Neil Has His Aggressive Head on Again!

These are exciting for Ipswich Town football club. They know only too well that victory tomorrow would put the breaks on a resurgent Norwich team and it would also be the first taste of defeat for new Canaries boss Alex Neil.

Mick McCarthy knows that the pressure is off the blues. Luke Chambers alluded to it in a recent interview when he said that Norwich fans had great expectations and they would assume that they would win this one, having already defeated Ipswich at the beginning of the season at Portman Road.

Town players need no motivation but the gaffer might provide some anyway after hearing that the Norwich boss spoke respectfully about all the other teams chasing those promotion places but did not give the Town a mention.

An accident perhaps or something a bit more sinister?

I am sure Mick McCarthy will use this before the players march out at Carrow Road. It is either a Freudian slip or an attempt by Neil to disregard the opposition on the grounds of their lack of accomplishment and this will have been noted by McCarthy.

Whatever the reason, this should gee up the Town players and is just the sort of ammunition a manager can use to his advantage.

Town captain Luke Chambers has said that the blues have been the underdogs all season so what’s new? It seems as if they almost enjoy this kind of football understatement because when the Town have been expected to win at home the pressure mounts and they sometimes do not perform as everyone had hoped.


Neil said that his side would get in the faces of the opposition. ‘We want to make them feel uncomfortable and ruffle their feathers a bit and make them wilt under the pressure of it all with our aggressive style of play,’ he told a local Norfolk journalist.

Mick McCarthy said he would not get into a verbal fisticuffs but made it clear that his side would not be intimidated. ‘ Has he watched us play? All my team of shrinking violets will be happy with that.’ And so they should be!

Town may well be unchanged for the game that is live on Sky Sports 3 tomorrow afternoon.

The good news is that Cole Skuse has recovered from his back spasm and should play along with Teddy Bishop, who turned his ankle in training but is also expected to be fit if called upon to play.

We can expect new loan signing Chris Wood to be on the bench for this long awaiting return derby and providing Ipswich do not lose it then most of us will be content with the result.

F.W. Vital Ipswich