Ipswich Town make a quick return to Portman Road after their midweek win against Millwall, with Coventry City travelling to Suffolk this afternoon (3pm). Alex Jones previews the clash.
More of the same, please!
If Ipswich play like they did in the first half against Millwall, they’ll do serious damage against any team in the Championship.
The football was unbelievable at times, although it has to be said that the Lions’ high line allowed Town to pick them off at will. Given any time in and around the box, Conor Chaplin and Massimo Luongo made them pay. Nathan Broadhead’s header capped off a scintillating display.
The pick of the bunch was probably the second goal. The whole move was perfect from start to finish, although the same could be said about most of their attacking play before the half-time break.
As a result, the second half was a non-event. It didn’t need to be any more. Aside from Millwall’s late consolation goal, it was a perfect night, and if the Blues can do that in most of their home games between now and the end of the season, they’ll be right in the mix for the top two.
Doing it against Coventry this afternoon will be a challenge, having followed up their 3-0 win at The Den with a 1-0 victory at home to Plymouth Argyle in midweek.
A rocky start for Cov
There’s a running theme where the beaten play-off finalist goes on to collapse the following season. It happened to Swansea City in 2021, it happened to Huddersfield Town in 2022, and it looked like it would happen to Coventry after losing to Luton Town earlier this year.
There’s probably a big reason for that, which we’ll get on to, but Mark Robins’ side have undoubtedly found it hard this year, which came as a surprise after they were listed among the pre-season favourites for promotion.
An opening-day win at home to Middlesbrough only boosted their morale, but they went on to draw five of their next six games before recording consecutive wins against QPR and Blackburn Rovers. A late equaliser against Norwich City seemed to keep their momentum going, but they subsequently lost four matches on the bounce, sending them down to 20th place.
Their 3-2 defeat at Preston North End sparked a change. Mark Robins realised that he needed to revert to the counterattacking tactics that proved to be so successful last season, moving to a 4-3-3 formation against Stoke City. The match finished 0-0, but they showed a clear improvement.
Things soon clicked into place. They let Millwall dominate the ball in their game at The Den, working hard to strike fast on transitions and be clinical on the counter. They adopted the same approach at home to Plymouth, coming out on the right side of a tight encounter.
Two big exits
There’s no denying that Coventry’s run to last season’s play-off final was nothing short of remarkable, especially given that the club was in League Two as recently as 2017/18. Robins came close to guiding them to three promotions in the space of just six years, only to fall short at the last hurdle.
A big reason for their success was two standout talents. Gustavo Hamer was the star of their midfield, bagging nine goals and 10 assists as an aggressive box-to-box midfielder. As a result, he earned a big move to Sheffield United for a reported fee of around £15 million. He’s been one of the bright sparks in an otherwise dismal Premier League campaign for the Blades.
The biggest loss over the summer, however, was Viktor Gyokeres, who proved to be one of the best players in the league. With 21 goals and 10 assists, he gave Championship defences nightmares on a weekly basis. Very few teams managed to deal with his pace and athleticism, and it was clear that he wouldn’t be sticking around in the second tier for long.
With half of Europe chasing him, the Swedish international eventually joined Sporting CP for a club-record transfer fee of €20 million, with €4 million offered in bonuses as well as a sell-on fee of 10-15%. The Portuguese side set his release clause at a whopping €100 million, and he’s since gone on to register seven goals and four assists in 10 league games.
Losing that much talent in one window was always going to be a massive blow. They spent big over the summer, but question marks remain as to whether the recruitment has been good enough. Ellis Simms, who was linked with Town but ended up joining Coventry for a reported fee of up to £8 million, has yet to catch fire.
The same can be said for the luckless Haji Wright, as well as fellow summer recruits Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Milan van Ewijk and Liam Kitching.
The Portman Road factor
Based on the early renewal price, an Ipswich season ticket costs around £398 on average. Supporters at Portman Road have seen 28 goals in that time, meaning that they’ve paid a little over £14 per goal with 14 home matches still to be played. We’re only just in December.
You won’t get better value for money anywhere else in terms of entertainment, and Town are blowing teams away with their attacking quality at home. Sure, there are areas that they still need to improve, and that’ll come with time, but nobody can deny how dangerous they are.
Is it a mentality thing? Does the atmosphere made by the 28,000+ fans packed into Portman Road really make it that much of a fortress? Both seem to be true. There’s no denying that Kieran McKenna takes a different approach to their games on the road, but at home, they’re simply scintillating.
The only team to limit them to fewer than three goals in a Championship home game was Stoke City, who were beaten 2-0 in IP1 back in August. You’d always bank on a hatful of goals to be scored when Town take to the pitch at Portman Road.
Stick or twist?
It’s been a while since we’ve asked this question, but after Wednesday’s win against Millwall, McKenna has to make a tough decision around whether he wants to make any changes.
There won’t be many. Assuming that there’s no late injuries, the front four should stay the same, while Massimo Luongo has probably done enough to keep Jack Taylor out of the team for now.
The question mark comes over the back line. Harry Clarke did well in place of the injured Brandon Williams, but if the Manchester United loanee is fit to face Coventry, then there’s a big call to be made.
Likewise, Axel Tuanzebe impressed alongside Cameron Burgess against the Lions. In doing so, Luke Woolfenden was dropped to the bench.
Tuanzebe has serious pedigree as a right-sided centre-back, while Woolfenden has been an integral part of McKenna’s team for a long time - so who gets the nod today?
We'll find out at 2pm.
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