Monday 12 September 2011

Blackpool 2 - 0 Ipswich Town

After taking advantage of the free coach to Blackpool I was looking forward to a tough game against a side with recent Premiership experience. We had also added Danny Collins to our squad to shore up our leaking back line. Blackpool play a fluent brand of football and Paul Jewell had stated in his pre match press conferences that he wished for us to 'quieten' the crowd in the first half and slowly get on top.

First half

Again when I saw the team I was disappointed with the line up picked by Paul Jewell, he had started 4 central midfielders with Bullard, Bowyer, Leadbitter and Andrews playing, this had proven unsuccessful against both Southampton and Leeds and led to changes in formation during the first half which resulted in us looking more fluid.

This formation was even stranger, Edwards, was almost playing as a wing back of a back 4, Leadbitter was a nominal right midfielder, Murphy was playing pinned to the left hand touchline and Andrews was in an advanced role. Overall the formation was nearly a very good 433 which worked so well vs Bristol City, but was let down by the personnel, square pegs in round holes sums it up.

Leadbitter was the right winger, but as he is a natural central midfield player tended to drift inside very often. This meant Edwards overlapped and we actually had a bit of success down this right hand side with Edwards in support. However, with Edwards bombing forward at every opportunity, there was a big space that Brett Ormerod lingered in and almost made us pay with a good chance in the first half.

Murphy played very wide and this left Chopra isolated and there were still too many long balls sent in Chopra's direction which Evatt and Cathcart dealt with easily. Andrews did his best to support but isn't creative enough to make things happen in the hole, he also committed a few needless fouls which broke the game down.

However, that all said it was a very even first half with few clear cut chances for either team and 0-0 was a fair score at half time.

Second half
As has been the habit in recent weeks, sloppy defending allowed Blackpool to go in front. They ran the ball through Town's left hand side after a couple of half hearted tackles from Murphy and then the ball fell to Billy Clarke in the box who scuffed his shot, fortunately straight to Taylor-Fletcher who couldn't miss.

This goal really seemed to knock the stuffing out of Ipswich and all energy levels seemed zapped. This may be because of lack of match fitness of a number of players but Bullard and Murphy especially seemed to suffer. Bullard was not the same player as last year where he demanded the ball every time we were in possession and tried to make things happen; he looked disinterested and like he wanted one too many touches at all times. A tell tale sign he wasn't his usual self is that he was even let other players take free kicks and corners which surprised me.

A second Blackpool goal wasn't too long in coming, another scrappy goal following a run down our left resulted in Barry Ferguson/Grant Leadbitter beating Stockdale, and effectively winning the match.
Not long after this Jewell made 2 changes, JE-T and Scotland replacing Leadbitter and Bowyer. We then moved to an attacking 424 formation, with JET and Murphy as the widemen.




The game opened up at this point and there were a few chances at each end, with Ipswich creating 3 good chances. 2 of these were completely fluffed by Murphy. Twice he shanked the ball wide when he really should have tested the keeper, this was not good enough. Bullard also should have done better after Scotland set him away and we had men over and he opted to shoot and dragged his shot wide.

The final whistle came not long afterwards to end a disappointing second half, we allowed 2 sloppy goals and couldn't capitalise on any chances we created.

Positives
Collins made an assured debut and looks to be an astute signing. Scotland again looked sharp when he came on. Andrews looks to be the teams driving force and a good player.

Negatives
Bullard and Murphy don't look fit, perhaps not unsurprising but disappointing after an international break. We struggled to create chances until going to a 424 formation. Edwards was caught out of position a few times and needs to be playing behind an out and out winger so he isn't forced forward too often.

Overall
Paul Jewell needs to make some difficult decisions, he currently seems to be picking his 11 best players and trying to make a team out of them. We have no defined shape and by playing people out of position, especially Leadbitter, it is creating weaknesses across the pitch, i.e Edwards getting exploited. He needs to decide on a shape and get the team playing that way, if he opts to use Leadbitter as a right winger, he needs to shout and bawl at him to ensure he stays in that position.

While tactically analysing the last few games I am really disappointed in Jewell, nobody could argue that he hasn't improved the squad with some quality additions, but until he settles on a formation and drops some of the players that appear undroppable we are going nowhere fast. We need to have 2 genuine widemen and either play 424 or 451/433, until we start doing this we will not start picking up points consistently.

Up next
Our next game is at home on Monday against Coventry, we can't be any worse than when we were last on Sky and hopefully Jewell makes the tough decisions that face him next week. I hope we start with the same back 5, with Bullard (if fit) and Andrews (captain) anchoring the midfield. 2 from Murphy, JE-T and Carson on the flanks and Scotland has done enough in his last 2 cameo's to earn himself a start alongside Michael Chopra up front.

5 comments:

  1. Great blog - really detailed and showing a good understanding - keep it coming

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  2. really good - you on twitter? can tweet when the new blog goes live! hope PJ is reading this!

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  3. Hi there, I am on twitter @joefairs I'll add it into the heading. I have been tweeting when blog goes live so will be able to keep you updated.

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  4. Excellent blog. Good analysis of the game and of what we need to do. Your up next paragraph is identical to my view on what PJ needs to do - lets hope he reads this

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