After that diabolical display at Deepdale the other day, it seemed inevitable that manager Paul Lambert would ring the changes for this one and so he has. He admitted later that this was the worst he had seen of Town, and that view was shared by most of us who bore witness to a toothless, passionless performance, that was an insult to the travelling faithful who had to fork out their hard-earned cash to witness it.
The Ipswich Town manager said in his press conference yesterday that there would be no repeat of that shambles and that the players would need to hurt before things improved. “That’s it. We train on Saturday. We train Sunday. That won’t happen again, that’s for sure.”
And the manager is determined that the Blues do not disappoint again and has made a staggering seven changes to the team that lost at Preston! In comes Dean Gerken for Bartosz Bilakowski in goal, and this is the fourth time the Pole has been dropped this season; which is quite astonishing for a keeper who won the Player of the Year award three times in succession. In defence too, Lambert has revamped. He will employ James Bree at right back and Callum Elder at left back and has removed both Josh Emmanuel and Myles Kenlock out of his squad altogether!
In midfield, TrevohChalobah and Andre Dozzell join Flynn Downes in central midfield with Cole Skuse and Teddy Bishop resigned to bench warming duties, and in attack, Will Keane makes his first start after that annoying hamstring injury through the centre, with Alan Judge on the left and Gwion Edwards on the right.
For the visiting Swans, George Byers comes into the side for Barrie McKay, who drops to the bench. Former Town loanee Cameron Carter-Vickers is in their team but some Town supporters may be relieved to hear that Bersant Celina misses out completely; having been injured and also sick over the last few days.
Ipswich Town: Gerken, Bree, Chambers (captain), Nsiala, Elder, Chalobah, Downes, Dozzell, Edwards, Judge, Keane.
Substitutes: Bialkowski, Skuse, Jackson, Bishop, Nydam, Quaner, Ndaba.
Swansea City: Nordfeldt, Roberts, van der Hoorn (captain), Carter-Vickers, Naughton, Fulton, Grimes, Routledge, Byers, James, McBurnie.
Substitutes: Benda, Fer, Dyer, McKay, Rodon, John, Baker-Richardson.
The Referee is Darren England who hails from South Yorkshire.
