Ipswich Town started their 2019 pre-season campaign with a 3-2 defeat at newly-promoted Bundesliga side SC Paderborn 07 this afternoon. STUART WATSON gives his thoughts on the game.
SETTING THE SCENE
Town are based in a pretty remote hotel near the Dutch border, well-placed for their involvement in the four-team Interwetten Cup in Meppen next Sunday.
That meant a two-and-a-half hour coach journey to the modest Stadion Laumeskamp, home of amateur side Delsbrucker, for this afternoon's match. After some slow progress on the back roads they turned up late and kick-off had to be delayed by 15 minutes.
The pitch wasn't great, there were about 40-50 Town fans in a crowd of 956, but it was a worthwhile experience.
Town can take great heart from the way they competed against a Paderborn team preparing to face the likes of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga this coming season.
There wasn't a major gulf in class evident when it came to general play. Ultimately, the difference was that the home side were more clinical and made less mistakes - a familiar tale from last season.
Ipswich won't be facing opposition of this quality in League One though.
DON'T BE HARD ON HOLY
Tomas Holy conceded all three goals, with Bartosz Bialkowski keeping a clean sheet after the break. Don't be hard on Town's summer signing though.
Kai Pröger's rocket of a strike from the edge of the box cannoned in off the underside of the bar, while Tobias Schwede and Babacar Gueye produced cool low finishes following defence-splitting passes.
There was little Town's new 6ft 9in keeper could do.
MINIMISING MISTAKES
Quality attacking play from Paderborn for the goals, yes, but Town also didn't help themselves.
The opener came seconds after a promising attack broke down. Town were 'naïve' in letting the counter start from the keeper, said Paul Lambert.
The Blues boss highlighted Luke Woolfenden's error in giving the ball away with a risky inside pass during the build-up to the second goal.
The third saw an attempted high offside trap sprung as former Brighton defender Uwe Hünemeier set Gueye racing away with a straight low pass from the edge of his own box.
There were other lapses which the Blues got away with too.
MORE: 'Not one player I was disappointed with' - Lambert on Town's 3-2 friendly defeat at Paderborn
Myles Kenlock was charged down and then made a clumsy attempt at a recovery tackle in the box. The loose ball was dragged wide.
Corrie Ndaba's attempt to dribble out of a tight spot on the edge of his own box also led to a chance which Bialkowski beat away.
Watching this young Ipswich side attempt to play positive, risky football could be fun and frustrating in equal measure over the coming months. Game management must improve.
LOOK HUWS BACK
Seeing Emyr Huws back out on the pitch was great. The Welshman crunched into one challenge in the middle of the park and charged back to make a fine sliding tackle on the edge of his own box - not the actions of a man who doesn't trust his body. There were some reminders of his range of passing too.
We've been here before though. He's come back, done this for the Under-23s and then had a set-back with those troublesome knees.
Out since December 2017, he really would be like the proverbial 'new signing'. Let's wait until he's got a few more games under his belt first though before getting too carried away.
Jon Nolan (calf), Alan Judge (wrist) and Gwion Edwards (groin) all sat out today, but are here in Germany and will hopefully be back in action sooner rather than later.
STRIKER SHORTAGE
Lambert decided it was too early to play James Norwood given he only joined up with his new team-mates on Wednesday. He looked like a coiled spring on the sidelines.
Freddie Sears, not due back in action until November at the earliest, also watched on.
That left Ipswich Town starting another pre-season with Jordan Roberts - a left-winger who struggled for game time on loan at Lincoln recently - as a makeshift striker.
Let's be honest, that's far from ideal.
MORE: Paderborn 3-2 Ipswich Town: Blues lose opening friendly against Bundesliga newcomers
Andre Dozzell and Teddy Bishop played some lovely positive passes in the first half. The same can be said of central duo Huws and Idris El Mizouni after the break.
The problem was that some poor decision making in the final third often saw promising moves break down at the vital moments.
Roberts looked to be away in the first half, but was far too hesitant, checked back and allowed the defence to recover. After the break, Kayden Jackson ran the channels well in that lone front man role.
Jackson looks better when playing on raw instinct. A direct dart towards goal led to him being tripped for the penalty. When another opportunity to drive on and shoot presented itself he instead chose to try and sweep a difficult pass.
PASSPORT SAGA
Danny Rowe, fresh from helping Lincoln get promoted from League Two, has a golden chance to try and catch Lambert's eye over the coming weeks given the Blues missed out on signing Danny Mayor, while Gwion Edwards is not quite ready to play due to an ongoing groin problem.
Imagine what he was thinking then when he discovered earlier this week that his car had been broken into and his passport stolen. That meant he could not join his team-mates on Wednesday's trip out of Stansted. Thankfully a quick dash to the main passport office in Peterborough ensured he could catch a flight the very next day along with general manager of football operations Lee O'Neill.
He replaced Jack Lankester (another player good to see back after injury) on the right wing after the break and had some bright moments linking up with Jackson.
HALF ARE HOMEGROWN
Back in 2013, Town made a bold pledge to have 50% of the first team squad made up of homegrown players within four years. Two years on from that deadline they are very close to hitting that target.
Of the 22 players used today, 12 of them were academy graduates.
Interestingly, Tristan Nydam played at left-back with Bailey Clements - a left-back for the U23s last season - playing in front of him on the wing.
Woolfenden and Ndaba were given a half each alongside the more experienced Toto Nsiala and Luke Chambers respectively.
We know all about the likes of Bishop, Dozzell, Flynn Downes, Myles Kenlock and Josh Emmanuel - they aren't kids anymore.
Idris El Mizouni and Armando Dobra are technically-gifted central midfielders who are slowly being given a taste of the first team now too.
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