We asked Preview Percy to film a tearful farewell video in advance of his last preview of the season. The look he gave us suggested that the request may not have been one of our better ideas. So, for the last time this season, here’s the old one with his musings on our final visit to Ipswich for a while. Try not to be too upset. We’re not...
Next up we travel up the A12 to Portman Road where we will be hosted by Ipswich Town. Kick off on Sunday is at 4pm and there are no engineering works on the line between London and Ipswich. Hurrah.
So Ipswich Town then. They were relegated a while back – though not as far back as Southampton and, in truth, it wasn’t the greatest of surprises. It didn’t look a particularly strong squad and the additions made in close season didn’t really inspire a lot of confidence that this season might have been the start of a long stay upstairs.
Their last win came away at Bournemouth back at the beginning of April. Since then they have played seven times, losing five and drawing two. The two draws both came away from home at Chelsea and Everton (both 2-2). Interestingly they haven’t picked up any points at home this year, their last win coming at the end of last year in a 2-0 defeat of Chelsea.
With the draw they gained against the same opponents at Stamford Bridge a few weeks back any chants of “can we play you every week” probably represented more of a genuine request than a taunt.
If the transfers arriving in summer were less than inspiring, the winter arrivals had “resigned to our fate” stamped all over them. Daisy informs me that four players arrived comprising two permanent deals and two loans.
They shelled out £20m for Villa youngster Jaden Philogene who had failed to make too deep an impression having joined the club from Hull 12 months earlier. He’s scored two in nine since pitching up in Suffolk. However, a medial cruciate ligament injury back in April has ended his season.
The goalkeeping slot has long been perceived as a problem area with Muric, whose errors included a pair that handed Southampton a rare victory, being out of sorts and Walton having injury problems. So they spent a not too massive £5m to bring in West Brom custodian Alex Palmer on a three-year deal.
The first of the winter loan arrivals was former Everton defender Ben Godfrey who, having left Goodison for Atalanta in the summer found himself twiddling his thumbs in Bergamo, having made just the five appearances in Italy. However, since returning to Blighty things have scarcely been better and he has been absent for much of his loan spell through a combination of injury, illness and simply not being selected.
The other loan arrival was Paraguayan Julio Enciso, who came in from Brighton having missed a fair chunk of last season through injury. That sounds familiar. The Paraguayan has scored twice in 11 games and so his loan will be viewed as more successful than that of the planet’s unluckiest player Kalvin Phillips.
His loan spell in Suffolk has, arguably, been even less successful than his sojourn with us was. His season is already over with an Achilles problem and he will be spending his summer on the treatment table wondering exactly how many mirrors he has broken in his career.
And so to the final Wild & Wacky World Of Association Football of the season. One can only marvel at the sort of administrative genius that figured Mr Stuart Atwell, a referee who has somehow blundered his way through his entire career lurching from one inexplicable decision to another, was suitably qualified to take charge of the FA’s prestige event.
Who’d have thought Atwell who, as long ago as 2009, was the subject of a Grauniad article entitled “Is Atwell the worst referee in the history of the Premier League?” would have made such a mess of the FA Cup Final? Everybody. That’s who.
PGMOL usually has three VAR options on these occasions: 1) to lie and say that what you saw just happen didn’t happen at all or 2) if what you saw just happen clearly contravenes the laws of the game, rewrite the laws of the game until what you saw just happen doesn’t contravene the Laws of the Game. In this case Jarred Gillet, the match’s designated cover-up boy, plumped for option 1.
“But surely Percy” I hear you say, “you mentioned three options”. I did indeed. Option three is to tell the truth and point out that the referee messed-up and make sure the correct decision is made. One can only assume that due to a printing error that page has been left out of the VAR handbook.
The refereeing was infinitely better in midweek when we had Europe’s first all-muppet cup final. Much has been said about how the fact that two such poorly-placed teams can get to a final is somehow indicative of the strength of the Premier League. I’d argue differently. I’d say that the change in format that makes it almost impossible for larger teams to get knocked out probably had more to do with both clubs’ progress.
The format, lest we forget, was a sop to those clubs that were threatening to set up their own “Super” League. They had also posited a system whereby if they had a poor season at home and fell outside the European qualification slots they would be allowed to enter the competition anyway. Give it a few years.
I watched a bit of the final but it was turgid stuff. I realise that nobody cared who won, but would it have been too much to ask for either of the teams involved to give a damn?
And so to us. Well it wasn’t just Wembley that saw the results of bad planning was it? Some bright spark decided that a home match day would be a good day on which to hold a half-marathon in the area. Now I appreciate that fixtures change for TV but by and large you know which weekends are home and which are away and the games will always take place somewhere between Friday and Monday.
So given that we were always going to be away the week before and the week after, it shouldn’t have been beyond the wit of man to work out the difference. And to the runners themselves – just think, had you not been too lazy to run a whole marathon rather than a half you’d have been 13 miles away at the end and not cluttering up my choice of pre-match libation. Just a thought.
Now I get a lot of stick over my comments on the standard of refereeing in these columns. I would point out that it’s not referees per se with whom I have a problem. I’m sure some of them are splendid people who are very good to their mothers. What I do have a problem with is the system we have in this country which puts the responsibility for maintenance and improvement of standards in the hands of the referees themselves.
The competency levels amongst referees have been plummeting ever since PGMOL came into existence largely as a way of helping out what was at the time a cash-strapped FA. A position where the incompetent are promoted and protected and the criminally insane are ring-fenced from the consequences of their actions was predictable from the start, as was the fact that the potential for VAR to shine a light on consistent underperformers would be ignored in favour for the use of the technology to cover up their failings.
Talking of VAR, one wonders what the semi-automatic system used in Europe would have made of the situation on Sunday. It appears that the one we use over here can’t handle crowded penalty areas. That may be the same for the alternative system but given the track record of the authorities in this country my suspicion is that we went for the one that was cheaper rather than the more effective.
Anyway, to those who moan about my stance on referees I would pose the following question: Do you think that the performance of Mr Barrott was of an acceptable level at the weekend?
Clearly the FA and PGMOL do as in a Kafka-esque postscript to the whole sorry mess it has emerged that both clubs have been charged with failing to control their players. It’s all a bit like the Terry Gilliam masterpiece Brazil where suspect arrested in a case of mistaken identity dies during “questioning” and they send the family the bill for his interrogation.
On the pitch, Areola’s blunder – which (along with Barrott) proved to be the difference between the sides – spoilt what up to that point had been a good performance between the posts. The selection was somewhat bemusing – arguably there were nine defensive players in the line-up and the early exchanges apart the first half saw us crying out for a more attacking line-up. The subs should have come at the interval in my opinion.
Bowen’s goal was a bit good but the game descended into farce as yellow cards were waved generally in the direction of anyone who happened to look at the hapless official in a funny way. To say that Barrott was out of his depth only tells part of the story. If truth be told he’d probably be out of his depth in a dried-up puddle.
We said goodbye to Vladimir Coufal – whose farewell video caused a few contact lens problems around here – and Cresswell, who was given generous applause when he came off before the end.
Now each to their own, but it is a feature of the state of the crowd at the Olympic these days that the only people who stood to applaud Cresswell’s departure were the dwindling band of regulars? The tourists – of which there were many in my section – didn’t know how to behave at the departure of a long-serving and dependable club-servant and steadfastly remained in their seats. Sign of the times.
Injuries are the standard Michail Antonio and Crysencio Summerville. Antonio’s whereabouts for next season are in some form of flux at the moment – he has a short-term contract offer on the table apparently bit there are also rumours of better offers in the wings. We will see.
Prediction? Well we have been better away from home of late. And they haven’t. If someone can point out to the team that a win sees us finish above the midweek muppets we should take all three points though it may be a bit messy.
So the £2.50 I was going to pay towards some form of training for our referees so they actually know the laws of the game (that’s £2.50 more than PGMOL has spent in its existence), will be placed on a wager for us to win 3-2, if that’s ok with you Mr Winstone.
Enjoy the game – and have a good summer. If you must.
When last we met at Portman Road Lost 5-1 (Championship January 2012
One of the off-days of the 2011-12 season that saw us promoted via the play-offs rather than directly. The main damage was done in the first half which found us 3-1 down at the interval, though two of the goals wouldn’t have survived a VAR check for offside.
Referee: Tim Robinson
A younger Atwell. Hallucinated a corner that knocked us out of the Cup at Villa and gave a free-kick for one of the worst dives you will ever see that cost us two points against Bournemouth. Another winner for PGMOL them.
Danger Man: Liam Delap
Top scorer. Apparently enjoyed the relegation scrap so much he has opened talks with Man Utd so he can be part of one next season.
Percy and Daisy’s Amazing Ipswich Fact Of The Week Type Thing
Some people like Ed Bloody Sheerhan. Apparently.
* Like to share your thoughts on this article? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.
* Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the highlighted author/s and do not necessarily represent or reflect the official policy or position of KUMB.com.