Holmes_and_Watson

Ball not falling for Bree a few times there. They chose not to take advantage a couple of times.

Martin will be pleased with that. The usual bags of possession. Created a decent number of chances, if not lots of near ones. And clinical with the ones we got on target for a change. Stephens very mobile, picking up KWP's attacking position, supporting the midfield and also picking up some of Smallbone's attacking tasks. That will be pretty knackering, so he may be one of the ones to come off later. After Ipswich's goal, I think we've settled into the changes well. Also without Will, we've given up some of that trying to create passing angles through the middle. Honestly, it's not been clicking for a little while. Stephens isn;pt the best at it either, so with him playing, RM has made a fair enough call in by passing it. Besides, they've not played a high line, so we've been able to get the ball out more directly to the flanks anyway. Aribo manages himself really well. I moan about the times he passes back. I'm wondering if he looks at the forward pass, realises he'd have to race forward to get on the end of a return for not much advantage, and picks another option. Because he has been mobile. He has raced into good positions. And his strength paid off in weighted passes, holding players off for assists and tackles at the back. With an experienced line up, Fraser and Stu have linked up well. Well enough that Ipswich were worried about it, allowing Stu to instead pick out AA on the other flank for the goal. Good to see Che do what he always does, and get hsi head down and try. So a good reward for that. Again, this set up suits him a bit more anyway. He's got Aribo, Downes and Stephens to provide steel behind him, and AA and Fraser scaring their full backs. Leaving Stu to pick out osme nice passes, and pick up the bit and pieces. Stamina will be interestign second half. Both teams have put a lot in, and rely on their work rate. Subs could well make quite a bit of difference today. Outr bench is strong, but we went backwards last time out with it.

bah. Offside. Stephens looking for the pass, but not aware of where the line was behind him. Decent move that.

Decent AA shot there. But the build up is what RM was looking for. That was Stephense centrally, moving into space from his inverted position and delivering a direct ball. Ipswich's line isn;t that high, so better AA and Fraser on the end of those than Sule.

We had someone runnign in on the back post too. Had it been more of a miss, he would have got it. 🙂

Soooo close....

There's been a bit of that today. I don;t mind if it's to retain possession. I do mind when they don;t even look for a more forward pass, and play it safe. Because that led to an Ipswich attack.

Straight at Baz. Yes, they had loads of space. But our defence has dealt with this scenario countless times. Elsewhere, RM will be putting money into the potty mouth jar later for swearing to the nation.

Curled in... just 10 feet above where it should have been.

On the other hand, when the ball came back out form their box, he didn;t take up a poistion to offer an option. Perhaps he knew it was going to be passed in, but still.

Good recovery from Joe. We're not going to be such a crisp passing unit today. So when we invariably do lose it, we have to fight to be getting it back. Just what he did.

Oh, that was lovely. Our other Goal Machine!

Corner. Joe a handful. May have hit that one earlier, but good touch for hsi assist.

Yeees!!! That didn;t take long. Goal Machine Che!

Oooft....

AA reduced to hoofing. We look to have given up a lot of our passing game so far. Not a suprise since we've gone with a different line up. Lots of possession, but doing even less with it than usual.

A bit KWP, a bit Smallbone. And since we've no left back, a bit like Manning. 🙂

With no KWP, he's being encouraged to push forward. He will reinforce the midfield too, and more directly, which will be one reason why Smallbone has been left out. That'll be the plan anyway...

COYR!

Sorry. We only wait for The Kraken waking

No chance it goes beyond 5 with a specialist shot stopper like Baz in goal. 🙂

2 0 to us. Oh sure, Ipswich work hard and try and pressure us into errors with their hard work and relentless attacking. But all taken care of effortlessly by our CBs. Stu gets one and AA the other.

Right at the start of this. Cuthbert looking to take a quick throw, with multi-ball. The Arsenal coach takes exception, because Chelsea wanted single ball, and his team are ahead. Cuthbert reacts.

Thoughtcrime

Very poor from Hayes. Her side insisted on the way it would be played. At the final whistle she took Eidevall's hand and deliberately barged into him, pushing him back. Then she went on a finger waving rant as she was on the pitch. Bad enough to be a sour loser. But to then come out and use gender, when there's genuine issues for women in the real world, is pathetic. Imagine the outcry if he had barged right into her. Even worse, she's discriminating against male coaches. If any form of argument, disagreement is perceived as "male aggression" and that it shoul "not be tolerated" in the woman's game, she's suggesting there should be no male coaches. Again, imagine he had used a stereotype to explain Hayes' actions and undermined women in football.