Ipswich v Swansea

K

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
Ipswich v Swansea Sat 28 Feb 15:00

Last day of February for the match on Saturday. Is the long winter finally over, not quite, we have to wait until Sun March 29 for British Summer Time to begin when the clocks move forward one hour.

With 12 games left of the season and 36 points on offer can we make any impression on the play-offs? Maybe not, after the Preston home draw and some tough games to come.

First tough one is Ipswich, relegated from the PL last season.
They have a strong home record W10 D5 L1 and are third in the table after winning 0-2 at Watford on Tuesday night. Surprisingly the one team to beat them at home was Charlton 0-3 last October.

Their last home game on 31st Jan against Preston they drew 1-1, scoring a last gasp 92’ penalty for the draw, having previously won six consecutive home games.

They will be a tough nut to crack but not impossible. Wrexham put five goals past them recently and also beat them in the FA Cup, maybe we could get some tips from them.

In comparison we only lost by the one goal at runaway leaders Coventry so there is hope if we can get our away form right.

The reverse fixture last November was a farce with ex-Ipswich player Burgess gifting them two own goals in a 1-4 defeat, and where our team were booed off at half and full-time, with Sheehan insisting afterwards that he was the right man to lead us.

Admiration must go to the Swans away travel fans who will be making the 552 mile round trip, just shy of our longest trip this season, 586 miles round trip to Norwich. Done the Norwich trip a few times and the road is endless.

Anyway, good luck to the team with a short recovery time in prospect before travelling up on the Friday.
 
It’s getting tougher to compete against teams like Ipswich with their Sky income from the PL £113m and parachute payments of £48m this year, even though as recently as 2022-23 season they were in League One.

This seasons transfers:

Sold £67m including Omari Hutchinson, Liam Delap and Nathan Broadhead

Bought £42m including Sindri Egeli, Kasey McAteer and Azor Matusiwa.

Their 56 goals are well spread throughout the team with wingers Jack Clarke 12, Jaden Philogene 9 and centre-forward George Hirst 7, amongst them.
 
Five changes -
Swans: Lawrence Vigouroux, Ethan Galbraith, Ben Cabango (c), Cameron Burgess, Josh Tymon, Marko Stamenic, Malick Yalcouye, Liam Cullen, Gustavo Nunes, Jisung Eom, Melker Widell

Subs: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Jay Fulton, Zan Vipotnik, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Goncalo Franco, Leo Walta, Joel Ward, Ronald


Ipswich: Christian Walton, Leif Davis, Cedric Kipre, Azor Matusiwa, Dan Neil, Wes Burns, Darnell Furlong, Dara O'Shea (c), Ivan Azon, Marcelino Nunez, Anis Mehmeti

Subs: Alex Palmer, Sindre Walle Egeli, George Hirst, Jens Cajuste, Jack Taylor, Kasey McAteer, Jacob Greaves, Chuba Akpom, Jack Clarke
 
Two and a half minutes gone and our feeble defence concedes!
The customary gift in away matches.
Break on the right, Galbraith beaten, the cross, Cabango blocks, ball runs out for unmarked Mehmeti to score.
1-0

11’ Nunes scores, pass from Widell who is adjudged offside, goal disallowed
14’ Shot from Neil saved
25’ free kick from the right to Galbraith central who fires well over
39’ Widell from the left 20 yards out shoots for goal but 10 yards wide!

41’ Another goal from the right, winger beats two players this time and crosses, too easy, pathetic defending, Burgess gives the ball away, Azon scores
2-0
Our defending has been dreadful once again.
Yalcouye shot saved, first real chance as the whistle goes for half-time

Swans passing the ball to death with nothing to show for it. Same old story, lose the ball in the final third every time.

Ipswich 4 shots on target, Swans 0 on target, Swans 45% possession
This is so easy for Ipswich, why are we consistently poor away from home?
Well it would help if we played our leading scorer, but our defence is not good enough and needs sorting out in the summer.

