FAN’S VIEW 2022/23 – No.25

IPSWICH TOWN 3 OXFORD UNITED 0

This being the busy festive season I’ve little time for digging around in accounts and researching the recent history of our opponents so guess work based on possibly faulty memory and cursory glances at information it is then.

Ipswich are yet another “big” club for L1 and the attendance for this match very much emphasised that. However they have not played in the top flight for over 20 years and this is their fourth consecutive season in tier three.

They were taken over by an American pension fund just over a year and a half ago. That’s a bit of a head scratcher for me because such funds are there to make money. It seems a strange investment but there are still people out there who think they can buy a sleeping giant and then sell it on for a vast profit when they’ve somehow woken it up and got it into the Premier League. This case seems all the more bonkers because Ipswich were carrying a huge debt that now seems to have been converted into share capital – but what do I know?

After the transfer window in January 2022, keen observers of this level of football had noted Ipswich as the team to watch, saying they were building well for the following season. Their 2021/2022 league form from January onwards did indeed pick up – 10 wins, eight draws and four defeats. Not good enough to get them into the play-offs (they finished six points behind us) though and if they’d achieved similar throughout the entire season they’d still have fallen short.

This campaign is a different story though. If they keep going as they are they’ll hit 90 points and very likely be saying goodbye to visiting Accrington, Fleetwood and Morecambe.

We started the game very well indeed and for the first 15 – 20 minutes were the side asking the questions but with the departure of Marucs Browne after just a quarter of an hour that soon began to change. It wasn’t as if Browne was a standout but he was very much a part of us taking the game to our high flying opponents.

Even during this brief period I knew Ipswich would have their moments too at some stage in the game so we really needed to get something whilst on top but even in that spell we never really had the Tractor Boys wobbling.

After Cameron Brannagan had won the ball, Djavan Anderson hit the stanchion from distance and, just after Browne’s departure, Matty Taylor put another effort in almost the same place after some neat build up play that involved James Henry, the replacement for our number 11.

Neither were on target but they were as close as we came.

As for Ipswich having a moment, well their moment turned out to be the rest of the contest. We weren’t in it.

I don’t know if it was because we were so awful or Ipswich were so good but I came away thinking the gap in class between us and our opponents was the biggest I’ve seen for a very long time. I’m struggling to remember a better L1 side we’ve come up against. (NB: Nine days earlier Wycombe had beaten them).

It shouldn’t be forgotten though that this was the first league game in 2022/23 in which we’d conceded more than two goals and also the first where we’d lost by more than one goal so perhaps a bit of slack needs to be cut but why should that be afforded them? We’re 22 games in to the season now and have only won six times. That’s two fewer than the number of times we’ve been beaten.

Once they took command the home side were sharper than we were in everything they did. They found space with ease, were playing angular incisive passes that baffled us and had many players that had pace and dribbling ability that took them past our white shirts time and again.

Both our full-backs had a torrid time and were unable to prevent raids down the flanks and balls coming into our box but that’s not just on them. They were often facing two Ipswich players with no help from colleagues.

I noticed that after our first flurry, on the rare occasions when we attacked, if that’s what it was, we got outnumbered there too. If we had two players working together they’d get three around us. That says to me that they were working harder than we were and were better organised. Add that to the fact they have many excellent players for L1: Wes Burns, Marcus Harness, Leif Davis, Freddie Ladapo, Sam Morsy etc. then we had no chance.

I asked myself how many of our players would get into the Ipswich team. Certainly none on this showing.

The stats tell it how it was. Ipswich had 64% possession. They made 502 passes to our 290. Their passing accuracy was 77% and 67% in our half. In contrast our figures were 61% and 43% respectively. On the day we were incapable of keeping the ball. That was something our travelling fans picked up on as it was a constant hence the almost non-stop second half singing of “we’ve lost the ball, we’ve lost the ball.” Occasionally that was changed to “we’ve got the ball, we’ve got the ball” but soon changed back again and once amazingly they were able to chant “we’ve had a shot”.  Gallows humour helps at times like these.

Our unbeaten run up to now has probably papered over a few things. We’ve got some players who don’t look up to competing against the top teams in this division. We’ve not got a player who is likely to stay fit and notch a reasonable tally of goals. Our defence lacks pace.

Sadly James Henry looks way off it. Saying he’s half a yard slow is doing him a favour. I wasn’t surprised that even as a sub he was subbed. What did surprise me was that he was brought on in the first place. Taylor isn’t contributing much either. Every now and again in these FVs I throw in some positives that these two bring but realistically I’m probably clutching at straws. Am I right in thinking Henry has another year after this one? Madness.

Ipswich had come close to taking the lead before that actually happened in the 39^th minute. The move which led to this started when we lost the ball trying to break away. Once Ipswich had it they moved it around at speed. We had some players the wrong side of the man they were trying to mark. That’s not good but it’s better than not marking at all. When the ball came in Harness hit it well on the volley but it was straight at Eddie McGinty. He should have held it. He didn’t. Goal-keepers make mistakes but this guy seems to **** up one way or another every time he plays. Never mind we’re told he’s got great potential. The loose ball was popped home by the alert Ladapo. To demonstrate what a bollocky defensive show we were putting on, to Harness’s left was a completely unmarked Davis.

What we had to do now was hang on to half time and come out for the second period with a different game plan. Hang on, dream on. Six minutes later it was 2-0. It came from a corner. Ipswich had 13 throughout the game which indicates the pressure we were under. As does them having 18 shots of which half were on target. Burns caught it sweetly on the volley at the near post. It was a very good goal, but hey lads shouldn’t one of you have been marking him?

Perhaps we were doing something right because we didn’t let a third in until the 81^st minute but I couldn’t detect what that was. The space we were allowing Ipswich throughout most of that half was criminal.

That final goal came after we’d lost the bloody ball yet again and when we’d left an opponent unmarked again. Good finish from Conor Chaplin though.

So that was it 3-0 but it could have been 5 or more.

Positives? Now I’m struggling. The centre halves were not heading much away but Ipswich knew that we’re not too bad at that. It was on the floor they could, and did, do us. That said I thought Stuart Findlay did okay. Moving on, we’ve got two home games against sides nowhere near as good as we faced here. Charlton are even below us in the table with one point fewer and we’ve already put eight past Exeter this season. Win both of those and that table will look a whole lot healthier because at present we’re only five points away from a relegation place.

The stewards didn’t seem to understand that by standing up they were blocking our view from the seats. To be fair though most of them did eventually sit down after they were asked to do so.