City recovered from a poor start to record a very impressive victory.These early kick-off's are great, aren't they? It nearly wasn'tbecause City were still asleep for the first 15 minutes but whatfollowed was a display in clinical finishing and controlled possessionwith the old 'stupid goal in first half stoppage time' in between.
It wasn't any particular problem early on, more a combination ofthings. Ipswich flew out of the blocks, they looked very sharp anddirect and broke quickly whenever the opportunity presented itself. Wegave them that opportunity far too often. We were sloppy inpossession, guilty of overplaying a bit when we'd pushed our fullback's forward and made individual errors. Sam Ricketts let Robertsturn him easily early on but Boaz rescued us, Ashbee missed a tacklebadly in midfield and Wayne Brown misread a header on the halfway lineto let Alan Lee in behind. Ipswich hit the post twice, once deflectedoff Ricketts, and got plenty of men forward every time. We looked veryshaky, one man aside. Michael Turner was magnificent again. He made 4or 5 crucial interventions and was the foundation for the wholeperformance. If not for Turner, we'd have been 2 or 3 down and sunk.Instead, we were able to get into the game, our first bit of qualityplay forced a corner, JJ played it short, got it back and delivered asuper cross for Pedersen to head home. The rest of the first half waspretty even after that and apart from the Ipswich goal, we defendedfar more stubbornly for the last 70 minutes.
Myhill showed what he gives us, he made a crucial save with his footvery early on and a pair of brave blocks. He was quick off his lineand came out and caught superbly from a corner when the nerves werejangling. He could've done that more often, there were another 2 or 3crosses that Turner dealt with in the 6 yard box that Bo should havetaken. Ricketts was all action again. He wasn't able to move forwardin the first half because of the Ipswich threat, but second half hestarted to motor on and kept them occupied. Apart from the earlymistake, he was solid at the back. It's noticeable that crosses haverarely come in from our right in the last few games. Dawson startedpoorly, giving the ball away and getting caught upfield. He grew intothe game though. His distribution in the second quarter was much moresensible and gave Windass the opportunity to hold the ball up andsecond half, he kept things short and looked very composed. Brownalways looks liable to make a mistake, but gives his mates a realcalming influence. I don't think it's a coincidence that Turner isplaying outstandingly well with Brown alongside him. Brown took asmack on the nose and just got on with things. He scored a nice goal,a lovely flick header and had a super second half. Turner made a sillyfoul on Alan Lee and headed a ball that Brown had covered buteverything else he did was superb. There's no beating him in the air,his positioning is much improved and the timing of his tackles isexcellent. If he learns to bring the the ball out, he'll be far toogood for us.
The midfield tried to get a foothold on the game early on, but failed.Ipswich cut through us far too easily and exploited the gap betweendefence and midfield. Ash and Marney deserve lots of credit. Theyrolled their sleeves up and got stuck into tackles and put their footon the ball. After we'd nicked the first goal, we looked morecomfortable and in the second half, they barely wasted a pass. It's acombo with great balance (when it works), Ash does the dirty job, winsthe ball in the air and sits deeper, while Marney has bags of energy,pushes forward and looks more inventive. He had his best game in awhile. The second half suited him, the whole team played the ball abit shorter, there was room to run into around Okocha and plenty ofoptions for the man on the ball. There's plenty of room forimprovement in Deano #2, he needs to be involved in the game for thewhole 90 minutes, he can drive into the box when the ball is wide andhe can get on the ball higher up the pitch and use the accelerationand control he has to hurt teams. He's bounced back well, because hewas poor last week. As we came into the game, we used the two widerplayers much more, we hadn't really early on. Neither has a lot ofpace, but they are confident, strong and make good runs off the ball.Garcia did well without really threatening the penalty area butPedersen will hog the headlines. His header was a good finish. Heflashed over the bar after a superb move from Garcia, Okocha andWindass when he probably should have scored and then he scored asuperb second goal to kill the game. The ball came from our area,Garcia into Okocha, a superb reverse pass to Deano and he held theball up before dinking it superbly into the path of Pedersen's run andHenrik smashed it hard and low. He didn't do a lot else in anattacking sense, but he gave us great balance and tracked back too.
