Saturday 27 August 2011

Peterborough hammering could be a blessing in disguise

Losing 7-1 to Peterborough might well turn out to be one of the best things that has happened to Ipswich in a long time. It forced Paul Jewell into action, as in the aftermath of the defeat, three new players arrived at the club.

We all know about Jimmy Bullard, who will be a welcome addition to a squad that would undoubtedly have been low on confidence. But the signings of Daryl Murphy and Ibrahima Sonko are also very shrewd.

Having been at the Peterborough game, I was almost tempted to not bother going to watch Town play Leeds this weekend, but it must have been the Jimmy-factor that made me cave in to my obviously extremely weak will.

And what a wonderful reward it was for sticking with Ipswich, with the Blues running out 2-1 winners thanks to a dramatic late strike from Keith Andrews. There are certainly signs that progress is being made.

To be honest, I was not too badly affected by the thrashing at Posh. The fact is, the season is still very young, and following what has been a summer of transition, it was inevitable that the team was going to take time to settle down.

There are now some fantastic players in that squad, and all they need is a bit of time playing together to gel, and form an understanding of one another. It would have been easy to dismiss them after last weekend, but Paul Jewell has replaced the departing players with, in my opinion, better ones.

It took a 7-1 defeat to Colchester before Norwich's fortune's turned around, so many fans, including myself, will be hoping that it is something of an omen. Right now, I am very excited about the season that lies ahead for Ipswich.

We have bags of experience in the squad, and in the form of Andrews and Bullard, clearly an awful lot of quality in the centre of the park.

I was hugely impressed with Ibrahima Sonko's début against Leeds. He seemed to command the back four wonderfully, and not only that, he looks to be technically very good as well.

However, I do hope that Jewell's transfer business is not done in the defensive department. If anything, the quality that Sonko showed only served to highlight the lack of quality his central defensive partner Delaney has.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good things that Delaney brings to the team, but what is patently obvious, the man cannot pass for toffee. Sure, he can hoof the ball clear, but when Ipswich play out from the back, the amount of long, floaty balls from him that go astray, is far too many.

I think I read that Town were enquiring about Marko Šuler, and let me tell you, he looks one hell of a player, and would be a very welcome addition to our back-line. But we must be careful, the club's wage bill must be getting quite hefty right now.

Overall, though, it is brilliant to see that Town are making progress, and hopefully they can get better and better. There is still a long way to go, though, because let's face it, even the win over Leeds was not exactly a vintage performance.

Give Town until 15 games have past until judging them. By then the squad should have settled somewhat, and hopefully Town will even be in a favourable league position.

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