Trying to not get too positive about this result because Ipswich were awful, or made to look awful and they are probably feeling the same way the other jockeys did in that horse race the other day when they got beat by a nag that was a ringer. Some of the individual moves today would have had commentators drooling if it had been messi or ronaldo doing it.
Couldn't go, so tuned in to Valley Pass - fantastic value for £1 for 48 hours. Brilliant performance from the team. Everyone in the starting eleven put in a shift and showed skill and composure and there was great understanding between them. Hard not to be optimistic after seeing that (but some on here will try!). And how well Jason Pearce came across in his comments and insights about the team and the management. Seems a really good bloke. I'm excited about next week now - just as I like being at the start of a new season.
What a cracking game. All the players looked comfortable on the ball and there was excellent fluidity and movement in our play generally. I've not seen JFK play like that before and it's probably no coincidence that Kashi is alongside him. Josh Magennis and Ricky Holmes underlined their importance to the team, Fosu looked an exciting talent and I was very pleased for Billy Clarke after his performance last Tuesday, when practically nothing went right for him.
The coverage on Valley Pass was first rate. Terry Smith and Greg Stubley are always extremely good and I really enjoyed Jason Pearce's input - an interesting and articulate guy.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and a timely confidence booster for our lads ahead of the opener next Saturday.
4-2-3-1 Formation: There should be no more excuses that "the players don't know it" or "we need to play 2 up front to score goals." Not every week will be this good or this easy, in fact we'll be lucky if any week is this good or this easy, but today showed how you score goals in this formation: press high, win the ball back in good positions, and look to transition quickly. Plus, when building from the back look to overload sides (and potentially switch to an overlapping fullback) through the interchange of the line of 3. If we execute the formation correctly, we shouldn't need a "goal hanger," as Kevin Nolan pleaded for in his piece this week.
Amos: Didn't have a lot to do. Missed a punch early on. His kicking started out erratic, but got better as the game went on. He looks very, very comfortable with the ball at his feet, and that's why he'll be our number 1 this year.
Solly: As Pearce pointed out, a fantastic 1-v-1 defender. A bit at fault for that goal going for a header he was far away from, but other than that very solid. He's going to be asked to overlap more this year than he has in the last couple years, and he needs to get those instincts back.
Konsa: He's bulked up, he's a very good athlete, and he's got such a lovely touch. Losing him would be catastrophic. It's him plus one at center back for me. Made a couple mistakes with the ball but more often than not look very comfortable playing in tight space. Still only 19.
Bauer: Did a lot to stake a claim for a starting birth. He's very good on the ball, and is a good passer, good in the air, and he looked more mobile than I've seen him. In a system where we want to play out from the back, his ability on the ball, plus his knack for scoring goals, could be very, very useful.
DaSilva: In the first half players would just lump the ball out to the left flank and he'd have the athleticism to get onto it and the quality of technique to control it. Put in a good deep ball that eventually lead to Magennis' first. Didn't close down quite quickly enough for the goal and was caught out of position once or twice, but overall I think he's going to be very, very good this year in this team.
Kashi: I don't know if I have any superlatives left for him. So comfortable on the ball. Wonderfully two-footed. Plays out of pressure incredibly well. Again, if you have a God, please pray that he stays fit.
Forster-Caskey: He'll sometimes be overlooked but he has such a wonderful range of passing and a lot of attacks go through him. He also looks to get forward more and probably should have scored the seventh. Also gets into passing lanes and breaks up play very well. Could be a real breakout season for him
Fosu: Worked hard, wonderful technique, took his goal incredibly well. Think he got a bit too much stick for shooting after that long, wonderful run. He did well to make space for himself to work a shot. He'll get kicked up in the air in this league but he looks up for it. He looks like a very exciting player.
Clarke: Ah, so that's what he's for. He pressed very, very well. He interchanged well with Fosu and Holmes, He made space well for others. And he did incredibly well to show great patience and vision to set up two goals.
