Is Lowe evolving?
If it’s not Lowe’s fault the players can’t pass to each other then it begs the question what exactly are we paying him for.
McKenna is a serious serious manager and an anomaly at this level and was at League 1 last a season, Ipswich have literally struck gold or won the lottery with him. On this seasons showing he will go straight to the top of management and he’s been talked about in the past when at Man U of being an absolute maestro.
Ipswich have also been very well invested in, it’s all paying dividends for them at the moment.
They’ve been blowing teams away this season and we were just next in line, they mullered Wolves in the cup as well.
To ask Lowe to go there with 3 of our regulars out, 2 who were part of our back line which we’ve built our solidarity on and get a result is a big ask.
Sometimes you have to chalk games off because of what you come up against but I saw enough positives today to show me that we should or will be competing for the top 6/10 this season.
We’ve had a very tough 3 games, time to see how we measure up when we start playing the teams that we’re meant to be competing with for the top 6.
The sacking season will start after this weekened in the Premier League.
You would think some of those clubs will be looking in Ipswich's direction.
Exactly, I have been very impressed with Ipswich and what Mckenna has done there, they attacked very well yesterday and passed and moved the ball well as well. However, we created chances, we had our moments even without a fully fit Browne and Keane and absent Storey, Hughes and McCann.
He seems to be like Moyes or Davies was for us, once in a generation manager that just works magic.
Bit like when they had Bobby Robson all them years ago.
Ange is showing he could potentially be that man for Spurs.
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So, from that we can conclude we're slow and indirect?
Doesn't sound like a good combination.
Thracia
Club Owner, or wingback, depending on your view
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Yes. Of course. And you're right. Exactly how we look.
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So exactly the same as luton last year.🤷♂️
Thracia
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Really can't agree with criticism of Lowe.
Let's look at the sequence of results this season and just reverse them. Say we had started with 3 defeats, then a draw, then won 6 and drawn one, leaving us in the same position we are now, 3rd in the league.
The overwhelming majority of fans would be ecstatic, especially after being in dreamland for a few weeks when we were top of the league.
I just don't and never will 'get' the way some fans think; always searching for the negatives, rather than focusing on the positives.
No-one can see the future and none of us know what's going to happen this season. So why predict the worst possible outcome? I just don't get it.
And why slag off a manager who has us 3rd in the league? And yes we ARE 3rd in the league, regardless of how much some of you feel we don't deserve to be there?? (which is bemusing in itself).
They say 10 games is a good yardstick, well we're now 11 games in and yet there is still talk of mid table and bottom half, and how we should sack Lowe and appoint someone else (which miracle worker would have us higher than 3rd right now is anyone's guess).
You know those clubs that we love to point the finger at because they spout the 'Teams Like Preston' bollocks? Well some of you are in danger of turning into the spoilt entitled fans that we love to poke fun at.
We have no divine right to be 3rd in the league (or even top). It will be a real achievement if we can finish in a play-off place this season, up against the size of clubs and size of budgets that make Lowe's budget look like pocket change.
Yeah some of you will counter with a Luton, and whilst they prove it can be done they are the exception - and they still spent a fair amount - but just like Ipswich they were building for several seasons and didn't pull success out of a hat in 2 or 3 years.
I just think that we've got a lot to be happy about right now and should be grateful and enjoying our current position in the league, rather than coming across like spoilt whingeing kids. I could understand the criticism, moaning and complaining if we were 3rd from bottom, but we aren't, we are 3rd from top!
Sure, things could go south, but then equally we might be challenging for the play-offs this season. Stop fearing the worst.
Let's look at the sequence of results this season and just reverse them. Say we had started with 3 defeats, then a draw, then won 6 and drawn one, leaving us in the same position we are now, 3rd in the league.
The overwhelming majority of fans would be ecstatic, especially after being in dreamland for a few weeks when we were top of the league.
I just don't and never will 'get' the way some fans think; always searching for the negatives, rather than focusing on the positives.
