{"id":10552,"date":"2024-12-26T21:20:28","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T21:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10552"},"modified":"2024-12-28T10:43:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T10:43:40","slug":"no-saka-but-no-suffolk-sucker-punch-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10552","title":{"rendered":"No Saka but No Suffolk Sucker Punch, Please"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And so to the Stadium of Stone on Friday evening to welcome Ipswich Town, whom we last played in the Premier League more than two decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second-half Freddie Ljungberg brace gave us a 2-0 win at Highbury in April 2002. We were closing in on the double. The Tractor Boys were staring at the drop, having just lost a six-pointer against fellow relegation candidates Bolton and with Liverpool and Man U to play in their final three games. Ipswich\u2019s sole visit to the Emirates came in 2011, a League Cup semi-final second leg, that we won 3-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ipswich was founded in 1878 under the patronage of the Cobbold brewing dynasty. The club played amateur football for over half a century. In 1936, it turned professional, joined the Southern League, and won it at the first attempt. Two seasons later, it was elected to the Football League’s old Third Division South. Promotion after winning the title in 1953-54 proved a false dawn. It went straight back down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A general theory of Ipswich would divide it into three managerial eras \u2014 Ramsey’s, Robson’s and McKenna’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1955 appointment of Alf Ramsey, although a managerial novice, brought the club\u2019s first era of ascendancy. In 1956-57, his side again won the Third Division South and then the Second Division in 1960\/61. Remarkably, it then won the First Division in its first season in the top flight, the first club to do that since Preston North End in the inaugural season of the Football League in 1888-89. Unfancied Ipswich bettered the powerhouses of the day, the Burnley of Jimmy Adamson and Jimmy McElroy and the Spurs of Danny Blanchflower and Jimmy Greaves. It was a footballing annus mirabilis: Leyton Orient also won promotion to the First Division. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsey’s team secured the title on the season’s final day, beating Aston Villa 2-0. There won’t be many familiar names from the team sheet: Roy Bailey, Larry Carberry, John Compton, Bill Baxter, Andy Wilson, John Elsworthy, Roy Stephenson, Doug Moran, Ray Crawford, Ted Phillips and Jimmy Leadbetter. Ray Crawford, the only one in the team who would win an international cap, may ring some bells, possibly Jimmy Leadbetter, but few, if any, others. Peter Lorenzo, writing in the Daily Herald (Remember him? Remember that?) called them ‘an Identi-Kit collection of misfits, has-beens and cast-offs’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five of that team (Bailey, Carberry, Elsworthy, Phillips and Leadbetter) are among the only six men to have won the First, Second and Third tier championships with the same club. Leicester City’s Andy King is the other since you asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsey left in 1963 to manage England, taking with him the concept he had developed at Ipswich of a withdrawn left-winger (Leadbetter) feeding two centre-forwards (Crawford and Phillips) from midfield. With the WM formation standard in English football, Ipswich’s incipient 4-3-3 was revolutionary. Opposition defences were left with a redundant right-back as Crawford and Phillips plundered goals through the middle. Eventually, Ramsey’s right-winger would become a bone-fide midfielder, too, giving him the narrow 4-4-2 that his ‘wingless wonders’ used to win the World Cup in 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it all went pear-shaped in East Suffolk after Ramsey left Portman Road. Ipswich was relegated two seasons after winning the title. Bill McGarry got them back into the First Division, but it was Bobby Robson’s appointment after McGarry left for Wolves in 1969 that the team many older ‘holics will remember started to take shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Robson era was built around Dutchmen Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen, Scot John Wark and Englishmen Terry Butcher and Paul Mariner. There was an early Texaco Cup triumph in 1973. Yet, Robson’s team would not fully mature until the late 1970s. They beat us in the 1978 FA Cup final (their first and only appearance). In 1981, they almost pulled off a treble. Having led the league for most of the season, they were pipped by Aston Villa and got beaten in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. However, they did win the UEFA Cup, beating AZ Alkmaar 5-4 on aggregate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another second-place finish in the league followed the next season. But then Robson followed Ramsey in taking the England job, and Ipswich suffered a similar decline, if more gradually this time, with relegation to the Second Division coming in 1985-86.