Old Foes
My attention on Saturday evening was drawn to the Coca-Cola Championship, or Division 2 as it was called up until BSkyB came along, and the clash between recently relegated West Bromwich Albion and Ipswich Town. Roberto Di Matteo and Roy Keane faced each other as players on numerous occasions during their careers, with one particular incident in the Charity Shield in 2000 leading to one of the 11 red cards Keane received during his Manchester United career. I was very interested to see how West Brom were adapting to the drop down a division, and observe Keane’s work in progress at Ipswich. What I saw surprised me greatly.
Ipswich were a shambles. I couldn’t believe what I watching. There was no cohesion whatsoever in the team. The offside trap failed more times than a Dick Dastardly attempt to cheat in Wacky Races. The runners from the West Brom’s midfield were left untracked, and Robert Koren enjoying a particularly productive afternoon. Apart from scoring the second, another late surge forced the overworked Richard Wright into a superb reaction save.
The East Anglican side were outfought in every part of the field. WBA seemed a much more physical outfit. This is quite ironic, considering how the Baggies were considered to be a light touch last season in the Premier League. They often fielded sides with four very similar midfielders. Not just Koren and former skipper Jonathan Greening, who almost certainly shares a barber. But every West Brom midfielder looked a clone of who they were playing alongside.Comfortable on the ball, nice passers, but little drive or physical presence to put it up to the stronger teams in the division. This meant that most of their play went down thorough the middle, and opposition teams found them easier to play against than a Stoke or Bolton per say. However on Saturday, they played with a holding midfielder, Youssuf Mulumbu, and full-back Marek Cech played on the left-side of midfield, giving the side balance, and meaning the middle of the park was not over congested.
As for Keane’s side, he will be furious how his defense was outmuscled, and out fought by a 17 -year old making only his third senior appearance. Chris Wood laid on Koren’s goal, and made a general nuisance of himself all afternoon. Alex Bruce and his central defensive partner Pim Balkestein were perplexed by a mixture of Wood’s strength and Luke Moore’s pace and movement. The midfield was pedestrian, with the youngsters Owen Garvan and Jason Trotter looking in desperate need of some guidance. Up front, Jonathan Stead showed the type of form that led to Keane drumming him out of Sunderland almost three years ago. 16-year Conor Wickham looks a real prospect, but he was fighting a losing battle against a surprisingly solid West Brom defence.
The lack of experience throughout the side was baffling. Gareth McCauley and Paolo Conaogo were on the bench, but even their reintroduction in the side would not be enough to galvanize Ipswich. This is why the links circulating yesterday about four Sunderland players to Ipswich made perfect sense. While Keane has been accused of only buying players he knew from earlier in his career in the past, the acquisition of Noron Nosworthy, Carlos Edwards, Daryl Murphy and Grant Ledbitter would no doubt improve the team. All four would be first choice players immediately. They were important figures in Sunderland’s Championship winning side of 2007, and would play a major role in attempting to revitalize Ipswich.
In that promotion season, Keane used a total of 36 players, so he never really had a settled first-choice eleven. It will take some time to come up with the right formula, but he will drag Ipswich up the table. Sunderland were in a very similar position three years ago, and stormed to the title. Keane may not have the same quality of player at his disposal, but in this league anything can happen. Especially if Carlos Edwards can produce more moments like this:
