Sorry I am late to post this. Just returned from a weekend in central London. I drove there for the first time in years it really really strikes you that they dont want motorists at all from the charges, lane restrictions, roadworks and traffic jams. Ive now returned to slightly sunny Suffolk where a traffic jam is being stuck behind a Tractor for a couple of miles. And so to the Tractor Boys... Our meeting on Tuesday will undoubtedly be overshadowed, in our opponents eyes, by their fixture against Norwich on Saturday. The last time Ipswich won in this usually mild mannered Old Farm Derby was 2009. With Ipswich now in the ascendency, and Norwich floundering and turning on their owners, the long running local joke that the only way Ipswich would get points from a trip to Norwich would be the team coach being caught speeding on the A140 seems like it will be reversed. Norwich fans are of late quieter around their Suffolk counterparts and well they should be. Ipswich's start has been stellar. The fans like the manager and are behind the players fully. They have taken the momentum of last season and continued it. They play as a team. To look out for would be the team up between Wes Burns and Connor Chaplin (Scored 8 with 5 assists) on the right. On the left they have wingback Leif Davis and Nathan Broadbent (Scored 7 with 2 assists) George Hirst as Striker always seems to put in a shift and has good strength and hold up play and will likely give our central Defenders a hard time. Formation will likely be 4-2-3-1 With a likely starting line up of: Hladky Davis- Burgess-Wolfendon-Clarke Morsy-Taylor Broadhead-Chaplin-Burns Hirst Ive seen a few goals for them this season all seemed to be replicas. Good wing play, accurate aerial crosses to just infront of the D where they overwhelm in numbers and shoot viciously. Perfectly suited to play against zonal marking. They do score a lot but none of the fans seem happy with the defence which they all feel is leaky currently. Or leakier than it should be. That being said they score a lot My Ipswich supporting friend says itll be 1-2. I agree. (with the caveat that Im just about last in the predictions league) Ill be watching from a pub just outside Ipswich with an Ipswich and a Norwich fan. The banter will be mild at best. Expect loud chants stating they are coming for Norwich City throughout
Must win game if we are to keep our heads above the water in this intense relegation battle that we've been sucked into....
What are the odds on me finding a pub in Camden/Euston/Kings X that will show this over UCL games? Double booked myself for a gig that doesn't start until 9 and would quite like to watch the first half somewhere...
Not sure if it's still the case, but Belushis on Camden High Street used to be pretty good for live sport - worth asking in there for sure.
I'm absolutely convinced we are going to win this. Ipswich are a paper tiger who will fail to make promotion by the end of the season.
My Neighbour is a die-hard canary fan, and he likes to talk my ear off about how he resents how well Ipswich are doing. For once, he will supporting my team tomorrow no doubt. Anyway, I would easily consider the is our hardest home game so far this season and I have no doubt Ipswich will pelt our goal with shots and we will be playing ultra-defensive trying to hit them on the break. Raj was one step behind useless on Saturday, so I would give Bayo or even Healy a start. Bayo will at least show some attacking foreplay whereas Raj will sit in the six yard box waiting for a cross from Sema. Our home form results wise has been strong this season and I would like to think, in the middle of the run we are on that we can give them a good game. They are not unbeatable, and as @Cthulhu rightly said they do concede. Middlesbrough rolled over for them a bit but I hope we can be compact like we were against Southampton. Keep Hamer in goal, maybe start Martins? 1--1
To be fair to Raj, he did lay off an excellent ball for King Ken to be through only to shoot straight at the keeper but otherwise a poor game by his low standards.
i'm looking forward to finding out why they are doing so well this season. it's been incredible how well they have done for a newly promoted team
One other thing, that **** Mark Ashton is their CEO. If anyone spots him in the ground make sure to give him plenty of abuse.
The Ipswich Town London Branch pub is https://www.brondesage.co.uk/menucamden and will have the game on
Looking forward to my tenth trip to Vicarage Road. What kind we expect from Watford this season? Always think you are a danger at home and you seem to have found a manager.
Can we start banning opposition fans who just come on here to spread vicious lies about our beautiful merry-go-round dugout? That being said, welcome (back) - expect a team that isn't too flashy but will (usually) put in a fairly solid shift. Oh and if we could kindly ask that you don't take any corners whilst you're at the Vic that'd be lovely.
The fans definitely have one eye on Norwich and beating them for the first time in 15 years or whatever it is but the players won't. The team posted above will likely to be pretty close to what will put out although a couple of upgrades will probably be made at right back and centre back.