Dean Windass was back and looking fresh as a daisy. He was pretty muchup front alone because Okocha rarely got in and around the box. Heheld the ball up well and brought players into the game (most of thetime). He played his part in the second and third goals and harasseddefenders for an hour or so. Okocha was absolutely outrageous attimes. His general play is good, he floats around the pitch, gives agood option for a pass and links the play well. He's not afraid to trythe difficult pass and it didn't quite come off today, but it will.His crossing is fantastic, he assisted two of our goals and played akey role in the third. He's a great influence on his team mates, healways wants the ball, he revels in the responsibility, he doesn'tpanic and the sort of situation we faced today is made for him. SteveMcPhee replaced Windass and did OK. He ran the channels and got into 2or 3 decent positions, but the ball didn't quite fall for him. It wasa good substitution, because it gave the Ipswich defence a realproblem to deal with when Windass was flagging. PB had a good gametoday, introducing Livermore for Okocha with 20 minutes to go, givingOkocha a rest and Ipswich another brick to knock through in ourmidfield. Peter Taylor would've made that substitution at 1-0! BryanHughes replaced Pedersen, who got a great reception, and looked a bitout of place on the left.
The result was as harsh on Ipswich as the 2-5 was on us last season,but we deserved to win the game. We were outplayed for 20 minutes and3-0 was a surreal scoreline, but what followed was excellent. Wefinished clinically, scoring 3 times in the first half from 4 chances,not something we've really done, well, ever. We controlled the secondhalf, it was the sort of professional performance we really don't do.There weren't any alarms or incidents. We kept the ball, made chancesand snubbed out an attack who'd looked very, very threatening. Thegaffer picked the right team. I wouldn't have picked Pedersen afterWednesday and after Sheffield, I'd probably have left out Marney forHughes. Thankfully, I'm not in charge. Top marks for Phil Brown today.
So onwards we go again. Charlton at home. Normally, you'd always keepa winning team, but we've always looked a bit predictable when we'vecome off the back of a win. Perhaps that's why we haven't managed manyback to back victories. Certainly if Folan is fit, he might give us adifferent option and give Charlton a different, and hopefully bigger,problem. PB said after the game that Coles and Bridges would followCollins out on loan. I don't think either can argue, they've hadopportunities and haven't taken them. Coles isn't the same player hewas when he came here. Bridges just isn't the player he was, fullstop. Browny hinted that a defender and forward would come in on loan.Hopefully, it's a right-back, because we look one player short of anoutstanding back five. The home form is getting better, 2 wins and adraw in 4 games is much better. Fortress KC, here we come.
Ratings: Myhill 7, Ricketts 7, Dawson 6, Turner 9, Brown 7; Garcia 6,Pedersen 7 (Hughes), Ashbee 7, Marney 7; Okocha 7 (Livermore); Windass7 (McPhee).
It wasn't any particular problem early on, more a combination ofthings. Ipswich flew out of the blocks, they looked very sharp anddirect and broke quickly whenever the opportunity presented itself. Wegave them that opportunity far too often. We were sloppy inpossession, guilty of overplaying a bit when we'd pushed our fullback's forward and made individual errors. Sam Ricketts let Robertsturn him easily early on but Boaz rescued us, Ashbee missed a tacklebadly in midfield and Wayne Brown misread a header on the halfway lineto let Alan Lee in behind. Ipswich hit the post twice, once deflectedoff Ricketts, and got plenty of men forward every time. We looked veryshaky, one man aside. Michael Turner was magnificent again. He made 4or 5 crucial interventions and was the foundation for the wholeperformance. If not for Turner, we'd have been 2 or 3 down and sunk.Instead, we were able to get into the game, our first bit of qualityplay forced a corner, JJ played it short, got it back and delivered asuper cross for Pedersen to head home. The rest of the first half waspretty even after that and apart from the Ipswich goal, we defendedfar more stubbornly for the last 70 minutes.
Myhill showed what he gives us, he made a crucial save with his footvery early on and a pair of brave blocks. He was quick off his lineand came out and caught superbly from a corner when the nerves werejangling. He could've done that more often, there were another 2 or 3crosses that Turner dealt with in the 6 yard box that Bo should havetaken. Ricketts was all action again. He wasn't able to move forwardin the first half because of the Ipswich threat, but second half hestarted to motor on and kept them occupied. Apart from the earlymistake, he was solid at the back. It's noticeable that crosses haverarely come in from our right in the last few games. Dawson startedpoorly, giving the ball away and getting caught upfield. He grew intothe game though. His distribution in the second quarter was much moresensible and gave Windass the opportunity to hold the ball up andsecond half, he kept things short and looked very composed. Brownalways looks liable to make a mistake, but gives his mates a realcalming influence. I don't think it's a coincidence that Turner isplaying outstandingly well with Brown alongside him. Brown took asmack on the nose and just got on with things. He scored a nice goal,a lovely flick header and had a super second half. Turner made a sillyfoul on Alan Lee and headed a ball that Brown had covered buteverything else he did was superb. There's no beating him in the air,his positioning is much improved and the timing of his tackles isexcellent. If he learns to bring the the ball out, he'll be far toogood for us.
