A Win Away Is An Absolute Must For Town

Love him or loath him, one thing is for certain and that is he invites discussion. Mick McCarthy surely knows that if we lose tomorrow, even our very own Howard Hughes will have given up hope.

I think tricky Micky is someone that I could enjoy a good chinwag with and outside of football I suspect we would get on spiffingly! Any mention of Ipswich Town football club though and we would probably be at each other’s throats!

The sad reality is that as a a club we have under-performed for far too long and the natives are understandably getting restless. I share that view because it is not just the results that have gone against us of late but also the quality of the football – or more precisely the lack of it.

The McCarthy mantra has always been about not losing games at all costs but those costs are mounting up. We lack creativity in midfield and thank God for Tom Lawrence because at least he has contributed some energy to the team – even if his thought processes leave a lot to be desired at times.

Our manager has intimated that he may change the system tomorrow, along with the personnel. Aside from the enforced absence of Jonas Knudsen last time around, the team has been unchanged in the last four encounters but two of them have ended in defeats.

The good news for the Blues is that Wigan defenders Luke Garbutt and Craig Morgan will miss the visit of Ipswich, having been forced out of the equation against Newcastle United in their last match, as a result of injury during it.

Town may bring back Jonas Knudsen to strengthen our defensive properties but Myles Kenlock played out of his skin on the last occasion and surely deserves to remain as our left back.

If manager Mick McCarthy does make changes, it will surely be in midfield where Kevin Bru has been not seen for a while. His creative input might be at the expense of Jonathan Douglas, rather than our other midfield mastermind Cole Skuse.

The bad news is that Ipswich have won just one of their last six games against Wigan in all competitions but stats are there to be broken, as I am sure our manager will desperately hope.

This is a game that Town cannot be content to take a point from. Wigan have not scored in five of their last six Championship games so there is no greater incentive that this to turn our miserable season around before it is too late.

Then perhaps we can have some festive fun after all.


Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich