Ipswich 1-1 Bolton

A new season and a new Ipswich.

We had them in our pocket last season winning 2 - 5 away and 2 - 0 at home, but they are a completely different proposition this year with Freddie Ladapo and/or Marcus Harness up top and few other quality signings in the bag. Plus they've still got Sam Morsy and Sone Aluko.

Maybe this is a good time to play them as there will be more incoming but not in time for Saturday I'd have thought. They're definitely going for it, have splashed the cash and the bookies have them as one of the favourites for promotion.

Decent preseason TBF - ran West Ham close, stuffed Wimbledon and drew with Millwall. They lost 4 - 2 against Palace but they have been preparing against top flight opposition and clearly they are very, very dangerous.

Possible line up:

Walton - Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess - Burns, Leigh, Morsy, Ball - Aluko, Harness - Ladapo

Substitutes: Hladky, Vincent-Young, Edmundson, Evans, Chaplin, Jackson, John-Jules

Head says that a draw would be a good result but I've optimistically gone for us to win 1 - 3 in the prediction thread however we'd have to absolutely at our best and hope that their quality signings are not fully up to speed to pull that off.

Can't wait!

Crowd expected to be 26 to 27k - packed with optimistic Ipswich fans. The attitude on the fans forums seems to be unrelentingly positive:

OK, I am not going to beat around the bush here, the new season is upon us and as with every other season before it fans up and down the country are expecting big things from their respective clubs. Here at Ipswich Town I am expecting One thing and one thing only, Promotion !!!!! Make no mistake about it, this is OUR season, our time has come, this is our destiny and I for one believe we will achieve our goal of Championship Football come next May. That may be very bold and brash to some but I am convinced we have the infrastructure in place from top to bottom and with a full season under Kieran McKenna to look forward to I really do see us as One of the teams to beat. The owners are very supportive and continue to flash the cash, the CEO is as professional and proactive as it gets, the back room staff are pretty much now all in place and most importantly the squad looks full of talent for this particular level of Football. New signings have arrived in the shape of Ladapo, John-Jules, Ball, Leigh and Harness and at the time of writing Two or Three more are expected through the door.

Season ticket sales have been very encouraging too with 16350 the current figure so Portman Road is pretty much guaranteed to witness crowds of 20-22k minimum every game which is without question the Twelfth man that could make all the difference. The upgrades to the stadium continue with the new dugouts and scoreboards to name but Two ventures that have been undertaken in the close season which will make Portman Road not only a loud place to be but also one more in keeping with modern day trends.

Of course all of this is all well and good but McKenna and co. will be judged on One thing alone and that is results, last season may well have seen the new boss vastly improve the style of play and entertainment but there is no doubt we still failed to kill off numerous teams when in control of games and this is something that has to be addressed from the off, failing to score goals became a real nemesis for us and it is little wonder that changes have been made to the attacking side of the team, out the door have gone the misfiring Norwood, Pigott and Bonne with the aforementioned John-Jules, and Ladapo coming in to the fold, that One big flagship striker still seems to have eluded us but with a couple of weeks to go until the big kick off there is still time for a Georg Hirst type signing to arrive at the club, I for One am expecting someone of that ilk to arrive.

So who do we see as our main rivals for promotion ? Personally I think if we get it right and find consistency then nobody will stick with us but I suppose we have to be looking at the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County, Portsmouth, Bolton Wanderers and Oxford Utd as our main challengers, so include us in that list and you have the Top Six right there !!

It is always good to have a home game on the opening day, it's a chance to get off to a flyer and get early points on the board and as such we should be pleased to be at home, that said One of my predicted top Six are the visitors to Portman Road as we welcome Bolton Wanderers. It promises to be a tough start to the campaign but we are serious this time around and no-one should faze us at all, let's hit eh ground running and get this season that promises so much off to a flyer, if we take it to them crowd will respond in kind and the noise will be deafening. I am going for a Town opening day win by Two goals to Nil with Ladapo and Chaplin getting on the scoresheet.