Holmes: Two wonderful goals and set up two more. He also tracks back well. Another who there are no more superlatives for. MOTM
Magennis: Such an important performance for him. He took both his goals very, very well for a player not known for his finishing. He did so well to hang in the air and get power on the header, and the left footed strike was lovely. He really "captains" the press, looking to position himself to cut down angles and force them to one side. He was also very smart in his movement, not looking to run around like a headless chicken but intelligently picking his moments to press.
Watt: Had 15 minutes and had some tidy touches. He won the ball back two or three times. Won the free kick with some nice skill that Holmes scored from. I just have this sneaking suspicion that it's going to click for him this year. Playing in a fluid attacking three should suit him really well as he'll get the freedom to roam and make things happen.
The rest, A couple random observations: Sarr came on and immediately looked to drive into midfield and pass the ball around. You could see Dijksteel's quality and also his turn of pace. Aaron Barnes has 5-6 A*s according to Pearce.
If the rule is you don't get down when you loose in pre-season then you can't get too up by a win.
Played well, but were greatly assisted by an utterly woeful Ipswich team. No idea who of that lot were their first XI, but to a man they were shocking.
Nice to see Clarke finally have a positive influence on the game and although he had little to do Amos looked pretty assured.
Lots of plus points but the real work starts next week.
If the rule is you don't get down when you loose in pre-season then you can't get too up by a win.
Played well, but were greatly assisted by an utterly woeful Ipswich team. No idea who of that lot were their first XI, but to a man they were shocking.
Nice to see Clarke finally have a positive influence on the game and although he had little to do Amos looked pretty assured.
Lots of plus points but the real work starts next week.
Think that was at least 8 or 9 of their first XI next week... or at least who the planned first XI was! Maybe McCarthy will drop most of them now.
Can't believe that. Surely he must have something better to do than travel miles to watch a team that even it's own fans can barely be bothered to watch.
If the rule is you don't get down when you loose in pre-season then you can't get too up by a win.
Played well, but were greatly assisted by an utterly woeful Ipswich team. No idea who of that lot were their first XI, but to a man they were shocking.
Nice to see Clarke finally have a positive influence on the game and although he had little to do Amos looked pretty assured.
Lots of plus points but the real work starts next week.
Think that was at least 8 or 9 of their first XI next week... or at least who the planned first XI was! Maybe McCarthy will drop most of them now.
I signed up to watch the second half. They took a pound payment but not the monthly, not sure why.
Ipswich fan saying that it was pretty much a full strength side they put out today.
"I know it's a pre-season game BUT it's the last game before the new season, it was a full strength side and we've been given the runaround by a side in the league below us. It's not good enough and I'm sure Mick will be seething but it's now his task to get them back on track because if we're planning on performing like that this season, we'll get relegated. Still alot of work to be done before August 31st."
One advantage of being there i suppose was that I could watch individuals generally. If you don't have a religion invent one, and get down on your knees every day and pray that Kashi stays fit.
At last , a happy Saturday night. You can only beat what's in front of you and to be honest Ipswich were poor today, but our performance was grounds for some optimism. If we can replicate that for most of the season we will win more than we lose. Just as long as we stay relatively free of injuries.
At last , a happy Saturday night. You can only beat what's in front of you and to be honest Ipswich were poor today, but our performance was grounds for some optimism. If we can replicate that for most of the season we will win more than we lose. Just as long as we stay relatively free of injuries.
That will be pretty much be the Ipswich First Team then. Massive confidence booster regardless of how poor the opposition played.
When was the last time we didn't play in red/white at home?
It took me 5 minutes to realise that Ipswich bloke in the blue shirt that looked a bit like holmes actually was holmes and the shit team in red wasnt charlton
Comments
The coverage on Valley Pass was first rate. Terry Smith and Greg Stubley are always extremely good and I really enjoyed Jason Pearce's input - an interesting and articulate guy.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and a timely confidence booster for our lads ahead of the opener next Saturday.
That's the best I've seen us play in about
3 years. So many outstanding performances
16:05 More than 2k here today
The official attendance at The Valley is 2,297, with 380 away fans.
