Ipswich Town starts their pre-season campaign with a behind closed door friendly against Colchester tonight in a game of two halves. Here’s who I would pick.
Now because it is effectively two games of 75 minutes, it is likely that manager Paul Lambert would select his weakest eleven first, (18.00 hours) and then field his strongest team in the second match which begins at the JobServe Stadium at 20.00 hours.
I will begin then, with what I regard to be Lambert’s strongest team.
- Tomas Holy: He has the number one jersey for a reason so it seems logical to play in his strongest team.
- Kane Vincent-Young; He is thankfully back to full fitness and how he has been missed.
- Stephen Ward: Big test for our ‘new’ old defender but with his experience, Lambert must include him.
- Jon Nolan: He has the talent and this season he must prove his real worth to the team.
- Luke Chambers: Mister dependable most of the time and he has experience at the back now that Ward is around.
- Luke Woolfenden: Still on a learning curve but it showing great potential and the old heads at the back will help him.
- Emyr Huws: On his day he can be immense but lacks consistency and like Nolan, must step up this term.
- Cole Skuse: He may be a bit old in the tooth but his contribution to the team is still outstanding.
- James Norwood: If fully fit he will be a handful this season. I don’t believe we have seen the best of him yet.
- Kayden Jackson: Obvious choice to support Norwood upfront and they worked well together last term.
- Flynn Downes: He is improving all the time and was the stand-out performer last season in the side.
My subs would include Edwards, Dobra, Cornell, Hawkins, Donacien, Nsiala, Wilson, Judge and Lankester.
So with that in mind, there is little point in going into detail about the second team that will kick-off at 6.00 pm, except to say that it would include in goal Harry Wright, Andre Dozzell, Idris El Mizouni, Tyreece Simpson and Thomas Hughes.
Do you agree with me? Is this our strongest team – or do you think I am missing a trick?
