| The thing that struck me most last night ... 09:24 - Mar 6 with 2816 views | SomethingBlue |
... was how relatively calm I felt, and everyone around me in NS seemed to feel, when the penalty was saved. Could have been a huge sliding doors moment in our season but it just seemed clear to everyone that we'd go again and get at least one more huge chance to win. I see McKenna has said something similar and he's right. Incredible response from the team to it, most of all – the mentality of these guys is something very, very special.
What else to say? Perhaps the craziest and most dramatic, enthralling conclusion to a match in a rapidly increasing list. Bristol City did a very good job on us but we have the ability to absolutely transform a game in its final quarter and, as long as we keep most of our weapons fit, it will continue to serve us brilliantly. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:27 - Mar 6 with 2423 views | ITFC_Forever |
The rubbish being spouted by fans of Leeds and Leicester about us being lucky is exactly that - rubbish.
It's about fitness, subs from the bench who are invested and engaged in what we are doing and how we are going to do it, and the character and belief the side has.
The run-in to the end of L1 12 months ago may prove to be very useful experience to draw on - the players know how to handle the situation and (to use a couple of cliches) take it one game at a time, concentrate on our own situation and not get distracted by what others are doing. [Post edited 6 Mar 9:49]
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:27 - Mar 6 with 2415 views | Garv |
When we're drawing or losing now the last 10 minutes of every game feels like the last 30! You just know a goal will come. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:28 - Mar 6 with 2392 views | NthQldITFC |
It's not universal of course, but one of the many magnificent achievements of McKenna is the way he has educated the vast majority of the Portman Road crowd, and the gain from that is far more than marginal when it results in the sort of support under all circumstances that you've rightly noted here.
What a time to be a Blue. |  |
| # WE ARE STEALING THE FUTURE FROM OUR CHILDREN --- WE MUST CHANGE COURSE # | | Poll: | It's driving me nuts |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:29 - Mar 6 with 2381 views | Ryorry |
Yep. Even before it was taken I thought we were more likely to score from open play than that pen itself! |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:30 - Mar 6 with 2360 views | tractorboy1978 |
Drink it in. A once in a generation team.
You are so right, the whole stadium just brushed it off and knew we would go again. When they went 2-1 up, I think most of the ground still thought we could win too. A goal conceded is an inconvenience rather than a big setback. [Post edited 6 Mar 9:34]
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:30 - Mar 6 with 2348 views | BlueBadger |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:27 - Mar 6 by ITFC_Forever |
The rubbish being spouted by fans of Leeds and Leicester about us being lucky is exactly that - rubbish.
It's about fitness, subs from the bench who are invested and engaged in what we are doing and how we are going to do it, and the character and belief the side has.
The run-in to the end of L1 12 months ago may prove to be very useful experience to draw on - the players know how to handle the situation and (to use a couple of cliches) take it one game at a time, concentrate on our own situation and not get distracted by what others are doing. [Post edited 6 Mar 9:49]
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That whole 'league one team' jibe we keep hearing is ironically, probably our biggest strength. It's a squad that, bar a few strategic upgrades here and there, is essentially the same one which stormed to promotion. There's an enormous level of togetherness, understand and seemingly unbreakable team spirit in this side.
Look how EVERYONE on the bench celebrates when we score, regardless of how likely they are to see game time in the match. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:31 - Mar 6 with 2335 views | SomethingBlue |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:27 - Mar 6 by ITFC_Forever |
The rubbish being spouted by fans of Leeds and Leicester about us being lucky is exactly that - rubbish.
It's about fitness, subs from the bench who are invested and engaged in what we are doing and how we are going to do it, and the character and belief the side has.
The run-in to the end of L1 12 months ago may prove to be very useful experience to draw on - the players know how to handle the situation and (to use a couple of cliches) take it one game at a time, concentrate on our own situation and not get distracted by what others are doing. [Post edited 6 Mar 9:49]
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Yes it's nonsense that they're deploying to help each other cope with being in a proper dogfight against a club they'd forgotten about, we can leave them to it and see how it serves them.
Not sure how any of us can cope with many more nights like that, but there'll almost certainly be some and the players would seemingly back themselves to turn pretty much any situation around at the moment. | |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:31 - Mar 6 with 2330 views | BiGDonnie |
I was absolutely gutted when he missed it.
Also, I think it's the worst penalty I've ever seen. Passing it 2 feet to the keepers right. WTF. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:33 - Mar 6 with 2288 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:31 - Mar 6 by BiGDonnie |
I was absolutely gutted when he missed it.