There will be ups and downs along the way but let's not forget after Ninety minutes that this is one hell of a marathon so should we not get the start we all want there doesn't need to be any Ukraine style mass fallout, stick with the gaffer and the boys and keep a sense of perspective about things, they will deliver, we won't be disappointed, this is OUR time. COYB'S.

That's a good number of season tickets and I doubt they had to drop them to £299 to sell them.Ladapo and Marcus Harness are good 3rd tier signings but not as impressive as the players Wigan signed last summer.I can see this being a good start to the season for Bolton

Growler wrote:That's a good number of season tickets and I doubt they had to drop them to £299 to sell them.Ladapo and Marcus Harness are good 3rd tier signings but not as impressive as the players Wigan signed last summer.I can see this being a good start to the season for Bolton

Like Norwich in Norfolk, Ipswich are the only game in town in Suffolk (both large agricultural counties) so they have a captive audience and can only be expected to get a decent following.

Clubs like this will always have a sound financial footing providing no cowboys come knocking, but equally whilst both have had success in Europe in the past, they'll never get a really massive following as they are off the beaten track and difficult to get to.
Not a bad place to be overall.

Their signings are third tier, but they've paid good money to get the better players from their competitors as we did for Dempsey and Iredale for example.
Rumour is they coughed up £600k+ for Harness.
And they are looking to spend much more...

It's understandable why they get better support and their larger support prevents them dropping through the leagues to Div 4 as has happened to Bolton twice.
On the other hand being close to Manchester and Merseyside gives Bolton an advantage in terms of picking up school boys and big club cast offs who would rather stay local when they are young than move to Suffolk.I recently read Neville Southall's autobiography.He grew up in Llandudno and failed a trial at Bolton in his early teens so can go down as another good one that slipped through the net

Growler wrote:It's understandable why they get better support and their larger support prevents them dropping through the leagues to Div 4 as has happened to Bolton twice.
On the other hand being close to Manchester and Merseyside gives Bolton an advantage in terms of picking up school boys and big club cast offs who would rather stay local when they are young than move to Suffolk.I recently read Neville Southall's autobiography.He grew up in Llandudno and failed a trial at Bolton in his early teens so can go down as another good one that slipped through the net

Competition for young players in Lancashire is off the scale and competition for fans even more so.

But the point is there is  a much larger pool of young talent in The North West to choose from. Bolton have benefitted from the likes of Peter Reid, Alan Stubbs, Jason McAteer, Kevin Nolan in the past and as i say opted not to sign Neville Southall

Blimey!
Ipswich have confirmed the signing of Leif Davis from Leeds (LB) for a fee approaching £2 million including add-ons.
They are still pursuing George Hirst at Leicester and Bersant Celina at Dijon.
Serious money.

wanderlust wrote:Blimey!
Ipswich have confirmed the signing of Leif Davis from Leeds (LB) for a fee approaching £2 million including add-ons.
They are still pursuing George Hirst at Leicester and Bersant Celina at Dijon.
Serious money.

 That's more like it, serious money for the 3rd tier.
I don't think Bolton have ever paid £2 million for a player as a second tier club let alone in this league.

Growler wrote:
 That's more like it, serious money for the 3rd tier.
I don't think Bolton have ever paid £2 million for a player as a second tier club let alone in this league.

Their spending has already reached nearly £3 million including >£600k for Harness and if they sign the free-scoring Hirst (David Hirst's lad) it'll be nearer £4 mill.
Ipswich are definitely going for it, so I'll be chuffed if we turn them over.

Best eleven for Bolton to beat Ipswich?

Traff
Jones Santos Johnsston
Bradley................... John
Morley MJ Dempsey 
Dapo Dion

Any thoughts?

Ipswich might have spent big but it doesn't always work out like that. We definitely have a team who play for each other and work as a unit. That team spirit and bonding might be the difference. Let's hope so!

The team looks no better than last season.

The failure to sign a decent defensive midfielder and a defence with the same old instabilities will cost us any play off ambitions.

The jury is out on whether Charles will score enough goals to keep us competitive.

I can't see us finishing any higher than last season, but it wouldn't surprise me if we spent a good part of the season looking over our shoulder.

Very pessimistic, I see us floating around the top 4

In reality we don't know where we stand in comparison with other teams so the jury's out for now.