The midfield tried to get a foothold on the game early on, but failed.Ipswich cut through us far too easily and exploited the gap betweendefence and midfield. Ash and Marney deserve lots of credit. Theyrolled their sleeves up and got stuck into tackles and put their footon the ball. After we'd nicked the first goal, we looked morecomfortable and in the second half, they barely wasted a pass. It's acombo with great balance (when it works), Ash does the dirty job, winsthe ball in the air and sits deeper, while Marney has bags of energy,pushes forward and looks more inventive. He had his best game in awhile. The second half suited him, the whole team played the ball abit shorter, there was room to run into around Okocha and plenty ofoptions for the man on the ball. There's plenty of room forimprovement in Deano #2, he needs to be involved in the game for thewhole 90 minutes, he can drive into the box when the ball is wide andhe can get on the ball higher up the pitch and use the accelerationand control he has to hurt teams. He's bounced back well, because hewas poor last week. As we came into the game, we used the two widerplayers much more, we hadn't really early on. Neither has a lot ofpace, but they are confident, strong and make good runs off the ball.Garcia did well without really threatening the penalty area butPedersen will hog the headlines. His header was a good finish. Heflashed over the bar after a superb move from Garcia, Okocha andWindass when he probably should have scored and then he scored asuperb second goal to kill the game. The ball came from our area,Garcia into Okocha, a superb reverse pass to Deano and he held theball up before dinking it superbly into the path of Pedersen's run andHenrik smashed it hard and low. He didn't do a lot else in anattacking sense, but he gave us great balance and tracked back too.
Dean Windass was back and looking fresh as a daisy. He was pretty muchup front alone because Okocha rarely got in and around the box. Heheld the ball up well and brought players into the game (most of thetime). He played his part in the second and third goals and harasseddefenders for an hour or so. Okocha was absolutely outrageous attimes. His general play is good, he floats around the pitch, gives agood option for a pass and links the play well. He's not afraid to trythe difficult pass and it didn't quite come off today, but it will.His crossing is fantastic, he assisted two of our goals and played akey role in the third. He's a great influence on his team mates, healways wants the ball, he revels in the responsibility, he doesn'tpanic and the sort of situation we faced today is made for him. SteveMcPhee replaced Windass and did OK. He ran the channels and got into 2or 3 decent positions, but the ball didn't quite fall for him. It wasa good substitution, because it gave the Ipswich defence a realproblem to deal with when Windass was flagging. PB had a good gametoday, introducing Livermore for Okocha with 20 minutes to go, givingOkocha a rest and Ipswich another brick to knock through in ourmidfield. Peter Taylor would've made that substitution at 1-0! BryanHughes replaced Pedersen, who got a great reception, and looked a bitout of place on the left.
The result was as harsh on Ipswich as the 2-5 was on us last season,but we deserved to win the game. We were outplayed for 20 minutes and3-0 was a surreal scoreline, but what followed was excellent. Wefinished clinically, scoring 3 times in the first half from 4 chances,not something we've really done, well, ever. We controlled the secondhalf, it was the sort of professional performance we really don't do.There weren't any alarms or incidents. We kept the ball, made chancesand snubbed out an attack who'd looked very, very threatening. Thegaffer picked the right team. I wouldn't have picked Pedersen afterWednesday and after Sheffield, I'd probably have left out Marney forHughes. Thankfully, I'm not in charge. Top marks for Phil Brown today.
So onwards we go again. Charlton at home. Normally, you'd always keepa winning team, but we've always looked a bit predictable when we'vecome off the back of a win. Perhaps that's why we haven't managed manyback to back victories. Certainly if Folan is fit, he might give us adifferent option and give Charlton a different, and hopefully bigger,problem. PB said after the game that Coles and Bridges would followCollins out on loan. I don't think either can argue, they've hadopportunities and haven't taken them. Coles isn't the same player hewas when he came here. Bridges just isn't the player he was, fullstop. Browny hinted that a defender and forward would come in on loan.Hopefully, it's a right-back, because we look one player short of anoutstanding back five. The home form is getting better, 2 wins and adraw in 4 games is much better. Fortress KC, here we come.
Ratings: Myhill 7, Ricketts 7, Dawson 6, Turner 9, Brown 7; Garcia 6,Pedersen 7 (Hughes), Ashbee 7, Marney 7; Okocha 7 (Livermore); Windass7 (McPhee).