Also, I think it's the worst penalty I've ever seen. Passing it 2 feet to the keepers right. WTF. |
It was more the pace than the position.
You see a lot of pens scored like that, as the keeper often dives over them. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:46 - Mar 6 with 2143 views | Guthrum |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:27 - Mar 6 by ITFC_Forever |
The rubbish being spouted by fans of Leeds and Leicester about us being lucky is exactly that - rubbish.
It's about fitness, subs from the bench who are invested and engaged in what we are doing and how we are going to do it, and the character and belief the side has.
The run-in to the end of L1 12 months ago may prove to be very useful experience to draw on - the players know how to handle the situation and (to use a couple of cliches) take it one game at a time, concentrate on our own situation and not get distracted by what others are doing. [Post edited 6 Mar 9:49]
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With the subs, I don't think it's only that they're 'invested and engaged', but also about the relative quality of the players.
We don't have a starting eleven with second-rate "cover" on the bench. It's more like an army commander holding a powerful reserve ready to throw in at the best moment to win the battle. Or in rugby, with "starters" and "finishers". A clearly defined strategy, rather than just "looks a bit tired, suppose I have to take him off".
I thought it was interesting that Manning held back his top-scoring striker until late in the game, to make an impact (and it did). |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:03 - Mar 6 with 2035 views | Guthrum |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:33 - Mar 6 by Marshalls_Mullet |
It was more the pace than the position.
You see a lot of pens scored like that, as the keeper often dives over them. |
Yes, that was my thought. A full-blooded thump and it might have got through the 'keeper even going the right way. Or been too strong to catch and rebounded for a tap-in (Chaplin was charging forwards the moment the ball was struck). | |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:08 - Mar 6 with 1990 views | Vaughan8 |
I have to admit, this season (and last) I don't get worried if we go 1-0 down.
Only a handful of seasons i've ever felt like that. | | | |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:10 - Mar 6 with 1962 views | Ryorry |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:46 - Mar 6 by Guthrum |
With the subs, I don't think it's only that they're 'invested and engaged', but also about the relative quality of the players.
We don't have a starting eleven with second-rate "cover" on the bench. It's more like an army commander holding a powerful reserve ready to throw in at the best moment to win the battle. Or in rugby, with "starters" and "finishers". A clearly defined strategy, rather than just "looks a bit tired, suppose I have to take him off".
I thought it was interesting that Manning held back his top-scoring striker until late in the game, to make an impact (and it did). |
All that, and the overall fitness of the squad too - a massive tribute to not just the fitness, physio and medical staff, but also to Gamechanger's thoroughness in overhauling & investing big-time in all departments.
Compare and contrast with ME's ploy of having our fitness coach wfh over 400 miles away - highlights his almost non-league attitude to running - sorry, mis-spelled ruining - ITFC. | |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:26 - Mar 6 with 1879 views | bluelagos |
Was thinking similar. Same when we went behind, both times there was little groaning, anxiety - a realisation that our task just got harder but not the collective "ffs" you used to get.
Lots of patience in the crowd last night, lots of singing. lots of encouragement - we really were part of it - obs not as much as the players or KM - but we played our part brilliantly. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:33 - Mar 6 with 1827 views | SamWhiteUK |
Watching on the TV I noticed that the ground was very quiet after the penalty. No moaning and groaning from the home fans, but also not really any significant cheering from the away end. Perhaps they could tell it was far from over. |  | | |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:33 - Mar 6 with 1831 views | Kieran_Knows |
Honestly SB, the day Kieran McKenna leaves this football club we may as well shut the gates behind him and stick a padlock on them because what will be the point anymore?
What a group of players, what a manager. Never want it to end. [Post edited 6 Mar 10:33]
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:37 - Mar 6 with 1786 views | Bluespeed225 |
It is palpable, if that’s the word, the lack of moaning or defeatism after a miss, going a goal down, the odd pass going astray, we used to know going a goal down meant game over, not any more. It comes from the base of the pyramid now being strong. And we the fans have been educated too, all in this together! | | | |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:41 - Mar 6 with 1734 views | chicoazul |
Mentality Monsters, as someone famously called it. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:45 - Mar 6 with 1695 views | Bigalhunter |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:30 - Mar 6 by BlueBadger |
That whole 'league one team' jibe we keep hearing is ironically, probably our biggest strength. It's a squad that, bar a few strategic upgrades here and there, is essentially the same one which stormed to promotion. There's an enormous level of togetherness, understand and seemingly unbreakable team spirit in this side.
