Back From The Game - Ipswich Town

[andrew1957]

We wont last the pace, ITFC. Our squad is wafer thin and it wont take more than an injury or two and the odd suspension to derail us, but a top ten finish would be good for me with how keen the chairman is to sell every asset here.

I was extremely upset about the sale of Sigurdsson - which I still think was a mistake but to say our squad is wafer thin is somewhat ridiculous. 2005-6 has gone down in history as arguably our best ever season and the squad that year truly was wafer thin. We only had 18 players with a realistic chance of making a match day squad - whereas this season we have at least 25.

In 2005-6 we were incredibly lucky with both injuries and suspensions. Our success or otherwise this season will also be determined to some extent by how lucky we get with injuries in particular.

[Mr Angry]

Hugely enjoyable game between 2 evenly matched teams, and if Ipswich are likely to be there or thereabouts (eg: pushing for a play-off spot) this season, then it would be daft to think that we won't be.

[Snowball]

I think some people on here may need to seriously reassess their opinion of what this season might hold in store for us .................................and I'm guessing many of them have so far failed to express a view on last nights performance

By general consensus, Ipswich were the best side we have faced this season. By general consensus, they will be in the mix at the end of the season and whilst, IMHO, neither side deserved to lose, we were the ones who went home with all three 3pts.

I worry for who those failed to enjoy a tactical battle between 2 good sides..............................the Championship close to it's best, in my view.

Like others, I said Pearce would have to play well for us to win and, in fact, I would not have picked him, but he had one of his best ever games for RFC. That's why we should all be beside ourselves with joy at having Brian McDermott as our manager.

Whilst some of our "wonderful" fans have slagged off the likes of Kebe to the point where the player felt inclined to cup his ear to the East Stand after scoring a goal, and no one could have blamed Cummings for taking the first opportunity to exit by the back door, many of these players are now putting in the kind of shifts that suggest they are more than capable of becoming top performers at this level and possibly higher. Brian is doing a fantastic job for this club.

Add to the mix his astute signings such as Harte (inevitably slagged when signed by those who had never seen him kick a ball ) and other products from our academy such as MoM Jem Karacan (yes, at long last, Sidwell has been replaced!!!) whom he has given the time and space to flourish, and assertions that mere survival is all we can hope for are looking more ridiculous by the day.

As ever, I note that Long is still getting more than his share of slagging but what made Jason Scotland's performance, the type of established striker many have been craving for, in any way superior to Shane's? I would suggest that if the Ipswich striker had been wearing the hoops his poor finishing would now be receiving some serious stick. Long and Kebe were clearly feeling the effects of running themselves into the ground on Saturday..................what was Scotlland's excuse?

On the night we matched Town in every department and probably edge it over all. With Federici, Stretch and Cummings also putting in excellent shifts, poor performances were thin on the ground. McAnuff didn't set the world alight behind Long but, I agree, he deserves another chance.

From what I saw last night, we are one or two signings away from making QPR look over their shoulder. Bring it on.

WELL SAID!

PS Statto has us second on current form!! (includes Gylfi's final game)

1 6 4 2 0 5 1 13 2 +11 14 2.33 ppg Queens Park Rangers
2 6 4 1 1 4 1 10 4 +6 13 2.17 ppg Reading
3 6 4 0 2 2 0 10 8 +2 12 2.00 ppg Swansea City
4 6 3 1 2 1 1 15 8 +7 10 1.67 ppg Watford
5 6 2 4 0 1 1 8 5 +3 10 1.67 ppg Nottingham Forest
6 6 3 1 2 3 2 7 5 +2 10 1.67 ppg Cardiff City

[Snowball]

One final observation......what the hell are we going to do about corners? 28 corners in the last 2 games and (other than the obviousl last night which was in no way down to the quality of the corner which was described as scuffed) we don't look close to getting on the end of any of them. I had to LOL at Harte being in The TOTW as his delivery had been poor against Bransley before his free kick. Again last night it wasn't great.

Don't know what the answer is but it needs work on the training ground I think. Come on McD you seem to be brilliant at everything else so why not scoring from corners!!!

We are scoring one goal every 20 corners, almost exactly the average for corners per goal in Reading games (18.5)
and much better than the official statistic posted from a study of 550 or so corners.

