S25/26 | The Official Match Thread | Ipswich Town 3 Swansea City 0 | Att: 27,594 | 28/02/26 | The EFL Championship | Portman Road

[Pegojack]

The last couple of games have felt like steps backwards for me

The players going all out and leaving nothing behind in the tank combined with a unified and hungry press has felt missing in the last three or four games. This was more evident than ever today where our press was reactive rather than pro active meaning that their players always had time to pick their heads up and find the next pass before the players arrived to close them down.

As well as making them look better than they were (we saw that they were highly vulnerable to losing the ball in dangerous areas the few times we did catch them out) it left a bunch of players expending all the energy and leaving big gaps for them to play the ball into when they did inevitably beat the half assed press.

Compare that to the times when we had possession and it was slow, ponderous, safe and predictable. Pass it around the defenders and Stamenic before humping a floated long ball in the hopes that Nunes or Eom could get onto them and create something out of nothing (spoiler warning - they didn't).

The number of times we chose not to play in an early ball or pass it on the ground into the channel or slip it between defenders so someone could beat the press, turn and drive at them was beyond infuriating. I recall one moment in particular about 75 mins in, Walta committed a midfielder, took it to the side and played it around him to Stamenic ahead of him who had about 20 yards of free space to turn and drive into.

Instead he took the ball back past Walta under zero pressure before turning and passing it sideways to Cabango. In the first half Eom had played a beautiful ball around the full back to send Galbraith scampering free down the wing, he had a huge area he could aim to bend in a ball between keeper and onrushing center halves with three Swans players moving into the box to support him. Instead he checked back and passed it back to Stamenic who in turn passed it to Cabango resulting in the whole Ipswich team being back goalside.

Great post. We are going NOWHERE until Vic Tomatoes totally eradicates that mentality from the team. It's soul destroying to watch as a fan.

 

[Captain_Sham]

I’m talking about now.

I am saying you won’t be getting teams relegated and walking the league now. It’s too competitive with cash spreading out to teams that wouldn’t normally have it.

Saying it’s happened before doesn’t take away the fact that PL teams are not running away with the league.

You literally said "Gone are the days of teams getting 100 hundred points". And you are totally wrong about that, and most others things.

 

[Swanjaxs]

Great post. We are going NOWHERE until Vic Tomatoes totally eradicates that mentality from the team. It's soul destroying to watch as a fan.

Chill out Peggy mun, get a glass of prosecco down ew neck

 

[TruckerJack]

You literally said "Gone are the days of teams getting 100 hundred points". And you are totally wrong about that, and most others things.

And I stand by it.

Your argument to the opposite is to refer to days… that have gone.

 

[cmajack]

The last couple of games have felt like steps backwards for me

The players going all out and leaving nothing behind in the tank combined with a unified and hungry press has felt missing in the last three or four games. This was more evident than ever today where our press was reactive rather than pro active meaning that their players always had time to pick their heads up and find the next pass before the players arrived to close them down.

As well as making them look better than they were (we saw that they were highly vulnerable to losing the ball in dangerous areas the few times we did catch them out) it left a bunch of players expending all the energy and leaving big gaps for them to play the ball into when they did inevitably beat the half assed press.

Compare that to the times when we had possession and it was slow, ponderous, safe and predictable. Pass it around the defenders and Stamenic before humping a floated long ball in the hopes that Nunes or Eom could get onto them and create something out of nothing (spoiler warning - they didn't).

The number of times we chose not to play in an early ball or pass it on the ground into the channel or slip it between defenders so someone could beat the press, turn and drive at them was beyond infuriating. I recall one moment in particular about 75 mins in, Walta committed a midfielder, took it to the side and played it around him to Stamenic ahead of him who had about 20 yards of free space to turn and drive into.

Instead he took the ball back past Walta under zero pressure before turning and passing it sideways to Cabango. In the first half Eom had played a beautiful ball around the full back to send Galbraith scampering free down the wing, he had a huge area he could aim to bend in a ball between keeper and onrushing center halves with three Swans players moving into the box to support him. Instead he checked back and passed it back to Stamenic who in turn passed it to Cabango resulting in the whole Ipswich team being back goalside.

The last couple of away games we have gone back to the way we played under Martin and Williams, slow , ponderous sideways and backward passing. We had over 70 per cent possession against Derby and did nothing with most of it.

 

[Pegojack]

Chill out Peggy mun, get a glass of prosecco down ew neck

Didn't that display drive you batchy?

 

[Swans Jack]

The last couple of games have felt like steps backwards for me

The players going all out and leaving nothing behind in the tank combined with a unified and hungry press has felt missing in the last three or four games. This was more evident than ever today where our press was reactive rather than pro active meaning that their players always had time to pick their heads up and find the next pass before the players arrived to close them down.

As well as making them look better than they were (we saw that they were highly vulnerable to losing the ball in dangerous areas the few times we did catch them out) it left a bunch of players expending all the energy and leaving big gaps for them to play the ball into when they did inevitably beat the half assed press.

Compare that to the times when we had possession and it was slow, ponderous, safe and predictable. Pass it around the defenders and Stamenic before humping a floated long ball in the hopes that Nunes or Eom could get onto them and create something out of nothing (spoiler warning - they didn't).

The number of times we chose not to play in an early ball or pass it on the ground into the channel or slip it between defenders so someone could beat the press, turn and drive at them was beyond infuriating. I recall one moment in particular about 75 mins in, Walta committed a midfielder, took it to the side and played it around him to Stamenic ahead of him who had about 20 yards of free space to turn and drive into.