HT: 2:0
 
Last edited:
… and we restart, leading scorer still on the bench!
48’ Cullen central shot from 20 yards saved
53’ Yalcouye shoots wide
54’ Yalcouye, Eom off, Ronald, Vipotnik on
59’ foul on Widell in the box by Kipre turned down
67’ nice build up but every pass in the final third intercepted

Can’t see us scoring if we played all day

69’ winger Burns beats two defenders on the right and crosses - again!

3-0
More feeble defending, this time from Tymon, dispossessed on the left, for sub Hirst to beat Cabango to the ball and score.
79’ header from Hirst outstretched hand from Vigouroux saves another goal
81’ another shirt pull in the box, nothing given
85’ another feeble free kick sideways by Tymon to Galbraith and his lob into the box goes straight to the keeper
Ipswich slicing through us like butter, we have no answer.
89’ we are chasing shadows here.
4 added minutes
91’ Tymon free kick from the left, hardly reaches the area and cleared
92’ Swansea fans still singing in defiance
93’ Swansea free kick on the edge of the area, Vipotnik takes it and hits the crossbar
The end
Just wasted two hours of my life watching that rubbish

FT: 3-0 feel sorry for the away fans travelling all that way to watch this one sided non-contest.
 
Last edited:
We need a new centre-back pairing and a right-back. Also I thought Stamenic was poor in front of the back four, just going through the motions and Galbraith was beaten every time by winger Burns.
Mistake to play Cullen, Vipotnik and Franco should have started.
Ipswich beaten twice by Wrexham recently totally outplayed us today and could have scored more than three goals.
Play-offs a pipe dream, nowhere near good enough.
 
I didn’t watch the game today but we look fatigued at the moment. Last 4 games especially, the press hasn’t been there. Good that we have a week between games now.

Looks to be another summer of high turnover if we are to improve to the level required to get near the top 6.
 
keith margam said:
We need a new centre-back pairing and a right-back. Also I thought Stamenic was poor in front of the back four, just going through the motions and Galbraith was beaten every time by winger Burns.
Mistake to play Cullen, Vipotnik and Franco should have started.
Ipswich beaten twice by Wrexham recently totally outplayed us today and could have scored more than three goals.
Play-offs a pipe dream, nowhere near good enough.
Click to expand...
Pretty poor wasn’t it Keith but also predictable. Thought Yalcouye was the only one who came out of that game with credit. The weaknesses in the team are obvious from a fan perspective but whether that equates to the club fixing in the summer is debatable. We had a mini reset last summer with a few coming in so our PSR will be close to the threshold is my guess. Hence why I’m starting to see why they gave Fulton a fresh contract. Without the high intensity press, what are we? If Matos had 2 capable centre backs with the ability to build up, would we see a different style, maybe? Going into next season, as of right now I see 7 players deemed good enough with 4/5 we’re ‘hanging our hat on’ will come good in their second season. You’re looking at 2 wingers, a ball playing CB and a RB as priorities. And that’s not taking into account selling an asset. Another important summer..

GK: Vigs

RB: Lissah

CB: Ben

LB: Tymon

MF: Galbraith

MF: Franco

ST: Vipi
 
trueswan16 said:
Pretty poor wasn’t it Keith but also predictable. Thought Yalcouye was the only one who came out of that game with credit. The weaknesses in the team are obvious from a fan perspective but whether that equates to the club fixing in the summer is debatable. We had a mini reset last summer with a few coming in so our PSR will be close to the threshold is my guess. Hence why I’m starting to see why they gave Fulton a fresh contract. Without the high intensity press, what are we? If Matos had 2 capable centre backs with the ability to build up, would we see a different style, maybe? Going into next season, as of right now I see 7 players deemed good enough with 4/5 we’re ‘hanging our hat on’ will come good in their second season. You’re looking at 2 wingers, a ball playing CB and a RB as priorities. And that’s not taking into account selling an asset. Another important summer..

GK: Vigs

RB: Lissah

CB: Ben

LB: Tymon

MF: Galbraith

MF: Franco

ST: Vipi
Click to expand...
Agree on the comment on Stamenic @keith margam - he looks like he's just going through the motions in most games. we definitely need a new CB pairing but the issue there is one is captain and the other is being paid very highly.

Elsewhere, Galbraith could be sold, so too could Franco and Vipotnik so it's yet another big summer ahead.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.