Fact is less than 5% of corners produce a goal (on average)

[Snowball]

Long did well in the thankless lone role up front. I would still like to see Hunt and Long starting together to see if they can get a partnership going

I think we are going to be playing a fair bit of 4-5-1 but why not Noel Hunt in the Gylfi role? *

He's an intelligent player, has played a lot of wing football, so should have the skill-set



Hunt there also means it's easy to switch to 4-4-2

[Snowball]

[
He thought the actual football from both sides was rubbish-was it 2 shots by each team over the 95 minutes?

First Half

3 off target Reading
3 off target Ipswich

Second Half

6 on target Reading
3 on target Ipswich

15 shots (at least), not quite "only two"

[Snowball]

Decent performance. Thought our defence was outstanding, especially in the last few minutes with Harte and Pearce playing centre-back.

I'd agree if it weren't for the fact that Ipswich were unlucky not to score at least twice in added time. It was chaos at the back.

I admit there have been a few games where we've looked like conceding
and have been horribly exposed at times (Leicester, Millwall for example)

But luck isn't permanent and four clean sheets from 5 games is a good statistic.

Maybe it's not quite as bad as it looks? Or did we just get an unbelievable 4 lucky games out of five?

[Snowball]

We wont last the pace, ITFC. Our squad is wafer thin and it wont take more than an injury or two and the odd suspension to derail us

I'm no doom-monger but I agree. The squad in its current guise won't be breaking the top six. There aren't enough goals in it for a start.

Ipswich were decent I thought. Didn't create a lot but they were the away side and I reckon they're in good shape for the season.

The statto current form table shows


1 6 4 2 0 5 1 13 2 +11 14 2.33 Queens Park Rangers
2 6 4 1 1 4 1 10 4 +6 13 2.17 Reading
3 6 4 0 2 2 0 10 8 +2 12 2.00 Swansea City
4 6 3 1 2 1 1 15 8 +7 10 1.67 Watford
5 6 2 4 0 1 1 8 5 +3 10 1.67 Nottingham Forest
6 6 3 1 2 3 2 7 5 +2 10 1.67 Cardiff City


Reading second place and enough points per game 2.17 (normally) to win this league

Second best defense after QPR

Third best goals scored (but we can't score goals?)

Third-best goal difference (Watford are second after their one amazing six-goal game at Millwall)

[SLAMMED]

Another set of meaning less stats from SnowbaLOLLOL

[TFF]

Decent performance. Thought our defence was outstanding, especially in the last few minutes with Harte and Pearce playing centre-back.

I'd agree if it weren't for the fact that Ipswich were unlucky not to score at least twice in added time. It was chaos at the back.

I admit there have been a few games where we've looked like conceding
and have been horribly exposed at times (Leicester, Millwall for example)

But luck isn't permanent and four clean sheets from 5 games is a good statistic.

Maybe it's not quite as bad as it looks? Or did we just get an unbelievable 4 lucky games out of five?

Does any of that bear any relevance to what I said?

[Snowball]

Actually another set of stats copied from the web.

And when did "current form" tables become meaningless?

[Snowball]

Yes TFF it IS relevant.

You suggest we were lucky (or Ipswich were UNlucky)

But 4 clean sheets from 5 suggests the defence are doing their job and it's NOT luck.

[SLAMMED]

And when did "current form" tables become meaningless?

They didn't 'become' meaningless, they always have been.

[Woodcote Royal]

when did "current form" tables become meaningless?

When they threaten to make some posters look ever so slightly silly.


"Our defence is shit"

"But we've had clean sheets in 4 of our last 5 matches"

"Yeah but no but, Yeah but no but, Yeah but no but, Yeah but no but,Yeah but no but, Yeah but no but, Yeah but no but, Yeah but no but"

[Snowball]

And when did "current form" tables become meaningless?

They didn't 'become' meaningless, they always have been.

Funny how Reading under Coppell in the first season after relegation were right up there
BECAUSE OF A GREAT START
but "current form"-wise they were slipping
so the moaners talked about current form and not current POSITION



Anyone who says current form is irrelevant is a total idiot.

Sides have purple patches or runs of bad form
and they are tougher/easier to beat during those runs

[Snowball]

Four clean sheets in five, yes.

