PANDEMIC AND PPG
A global pandemic meant Ipswich Town spent half of 2020 not playing football.
Not that we knew it then, but Town’s final game of the curtailed 2019/20 campaign was the 1-0 home loss to Coventry on March 7.
It would be another 95 days (June 9) before League One and Two clubs voted to abandon the campaign and settle the tables on a points per game method.
After putting forward a rather ludicrous idea that the play-offs should be extended to include themselves, the woefully out of form Ipswich were demoted to 11th spot.
After 182 days without a competitive game, Town started the delayed 20/21 season with a 3-0 Carabao Cup win against Bristol Rovers.
In true 2020 fashion, their year finished with three postponements due to a Covid-19 outbreak within the club which saw 11 staff and players test positive.
OVERALL RECORD
Across all competitions in 2020, Ipswich Town played 39 competitive games. They just about lost more than they won (W16 D5 L18) and just about scored more they conceded (F46 A44).
Taking the seven cup games out of the equation (W2 L5), the Blues’ record in League One this calendar year reads P32 W14 D5 L13.
That’s 1.47 points a game which, if extrapolated over a 46-game season, gives you 68 points. That total, going on the League One tables of the last decade, normally sees you finish somewhere between 7th and 11th.
HOME AND AWAY
Town didn’t have a single draw at Portman Road in 2020. Their home record for the year reads: P22 W12 D0 L10 F30 A24.
The wins included thrashings of Accrington (4-1) and Burton (4-1) in the second half of 19/20, plus a six-game league winning streak at the start of the current campaign.
Defeats on Suffolk soil to the likes of Peterborough, Oxford, Fleetwood, Coventry, Hull, Charlton and Portsmouth have all been crushing blows though.
Town’s away record in 2020 reads: P17 W4 D5 L8 F16 A20.
The on the road high was, undoubtedly, the clinical 4-1 victory at Blackpool in October. Comeback triumphs at Tranmere (January) and Plymouth (December) also brought cheer, as did the 2-0 victory at Bristol Rovers early in this campaign.
Away day lows have included conceding twice late on to lose at Blackpool (Feb), two losses at Sunderland (the second a story of refereeing controversy), plus a 4-1 humbling at Doncaster.
WHO WINS/LOSSES HAVE COME AGAINST
Using clubs’ finishing positions from last season (for games played in 19/20) and their current positions (for games played this season), let’s look at who Town’s wins and defeats have come against.
The average position of the 14 teams they’ve beaten in League One is 16th. The highest ranked side they’ve beaten is Accrington Stanley (eighth at time of writing).
The average position of the 13 teams they’ve lost to in League One is fifth. The lowest ranked side they’ve lost to is Blackpool (who finished 13th last season).
APPEARANCES
No prizes for guessing who made the most starts for Town in 2020. Luke Chambers started 34 of the 39 games played, moving into the club’s top-10 all-time league appearance makers list.
The rest of the start list is as follows:
25: Judge, Woolfenden; 22: Edwards; 21: Holy, Dozzell; 20: Wilson; 19: Nolan; 16: Bishop, Sears, Ward; 15: Huws, Nsiala; 14: Jackson; 12: Downes, Garbutt; 11: Keane; 10: Cornell, McGuiness; 9: Hawkins; 8: Norwood, Kenlock; 7: McGavin, Norris, Lankester; 6: Skuse, Donacien, Bennetts; 5: Dobra, Earl; 4: Drinan; 3: Gibbs, Ndaba; 2: Simpson; 1: Andoh, Baggott, Smith, Crane, Crowe, Folami, Siziba, Viral.
So that’s 42 different starters in 2020 (32 in the league).
On top of them, there were three players whose only outings were off the bench (Idris El Mizouni, Zak Brown and Jack Manley).
Town’s most used substitute in 2020 was James Norwood (11), followed by Keanan Bennetts (10), Teddy Bishop (8), Oli Hawkins (8), Jack Lankester (7), Kayden Jackson (7) and Freddie Sears (7).
GOALS
In their 39 games, Town...
Drew a blank 15 times, scored once (x10), scored twice (x10), scored three (x1) and scored four (x3).
They kept 12 clean sheets, conceded once (x16), conceded twice (x7), conceded three (x2), conceded four (x2).
Town had 17 different players contributing to their 46 goals in 2020.
