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ricardo

Ricardo's report v 1p5wich

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I''ve had a bad feeling all the week about this game based on nothing in particular other than we''ve had a long unbeaten run against them and nothing that good lasts forever. So on the basis of nothing other than a gut feeling I was expecting a draw at best. It was a pleasant stroll up to the ground with the weather fairly mild and cloudy and upon finding Naisy and Pinto restored to the line up and a big crowd in full voice I was feeling somewhat more positive at kick off time.The early minutes were tight and scrappy with barely any space for decent football but City finally sprung away down the left to win a free kick out wide. It should have led to the opening goal when the long cross found Howson unmarked on the right but someone got a block in and after a scramble it was booted cleat. A couple of minutes later Dijks beat his man and cut in to square back for Jerome on the penalty spot. His shot looked goal bound but as I was half out of my seat it veered a foot wide of the left spot.There was almost nothing coming back from the visitors who seemed content to sit deep and break up play in midfield. Jerome twice almost broke the 1p5wich back line when trying to latch on to cute through balls from Wes and Mitchell Dijks but Bialkowski was quick off his line. It was almost all City by the quarter hour mark when the 1p5wich keeper excelled him self with a fine reaction save as another City cross deflected off a defender. It looked like a goal could come any minute but a lack of composure and desperate defending from the visitors kept the scoresheet blank. Dijks had the beating of his man down the left time and again and caused mayhem with a low cross only for Wes to get blocked out trying to get the ball to Jerome when Naisy was screaming for it in front of goal. Naismith had a very ordinary opening 20 minutes but grew into the game as it progressed as did Jacob Murphy who looked much stronger on the ball than of late. With halftime approaching McGoldrick, who looked the only player of any quality in the visitors line up finally had a shot miles off target for their only attempt of the half.So a satisfactory half football wise but by rights City should have been at least one goal ahead. As for 1p5wich, having seen every Derby since the early 1950''s I can honestly say that this is probably the poorest and most unadventurous 1p5wich side I have ever seen. It''s easy to see why the Portman Road faithful are not a happy bunch.City might have deservedly gone ahead early in the second period and we all thought they had when Dijks header from a corner hit the net but for some reason that was not immediately apparent to me it was disallowed for some sort of foul play. It was a disappointment and it signaled a slightly better effort from the visitors who gained a bit more possession but did little of note with it. A corner and free kick came into the City box but they were dealt with comfortably enough. At the other end Naismith finally got in a telling header that looked bound for the far corner only for Bialkowski to pull off a brilliant save to keep it out.It just looked like a matter of time before we scored and then in one of those moments that have happened all too often this season 1p5wich went ahead out of almost nothing. McGoldrick managed to keep things going on the right of the City box and when a long cross came over Knudsen beat a defender to ball and head past Ruddy for their first effort on target. Needless to say the away contingent went into raptures and the we had to await the restart while a few over exuberant revelers were hauled away by the boys in blue.It was disappointing and when Bialkowski made another great stop to deny Naismith I began to think it wasn''t our day but within seconds City sprang forward and despite the attention of two defenders Murphy banged a low hard shot in at the near post to bring the scores level and set up an exciting final quarter of the game. It was much more open after this but still nothing to trouble ruddy. Despite continuous City pressure, Bialkowski continued to keep the vistors in it with yet another superb stop from Alex Tettys shot. AN then swapped Naisy for Josh and Wes for Pritchard as City went all out for the winner.Pritchard was denied by another diving save as he almost caught the 1pwich keeper out with a low shot at the near post then Klose scuffed wide from a corner and in the final knockings a foul on Jerome, in the box  would have drawn a penalty had not the City striker been flagged marginally offside. There was disappointment at the final whistle but despite a dominant display and being superior in all departments an in form goalkeeper can often make a mockery of the scoreline and today was one of those days.I expect the hope of the playoffs will continue to tease us for a while yet but for me the season has been set in stone for a long while now. You get a feeling of how things are going to go after a dozen or so games and there just hasn''t been the touch of fortune and the late winners that make you think its going to happen. In fact the reverse has been true with conceding too many goals out of nothing and having untimely sendings off and little in the way of fortunate breaks. 1p5wich''s goal from their only shot on target couldn''t have been more typical.Howson and Dijks top marks from me today.

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Decent report - agree with your assessment of Ipswich, they seemed to lack any attacking ambition.

Worth mentioning how well Martin and Klose played also, dealt with Ipswich''s usual aerial bombardment very comfortably.

