Thought we were excellent second half. First half couldn't work out what we were trying to do but second half we looked after the ball and created some half chances. Would've been carnage in the away end if Kayembe's effort goes in!! Defensively we were so good. Pollock in particular was superb. Clevs doing a great job, back-to-back clean sheets now, can't remember last time we did that!? Unbeaten in five, four of those against teams in auto chase or play-off chase! Got to be a shoe-in for the job, surely?!
Leeds Home - 2-2 WBA Away - 2-2 Ipswich Away - 0-0 What set of results for anyone to get this season let alone an "interm" coach. Whatever Clev is doing/saying it's working. We were poor on the offense tonight but did we really expect us to go at them from the off? I think we setup well, and kept them at bay really well towards the end. First half it was all them, although Lewis and Bayo had half chances to score for us on brief counters. Bachmann was again immense, this break from the side has done him a world of good, he's back to his best again with no foolish kung-fu kicks or racing out of goal. Oh, Kayembe, if only that had gone in at the death... Yes we've drawn our last four games but that means we still haven't lost under Clev Ball. It was pretty dire midway through the second half and quite scrappy, but I think we did an excellent job at frustrating them tonight, Leeds and Leicester fans' will be on here tomorrow thanking us. Pollock is my MotM tonight. A vital touch in the dying embers of the game to direct a certain goal out for a corner kick. Andrews was again hit and miss, but slicing a ball like that when we're under the cosh isn't the best idea. Personally I would of chucked on Livermore instead of Kone' but it didn't matter in the end. Dennis came on and did an alright job. Special mention to Bayo again, his defending from corners gave me Dan Gosling flashbacks. Knew where the danger was and did well to snuff it out. Chak was more bad than good although he had a decent first half overall. He's all show and no end product though, which at the end of the season I guess when there's nothing to play for that can be acceptable but he needs to get in the box more or get on the end of a cross. Ipswich faded towards the end, despite a late flurry in injury time, and I do not think we could of done more to stop them scoring tonight. Crazy to think we could of won it at the end. W, D, D, D, D is Clevs first five games. Be pretty impressive if we can go the rest of the season unbeaten eh? Southampton away next up. Another "free hit" but a game we can still get something from if we get chances. Two massive points dropped for Ipswich though, considering neither Leicester or Leeds won last night. If we did one thing tonight, we kept the title race a three-horse race.
Watched on the Ipswich stream. Why do they have a much more professional set up than Hive Live? Ok the pundits weren’t brilliant but they had a studio, discussion and an interview with the manager. Thought they were pretty balanced and fair to us as well. A good point overall that. Definitely things to build on. In Clevs we trust.
true that he didn’t have enough time to do much, just seems when he isn’t on it he’s causing problems. Do we think he will be here next year ?
Cleverley got it spot on tonight. We rode our luck somewhat for a 5 minute spell in the first half but other than that, kept the most prolific home side in the division at arm's length. A small sample size it may be, but our current interim has been distinctly impressive so far in my view, with each passing fixture providing an overall profit of evidence pointing towards it being a good idea to begin next season with him retained at the helm.