How did you find League 1? You were mainstays of the Championship for so long, like us in many ways, and then there was the stark split with us going up and you down. Now we're both back at the same level again - though it seems not for long. (Don't worry, it's been years since I was last in Norwich!)
League 1 was necessary and quite enjoyable in the end. The club needed it and the fanbase altered unrealistic expectations. We used relegation to reset, cleanse the dressing room and rebuild. The big addition was the new ownership and then the appointment of McKenna the cherry on the cake. How are things at Vicarage Road?
Hmmm that is very interesting. As a fanbase I think we probably feel if we were relegated to League One it would cripple us perhaps fatally and could almost spell the end of us, but of course we do not know the "real" state of our finances, only what the Pinocchio tells us upstairs. We were last in what was then, Division Two in 1997 and I quite liked it as well, be it approaching thirty years ago now. Jesus... Norwich fans, or one on the BBC Website comments anyway, seems to take a special dislike to Watford. But I have always considered Ipswich a likable bunch as a fanbase. You've certainly had your lows, so it's nice to see you doing well and it looks like Promotion to the PL is far from unreachable as the table stands at the moment. Best of luck with the rest of your season, but three points tomorrow would be lovely thank you!
We're currently going through the reset, cleanse and rebuild experience. Can only really speak for me but I'm starting to look forward to our matches again and that makes a nice change after a long while being subjected to complete dross on the pitch and chaotic off field nonsense to accompany it. As good as the owner was in the first 5 years, he was awful for the last 4. It sounds mildly arrogant but after 5 years in the PL there really was no reason why we couldn't have established ourselves like Palace. Instead a heap of woeful decisions stretching back to before the cup final did for us and then he's been chasing his losses like a desperate gambler ever since. Now the gap to the PL is bigger than ever and I can't see us bridging it with this ownership model, so there's quite a lot of what might have been feelings hanging around the place. I'd rather Pozzo sold up but get that's unlikely in the circumstances. This season specifically we started pretty poorly, the manager's shuffled the pack a bit and gives the impression he's started now to work out who he can rely on or who he can't. One of his early decisions was to give the captaincy to our clown of a goalkeeper, though it seems he's has cottoned on now and dropped him and found a replacement captain. The next step on the long road to recovery is seeing whether the owner will back him in January by starting to move the remaining bad eggs on and offer up some leftovers from the table to sign a couple. Doubt it. You can't put a fag paper between 6th and 16th in this division so ending up anywhere in that range really wouldn't surprise me come May. Experience of this league tells me we don't really have the right mix currently to put together a sustained play-off charge though. You look good for play offs at the least.
I haven't watched them in ages but Norwich seem to be a very angry fanbase with delusions of grandeur. They don't seem to think they should be slumming it on the Championship for some reason which is pretty insane considering all they have to show for their history is two League Cup titles and they once got the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup (they put that in their programme honours page as UEFA Cup participants which they get roundly mocked for). Anyway, I'd say we have had more highs than lows in our history but then I have seen us win stuff and many of our younger fans haven't so they will have a different opinion. All I can say from the outside and having no real knowledge of the situation is that Watford fans deserve a bit of stability. I might be totally wrong but with the constant hiring and firing of managers it doesn't seem a place a manager would feel he is truly backed but maybe Ismael is the man.
I think this nails it for every fan that goes to the match. You just want to look forward to it as you know the players are giving 100% and there is semblance of identity on and off the pitch. League 1 has given us that and momentum is a powerful thing (even though I don't think we will go up!)
Really? Your playing most teams off the park each week, or at least out scoring them which is all that matters. I watched your turn Middlesbrough over who are also no mugs. Although in season 2000/2001 we were top the division with 15 wins and 3 draws. We then went on a dismal run of form and ended the season in ninth place. I was certain we were going straight back up. So in that sense, I think it's a good idea to have realistic expectations for this season. It's very rare for a side to do a "double" promotion nowadays, but if any side deserves to go up with Leicester (which is looking likely) I would rather your lot did it over dirty Leeds any day of the week.
The challenge for you will be when you hit a few poor results and the confidence and momentum from last season, which has continued into this term, dips a little. It would be a hell of achievement to go straight up given the quality of the 3 teams relegated from the prem, who were operating 2 leagues above you last season. We have both returned to our natural level after we've been operating above our natural level for the past decade and you've been operating below yours. With your catchment area, fanbase and history it will be interesting to see if you can consolidate as a mid prem side again.
Yup, our defensive corner stats are horrid. 5 goals conceded from 83 corners faced (6% conversion rate). Only Sheffield Wednesday have a worse record (6 goals conceded from 96 corners faced - a 6.25% conversion). The league average is 4 goals conceded from 109 corners faced (3.66%)
