Where Do Ipswich Town Go From Here?

If you are an optimist you might say it was bound to happen. After such a wonderful season the blues were likely to have a bad day that might impact on their promotion hopes. Anyway they only lost by the odd goal so it was not a such a humiliating defeat was it?

If you are a pessimist then this is indeed the time for some doom and gloom, as the blues went down to a team who had not won in seven and were sitting in 18th place in the Sky Bet Championship!

Perhaps the most realistic view came from Mick McCarthy himself when he said it was the worst performance he had known in his two plus years in the job.

He admitted that the blues were ‘very poor’ and he had a right go at them both at half time and full time because this was not a result he saw coming and it has put huge pressure to get something from their remaining fixtures.

We knew before kick off that any thoughts of getting back into those automatic promotion places were lost with that home draw with Bournemouth but few of us expected us to go down to lowly Huddersfield Town!

The Tractor Boys have to pick themselves up quickly now because the game against Blackpool on Saturday at Portman Road is no ‘give me.’ The Seasiders have just been relegated so they will go into this game with no pressure and the onus is on Town to make things happen and there is really no room for error this time.

If Blackpool had have still been fighting for some points they would still be fretful but not anymore and they will approach this game in a relaxed frame of mind which is very dangerous situation for the blues.

Quite honestly we cannot afford any more slip-ups and Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor have just a few more days to instill this into the players mindset.

The worst aspect of the blues display against the west Yorkshire men was their lethargy.

When Luke Varney grabbed an early second half goal it should have meant that Town would be camped in the Huddersfield half for the rest of the match but instead, it was the home side who threatened to score more and our man of the match was probably keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, who at least gave us a fighting chance of redeeming the situation with some outstanding saves.

The finger of blame must be pointed towards the gaffer too for some bizarre team selections. Chris Wood has done nothing in a blues shirt so far to warrant a start and if we needed some fire in our bellies then why not include Stephen Hunt?

Even from the subs bench he would have shown more passion had he have been introduced than an unfit Jonny Williams!

Luke Varney played well and deserved his place in the team on merit and so too did Richard Chaplow. Why he was substituted when he was one of our better performers remains a mystery to me?

Which ever way you look at it this was a passionless display by Town and that was the thing that hurt the most.

Do we really want promotion – or are we content to just drift aimlessly, after all that hard work earlier in the season?

This defeat is an almighty wake-up call. McCarthy knows it. The supporters know it and surely by now, the players know it too!

The manager has to revert to 4-4-3 on Saturday in my view and this would mean Freddie Sears and Daryl Murphy spearheading the attack with Luke Varney supporting them up front.