A draw was probably a fair result in the end, albeit Ipswich seemed marginally the sharper side, which isn't too bad a showing. It wasn't a great game though overall and there's still loads which could be improved on. We started the game pretty well, but from about 20 minutes or so Ipswich picked up the intensity and we retreated in to our shell and it was basically one-way traffic for the rest of the half. Our desire for most of the first half to slow the game down and recycle possession also translated itself in to then being too indecisive and lacking incisiveness when opportunities presented themselves for us to attack. It was a negative mentality which permeated itself throughout the team for too extended of a period. Time and again we also kept giving the ball away cheaply from sloppy passes or poor controlling of the ball and basically all their best chances came from us giving away possession. TDB, Chak and Asprilla were guilty throughout the game of getting in to good positions but then screwing up by either dallying on the ball too much or just mishitting the pass. It's remarkable that players like TDB and Chak are capable at times of extraordinarily swivelling away from two or three players at a time while under pressure, yet then are so often incapable of playing fairly straight-forward 10 yard passes once they've got themselves in to space. Asprilla also won't be getting a big money move to a side playing in European cup competitions if they watched him in the first half repeatedly incapable of controlling any pass in to him with the foot of a trampoline. And if we want to improve as a team Andrews will really have to up his game or get some competition who is not Ngakia, as I'm getting tired of writing about how poor his passing is after every game. Thankfully in the second half we started with more bravery in our play again, while Ipswich seemed a bit worn out by their first half exertions, and we actually then dominated the game until the 75th minute or so when Ipswich were able to bring on lots of decent subs. Even then in the second half as the tables started turning Ipswich struggled to turn their domination in to real chances though and Kayembe's long-range tackle come shot was the nearest either side came to scoring in the second half. When Dennis came on for us it was obvious why he hadn't started. Big credit today to Pollock who I thought was excellent defensively, and actually decent on the ball as well. Hoedt and Porteous were also very good. The 3 CBs combined probably put in the best displays of the team and should basically share any MotM award.
No chance, he's on reduced wages as it is now. We will no doubt be cutting more cloth in the Summer and considering he's a loan he will be one of the first sent back. Only possible way it happens is if Forest loan him to us for the new season at a reduced rate. Which I cannot see them doing. He does love Watford though, always wanted to come back when he left.
I would have taken a point before the game. It's not like it matters much either way at this season stage, with Naff all to play for. I expected a beating against an Ipswich team with much more to play for tonight. In all of the games I have seen Ipswich in, they have never looked like a top-two team. However, I have likely seen them on an off day the 5 or 6 times I have watched them play. Fair play to Cleverley; we have played three teams in the playoffs, two of which have a realistic opportunity to win the league title. Preston, who are just outside the playoffs, and we beat the only team we were probably favourites to beat. I was looking at these fixtures after Val left and couldn't see where we were going to pick up any points, with the exception of Brum.
Very good point. He has got them looking solid at the back. Need some more attacking threat but delighted with the clean sheet.
I think he was trying to get in the game, which wasn't easy, as we were just clearing the ball aimlessly by the time Dennis came on. I am unsure. I would say no simply because of his salary. Still, I would love to see what Dennis could do without the groin injury and a decent full pre-season behind him, as I doubt there would be many better strikers in the Championship than an Emmanual Dennis at full fitness. There is almost no chance we could get anyone better, and we will probably end up with another forward like Rajovic instead.
This was the most difficult of all the fixtures that Clevs had to negotiate. This and Leeds match were the ones where three points for our opponents could be decisive for their season. IMHO West Brom and Southampton were going to finish in the playoffs regardless of their result against us. Preston, Hull and Middlesbrough had no chance of breaking into the top six by season end. Sunderland are as mid table as ourselves. Hopefully we will improve our points tally with four games to play. I expect 56 points but hope for more than 58. Comfortable mid table.
If they argue that we could have whacked it straight into our goal from the corner then...well, I wouldn't have any argument against that!
Not intended as a defence of Raj's footballing ability, but I was reminded that we were in for Wesley when I saw this cracking stat: https://twitter.com/stokaljona/status/1778158049141665910
Welcome back, Andre' Gray.... True. He just shoos all the talent out of the club and is more of a bare foot, hands off owner anyway.
Looks like the players are playing for Tom and for him to be given the job full time, with no defeats in 5 matches considering the teams we have been up against he must be in with a great chance!
Agree. My feeling is it depends on GPs expectations. If GP will accept a year of "development" based on limited resources, then TC is definitely our man. However if GP still thinks we should be looking for at least a play off final next season, then get in another journeyman honcho gamble and keep Tom in the background. I'd love to know how Tom feels.....
