DE.

Even if we are it's only impressive as a statement without context, as those five seasons include when we were under embargo and had all of our decent players sold, a season where we spent 7 months under Owen Coyle's management (still with no money to spend), a season in League 1 and last season - and from memory we're practically identical in terms of points for that.

Let's keep this on topic guys, it's about the Championship not Chaddy! Mods are available via PM for any genuine concerns over behaviour and the report button can also be used to direct us to any posts that people feel are overstepping the mark.

Yeah, but since TM has arrived we haven't really sold anybody of significance. I don't know how much truth there was in Dack being the sacrificial lamb in January or the summer, but during the last period of Jan 19 - Jan 20 we've essentially splashed £12m on transfer fees with only Raya's £3m sale as a return, although that fee was likely gobbled up by a combination of Tosin and Cunningham's wages and loan fees. I'm still not convinced FFP is as big of an issue as is currently being touted. Up until last month it wasn't being talked about at all by Tony or anybody else at the club - I've previously linked an interview from September regarding the upcoming window where it literally wasn't mentioned once. So why all of a sudden has it become this huge barrier? Was nobody paying attention until January?

I'd go as far as to say Lambert is doing a genuinely bad job there to be honest. I appreciate he inherited a bad situation from Paul Hurst but most managers with anything about them at least improve a team slightly if not by much. Mowbray inherited a pretty shitty situation from Coyle but still improved us almost instantly and we were ultimately unlucky to go down. I believe Lambert did no better than Hurst when he took over for the remainder of last season. For Ipswich to be where they are and in the form they're in right now is appalling - League 1 is very poor so there can't be any excuses really.

We can spend roughly £13m per season via FFP. We literally spent a third of our entire FFP budget on two players who have flopped and we'd be no worse off without. It might be simple but it's also true.

Well if we hadn't splashed £12m on two absolute duds we'd be in a much healthier position financially, so no I wouldn't say it's much of an oversimplification at all.

Yes you're right, they did make one loan signing, so more achieved than us!

https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/o-neill-on-ipswich-s-quiet-january-transfer-window-1-6502497 There's quite an extensive interview here from their general manager of football operations which goes into detail, but basically very similar excuses to the ones we got from Mowbray and Waggott this time around. Domino effect, valuations not being right, etc.

I think you'd surely be concerned though. They didn't sign anyone during this transfer window either. Even we made a few signings in January during our L1 campaign. Downing and Armstrong, the latter of whom had a significant impact on the second half of our campaign.

5 years actually! You mentioned before that you don't see why Ipswich fans are being negative, but isn't it fair to be negative when they've dropped into 7th and only won 3 out of their last 19 games?

It always confuses me when the lineup is posted with Armstrong and Gallagher in the team and people are saying we must be playing 4-4-2. It's like, come on guys, you know how Tony's mind works by now. If Gallagher and Armstrong are in the team you can practically guarantee SG will be out wide right. Granted today the inclusion of JRC probably made the 4-4-2 assumption seem more feasible, but never doubt Tony's ability to play people completely out of position.

Dynamite was great again this week. They've been much more consistent since the turn of the new year - although apparently that was when Tony Khan began taking more control of creative, so that might be why. I get the feeling he saw the backlash to the horrible Dark Order main event segment before Christmas and realised the inmates couldn't always be in charge of the asylum.

I wouldn't even be happy with Samuel as 4th choice backup in all honesty as I just don't think he's good enough and I'd want even 4th choice to be able to have some kind of impact. With that said I agree that Brereton isn't any better which doesn't help, but as you say at least Brereton theoretically has room to grow. Samuel is basically at his "peak" now. Graham leaving will mean we only really have Armstrong as a decent option up front, which is a bit of a scary thought. Gallagher is really struggling although I have some sympathy for him being repeatedly played out of position. The rest of our so-called strikers are rubbish and usually deployed on the wings anyway. Just more work that needs to be done in what is becoming an increasingly daunting summer transfer window.

Has Dom even played any games for us as a striker? I swear I can only remember him ever playing right wing. Problem is even as backup striker he'd be below Armstrong, Gallagher and Graham in the pecking order. Probably Brereton too, so do we need a 5th choice backup striker who is 26 years old in two months?

I'm not even sure why Samuel is still here. Massively below the standard required and will never be a first team regular unless we get relegated again. Can only assume there's been no interest in his services due to the wage we're paying him, whatever that is.

Is there a reason these posts are in the Lewis Holtby thread rather than the match thread ??

Finishing in the top half at this point would be a serious achievement. I'm not even sure we'll better last season's points total with the current available players.

How is giving him 2 minutes at the end of games better than getting the lad loaned out to play some regular football for six months? I just can't understand the club's mentality on this one.

I think Armstrong will score a few more before the season is out, and we'll get the odd goal from Travis, Graham (if Tony plans to unfreeze him at any point) Downing, Lenihan/Tosin and possibly even Gallagher (£5m... what a waste), but agree that it's looking bleak overall.

Indeed, they are now down to 7th after a third defeat on the spin which continues their appalling record against the top 8 in the division. According to the Town forum they only have 21 points from their last 19 games which is obviously not promotion form. 3 wins in 19 as well which is shocking. @chaddyrovers fair to say Ipswich fans should be a little bit concerned by this? Meanwhile Lambo not the most popular man around these parts right now...

I think we'll always sell around 8000 no matter what. These are the hardcore supporters and will go to matches irrespective of manager, performances, owners or anything else. We will struggle to get any more than that as long as we're floundering in mid-table with no obvious ambition being shown in the transfer windows though. Big summer coming up.

Tbf we were never in the top six once even when these players were available so I think that would be a weak argument.

He's been here before... https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2010/mar/25/tony-mowbray-celtic-manager-sacking

The kind of performance I feared with all of our creative outlets injured. Going to be a long end to the season I think. If Arma's purple patch is over we're going to struggle to score more than one a game which is going to put a heavy burden on our defence.

Probably the best team we could have put out all things considered.