No-one can see the future and none of us know what's going to happen this season. So why predict the worst possible outcome? I just don't get it.
And why slag off a manager who has us 3rd in the league? And yes we ARE 3rd in the league, regardless of how much some of you feel we don't deserve to be there?? (which is bemusing in itself).
They say 10 games is a good yardstick, well we're now 11 games in and yet there is still talk of mid table and bottom half, and how we should sack Lowe and appoint someone else (which miracle worker would have us higher than 3rd right now is anyone's guess).
You know those clubs that we love to point the finger at because they spout the 'Teams Like Preston' bollocks? Well some of you are in danger of turning into the spoilt entitled fans that we love to poke fun at.
We have no divine right to be 3rd in the league (or even top). It will be a real achievement if we can finish in a play-off place this season, up against the size of clubs and size of budgets that make Lowe's budget look like pocket change.
Yeah some of you will counter with a Luton, and whilst they prove it can be done they are the exception - and they still spent a fair amount - but just like Ipswich they were building for several seasons and didn't pull success out of a hat in 2 or 3 years.
I just think that we've got a lot to be happy about right now and should be grateful and enjoying our current position in the league, rather than coming across like spoilt whingeing kids. I could understand the criticism, moaning and complaining if we were 3rd from bottom, but we aren't, we are 3rd from top!
Sure, things could go south, but then equally we might be challenging for the play-offs this season. Stop fearing the worst.
We’re all happy to be 3rd in the League.
Plenty are unhappy though with the last 4 terrible performances and results, the bizarre team selections, tactics and substitutions and our 17th position in the current 6 match form table with a minus 7 goal difference with no other team having conceded more goals (11) in the last three matches.
And many fans are rightly concerned that every time we come up against tough challenges our manager seems to be found wanting.
Let’s hope your Play Off expectations aren’t mis-judged.
Plenty are unhappy though with the last 4 terrible performances and results, the bizarre team selections, tactics and substitutions and our 17th position in the current 6 match form table with a minus 7 goal difference with no other team having conceded more goals (11) in the last three matches.
And many fans are rightly concerned that every time we come up against tough challenges our manager seems to be found wanting.
Let’s hope your Play Off expectations aren’t mis-judged.
I'm presuming that was a reply to me?
Doesn't sound like folk are happy to be 3rd in the league. Sounds like the opposite TBH.
So were Sunderland and Birmingham not tough challenges? Oh and let's not forget Bristol City away 1st game of the season, when you'd have thought we were due to play Barcelona with folk predicting us to get absolutely hammered.
Every game is a tough challenge.
Lowe is not beyond criticism and the last 3 results were not what we wanted. But they have to be put into context and should not be used irrationally as a reason to claim he is incapable and should be sacked. All 3 of West Brom, Leicester & Ipswich have better squads than we do. So too do Sunderland, Birmingham and Bristol City. You can add Norwich, Middlesborough and Stoke to that list.
And yet, we still sit 3rd in the league after 11 games!! Lowe should be commended for having got us to the top of the league in the first place given the circumstances and for still having us in 3rd!! He should not be lambasted and criticised, which I find absolutely dumbfounding TBH.
BTW I never said we would make the play-offs, I said we might. But you're right, that's what I'm expecting. Will be disappointed if we don't make the play-offs, sure, but won't be calling for the manager to be sacked. And I'd much rather think like that than think we're going to get relegated.
There's tough challenges then there's playing 100 million pound plus Leicester and in the form of their life Ipswich with arguably the best young manager in the country.
All whilst with players like Hughes, Storey, Browne and McCann unavailable and 1 fully fit striker who has never played football in this league before.
City are even finding it tough without De Bruyne available.
I wonder what the reaction would be on here if the messiah Alex Neil had us top of the league and then in 3rd like Lowe?
I think there's a real underlying hatred towards Lowe because of his scouseness and that he always plays 3 at the back which is a completely alien and therefore hated formation to some of the fanbase who think we should never shy away from 4-4-2.
