Let’s be honest, its February and Ipswich sit 4th. Sunderland are 6th, and Ipswich have not beaten a team in the top-6 all year, but none of this genuinely makes it a ‘must-win’.
The fans on Saturday began leaving Portman Road when Peterborough scored the 4th goal, 75 minutes and the 21,000 fans looked a lot more like 11,000. The radio phone-in, along with multiple fansites, and the dreaded Facebook groups, all dwelled on the result. They critiqued the ‘keeper error, the ref and how awful it all was.
In truth, it’s not awful! Yes, Ipswich began the season with the arrogance of a PDC dart player facing drunks in a pub. An expectation to dominate the league (especially after a flying start) was the constant in all chatter.
A poor run in November and December saw Ipswich slip into the play-off spaces, And the big loss to promotion rival Peterborough has changed the mood around Portman Road. Well, with some fans at least.
Truth be told, key injuries have also played a part, and a brief dabble in squad rotation, even formation tinkering has featured, but Ipswich are not a club in crisis, despite the Twitterati claiming so.
Few teams run a perfect campaign, most teams have purple patches along with rough ones, Ipswich Town are no different, and I for one think labelling a trip to the Stadium of Light as a must-win as quite absurd. For starters, it isn’t a happy hunting ground and Sunderland are also in the promotion mix. Yes, you could argue it is a 6-pointer, but we have three months to go in the season. Sunderland are by no means mugs, in fact when they play well, they are arguably one of the most pleasant teams to watch.
Since Saturday (it is only Tuesday as I write this) I have seen polls, discussions and arguments about almost every aspect, Is Lambert the right man? Should we drop ‘keeper Norris?, Is Owner Evans to blame for it all? Should we have thrown money at it in January? (Quick answer Yes, Maybe, No, No)
I have lost count of ‘angry’ posts, berating Chambers, Wilson, Norris (again), Judge, Skuse even Jackson, Keane and Norwood all get a mention, it feels like our fanbase has changed from a sensible one to a reactionary blub fest like Man Utd, (for those who saw the ‘I want my club back’ Twitter meltdown on Sunday).
United, sit 5th in the Premier League, with a £billion team, hardly the problems faced by near neighbours and former league team Bury, who went out of business for less than Pogba earns for being moody.
What I guess I am talking about is the new wave of fans, with their out of context reactions. I sit near a video-blogger at Ipswich, he’s a nice lad, quite smart too, and doesn’t, post anything overly controversial. Some of his bits are quite funny, others less so, but the amount of people who have to write on his posts how much they dislike him makes me think of how awful the new way of ‘telling everyone everything all the time’ is detrimental to all forms of expression.
The ‘I’m offended’ generation is creeping into the simplistic love of just enjoying a game of football; probably whilst also telling you they don’t agree with your diet, lifestyle, haircut and breathing pattern.
