Now I have noticed that our manager Mick McCarthy does not take kindly to having his feathers ruffled.
He is always quick to defend his arguments but equally quick to poo poo any suggestion that he may just have made a mistake?
His defiance of football fact is recognized throughout the football world and perhaps because of his proud Yorkshire heritage, he often seems to defy football logic too.
Football logic tells us that you put round pegs in round holes. This applies to all levels of the game; from the none league fare to the heights of international excellence because at the end of the day, football is essentially a simple game and as a manager you make the best of what you got!
To suggest, as he has, that the defence that he is using at this moment in time is his best, is not only insulting to fridge players like Jonathan Parr and Piotr Malarczyk but also makes those with the shirt surely feel rather complacent.
If players are fighting for their places then that adds spice to the squad and the motivation is there because everyone knows that one bad game and they could be out of the team!
Quite frankly, it is a strange sort of logic to publicly state who are your best defenders and even more galling for second choice keeper Bartosz Bialkowski to be told ‘ Gerks has got the gloves and possession is nine tenths of the law.’
I would suggest on that premise that those in the team should always check on the welfare of their parents before kick off!
It would appear too that what happens on the training field does not count anywhere near as much as our manager would have us believe because remember, possession is nine tenths of the law!
That aside, what I found most baffling about his latest statement when he sings the praises of our defence is that our 0-3 victory against Charlton was only the sixth time this season we have actually managed to kept a clean sheet!
Town have conceded a staggering 25 goals in just 18 Championship games and this is part of the reason why we have dropped so many needless points – both at home and away.
In fact, we have given away as many goals as the club at the bottom of the table Bolton Wanderers and we would be in the same position if we had not scored more goals.
Everyone knows that Luke Chambers is not a wing back but he continues to be played there because he does not want to drop one of his favourite five.
He was quick to suggest that Dean Gerken was his Man of the Match against Charlton but the truth is that all his saves came when we were three goals to the good and coasting.
Let us see how well he performs against Middlesbrough on Friday, when he will be tested to the full!
I know our manager will jump at any opportunity to praise the players he persists in picking because that is human nature but sometimes he really does need a reality check I think.
Our defence remains our achilles heel and the acid test of any improvement they may have made will come this Friday night in front of a Sky Sports audience at Portman Road.
Good luck Mr.Mick because you might just need it.
Frank Weston Editor of Vital Ipswich
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