I'm delighted that we are third in the league. Particularly impressive is the way in which we have done it. It has taken guts and determination, and a stubborn refusal to be beaten. Sunderland and Blues should both probably have beaten us. Possibly Plymouth also. But they didn't. This suggests that morale in the camp is very good, and the players are solidly behind the manager.
However, the same problems remain. The graph above suggests that we are slow, but cannot wait to get rid of the ball. Twat and hope really. The Rotherham game was irritating and showed that we did not have the guile to break down a very limited side. Then the abject capitulation against West Brom followed. The last two games should not really have surprised anyone. Leicester and Ipswich were far too good for us and exposed our limitations in the way in which we should have exposed Rotherham's.
Defensively we are fragile. And yet we seem determined to allow opponents to constantly have the ball and come at us. Some selections are baffling, particularly the way MFJ is used. Millar has been moved around constantly and this cannot be good for him or the team. A big rethink is needed in the International break and hopefully we can get our mojo back quickly.
However, the same problems remain. The graph above suggests that we are slow, but cannot wait to get rid of the ball. Twat and hope really. The Rotherham game was irritating and showed that we did not have the guile to break down a very limited side. Then the abject capitulation against West Brom followed. The last two games should not really have surprised anyone. Leicester and Ipswich were far too good for us and exposed our limitations in the way in which we should have exposed Rotherham's.
Defensively we are fragile. And yet we seem determined to allow opponents to constantly have the ball and come at us. Some selections are baffling, particularly the way MFJ is used. Millar has been moved around constantly and this cannot be good for him or the team. A big rethink is needed in the International break and hopefully we can get our mojo back quickly.
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Don't overreact to good results without good underlying numbers. But also don't overreact to a bad run against the best teams in the league.
Some posters will always go to the negative because they can save face and say I told you so when things go wrong or we don't win, which is a regular occurance in football because that's the nature of the competitive sport, no team is perfect and no manager is perfect.
There's a serious pattern that certain posters such as the hyperlinker, the youth spouting doofus, the angry scotsman and the one who started the embarrassing thread about Lowe only pop up and spout when we're not doing well. The way the hyperlinker was fawning over the Leicester fan on here this week was vomit inducing.
I bet Luton's fans didn't turn on a manager at the whiff of a tough patch during their promotion challenging seasons.
We've got to the international break in 3rd with some credit in the bank and 3 very tough fixtures out of the way whilst struggling with injuries, I think we'd all have taken being 3rd after 11 games with the pre season we had and the injuries we've had.
Browne as example had been in brilliant form before going away on international duty and then coming down with a nasty bug, that's our captain and main man this year not being bang on form with others missing it can effect us.
Good post. Agree with a lot of what you say. It's not been great to watch in general, but we've played some good football at times in the final 3rd. Confidence has taken a hit though with the recent run.
IMO we're limited in what we can do (tactically) at the back because our defence is so slow. This would be helped if Ramsay hadn't been injured, so he could play instead of Potts (who isn't a RWB) and if Lowe used Best more often rather than the hapless Brady. The injury to Hughes hasn't helped either. But this doesn't hide the lack of pace in Storey, Lyndsay & Whatmough (and Bauer).
Further forward, McCann and Ledson have clearly been used to break things up, tackle, block, do whatever they have to do to stop the opposition getting close to our box and take pressure off our slow, ponderous defence. This is to the detriment of creativity from MFJ or Whiteman (who has been out injured anyway). But it had worked until we played West Brom.
So if we want/need more creativity, what do we do without it resulting in us shipping even more goals than we have done in the last 3 games? If we had some pacey, mobile centre-backs it wouldn't be such an issue, but... ?? Bit of a conundrum for Lowe and the coaching staff.
We knew there was no pace at the back but still extended Cunningham and Brady’s contracts and then to top it off bought in the lightning fast whatmough..we also knew between Brady Cunningham and hughes they would suffer injuries…we should not have renewed and bought in a decent quick defender. Surely the manager would have had a day on these matters.