Ipswich Town (Home) 10.11.2024

Coming back from a 2-3 defeat in Turkey, there was a couple of days preparation for this match.  Having picked up no further injuries was the rare plus point, although the second half fight back was spirited, but ultimately futile.  So, after the tributes to the Forces on Remembrance Sunday, the game got underway, with Spurs coughing up the first opportunity.  A lofted ball down the left ended with Dragusin heading the ball into the air and losing where it had gone.  It was nicked off him for Hutchinson to put in a low ball that Szmodics reached and he hit a shot to the near post that Vicario had to get down to save for a corner.  That was ninety seconds in !  O’Shea won the header form the corner on the six yard line and only a deflection off one of his own players took the ball wide.  

A minute later there was a threat at the other end, with Son’s cross from the left was won by Brennan Johnson, whose run got him ahead of Davis, but he could only poke the ball a couple of feet wide from close in ahead of the near post.  Spurs had more defending to do, with Dragusin blocking a shot after Cajuste had moved into the box and pulled a ball back for a team-mate to have a shot, then Udogie did well to head away at the far post as a cross looked for a plyer behind him.  From the corner, Burgess was being involved in a tussle but managed to head the ball back across goal onto the face of the bar.  Spurs cleared and sent Son away on the left and although his ball in for Kulusevski was over-hit, Dejan retrieved it and continued the move that ended up with Johnson trying a spectacular volley that flew high into the North Stand.  Sonny then ran at the Ipswich defence after turning Ben Johnson with ease and then taking on two more players in the box, but his end shot was low and easily within Muric’s reach.  Solanke did better  in the 20th minute when he took a pass on his chest, turned on the edge of the box and hit a low shot aimed at the keeper’s left hand bottom corner, but Music palmed it wide for a corner.

Tunazebe got a yellow card for kicking the ball away, a few minutes after Ben Johnson had done the same with him not getting booked for it, then Hutchinson started his love affair with the turf in the 23rd minute that lasted throughout the match.  And when Delap pushed Sarr over with both hands, in full sight of the referee, not even a free-kick was given.  Tottenham were finding some space in wide positions, but the final ball was invariably played in high, allowing Muric to come and claim it using his height to his advantage.  It was to be a recurring theme to our crossing, both from open play and from corners and free-kicks, but when Brennan Johnson played a low ball in, it came off Davis forcing the keeper to get down smartly at his near post.

When Davis brought the ball out of the penalty area, it was Solanke’s “foul” that gave Ipswich the free-kick that ended in a goal.  The ball was played forward, then had to be worked back before it went right to be crossed into the box by Cajuste.  Romero got a head to it, but it fell for Szmodics at the far post to perform a bicycle kick on the six-yard line that took the ball past Vicario’s left hand to hand the East Anglian side the lead.  There was little pressure on the ball before it was crossed in and Delap was challenging Romero to make it difficult to get a clearing header on it, but it looked a straightforward goal to have stopped earlier in the move.  What was worse was that Solanke needed treatment as a result of the “foul” on Davis.

Our press was less forceful than usual and this allowed Ipswich to play the ball out without too much issue, but when the visitors were forced into giving the ball away, we failed to make anything from it.  Delap’s “physical” approach was conceding free-kick after free-kick with nothing done about it by the referee and he scored the second goal when Szmodics got to the dead-ball line and hit a low cross that Vicario got a hand to, but only pushed it onto Dragusin that took the ball towards goal with Delap forcing it over the line from inches out.  It was another avoidable goal with Hutchinson making a run through the middle of the pitch before feeding it left to Szmodics.

As the match drifted towards the 45 minutes mark, Tuanzebe clashed with Solanke off the ball drawing blood from the Spurs striker’s mouth with Darren England settling for a word with each player, rather than having to pull out a second yellow for the Ipswich defender.

Tottenham’s crossing into the keeper’s hands allowed Music to take ages before he released the ball and the referee allowed Ipswich players to walk past the ball on the cones to take throw-ins with the ball that had gone out of play a long way away.  And at the end of the half, the ref made Muric take the ball back a few yards after he had put it down in the wrong position for a free-kick and then blew for half-time before he had replaced it !  At the start of the second half, Ipswich were late out and then there was further delay while their water bottle man handed out drinks in the middle of their half, which was something that could easily have been done on the touchline before they got on the pitch.  All little niggly things, but all undermining the referee’s lack of control of the match.

A jump at Romero for no attempt to win the ball but for charging straight at the Spurs defender finally brought him a yellow card, although frankly, it wasn’t anything that he wasn’t doing in the first half.  Spurs started to look more lively, with Bentancur intercepting a pass deep in his own half and making a run through the middle that opened up for a pass through to Brennan Johnson, who had to check back when defenders got to him.  He played the ball back to Sarr, who then moved it on to Son on the left corner of the box and he came inside to hit a shot that Muric tipped over the bar.  When the ball went into the box, Ipswich struggled to clear it, only yo put it out for another corner on our right.  Porro and Kulusevski worked it short to win yet another, which, this time, was played in by Porro to Bentacur’s head.  He flicked it on and Solanke turned it in at the far post, but Ipswich players were claiming handball.  It was unfortunate, as his arm was against O’Shea and he couldn’t move it but it touched it on the way in and the VAR ruled it out.   