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Good report and can''t agree more Ricardo, the season now is effectively over imo. Dijks handled the ball into the net... he was my MoM. Pity chance fell to Tettey...Howson would have buried it.

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[quote user="king canary"]Worth mentioning how well Martin and Klose played also, dealt with Ipswich''s usual aerial bombardment very comfortably.[/quote]Apart from just the once [;)]

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Thanks Ricardo.

For me today the better performances were from Howson, Tettey & Dijks.

Naismith and Pinto did not seem match fit to me.

Would''ve liked to have seen Pritchard start. I feel that together with Jerome, their defenders would''ve panicked more often, leading to even more mistakes. Wes just didn''t seem to have it today.

Berra cacked himself every time the ball went up to Jerome.

Keeper-wise it was Bialkowski who kept them in it and was the real difference. An off day from him and there would be a different mood on here this afternoon.

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We saw the good and the bad of Jacob Murphy today, great goal and P1SS poor defendin for the scum goal.

Overall a good game.

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[quote user="FenwayFrank"]That was more down to Jacob M than Martin or Klose[/quote]And Ruddy - this wasn''t as bad as Rotherham or Burton which should have been simple interceptions for him but he would have been better off going for it instead of as usual getting stuck in no man''s land.

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Everyone was saying they had bad feelings about this game Ricardo. But the binners were riculously poor and without a Murphy up front they were toothless too. Pleasing that we didnt hoof it back and continually played our football and we were the best side by a country mile. Agree Dijks was our MOM but the player who had most influence on the match was their keeper. Dropping home points to them in these circumstances isnt why we''re not in the top six.

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]Everyone was saying they had bad feelings about this game Ricardo. But the binners were riculously poor and without a Murphy up front they were toothless too. Pleasing that we didnt hoof it back and continually played our football and we were the best side by a country mile. Agree Dijks was our MOM but the player who had most influence on the match was their keeper. Dropping home points to them in these circumstances isnt why we''re not in the top six.[/quote]

Exactly that Eddie, a bang on round up of the game I feel mate 👍

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Berra looked shot at the end of the first half. Think we missed a trick not putting him into more footraces with Jerome.

Ultimately, unfortunately, we wracked up a ton of chances but after they reached half time at 0-0 we were always in danger of that one shot - one goal cliche that lurks around in games like this.

Could''ve been worse, but I hate that they''re happier than I feel.

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Totally agree about Ipswich Ricardo. They were absolutely clueless and unambitious. They didn''t want to win, they just didn''t want to lose. And McCarthy correctly guessed we would concede one. But I suspect their objective is to not get relegated where we still hold out hope for a play off spot.

I don''t hold with the derby games much anymore and to me it was just two points gone astray at home against another team who didn''t turn up to play.

AN still hasn''t a clue about what subs are supposed to do and what he ought to put on the bench to alter anything.

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Thanks Ricardo - great report as ever.Keelan - I thought that the subs were pretty good today; both Pritchard and Josh looked pretty sharp and threatening.

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[quote user=" Badger"]Thanks Ricardo - great report as ever.Keelan - I thought that the subs were pretty good today; both Pritchard and Josh looked pretty sharp and threatening.[/quote]

I don''t disagree but they were like for like. Our bench has no alternatives to what starts the game.

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Enjoyed your report as always Ricardo. Thanks.

I do slightly disagree though when you said we were superior in every department as I thought they defended as a team much more doggedly than we did. Their goal was a case in point. Nothing special about the play just a bog standard far post cross and it was enough to open us up because of not tracking back.

We were much better than them in the creative side of things and their keeper stopped us winning comfortably but the truth is that had we defended that simple cross we would have won the game.

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Many thanks ricardo. Family stuff kept me away from any contact with the game today so your report is invaluable.

Judging by the feeling around here, there''s a distinct lack of passion; play-offs look a distant prospect & we didn''t actually lose, perhaps unlucky not to win, so, despite the opposition. it''s all a bit meh.

Till next match of course. Hope springs eternal ...

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Cheers Ricardo. It looked to me like a game between two sides who''ll both finish nearer the middle of the table than either end of it.

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[quote user="Hairy Canary"]Enjoyed your report as always Ricardo. Thanks.

I do slightly disagree though when you said we were superior in every department as I thought they defended as a team much more doggedly than we did. Their goal was a case in point. Nothing special about the play just a bog standard far post cross and it was enough to open us up because of not tracking back.

We were much better than them in the creative side of things and their keeper stopped us winning comfortably but the truth is that had we defended that simple cross we would have won the game.[/quote]They defended as a team... but  their keeper stopped us winning comfortablyWhereas Ruddy never let a goal in, apart from the one Knudsen scored

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I actually got to go to the game today and can therefore see what a good analysis and report you have made, Ricardo.

