This afternoon Paul Hurst gave his first pre-match press conference and he suggested that it would be too late for any new recruits to be involved on Saturday.
Once again he emphasised the need for patience but won’t feel completely contented until September, when he will know exactly what he has got to play with. There is still, of course, the possibility of one or two players coming and going before the weekend but any new incumbents would not be ready to take up the gauntlet against Blackburn Rovers at Portman Road – although he still has lots of irons in the fire!
Once again, I was impressed with the way Paul Hurst conducted himself in front of the media. He was as honest as he could have been given the tentative transfer negotiations taking place and thankfully, does not rely on sarcasm to get his point across; which was sadly too often the case with former boss Mick McCarthy.
He also thought that the new yellow and red cards that could be handed out to misbehaving managers this season had the potential to be a good idea. He implied that sometimes his ‘good manners’ on the touchline worked against him, as some referees were pressured into making irrational decisions because of the antics of the coaching staff in some instances. He hinted that the more a manager ‘balls and shouts’, the more those little decisions tend to go in their favour but mimicking the bad guys was not what he was advocating.
Hurst has said that he will probably name his team tomorrow but this will not always occur and on occasions – especially when players are deemed to be doubtful and may face late fitness tests, he might not name his squad until shortly before kick off.
Now then, can we second guess who he might put on his teamsheet? It might perhaps be easier to pencil in the certainties and work outwards. In goal surely has to be Bartosz Bialkowski and I think we can safely assume that our captain fantastic Luke Chambers will be in place at centre-half. Now it gets a bit more tricky but I would suspect that Cole Skuse will fill one of the midfield berths now that he is fully fit again and in attack, Ellis Harrison will probably be the lone striker. Out on the wings we can expect to see Welshman Gwion Edwards.
OK then, that is five certs to start I would have thought and other names that I would hope to see on the teamsheet are; Freddie Sears, Trevoh Chalobah, Myles Kenlock, Tristan Nydam and Andre Dozzell! My other tip is that Jonas Knudsen might partner Luke Chambers in central defence but unlike a Mick McCarthy team, the element of predictability is no longer apparent.
FW – editor of Vital Ipswich