We were well-beaten at Boro, but I think the shock 24-second goal for Boro threw everything out of kilter
and that game might turn out to be a one-off.

I don't mean we won't get beat again, or we'll get 40 clean sheets (for one thing there's QPR at some point...)

But seems to me we are building a team, that however it LOOKS
(and sometimes we DO look vulnerable, eg 4-on-1 breakaways)
Mac is building a side that will let in fewer goals.

[strap]

Gotta be close to the youngest first team plus subs for both sides combined in any game at this level? Stattos?

Rather sadly I do have the raw data that will allow me to caculate that, well for RFC teams back to 1920 and for opponents temas back to 1970.

Give me a day or to to knock up a bit of code and I'll be back. (I really need to get some work don't I?? )

As promised, I have delved into the opponents ages and the five youngest squads of opponents back to 1970 are:

20/03/76 v Darlington. Average age of the 12 named players was 19.69 years
11/02/84 v Chester C. Average age of the 12 named players was 20.61 years
17/10/78 v Darlington. Average age of the 12 named players was 20.72 years
10/03/82 v Bristol C. Average age of the 12 nmaed players was 21.34 years
10/04/01 v AFC Bournemouth. Average age of the 16 named players was 21.81 years.

The average age of the 18 named players for Ipswich on Tuesday night was 24.76 years.

Looking at just the starting XI, the youngest 5 games were (top 4 all as above) are:

20/03/76 v Darlington. Average age of the starting XI was 19.10 years
11/02/84 v Chester C. Average age of the starting XI was 20.4 years
17/10/78 v Darlington. Average age of the starting XI was 20.76 years
10/03/82 v Bristol C. Average age of the starting XI 21.34 years
13/03/82 v Wimbledon. Average age of the starting XI was 21.85 years.

The average age of the 11 starters for Ipswich on Tuesday night was 25.56 years.

So not particularly "young" opponents. In fact the Barnsley starting XI on Saturday was younger at 25.40 yrs. Youngest starting XI this season was Nottingham Forest at 24.72


The youngest RFC starting XI's I can find are

21.40 27/11/1981 Southend United
21.82 29/04/1972 Colchester United
21.89 02/01/1982 Newport County
22.01 05/12/1981 Lincoln City
22.01 18/08/2009 Swansea City

As for squads, these are (all 5 matches had a sqaud of 12)

21.53 27/11/1981 Southend United
21.68 29/04/1972 Colchester United
21.97 23/01/1982 Plymouth Argyle
21.97 27/01/1982 Brentford
22.02 05/12/1981 Lincoln City

Tuesdays match had an average starting XI age of 25.15 years for RFC, and if you include the bench the 18 named players had an average age of 24.66. So again young, but not particularly so. Since 1920, it is actually the 704th youngest squad we have put out in 4213 games.

Finally, the question was actually was the Ipswich game the lowest combined age of the teams. As you will probably glean from the above, the answer is no. The top 5 youngest combined starting XI's since 1970 have been:

22.17 10/03/1982 Bristol City
22.26 17/10/1978 Darlington
22.43 11/02/1984 Chester City
22.45 19/08/1978 Grimsby Town
22.58 13/03/1982 Wimbledon

Tuesday's game was 25.36.

Finally for those poor souls who are still reading this drivel, the top 5 youngest combined squads have been :

22.18 17/10/1978 Darlington
22.23 10/03/1982 Bristol City
22.36 11/02/1984 Chester City
22.46 13/03/1982 Wimbledon
22.55 19/08/1978 Grimsby Town

The average age of the combined squads on Tuesday was 24.71.

[Snowball]

Mind you, as Harte is "A thousand years old"....

[West Stand Man]

And when did "current form" tables become meaningless?

They didn't 'become' meaningless, they always have been.

errr no ... they are not 'meaningless' at all. They may not be good indicators of the future (they are, after all lagging indicators of past form - however recent) - but they do show who is on form on recent performance. So, what you ought to be clarifying is what meaning people senselessly attach to them and that they cannot justify. In Snowball's case, you don't seem to have a leg to stand on because he doesn't attribute any justification, he simply quotes the stats.

[SLAMMED]

They aren't a good indication at all. Just because we've won our last 3 home games, doesn't mean we are going to win the next one. What you're basically saying is that form tables can predict the future...