Town Pay The Penalty For Staying Unchanged

In more recent League Cup encounters manager Mick McCarthy has decided to name his team 24 hours in advance of kick-off.

He does not need to in Championship games because we already know what it is and that is same old same old.

When Town defeated Preston by a single goal we already knew that McCarthy would keep the same team – unless injuries ruined his plans and so it was that the team that narrowly beat Preston North End at home, was the side that faced Reading last night at the Madejski Stadium and the result was the same as it has been for the last six seasons, culminating in another defeat.

This man is so frighteningly predictable and still persists in playing Luke Chambers as a wing back and using Freddie Sears on the wing. He is a stubborn old mule and seemingly blind to reality.

Reading ran rings around Chambers all evening and (no goals) Freddie Sears has now lost all confidence, having been shifted out to a position that clearly does not suit his style of play.

In fairness, Town started on the front foot but as usual the way we lined up suggested that our pig-headed manager would be happy with a point and justice was done when we failed to get it.

Of the three penalties given last night, perhaps the most fortuitous was the one for the blues. Pitman was felled but it was hardly emphatic and almost as if to level things out the referee pointed to the spot and Pitman collected the ball again and slammed it down the middle to put Town level after 50 minutes.

Mr.Simpson had never refereed a game involving Ipswich Town but after this game – in which all three goals scored were from the spot, he will not be easily forgiven or forgotten that’s for sure!

Mccarthy’s insistence on playing Bru, Douglas and Skuse in the middle told us all we needed to know about his strategy and I can only hope that after this embarrassing loss against a side that were average at best, he may finally have learned his lesson? Then again, knowing him as we do, probably not.

Sitting on the bench last night were Conor Grant,Tom Lawrence and Leon Best but when he eventually decided to freshen things up he brought on Teddy Bishop and Luke Varney of all people! So much for this new fangled attractive free flowing football he promised us.

Once again, in front of a worldwide audience, our manager decides to play things safe and we end up with nothing because of another bit of naive defending from Knudsen near the end.

It is not just regular Portman Road attendees that are losing patience with this man but also supporters across the globe who have had to suffer the indignity of seeing one of the poorest displays from a Town team in a lifetime.

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich