In the previous article, I laid out the crucial fundamentals that will help us achieve success this season and the plan on how to imitate Kieran Mckenna. Also, I jumped into the first game of the season against Sunderland, showcasing the tactical switches I made to hinder their key attackers.
Goals, goals and more goals
The main priority of the tactic was to be a free-scoring machine much like Kieran’s Ipswich; the sheer volume of goals going in each game has exceeded my wildest expectation.
We have scored 82 goals in the league alone and in the first 25 games up to January, which is just obscene. That’s over three goals per game. The catalyst behind this is our ultra-aggressive set up at home, which simply rips teams to shreds. When we win at home, we always win in style.
Scoring 82 goals is no fluke. Although we are overperforming our expected goals by 20, we still boast the highest chance creation, shots on target (ratio) and conversion rate, which is silly. But somehow our arch rivals Norwich pip us to the post in shots per game, which is surprising.
Kieran Mckenna tactic imitation update
The tactic is working a treat and copying Kieran’s key fundamentals has bought us great success. We have over 5000 high intensity sprints, 1000 over the next team. This emphasises the work rate the boys put into every game and that we are outrunning every opponent.
The football we play is so effective, often expertly playing the ball out from the back and then looking for the wide players providing the width quickly. We attack with speed and intensity. The low cut-back crosses, a trademark of both Leif Davis and Wes Burns, have provided many assists. The high press has exploited teams playing out from the back on numerous occasions each game.
Battering teams
I’ll now share some of the high scoring results so far in the first half of the season…
Stoke (H) 6-1
QPR (A) 4-1
Sheffield Wednesday (A) 6-2
Huddersfield (A) 5-2
Hull (H) 4-1
Preston (H) 4-1
Plymouth (H) 5-1
Coventry (H) 4-0
Watford (A) 5-1
It is insane the level of goals we are scoring; somehow it has been sustainable this first half of the season. I expect somewhat of a drop off in the second half of the season. If we continue scoring at this rate, we will walk the division.
League table
I was enjoying playing the save so much, I forgot to post the table on January 1st and kept playing. A couple of very frustrating draws has allowed Norwich to creep back up behind us and make it a proper East Anglian title race! We are currently in pole position for the title.
Poster boys cooking
Conor Chaplin and Leif Davis have both been my standout performers so far this season. I’ll show off the wide range of stats both players have achieved.
Conor Chaplin:
Top goal scorer: 27
Highest average rating: 7.68
Most player of the matches: 7
Best average minutes per goal: 84.93
Most shots: 95, 3.73 per 90
Most shots on target: 57
Leif Davis:
Most assists: 12
Most key passes: 96, 3.56 per min, 51 in open play
Highest chances created: 30
Crosses attempted: 412, almost double the next!, 2.39 per 90
High intensity sprints: 749, 27.95 per 90
Infrastructure developments
Both Mark Ashton and Michael O’Leary share the same ambition as me to grow our infrastructure to the highest levels and they are both easy to convince and deal with.
Our youth recruitment was seriously lacking, so it’s great to get it upgraded so quickly. Even better, serious investment has gone into upgrading the youth facilities so hopefully the youth intakes will be next level!
Youth teams on top
Both the under 21’s and under 18’s are smashing it this season. Under 21’s have won every game, likewise the under 18’s are top of their league as well as making it through to the FA youth cup 5th round where they will face the toughest test yet away at Arsenal.
Youth is something I am looking to prioritise this save, so it’s fantastic that both teams have made such stellar starts. There will be opportunities for youth players: Cam Humphreys impressed so much that he has been my starting segundo volante this season. He has developed in leaps and bounds, and was rewarded with a new long term contract!
East Anglian despair/ hardest run of the season
We went into the first East Anglian derby in fantastic form, with a run of 20 games unbeaten. However, everyone knows form goes out of the window on derby day.
Uncharacteristically, we didn’t turn up. It was meant to be poetic when Ipswich boy Cam Humphreys opened the scoring. However, we were just really poor and as much as it hurts to say it: Norwich deserved the win. Ending your 20-game unbeaten streak in that fashion to Norwich was a very bitter pill to swallow.
It didn’t get any easier at the next game because we had one of the hardest fixtures in the league, away at Elland Road. We were already under the cosh before Harry Clarke decided to two foot someone, which inevitably resulted in a straight red.
It was one-way traffic from there as we experienced a taste of our own medicine and we suffered a brutal 4-0 defeat. Back-to-back defeats is never ideal especially leading up to another monster game: at home to Leicester in a must-win affair to get back on track. Summerville walked through the team.
We got back to winning ways in a somewhat fortuitous fashion. Scoring four goals when not playing well just emphasises how many goals are in this team. JT got his first goal for the club. Conor Chaplin doing Conor Chaplin things.
A priceless win to end the mini rut – a boxing day classic at Portman Road!
Conclusion
Almost the perfect half of a season: free scoring machine and top of the league (just about)!
The next article will cover a busy January transfer window as we look to raise funds to strengthen the team. I will also cover a special FA Cup 3rd round tie! Thanks for reading.