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Lyall took them back to the top flight after a six-year absence, just in time for the inaugural season of the Premier League. However, they lasted just three seasons. George Burley brought them back to the Premier League in 2000, but this time, they lasted only two seasons and started a long slide to League One for the 2019-20 season, bringing us to the current era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKenna<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kieran McKenna, then a coach at Manchester United, was appointed Ipswich manager in December 2021 following the club’s takeover by a consortium of US investors. Back-to-back promotions got them back to the Premier League for the present season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKenna had captained Northern Ireland’s U-21s and was on the neighbours’ books, but a hip injury ended his playing career at 22. He took a sports science degree at Loughborough before moving into coaching in 2015. His success at Ipswich brought Chelsea and Brighton calling, but he opted to stick it out in Suffolk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is tough for newly promoted sides. McKenna’s Ipswich currently sits in the relegation zone, having won two of its 17 games. A game plan based on attacking, dominant, positional football, playing out from the back and trusting in the team’s technical and structural superiority over opponents, was a brave choice to get out of League One. However, it becomes increasingly challenging to pull that off the higher up the pyramid a team progresses. In the Premier League, it requires much better players than McKenna has, as last Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing by Geordie Arabia evidenced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKenna has stuck with his 4-2-3-1 formation as well as his footballing philosophy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kosovan international keeper Arijanet Muric, who came up through the Man City academy and joined from Burnley in the summer, has been first choice but has been getting stick from fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming he keeps his place, in front of him should be a back four with the Irish international Daro O’Shea, another summer arrival from Burnley, in the middle, probably alongside Scots-born Australian international Cameron Burgess, with first-choice left CB Jacob Greaves, a \u00a320 million buy from Hull in the summer, still coming back from injury. Local lad and ex-Arsenal Academy graduate Harry Clarke has been filling in at right back with Axel Tuanzebe, who was picked up in the summer of 2023 after being released by Man U, a long-term injury absentee and Ben Johnson, a summer arrival from West Ham, unable to nail down a place. Geordie Lief Davis has been an ever-present at left-back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Egypt international and club captain Sam Morsy and Swedish international Jens Cajuste usually anchor the midfield. Man City loanee Kalvin Phillips has as little success re-establishing his career at Ipswich as he did at West Ham, though a fragile fetlock hasn’t helped. However, Morsy is suspended for Friday after picking up a fifth yellow against Newcastle last Saturday. Jack Clarke, a \u00a315 million summer buy from Sunderland, may fill in, with Phillips more likely to get minutes than a start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omari Hutchinson, another formerly of this parish in their youth, is Ipswich’s attacking midfield star. In a parallel universe in which he didn’t decamp to Chelsea, he might be starting on the wing for us today, not against us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Irish international, Colchester-born Sammie Szmodics, who arrived from Blackburn in the summer, provides Ipswich’s width on the left. Welsh international Nathan Broadhead is an option from the bench. On the right, Wes Burns, another Welsh international, is the likely starter, with Chiedozie Ogbene, bought from Luton in the summer, also a long-term injury absentee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The much-admired ex-Man City academy striker, Liam Delap, son of the less fondly remembered Rory, will return from suspension, with Conor Chaplin dropping to the bench. Delap Jnr picked up his fifth yellow of the season for his part in the post-match handbags at Wolves. Delap is Ipswich’s leading scorer this season with six. Szmodics is next best, with three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Premiership goals  — 16 in 17 games — have been hard to come by. Only Southampton and Everton have scored fewer. At the other end, only Southampton, Wolves and Leicester have conceded more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After last Saturday’s pre-Christmas feast, many will be expecting second helpings on Friday from a strong team that, in Saka’s prolonged absence, is likely to start thus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard, Partey, Rice,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinelli, Havertz, Jes\u00f9s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should win this game and win it handsomely, although we have said that before, before coming a cropper against relegation sides. As we approach the completion of the first half of the season (New Year’s Day’s game at Brentford), we can’t afford to suffer a Suffolk Sucker Punch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, ‘holics near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so to the Stadium of Stone on Friday evening to welcome Ipswich Town, whom we last played in the Premier League more than two decades ago. A second-half Freddie Ljungberg brace gave us a 2-0 win at Highbury in April 2002. We were closing in on the double. The Tractor Boys were staring at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10552"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10563,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10552\/revisions\/10563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}