A goal then might have sparked a second half turnaround like so many we have seen, but when Spurs won corners, there was so much holding and pushing going on the referee didn’t know what to do.  Solanke drove a shot just over the bar and was much closer than Hutchinson at the other end, who put an effort way over the top.  When Porro go away down the right, his cross hit Davis before going off for a corner and claims for hands were denied by VAR, although his arm was outside his silhouette and looked very close to the side-line of the penalty area.  It’s all fine margins, with a goal disallowed for a handball and then not given a penalty for one.  Sometimes there are moments in a game when you just know it’s not going to happen for Spurs.

Porro’s dangerous cross was headed out for a corner and the Spaniard took it for Bentancur to run off Tuanzebe to power a header in at the near post. with just over 20 minutes left.  Was this the goal to spark another comeback ?

Werner was using his pace and put in an equally dangerous cross from the other side that was put out for a corner, which led to Son shooting over the bar, as did Timo coming in off the right to fire an effort that Muric had to tip over.  When that was taken O’Shea and Muric got in a tangle that brought another VAR review for handball, but there was nothing in it.  Seven minutes from the end, Udogie won the ball in the left back position and sent Werner away.  Timo exchanged passed with Son and then shot from just left of the D, but leaned back as it went over the bar.

In the sixth minute of added time, Solanke took advantage of a mis-control in the Ipswich box and tried to beat Muric from a narrow angle on the right, but hit the keeper with his shot.  And that was the last action of the game.

Being on the end of Crystal Palace’s first win of the season a few weeks ago, perhaps it shouldn’t be that surprising that we lost to Ipswich for their first three points and Mancashter City must be looking forward to playing us after the international break to end their bad run.  South Coast Big Club must be eyeing our upcoming visit to St. Mary’s too.

I know it’s frustrating when the team don’t click and the opposition use every tick in the book to waste time/break up play/manage the game, but the negativity at the end of this game is a little hard to fathom.  I suppose a lot of people who went to the game thought that on paper, we should have rolled Ipswich over after the second half display we put in against Villa, but the game isn’t played on paper and the stats tell the tale of the match.  Spurs 17 shots, five on target; Ipswich three shots two on target.  In the second half we rarely tested Muric and in the first half it was only a deflected shot and one from Solanke that brought anything like a half-decent stop from the Ipswich keeper.

There was also frustration at the weak and inconsistent refereeing of the game, which I presume was the focus of the half-time booing, but after the game, it appeared to be aimed at the team, with the referee having disappeared long before it started.  The referee seemed to interpret the game very differently for either side.  For example, giving Ipswich a free-kick when Solanke slid in to try and anticipate where the opposition player was going, but he didn’t and Dom didn’t touch him.  However, later on, an Ipswich player clattered into Udogie with nothing given.  For someone who was very keen that free-kicks were taken from the exact spot the foul took place (or even further back in some cases), he was unwilling to ensure that ten to fifteen yards weren’t pulled back when Ipswich took throw-ins.  And the way he allowed Muric to take so much time, much more than was added on for his slow play, with only one talking to undermines the clampdown on time-wasting that was supposed to be introduced this season.  But it has gone the same way as a lot of these initiatives (an initiative is not something I would trust a referee with), fading into history after the first couple of weeks of the season.

The endless stoppages for players going down “injured” also contributed to any flow in the game.  When a player goes down with cramp, does the game really need to be delayed while he is checked on ?  Also, players who go down numerous times within a short period should be made to leave the pitch to get proper treatment, as there is obviously something wrong with them.

So, yes, Ange was right to point these things out, but also took responsibility for the team’s record so far this season.  Five wins and five losses is not great, with the fans wanting every game won, but that isn’t going to happen.  Here we had restrictions with players out injured and we had played 30+ minutes on Thursday with only ten men.  These things are going to catch up on the team, as they haven’t been used to playing midweek and at weekends on a regular basis having been out of Europe last season.  They are still growing as a team and learning how to mange situations, so the constant moaning from people around me sometimes makes me wonder who upsets me more … the team or the fans.

It wasn’t the time-wasting that cost us the game, but the slowness of our play when there was a turnover combined with the passive approach in the first half that left us playing too much to catch up.  Just why we are unable to play the first half of games like the second remains a mystery, but it is one that needs to be resolved, as coming games against Chelsea, Mancashter United and Mancashter City might be more painful than this defeat.

Stan Chun

• A minute’s silence was held before kick-off to commemorate Remembrance Sunday and both teams wore poppies on their shirts.
• Ipswich’s win was their first in the Premier League since 24th April 2022.