Biggie wrote:Best eleven for Bolton to beat Ipswich?

Traff
Jones Santos Johnsston
Bradley................... John
Morley MJ Dempsey 
Dapo Dion

Any thoughts?

Unless they are injured i'd have thought Bodvarsson or Bakayoko are better options than Dion

Growler wrote:
Unless they are injured i'd have thought Bodvarsson or Bakayoko are better options than Dion

No way will Dion not start with Dapo to chase the Ipswich defenders down but how good is it to have Bod and Baka there to come on later in the game. I’m quietly confident about tomorrow and what a boost it would be to come away with all the points. I actually think Wednesday are the team to beat this year as I believe they’ve made the better signings. The players have to believe in themselves and if we can just tighten up the defence and not make silly unforced errors, then this really could be our year and I wouldn’t be surprised if we finished top.

Recent lacklustre performances like Carlisle do create an air of uncertainty though. Even not playing at our best, we shouldn't be conceding 3 against a League 2 side and I think it's unrealistic to expect the team to be on top form throughout the season.
I agree with Evatt in that if we play at our best, we should fear nobody - I just think we are unlikely to do that every game and we don't have the quality to sneak wins when we're not playing well.
We might need a bit of luck to come our way.

Evatt: Players Eager To Perform And Make Club Proud

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Ian Evatt is ready to embrace the challenge of competing with the best as Wanderers look to make their mark on League One.

The Whites kick off their second season back at this level at fancied Ipswich Town on Saturday.

Evatt backed up a promotion-winning campaign in 2020/21 by guiding his new-look team to a ninth-place finish last term.

And the Wanderers’ boss is aiming to keep the revival going.

“The players are well prepared. I think we’ve all improved – myself included in my time here – and hopefully we can go ahead and prove that this season,” said Evatt as he prepares to embark on a third season in charge at the University of Bolton Stadium.

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“We’ve got a really good group of players who are eager to go and perform well and make this football club proud.

“It’s a really tough league. I think it’s only improved again this year; vast amounts of money being spent, some huge clubs, spending huge money.

“There’s no given right based on history or size of football club, but we are going to go and try make this club proud and earn the right to be there or thereabouts.”

Wanderers secured a top-10 spot last term on a superb run in the second half of the campaign.

Evatt’s men lost just three of their last 22 games as the arrival of half-a-dozen new players in the January transfer market paid dividends.

That run has generated a feel-good factor which has seen almost 14,000 supporters snap up season tickets, with close to 1,500 travelling fans set to back the Whites at Portman Road.

Ipswich are also hoping to build on their improved form since the turn of the year with a busy summer's transfer activity marking the Tractor Boys down as potential top-six candidates.

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That makes it a tough start for the Whites but Evatt is happy to embrace the optimism surrounding his own team based on a season’s work.

“We want to do ourselves justice. Yes, we want to get off to a flyer and get off to a good start,” added Evatt, who will be missing only Josh Sheehan, Lloyd Isgrove and recent recruit Eoin Toal from a fully-fit squad.

“But the season isn’t going to be won or lost on Saturday. It’s a long old season and hopefully we’ll be there or thereabouts come May

“I’d rather there be expectancy and belief than not. I think we’ve earned that right by the way we’ve performed.

“That’s why people are excited, because they think we’re going to be good.

“There’s no harm in that or shame in that but we have to go out there and earn it.

“We believe we’re good. We’ve got good confidence. It’s not arrogance – it’s confidence. But we have to go out there and prove it.

“We’re not entitled to do anything. We have to go out there and earn it and hopefully we can do that – starting on Saturday.”

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Ipswich fans seem to be very very confident of both success tomorrow and over the course of the season. Pretty sure they were favourites last year as well and look how well that turned out.

Going for a 2-2 draw. 2-0 down and a second half comeback. Not before the “Evatt out” posts have been working their way around social media first!!

Not one to miss plugging the White Love site…

Got some new stuff due to drop over the coming days… but for now, ahead of the season opener at Portman Road, here’s a fresh piece about some of our memorable games with the Tractor Boys.

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