Their joint top-scorers were Kayden Jackson, Gwion Edwards and Jon Nolan (all on five), closely followed by James Norwood, Freddie Sears and Teddy Bishop (all on four).
After that it was Alan Judge and Own Goals (both three), Will Keane, Luke Chambers and Jack Lankester (all with two), plus seven players with a solitary goal (Flynn Downes, Luke Woolfenden, Armando Dobra, Ben Folami, Oli Hawkins, Keanan Bennetts and Emyr Huws).
So that’s 12 goals for central strikers (Norwood, Jackson, Keane, Hawkins), 17 for wingers (Judge, Sears, Edwards, Dobra, Lankester, Bennetts, Folami), 11 for central-midfielders (Downes, Nolan, Bishop, Huws) and just three from defenders (Chambers and Woolfenden).
PENALTIES & RED CARDS
Town were awarded just one spot-kick, which James Norwood converted for a consolation goal in the 4-1 home loss to Peterborough (Feb)
They had three given against them. Ben Whiteman (Doncaster), Grant Leadbitter (Sunderland) and Oliver Norburn (Shrewsbury) all scored.
Town had three dismissals in 2020 – Jackson for a frustrated stamp at the very end of a 1-0 home loss to Oxford (Feb), Nolan for a reckless late lunge in the 1-0 loss at Lincoln (Oct) and Dozzell, more controversially, for a tackle at Sunderland (Nov).
Just one opposition player has been shown their marching orders in 2020 – Danny Mayor’s two yellow cards at Plymouth opening the door for a Town comeback win (Dec).
INJURIES
I make it 29 different players who have missed varying amounts of the 2020 action through injury (some short-term absences, many medium to long-term), the year ending with 12 in the treatment room.
They are: Kane Vincent-Young (adductor/Achilles), James Norwood (adductor/hamstring), Kayden Jackson (groin), Cole Skuse (knee), Flynn Downes (knee), Jon Nolan (groin/calf), Gwion Edwards (hamstring) Jack Lankester (back), Teddy Bishop (ankle), Stephen Ward (Achilles), Freddie Sears (hamstring), Alan Judge (hamstring), Oli Hawkins (knee), James Wilson (knee), Luke Woolfenden (groin), Toto Nsiala (hamstring), Emyr Huws (ankle/hamstring), Aaron Drinan (groin), Keanan Bennetts (groin), Idris El Mizouni (knee), Luke Garbutt (thigh), Will Keane (groin), Josh Earl (cheek), Danny Rowe (knee), Tristan Nydam (ankle), Ben Morris (knee), Corrie Ndaba (dead leg), Liam Gibbs (groin) and Harry Wright (knee).
INS AND OUTS
In the most turbulent of years, Town’s turnover of players has been very low compared to their League One rivals - many of whom have had to completely rebuild squads during the Covid crisis.
Paul Lambert has brought in just six first team players across the two transfer windows of 2020 and seen only four senior players sold or released (plus three loan deals expiring).
JANUARY IN: Josh Earl (Preston, loan)
JANUARY OUTS: Bartosz Bialkowski (Millwall, £900k), Toto Nsiala (Bolton, loan), Jordan Roberts (Gillingham, loan) and Idris El Mizouni (Cambridge United, loan).
SUMMER INS: David Cornell (Northampton, free), Oli Hawkins (Portsmouth, free), Stephen Ward (Stoke, free), Mark McGuinness (Arsenal, loan) and Keanan Bennetts (Borussia Monchengladbach, loan)
SUMMER OUTS: Will Keane, Danny Rowe, Jordan Roberts (all released), Luke Garbutt, Will Norris, Earl (loans expired) and El Mizouni (Cambridge United, loan).
Owner Marcus Evans has turned down bids for Armando Dobra (Brighton), Flynn Downes (Crystal Palace) and Kayden Jackson (Bournemouth) along the way.
The likes of Ross Crane, Levi Andoh and Bert White have been purchased for the future, while several young players have had loan spells away.
CONTRACTS
The year started in surprising fashion with manager Paul Lambert signing a new five-year deal.
Other significant contracts signed in 2020 include Cole Skuse (one year in May), Dobra (three years in May), Woolfenden (four years in July), Brett McGavin (two years in Sept) and Dozzell (three years in Dec).
Homegrown youngsters Tommy Smith, Tyreece Simpson, Tommy Hughes and Tawanda Chirewa also signed their first pro deals.
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