4-2-3-1 Formation: There should be no more excuses that "the players don't know it" or "we need to play 2 up front to score goals." Not every week will be this good or this easy, in fact we'll be lucky if any week is this good or this easy, but today showed how you score goals in this formation: press high, win the ball back in good positions, and look to transition quickly. Plus, when building from the back look to overload sides (and potentially switch to an overlapping fullback) through the interchange of the line of 3. If we execute the formation correctly, we shouldn't need a "goal hanger," as Kevin Nolan pleaded for in his piece this week.
Amos: Didn't have a lot to do. Missed a punch early on. His kicking started out erratic, but got better as the game went on. He looks very, very comfortable with the ball at his feet, and that's why he'll be our number 1 this year.
Solly: As Pearce pointed out, a fantastic 1-v-1 defender. A bit at fault for that goal going for a header he was far away from, but other than that very solid. He's going to be asked to overlap more this year than he has in the last couple years, and he needs to get those instincts back.
Konsa: He's bulked up, he's a very good athlete, and he's got such a lovely touch. Losing him would be catastrophic. It's him plus one at center back for me. Made a couple mistakes with the ball but more often than not look very comfortable playing in tight space. Still only 19.
Bauer: Did a lot to stake a claim for a starting birth. He's very good on the ball, and is a good passer, good in the air, and he looked more mobile than I've seen him. In a system where we want to play out from the back, his ability on the ball, plus his knack for scoring goals, could be very, very useful.
DaSilva: In the first half players would just lump the ball out to the left flank and he'd have the athleticism to get onto it and the quality of technique to control it. Put in a good deep ball that eventually lead to Magennis' first. Didn't close down quite quickly enough for the goal and was caught out of position once or twice, but overall I think he's going to be very, very good this year in this team.
Kashi: I don't know if I have any superlatives left for him. So comfortable on the ball. Wonderfully two-footed. Plays out of pressure incredibly well. Again, if you have a God, please pray that he stays fit.
Forster-Caskey: He'll sometimes be overlooked but he has such a wonderful range of passing and a lot of attacks go through him. He also looks to get forward more and probably should have scored the seventh. Also gets into passing lanes and breaks up play very well. Could be a real breakout season for him
Fosu: Worked hard, wonderful technique, took his goal incredibly well. Think he got a bit too much stick for shooting after that long, wonderful run. He did well to make space for himself to work a shot. He'll get kicked up in the air in this league but he looks up for it. He looks like a very exciting player.
Clarke: Ah, so that's what he's for. He pressed very, very well. He interchanged well with Fosu and Holmes, He made space well for others. And he did incredibly well to show great patience and vision to set up two goals.
Holmes: Two wonderful goals and set up two more. He also tracks back well. Another who there are no more superlatives for. MOTM
Magennis: Such an important performance for him. He took both his goals very, very well for a player not known for his finishing. He did so well to hang in the air and get power on the header, and the left footed strike was lovely. He really "captains" the press, looking to position himself to cut down angles and force them to one side. He was also very smart in his movement, not looking to run around like a headless chicken but intelligently picking his moments to press.
Watt: Had 15 minutes and had some tidy touches. He won the ball back two or three times. Won the free kick with some nice skill that Holmes scored from. I just have this sneaking suspicion that it's going to click for him this year. Playing in a fluid attacking three should suit him really well as he'll get the freedom to roam and make things happen.
The rest, A couple random observations: Sarr came on and immediately looked to drive into midfield and pass the ball around. You could see Dijksteel's quality and also his turn of pace. Aaron Barnes has 5-6 A*s according to Pearce.
Played well, but were greatly assisted by an utterly woeful Ipswich team. No idea who of that lot were their first XI, but to a man they were shocking.
Nice to see Clarke finally have a positive influence on the game and although he had little to do Amos looked pretty assured.
Lots of plus points but the real work starts next week.
"I know it's a pre-season game BUT it's the last game before the new season, it was a full strength side and we've been given the runaround by a side in the league below us. It's not good enough and I'm sure Mick will be seething but it's now his task to get them back on track because if we're planning on performing like that this season, we'll get relegated. Still alot of work to be done before August 31st."
If you don't have a religion invent one, and get down on your knees every day and pray that Kashi stays fit.