Look how EVERYONE on the bench celebrates when we score, regardless of how likely they are to see game time in the match. |
Reminds me of the team Burley took up to the Premier League twenty odd years ago.
Largely the same group of players that won promotion and they just carried that winning know how into the next season. Little wobble after Xmas followed by a strong finish that nearly got us Champions League football. |  | | |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:49 - Mar 6 with 1647 views | _clive_baker_ |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:27 - Mar 6 by ITFC_Forever |
The rubbish being spouted by fans of Leeds and Leicester about us being lucky is exactly that - rubbish.
It's about fitness, subs from the bench who are invested and engaged in what we are doing and how we are going to do it, and the character and belief the side has.
The run-in to the end of L1 12 months ago may prove to be very useful experience to draw on - the players know how to handle the situation and (to use a couple of cliches) take it one game at a time, concentrate on our own situation and not get distracted by what others are doing. [Post edited 6 Mar 9:49]
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I honestly don't know why people care what some tools on Leeds and Leicester forums think. They largely have absolutely no idea about what's going on at Ipswich, that much is evident from the nonsense they spout, and it really isn't worth giving any credence to.
If anyone could be bothered to actually look at the underlying stats they would very quickly conclude that we're where we are on merit, as we were last season. Just about any metric you look at will tell the same story - possession, entries into opposition box, XG for and against.
McKenna has taken charge of 105 league games for us if I'm not mistaken.
P105 W62 D31 L12
Pts 217/315
PPG: 2.06
Excluding that 1st half season:
P82 W51 D23 L8
Pts 176/246
PPG: 2.15
This season only:
P36 W23 D9 L4
Pts 78
PPG: 2.17
Over last season and this we've come away with points in over 90% of our games, it's absolutely ludicrous. If that's not a large enough sample size to see what McKenna has done in his time here and how good we are as a squad I don't know what is. We're also achieving a higher PPG this season than we achieved last season in L1, with largely the same squad of players and significantly less resources than the parachute clubs, so they're not stats that are inflated by playing at L1 level. I can see why they're salty, but most neutrals will be in our corner and loving what we're doing right now, and rightly so. |  | | |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:51 - Mar 6 with 1637 views | gainsboroughblue |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:27 - Mar 6 by ITFC_Forever |
The rubbish being spouted by fans of Leeds and Leicester about us being lucky is exactly that - rubbish.
It's about fitness, subs from the bench who are invested and engaged in what we are doing and how we are going to do it, and the character and belief the side has.
The run-in to the end of L1 12 months ago may prove to be very useful experience to draw on - the players know how to handle the situation and (to use a couple of cliches) take it one game at a time, concentrate on our own situation and not get distracted by what others are doing. [Post edited 6 Mar 9:49]
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It's the desperation of it which is really amusing. Deflected goals are now shots/headers that were going in anyway which keepers/defenders can't keep out.
One X poster today says it 'needs investigating' and I don't think he was joking either. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 11:00 - Mar 6 with 1585 views | _clive_baker_ |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:51 - Mar 6 by gainsboroughblue |
It's the desperation of it which is really amusing. Deflected goals are now shots/headers that were going in anyway which keepers/defenders can't keep out.
One X poster today says it 'needs investigating' and I don't think he was joking either. |
Some of it is so ridiculous I genuinely question whether they actually believe it themselves. The Leicester caller to TalkSport who spoke of our 'deflected equaliser' at their place for example. For one, I don't see how it was given Sarmiento tw@tted a rebound from 6 yards that hit their keeper on the way in. For two, conveniently forgot to mention that their goal was an own goal. So weird. | | | |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 11:04 - Mar 6 with 1565 views | baxterbasics |
I think the worst point for me was when their second goal went in. I thought even we didn't have enough time left to grab the three points at that stage.
Always delighted to have my pessimism proved wrong though. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 13:54 - Mar 6 with 1330 views | Bent_double |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 10:08 - Mar 6 by Vaughan8 |
I have to admit, this season (and last) I don't get worried if we go 1-0 down.
Only a handful of seasons i've ever felt like that. |
The worst thing any team can do is score against us. We seem to step up a gear. How many points from a losing position now, must be almost 30. |  |
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| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 14:00 - Mar 6 with 1292 views | BiGDonnie |
| The thing that struck me most last night ... on 09:33 - Mar 6 by Marshalls_Mullet |
It was more the pace than the position.
You see a lot of pens scored like that, as the keeper often dives over them. |
Bumped into the one and only Massimo this morning and told him to give AAH pelters for the penalty. | |
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