What Do Ipswich Town Need To Succeed?

There is little doubt that this season we have a free scoring strike force, which of course is essential, if we have serious aspirations of eventually getting out of this league.

The midfield too seems adequate when we have our full complement of midfielders to choose from and with Terry Bishop, Tom Adeyemi and Emry Hues all on the verge of a return to the first team squad, things are finally looking up in this department!

No one would doubt the enormous value our Polish keeper Bartosz Bialkowski brings to the team but he must be pulling his hair out with some of our collective defending this season.

It is quite remarkable that we have a manager in Mick McCarthy who was a defender throughout his playing career both at club and international level, and yet seems incapable of fixing it.

He fixed it once, when he first came to the club five years ago but is now sounding off week in and week out, about the same issues and castigating our defence for those school boy errors.

Whether our defenders are found wanting because they are just not good enough – or are unable to digest the information they are given is open to debate but it does appear to be a reoccurring theme and it is mind-boggling as to why it cannot be mended.

We are still in desperate need of a good right back and I am hoping that in the January transfer window we can find someone who, not only has pace to burn but also a modicum of football intelligence at his disposal.

Luke Chambers was never a wing back and it seems that Dominic Iorfa is hardly making this place his own either. Jordan Spence is a lot better but we still need someone who looks comfortable there and I am not convinced we have found one yet.

The pressure on our defence has been compounded by a midfield that often lacks a creative space. Cole Skuse is good at supplementing the defence but creates little going forward and Tristan Nydam and Flynn Downes are still on a learning curve.

Callum Connelly shows more promise in midfield than in defence but Grant Ward and Kevin Bru lack any real consistency when they are thrown into the midfield.

So then, what Ipswich need to succeed in my view is another good defender above all else. Ideally someone who had been around the block and can stabilise the back four because if we can get this area sorted, we may well be challenging for a play-off place.


Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich