What did Ipswich get right? (8 Viewers)

[Wyken Sky Blue]

Firstly congratulations to them, they've been hovering around the autos all season and they deserve to go up

Last season in L1, Plymouth won the league and yet just about stayed up. Ipswich finished a close second but have been miles ahead

Is it their manager, did they invest well in their squad? What did they do that we didn't? (apart from lose to Maidstone or course!)

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[Brighton Sky Blue]

From what the fan of theirs said when I asked him that question, they tried to take the game to the opposition more often than not, then found ways to keep grinding out results. They used loans effectively in the areas where a bit more depth was needed and voila.

We by contrast have spent large spells of the season playing ponderous, slow tempo football without adding depth in January.

 

[Diogenes]

More points

 

[Winny the Bish]

They attack brilliantly. Clear patterns of play drilled into them from goal kicks, throw-ins and set pieces. Everyone knows what they are doing and they're not afraid to leave players forward to counter.

They hit big on 3 loans. Hutchinson, Sarmiento, Kieffer Moore were all top class.

They also defend from the front very well. Send lots of players into the high press because they know the majority of Championship defenders aren't good enough to play out from the back. Like we've seen with Collins, Lati and Thomas's mistakes in possession this season.

Kieran McKenna is a very good coach.

Also, their wage bill in League 1 was around £17m. That's already a decent Championship level - about level with ours last year - and it will only have gone up this season.

 

[jim20]

They attack brilliantly. Clear patterns of play drilled into them from goal kicks, throw-ins and set pieces. Everyone knows what they are doing and they're not afraid to leave players forward to counter.

They hit big on 3 loans. Hutchinson, Sarmiento, Kieffer Moore were all top class.

They also defend from the front very well. Send lots of players into the high press because they know the majority of Championship defenders aren't good enough to play out from the back. Like we've seen with Collins, Lati and Thomas's mistakes in possession this season.

Kieran McKenna is a very good coach.

Also, their wage bill in League 1 was around £17m. That's already a decent Championship level - about level with ours last year - and it will only have gone up this season.

I heard their wage bill was massive this season, top 6. Not sure if it’s true, but money talks in this league. I think if they hadn’t have gone up this season they would’ve had to let a few players go and not done so well next season.

 

[Captain_Slackbladder]

They are direct in the way they play which is quite refreshing to see in this day and age and have some quality. Players now their roles within the team and they execute them well

Pleased for them, good old school club with an old school ground

 

[SBT]

They spent millions on a goalkeeper

 

[SkyblueTexan]

Great manager/coach, players playing to their strengths, very consistent in terms their play - pretty much top 2 from day 1. If they can get top 2 again next season that would be the most incredible feat.

I just can’t believe Chaplin is a Prem level player. That in itself speaks volumes about McKenna.

 

[Gint11]

What doesn’t help, is we are pony at set pieces

 

[Hobo]

Funny how everyone is an expert on how good Ipswich have been this season, whilst saying all season they will blow up and won't last the pace

 

[CoventryUSA]

We by contrast have spent large spells of the season playing ponderous, slow tempo football without adding depth in January.

The data would argue differently. In attack, we are the club most similar to Ipswich in terms of pace and directness.

 

[ptr]

Said it before, but their ability to switch the attacking players up after 60 minutes and still be effective. Had plenty of options all year and it tells. Fair play to them.

 

[CoventryUSA]

If you drill down into the data further, the attacking difference is that Ipswich had better patterns of play once they got into the penalty area which generated more touches and resulted in a Non-penalty xG of 70.0 (Ipswich) versus 57.2 (Coventry)

Passes into Penalty Area

Coventry - 383
Ipswich - 393

Carries into the Penalty Area
Coventry - 219
Ipswich - 246

Touches in the Penalty Area
Coventry - 972
Ipswich - 1171

Key Passes (Passes that directly lead to a Shot on Goal)
Coventry - 440
Ipswich - 536

Average Shooting Distance
Coventry - 17.5 yards
Ipswich - 16.9 yards

So, Coventry was getting to the opponent's penalty area nearly as often. However, they were not as efficient once inside the penalty area. Ipswich generated a lot more shots and from a closer distance.

