Hello! We're here for another Preview and this time we're headed back down by the River to face Mick McCarthy's Ipswich. Ipswich are the one team we played before I started this blog, and while I've missed out some other teams either through illness or because I've got a massive gash on my arm- I've got to make up for lost time.
Its funny the team we played at Portman Road is so different to the team we have now its almost funny.
Team vs Ipswich (August 9th)
Joronen
Hoogland, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Stafylidis
Hyndman, Burgess, Parker
David
McCormack Dembele
While the partnership of Hutchinson and Bodurov would still be my choice at Centre-Back, Hutchinson has come on leaps and bounds since the game in August where he was at fault for both of the Ipswich goals in my opinion. Then you look at Burgess and David who are out on Loan, Dembele who's definitely our 4th (3rd when McCormack is pushed back) Striker, Hyndman- who is injured, but wasn't getting much game time before he was injured. Then you look at McCormack who had a pretty abject debut to the point he was subbed off after roughly 60 Minutes, you only have to look at all of these points to see how the teams developed since the game in August.
Now on to the game tomorrow.
Of course Bettinelli should continue in goal, despite his mistake on Tuesday. Bettinelli is our Goalkeeper for as long as he's still at the club unless we make a swoop for Manuel Neuer- and we'll get mistakes along the way, which can be expected given his age and relative experience, I think he's almost set the bar too high for himself with some of the performances he's put- so when he does make a mistake it gets highlighted more. I'd be astounded if we do keep a Clean Sheet tomorrow given our defensive frailties coming up against the Top Scorer in the Division.
The Defence will have to be absolutely on point tomorrow if we're even to have a hope of getting a Clean Sheet tomorrow. Jack Grimmer of course came back in for Bolton- and while he didn't have an awful game, I still think Jazz Richards is a step up on him and should be reinstated for the game tomorrow. The Centre-Backs were pretty poor against Bolton- but I'd still persist with them for the time being. I've seen some people calling for Dan Burn to come back in, but I think with the current squad the only way to be sure of Dan Burn would be to have a Centre-Back either side of him, because him being a naturally left-sided Centre-Back with Stafylidis one side of him he wouldn't get the cover he needs to make up for his short-comings. Speaking of Stafylidis, he's been a mixed bag as of late- there's been some games where I've been impressed with him and there's been others where I would be hoping one of the plates he was smashing would be over his head. I'm not sure how long it'll be before Sean Kavanagh and Amorebieta are back in consideration- but I would hope the imminent return of them will give Stafylidis a shot in the arm and make him go up a gear in the next few weeks.
There's only one place to start with the Midfield- and that is of course Adil Chihi. I was saying throughout my Deadline Day Liveblog that I was getting an increasing feeling that Bryan just could escape- and that has of course come true- and Bryan will be in a white (with grey stripes and orange bits) shirt for the rest of the season, and considering the way its gone it wouldn't surprise me if we used the optional extension on his deal and he'll be playing for us next season- Poor Bryan. Kit's said Bryan won't be starting tomorrow- but I hope he'll be back in the starting eleven soon, because Kit doesn't seem to be wanting to waver from the Diamond, and to make the Diamond work- we need Bryan. Now onto who'll be playing tomorrow- thankfully Scott Parker is fit again, because we definitely missed him; and his position is a role that only he can really fulfill. Parker coming back into the team will mean Tunnicliffe can be pushed out of what I'd label the "sitting role" which he's much more suited to- so hopefully we see a better performance from him tomorrow than we have in Parker's absence. The other midfield spot in the 3 will hopefully be filled by Christensen, while I'm not against Fofana- and I think his energy could be good coming off the bench; but I'm just not convinced by him, a lot of the things he does look good and are flashy which'll be good for YouTube compilations to make him look amazing, but he has zero end product- and in the position we're in thats what we need.
The #10 Role is once again up for grabs with the return of the Bryan. The one time I did put McCormack in the Midfield in these Previews he was played up front so I guess it was just done out of spite toward me. However for the time being I'd keep Kacaniklic playing in this role, and it'll be interesting to see how Kit does handle the midfield when Bryan is fully fit.
With Kacaniklic playing the #10 Role the Striking situation becomes pretty simple. With Hugo and McCormack playing up front.
Team for Ipswich
Bettinelli
Richards, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Stafylidis
Christensen, Parker, Tunnicliffe
Kacaniklic
McCormack Rodallega
I wasn't massively impressed with Ipswich in August if I'm perfectly honest, but Mick McCarthy teams are robust and I'd predicted them to win the Division before the Season stared- and while they're not quite there, they aren't far off and as I've already said we'll need to be at our absolute best to get anything from the game tomorrow- which given recent performances isn't likely, but you never know.
Thanks for reading as always, I'm really hopeful we get at least a point tomorrow- because given the string of fixtures we have coming up and depending on other results we could end up in the position of having "must win" games- and I've had enough of those to last a lifetime. Anyway- lets hope it doesn't get to that and given the current weather I hope I'm not coming back from the game soaked- and with no points to keep me warm.
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