Instead he took the ball back past Walta under zero pressure before turning and passing it sideways to Cabango. In the first half Eom had played a beautiful ball around the full back to send Galbraith scampering free down the wing, he had a huge area he could aim to bend in a ball between keeper and onrushing center halves with three Swans players moving into the box to support him. Instead he checked back and passed it back to Stamenic who in turn passed it to Cabango resulting in the whole Ipswich team being back goalside.

My biggest take is how, like you mentioned, we look like both literally in every way we are going backwards. There is glimpses of nice play and what Matos wants. But maybe, just maybe it's individual players not up to this challenge long term? Eom, Ronald, Cullen? I think alot of the issues nearly in every game has come from RB. Get that fixed and it will solve some of our issues... Some..

 

[Frankie Burrows Cap]

I’m talking about now.

I am saying you won’t be getting teams relegated and walking the league now. It’s too competitive with cash spreading out to teams that wouldn’t normally have it.

Saying it’s happened before doesn’t take away the fact that PL teams are not running away with the league.

It happened last season and the year before though.

You’re spot on in that’s it’s not happening this season (although I wouldn’t bet against 2 of the 3 relegated teams still being promoted).

I’m not sure that 1 season shows a pattern - will be interesting to see what happens next year with some ‘big’ clubs likely to come down.

I hope you’re right though, as it’s far more interesting when you don’t have 3/4 spots in the top 6 nailed on before the season starts as we’ve had recently.

 

[Cwmbwrla Floatabout]

Does anyone think Grimes will be available if Coventry get promoted? Might be useful for our re-emergent backwards and sideways game.

 

[Swans Jack]

Seen some criticism of Matos after today’s game (not on here btw). He may have got it wrong against Preston in the first half and earlier on today but it’s harsh to criticise him considering where we were when he came in. He is still a very new manager, not just to this league but in general. He’s got to be given the space to make mistakes and learn from them.

Matos gets a free pass for a while for me, based on what he is trying to do and what he has done. But he needs to get the RB sorted. It doesn't help with individual players issues. But we have 0 clue what he says to the players, but I hope to god he telling the players to stop slowing play down and passing backwards.

 

[T8AD365]

Does anyone think Grimes will be available if Coventry get promoted? Might be useful for our re-emergent backwards and sideways game.

It'll be funny watching him retreat further and further backwards to try to get some time and space on the ball in the PL

 

[TruckerJack]

It happened last season and the year before though.

You’re spot on in that’s it’s not happening this season (although I wouldn’t bet against 2 of the 3 relegated teams still being promoted).

I’m not sure that 1 season shows a pattern - will be interesting to see what happens next year with some ‘big’ clubs likely to come down.

I hope you’re right though, as it’s far more interesting when you don’t have 3/4 spots in the top 6 nailed on before the season starts as we’ve had recently.

Yes that’s the point im making, the league is getting better and money is flowing into it. Wrexham and Birmingham have top 6 budgets I would say, which I can’t remember ever happening before from L1 promoted sides - then you have the parachute teams.

You can loosely tell the strength of a league by how well the Premier League teams adapt to it, and they have not been faring well. We are 35 games into the season and how many weeks have any of them occupied the auto positions?

 

[Frankie Burrows Cap]

Yes that’s the point im making, the league is getting better and money is flowing into it. Wrexham and Birmingham have top 6 budgets I would say, which I can’t remember ever happening before from L1 promoted sides - then you have the parachute teams.

You can loosely tell the strength of a league by how well the Premier League teams adapt to it, and they have not been faring well. We are 35 games into the season and how many weeks have any of them occupied the auto positions?

This season you’re spot on and I’m enjoying non-Swans matches far more as a result.

I was just cautioning getting too far down the line of ‘100 point seasons being over’ and the ‘gap closing’. Let’s see how Wolves, Burnley & West Ham/Forest/… get on next season.

Personally, I think this season was a great opportunity for 10-15 clubs to make a realistic push for promotion, which might not be the case next year (and definitely wasn’t over the last few years)

 

[Londonlisa2001]

Yes that’s the point im making, the league is getting better and money is flowing into it. Wrexham and Birmingham have top 6 budgets I would say, which I can’t remember ever happening before from L1 promoted sides - then you have the parachute teams.

You can loosely tell the strength of a league by how well the Premier League teams adapt to it, and they have not been faring well. We are 35 games into the season and how many weeks have any of them occupied the auto positions?

To be fair, it depends on the premier league team.

Some that have been relegated have been premier league in name only. In other words, they’ve been promoted, been thrashed most weeks and have come back down. That’s not really a sign of anything. Leicester, Ipswich and Soton last season got absolutely nowhere near safety. Southampton were 28 points off the ‘magic 40’. Leicester and Ipswich were 15 and 18 points off (I know 38 was the magic number last year but 40 is a reasonable approximation most years).

They are not premier league teams. They played there last season.

It’s different.

 

[TruckerJack]

To be fair, it depends on the premier league team.

Some that have been relegated have been premier league in name only. In other words, they’ve been promoted, been thrashed most weeks and have come back down. That’s not really a sign of anything. Leicester, Ipswich and Soton last season got absolutely nowhere near safety. Southampton were 28 points off the ‘magic 40’. Leicester and Ipswich were 15 and 18 points off (I know 38 was the magic number last year but 40 is a reasonable approximation most years).

They are not premier league teams. They played there last season.

It’s different.

To have three teams relegated from the Premier League struggle to break the top two suggests that it’s more than just a poor relegated team though.

Put it this way, I don’t see any evidence of this league being worse, only the opposite. Ipswich have a cracking side.