The things to drill for Coventry for next season will be getting the ball to those "Man City Zones" where you can kill teams with pullbacks or driven balls across the face with a crashing striker or even just making that extra pass in the right moment.

The addition of EMS and a fully integrated Tats will help. Both just seem to excel even in a crowded box.

 

[messiahrobins]

I heard their wage bill was massive this season, top 6. Not sure if it’s true, but money talks in this league. I think if they hadn’t have gone up this season they would’ve had to let a few players go and not done so well next season.

Exactly this. It is not the romantic story many think it is, i think before the season started they were being tipped as promotion candidates.
They have a much bigger wage bill than us. However, they still have been brilliant and clearly have the best manager in the league.

 

[hinckley cov]

Firstly congratulations to them, they've been hovering around the autos all season and they deserve to go up

Last season in L1, Plymouth won the league and yet just about stayed up. Ipswich finished a close second but have been miles ahead

Is it their manager, did they invest well in their squad? What did they do that we didn't? (apart from lose to Maidstone or course!)

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk

They move the ball a lot quicker than us ,and showed more fight , we have too many players who just don’t seem to give 100% every game , but that’s what you need to get out this league, but unfortunately we are miles away from that at this time in our history.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

The data would argue differently. In attack, we are the club most similar to Ipswich in terms of pace and directness.


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The data can’t be wrong of course, but just having watched our games that’s not how it looks.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

The data can’t be wrong of course, but just having watched our games that’s not how it looks.

Funnily enough, the Sunderland forum, who cover all televised games, were commenting on our recent game with Ipswich about how both teams get the ball forward far quicker than they do.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Funnily enough, the Sunderland forum, who cover all televised games, were commenting on our recent game with Ipswich about how both teams get the ball forward far quicker than they do.

Fair, but even on Tuesday the tempo looked very slow. I’ve made so many wrong calls this season I’m happy to believe my eyes are just malfunctioning at this point…

 

[djr8369]

The data can’t be wrong of course, but just having watched our games that’s not how it looks.

I think watching a team week in week out creates biases where you judge a lot harsher. Reading on here you’d think we’ve been awful but finished in the top 10 and most other fans see us as a good team.

That said, I was going to say Ipswich play at a higher tempo, move the ball quicker and press more. Based on that chart perhaps the only real difference is they press more.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

Fair, but even on Tuesday the tempo looked very slow. I’ve made so many wrong calls this season I’m happy to believe my eyes are just malfunctioning at this point…

100% with you on the last point (as in my eyes are failing me - often ask my mate 'who was that?' during the game )

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

I think watching a team week in week out creates biases where you judge a lot harsher. Reading on here you’d think we’ve been awful but finished in the top 10 and most other fans see us as a good team.

That said, I was going to say Ipswich play at a higher tempo, move the ball quicker and press more. Based on that chart perhaps the only real difference is they press more.

It’s more the number of times I’ve seen us passing it around at a pace that allows the opposition to get set and in position. By which point breaking them down or finding a killer pass/cross is much harder, so we end up passing side to side then either giving the ball away or taking a pot shot.

If you can get the ball up the field with more one/two touch passing you’ve got a much better chance of catching teams out of position with gaps and more obvious routes to goal to exploit. Unless you can find a Hamer type player who can get the ball up the pitch in even less time than that would take.

 

[ProfessorbyGrace]

‘What did Ipswich get right?’

Mostly everything.

 

[Grendel]

They had 7 players feature in over 80% of their games - 5 played 40 plus league games. They must have some magic secret potion to prevent tiredness

 

[Grendel]

I heard their wage bill was massive this season, top 6. Not sure if it’s true, but money talks in this league. I think if they hadn’t have gone up this season they would’ve had to let a few players go and not done so well next season.

They only signed 3 players for fairly modest fees on promotion.

They did utilise the loan market and have a funding strategy to stay within FFP regs

The wages are high but managed through by a rich owner who’s committed to the club. Wages were £19 million in league one and losses £19 million

It’s worth noting despite the success last season our true operating loss was £7 million in the championship

 

[covboy9]

Top quality loans when squad started to creak

also better rotation, eg us vs Cardiff fuck up

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

The plain fact is they have some excellent players. Better than most in the league it’s just we’ve not heard of many of them

 

[theferret]

The data would argue differently. In attack, we are the club most similar to Ipswich in terms of pace and directness.


