On a positive note… (9 Viewers)

[long way home]

Rudoni is a really good player in form, but out of form and maybe still carrying a knock looks like the player Huddersfield fans were uncertain about. And until FL came to us we all were, he may need a reset a sit down talk with the coaches or a sit on the bench to heel up and watch the game from the outside.

His workrate is high but is output is low,that needs to change. FL needs to find out how to do it.

 

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[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

Really can’t see that Rudoni is the issue. He was poor last night but was not alone in that. For me the big drop off has been Torp who just can’t get around the pitch. Maybe just needs a rest and Eccles to come in for a few games

Disagree about Rudoni not being the issue. I think he is the major source of it.

Not just last night but since he's come back in the free flowing attacking football has gone. Rudoni doesn't move forward with the ball like BTA to put the defence under pressure. But when he does receive the ball he's taking an extra touch or two to move the ball on, allowing the opposition more time to get into shape.

As has been mentioned it's like we're actively trying to play everything through him so teams can plan against that. Plus he's drifting wide getting in the way of the wide players/overlaps while reducing our options in the centre, and is also contributing to him not being in and around the area to get on the end of crosses/knockdowns like last season.

I can only imagine he's doing this under instruction (as if he were just ignoring FL tactics he would be out of the team) but I don't understand WHY these would be his instructions? We saw what was happening playing the way we were earlier in the season, Rudoni is a better footballer than BTA, so why have we changed what was working?

However, I agree about Torp and I wonder about dropping Rudoni into the 8 and Eccles into the 10 next game. They would be interchangeable if we wanted to try it the other way round too.

Eccles is more than capable at this level so I don't get why we wouldn't be rotating players in the midfield more to allow them more recuperation, especially with the illness in the squad that Torp has clearly been affected by.

 

[Johhny Blue]

Didn’t feel half as annoyed as some leaving the game last night from the reaction on here, yes we weren’t great and yes Lampard could have and should have made changes earlier.

However the bigger picture is if you were offered our position now at the start of the season you would have snapped their hand off.

Ipswich are a very good team, with fantastic depth but will drop points against teams as the first half of the season has shown.

10 point gap still on them and two tough but very winnable games coming up, keep the faith, #PUSB

Every game is winnable this season

 

[skybluecb]

Disagree about Rudoni not being the issue. I think he is the major source of it.

Not just last night but since he's come back in the free flowing attacking football has gone. Rudoni doesn't move forward with the ball like BTA to put the defence under pressure. But when he does receive the ball he's taking an extra touch or two to move the ball on, allowing the opposition more time to get into shape.

As has been mentioned it's like we're actively trying to play everything through him so teams can plan against that. Plus he's drifting wide getting in the way of the wide players/overlaps while reducing our options in the centre, and is also contributing to him not being in and around the area to get on the end of crosses/knockdowns like last season.

I can only imagine he's doing this under instruction (as if he were just ignoring FL tactics he would be out of the team) but I don't understand WHY these would be his instructions? We saw what was happening playing the way we were earlier in the season, Rudoni is a better footballer than BTA, so why have we changed what was working?

However, I agree about Torp and I wonder about dropping Rudoni into the 8 and Eccles into the 10 next game. They would be interchangeable if we wanted to try it the other way round too.

Eccles is more than capable at this level so I don't get why we wouldn't be rotating players in the midfield more to allow them more recuperation, especially with the illness in the squad that Torp has clearly been affected by.

Totally agree, he needs to stay central. What I don't get is why FL hasn't told him yet to stop going wide or taking an extra touch slowing us down. It happens every game, we see it so why doesnt FL?

 

[wingy]

Since Rudoni has come back and BTA been injured the free flowing overlapping football has finishes,we seem to be over working the ball to get it to Rudoni.When we eventually get a cross in it never hits a target man as its 5/6 players against Wright/Simms who can't head a football.

Not sure about that re Simms, how many headed goals did he get recently?

 

[StrettoBoy]

Unlikely Boro will finish above Ipswich on GD

I can't see Ipswich finishing only one point ahead of Hull, nor (sadly) 17 points behind us. The latter requires us to extend our lead over them by 7 points during the rest of the season.