you pick your points up against.

We're 7th in the league, level on points with the team in 6th so, over the course of the season, our total results (not performances mind you) can't have been a whole lot worse than the 4 or 5 teams above us. 

[Day]

5 minutes ago, Cam the Ram said:

I'm bored and got nowt to do so will have a look at the top 7's records vs bottom half teams ?

 

Can I just raise one point, not to belittle your efforts but the table changes each week, did you take this into account and look at the table when the fixtures were played? Villa, Stoke and even Forest could have been classed as bottom of the table teams at certain stages if the season.

Look at the rise of Bristol City, they are now right in the mix out of nowhere, Hull another team that have risen from the ashes.

[RoyMac5]

11 hours ago, Derby blood said:

What did I say the other week, one poor result or performance, and the boo boys are back, Mclovin, and Roymac5 only post to be negative, I think I have a chant coming along, you only post when your moaning post when your moaning.

What have I said, bar the midfield didn't seem to be functioning very well? 

Your constant attacks on other Derby fans is tedious.

[Cam the Ram]

Just now, David said:

Can I just raise one point, not to belittle your efforts but the table changes each week, did you take this into account and look at the table when the fixtures were played? Villa, Stoke and even Forest could have been classed as bottom of the table teams at certain stages if the season.

Look at the rise of Bristol City, they are now right in the mix out of nowhere, Hull another team that have risen from the ashes.

There's a couple of teams like Hull and Brentford who have had big swings in the table, but for the most part 8 of the bottom 12; Ipswich, Bolton, Rotherham, Reading, Millwall, Wigan, Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday have all been a bit crap. Even if you can find stats to improve how it looks for us, we've all watched us against those previously mentioned teams and 90% of the time we've been awful and outplayed 

[Doodle]

6 minutes ago, David said:

Can I just raise one point, not to belittle your efforts but the table changes each week, did you take this into account and look at the table when the fixtures were played? Villa, Stoke and even Forest could have been classed as bottom of the table teams at certain stages if the season.

Look at the rise of Bristol City, they are now right in the mix out of nowhere, Hull another team that have risen from the ashes.

I still class Forest as a bottom of the table team 

[Carnero]

16 minutes ago, Cam the Ram said:

So we're the only team from the top 7 not achieving over 2 points per game away at teams from the bottom half.

Nah. Check again. Only Norwich & Sheff Utd are achieving 2+ points per game away at teams from the bottom half.