View attachment 35500

Doesn't really tally with what we are seeing. Perhaps this is skewed by our form earlier in the season. I think back to those games away Boro and Sunderland and we looked dynamic and dangerous and every bit a top 6 side.

Last part of the season we have looked ponderous and predictable. We've become so passive and incredibly dull to watch.

 

[stevefloyd]

From what the fan of theirs said when I asked him that question, they tried to take the game to the opposition more often than not, then found ways to keep grinding out results. They used loans effectively in the areas where a bit more depth was needed and voila.

We by contrast have spent large spells of the season playing ponderous, slow tempo football without adding depth in January.

I still think that not adding squad depth in January ultimately stumped us and we just ran out of steam, mind you with a manager keep stressing we are tired, the players started to listen to him and thought yeah you're right....

 

[Hobo]

Doesn't really tally with what we are seeing. Perhaps this is skewed by our form earlier in the season. I think back to those games away Boro and Sunderland and we looked dynamic and dangerous and every bit a top 6 side.

Last part of the season we have looked ponderous and predictable. We've become so passive and incredibly dull to watch.

Yes QPR for instance, the amount of good runs made into space by our forwards just not spotted by our midfield, or if they do see the run, they are just too slow releasing the ball.

People moan about Wright being offside all the time but a lot of it is down to midfield players wanting an extra touch before releasing the ball.

 

[stevefloyd]

Yes QPR for instance, the amount of good runs made into space by our forwards just not spotted by our midfield, or if they do see the run, they are just too slow releasing the ball.

People moan about Wright being offside all the time but a lot of it is down to midfield players wanting an extra touch before releasing the ball.

Totally agree Hobo, the midfield is such an important role in modern day football and we are blaming the defence for being shite but with the likes of Eccles and Kelly and no disrespect is intended for either of them, our midfield was weak and allowed runners to bypass them all the time. Hamer was sorely missed this season and obviously not replaced , Sheaf was our star midfield man and if we get another 1 or 2 quality midfielders in there maybe we become a better attack and defensive team all round

 

[Jamesimus]

They don’t move the ball quicker than us - about the same imo. They play in a similar way in terms of being direct but not in a long ball sense. We’re at our best when we’re not intent on playing keep ball.

Their front wide players are quick and they have composed finishers / goalscorers not just in their first 11, in the squad. Play on the front foot, attack with speed and they have decent CB’s. They had a decent Jan window and rolled the dice and it worked out (unlike Hull) - fair play to the club for that ambition.

I think to follow suit, our wide full backs need to be willing to have a go a bit more (looking at you MVE) and for that we need a solid centre back pairing, a fairly settled team that understand each other and a bit more composure in the final third when playing that last pass.

 

[skyblueeyesrevisited]

Yes QPR for instance, the amount of good runs made into space by our forwards just not spotted by our midfield, or if they do see the run, they are just too slow releasing the ball.

People moan about Wright being offside all the time but a lot of it is down to midfield players wanting an extra touch before releasing the ball.

My thoughts exactly. MVE, Eccles and Bidwell all guilty yesterday

 

[Hobo]

Totally agree Hobo, the midfield is such an important role in modern day football and we are blaming the defence for being shite but with the likes of Eccles and Kelly and no disrespect is intended for either of them, our midfield was weak and allowed runners to bypass them all the time. Hamer was sorely missed this season and obviously not replaced , Sheaf was our star midfield man and if we get another 1 or 2 quality midfielders in there maybe we become a better attack and defensive team all round

In fairness to Kelly he played three or four of our better through balls yesterday.

 

[Cally Fedora]

Spent a ton of cash.

 

[Old Warwickshire lad]

They also did what all the top teams in this division do ( apart from us).
When they are under sustained pressure, a player goes down and they stop the game. Medical staff on,players drift over to the sideline and talk to the coach.
Referee does nothing, game eventually re- starts. All the momentum has gone.
Game management (cheating) call it what you want), we have seen it done to us all season and gone berserk.
But if you can’t beat em,join em.
Mind you that rat faced moaning little shit of a t*** at Wolves did take it to the extreme, but you get my drift.