Another disappointing home performance, this time punctuated by fan dissatisfaction aimed at the Manager. With home form so crucial to the team last season, the fact that our away form is currently better than our home form is clearly becoming something of a concern.
As was once again expected, there were further team changes which had the inevitable result of producing a further disjointed performance.
Two of the changes, at full back, were enforced by the injuries suffered by Moritz Volz and Ben Thatcher in the midweek loss to Wigan. However, other changes were more voluntary on the part of the manager, which resulted in Jon Walters once again drawing the short straw to toil in the left-midfield spot, whilst Jon Stead was recalled to the side to play alongside another strike partner in Kevin Lisbie. Meanwhile, a more orthodox switch saw Veliche Shumulikoski return to the starting line up in place of Ivan Campo, reward for his recent league performances.
Once again, Richard Wright found himself the focus of attention. Once again, there was plenty of focus on some excellent saves and good performance in commanding his box. Unfortunately, once again, there was more intense focus on his critical error which resulted in a goal and, in the end, cost his side a win.
Wrights performances have generally been very strong for Town since his return from West Ham. Yet, he now has three critical errors to his name so far this season which have resulted in goals and dropped points; it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore these errors so crucial have their impact been.
There is an irony that, in the one area where Magilton has been consistent in his selection, a change would not be met with too much resistance. Shane Supple has yet to let Ipswich down and must be starting to wonder under what circumstances he is likely to earn a chance to prove himself.
As was the case with the Wigan game, its hard to be particularly critical of the defence in the face of yet more personnel changes, especially when they were enforced by injury. Alex Bruce performed capably at right back, but as has been evident each time he has played there, he is simply not comfortable at full-back. Similarly, whilst David Wright has performed well on many occasions from left back, his game is not helped by the revolving door in terms of players playing directly ahead of him. During Saturdays match alone, he found Jon Walters, Jon Stead, Jon Walters, Owen Garvan and then finally Jon Walters again.
In the centre, Gareth McAuley and Richard Naylor were both solid performers. McAuleys attempts to try and play the ball out of defence are something that should be welcomed, but at the same time the distribution mistakes that this leads to are something which are unwelcome and add to the pressure on the rest of a defence which often appears disjointed.
In midfield, the malaise that existed when the season kicked off appears to have returned. Saturdays midfield performance showed many similarities with the opening two home performances against Preston and Wolves. Under pressure from an opposition closing them down quickly and sitting behind the ball, they were unable to retain posession in any meaningful manner. This impacted upon the forwards, who were often starved of the ball and thus, starved of chances.
Shumulikoski had a game to forget, failing to retain posession or make any really positive impact on the match. David Norris produced a performance very reminiscent of his earlier performances in an Ipswich shirt; somewhat lost in terms of finding a way into the game. It was of little surprise that he left the field early, the surprise being that he had failed to carry his form over from the previous two league games.
Tommy Miller had very little impact on the game, in contrast to his performance on Wednesday night, whilst Jon Walters looked like a player struggling to deal with the demands imposed by his manager. Our most effective player last season, Walters is struggling to find any kind of rhythm amongst being asked to fill a multitude of alternative positions, often within the same game. He has played left midfield, right midfield and up front within the last two games.
Owen Garvan showed good touches and clearly added some composure to the midfield, which perhaps might be enough to earn him a recall to the side. However, he was only able to truly offer something to the game when he was rescued from the black hole that exists at left midfield.
Up front, Kevin Lisbie looks like a player starved of service and starved of the opportunity to play the type of game which is his strength. He shows sharpness and good control of the ball when running with it, but is rarely given the opportunity to push in behind the opposition defence by his teammates. It was worrying to hear Magilton claim that he was looking for Lisbie to utilise his pace in behind the opposition, when his teammates seem unable to feed him in that way.
Jon Stead increasingly looks to be a very sound signing and continues to demonstrate good judgement on behalf of the manager. An excellent touch, allied to a good work ethic and an ability to score goals have quickly found him favour amongst Town fans. That in itself provided the most intriguing moment of Saturdays match, when his withdrawal from the pitch was met with derision from the Town fans, clearly having warmed to him. It also marked the first moment that the fans have openly questioned the judgement of the manager in over two years.
Tuesday nights game with Barnsley is building towards something of a critical match in Magiltons time as manager. A win seems very much required to quash angst amongst supporters. Another disjointed performance, with players seemingly unsure of their roles, their formation or their teammates, seems destined to encourage further criticism from the terraces. He is in a difficult position because fans are growing impatient with the lack of a settled side, yet it would be not unrealistic to expect several of the players to be changed after Saturdays performance.
Simply, he just has to hope that whoever plays, plays well.
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