For an early kick off I thought the atmosphere was great although there was an odd silence for the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Ipswich scored because they chose that part of the game to throw more men forward having been sitting deep in numbers and caught us short. By then we should have been two goals ahead and cruising.

If we had scored first and Ipswich equalised the atmosphere would have been different at the end but as it was I sensed the crowd were just happy not to have lost - and keep the unbeaten sequence going. There was no sense of two points dropped in our chase for the play-offs because it appears to me most supporters believe that ship has well and truly sailed (despite Butler and Iwan talking up the Sheffield Wednesday game as a six-pointer on the Radio Norfolk Canary Call).

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We were clearly a class above but once again we''re not able to find a way to win a game we needed to and really should have done. Several Norwich sides in recent years I think would have gone on to win that game having equalised but we just don''t seem to have the character/belief amongst this group to lay siege to a team and force late winners.

I was disappointed again with the managers reading of the game and inability to influence it with his subs. I still struggle to think of a single example of him making a change to the system or personnel during the match that has gained us points. I thought it was crying out for Naismith to some off for about 10 minutes before their goal as we started to struggle a bit and needed to retain possession better but he never makes the change until we concede.

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Absolutely spot on Jim. Particularly your second paragraph. It''s been like this all season and is so frustrating. I know its a long shot now but if we can beat Wednesday .............

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I''m no fan of AN Jim, far from it, but just to be fair, after the scum goal fans around me were screaming at AN to change things, fair enough, but he held his nerve a bit longer and we came back and scored before any subs were made.

If we are going to slag him off about his decisions on making subtitions we should also appreciate when he has made a correct decision, even if that decision is to do nothing for a while and see what happens.

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That''s the trouble Winky. People see the decision not to change as doing nothing. Nobody, even Alex himself, would say he gets everything right. But to criticise him over something he got right is daft.
As for making changes, the two areas that we could have done with fresh legs were centre mid and up top. Especially up top. But a knackered Cam is still probably preferable to a fresh Kyle.

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He should have changed it before the scum goal was my point. It was coming but he just reacts rather than pre-empty. I just feel that he adds nothing to the sum of the parts with his tactics whereas if you take Lamberts time with us I think his game management and the late goals that often resulted were probably worth 10 points a season to us. The other playoff contenders score late goals, we don''t.

Also he had two subs stripped off ready to come on as Murphy scored who he then sent back to the dugout. I don''t think he held his nerve he was just having his usual conference with his coaches over what he should do.

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[quote user="Bulldog Rummin"][quote user="Hairy Canary"]Enjoyed your report as always Ricardo. Thanks.

I do slightly disagree though when you said we were superior in every department as I thought they defended as a team much more doggedly than we did. Their goal was a case in point. Nothing special about the play just a bog standard far post cross and it was enough to open us up because of not tracking back.

We were much better than them in the creative side of things and their keeper stopped us winning comfortably but the truth is that had we defended that simple cross we would have won the game.[/quote]They defended as a team... but  their keeper stopped us winning comfortablyWhereas Ruddy never let a goal in, apart from the one Knudsen scored[/quote]
Not for the first time I don''t understand the point you are trying to make Bulldog. I sometimes think you are deliberately obtuse to avoid having to express an opinion of your own.
Their keeper is part of their team. They were very limited in their play but they managed the bare mnimum and got behind the ball and defended doggedly. If we had matched them in that regard they wouldn''t have scored and we would have won the game.
You got a view?

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A good manager needs a bit of luck Jim😀

Did you really see the scum goal coming, I feared we may concede but more as a Sod''s law outcome having created and missed so many chances ourselves, rather than because scum were becoming more and more dominant and threatening.

We are always likely to fall for a sucker punch the way we defend, but that''s another story.

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Always enjoy the summary reports Ricardo thank you. And I agree with Jim Smith about the subs in part. I couldn''t understand ....that it was a local derby and we had just equalised and should at that point have been right on the front foot. Alex N could have made a big statement to his team and fans. Yet it didn''t happen. I was annoyed I must admit. Of course what happened was that Ipswich took hold of possession ( something they failed to do much in the entire game) for 10 minutes after the goal and it was only towards the end of the match ....maybe the last 10 that we really applied pressure. I thought it was lacking in ambition anyway.

We were miles the better team but couldn''t convert either. We don''t have a deadly finisher and we missed Nelson today. Oh for a Robins or his like ( or of course a Grant Holt).

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