Blues News

The Three Pointer Vs. Ipswich

|
Image for The Three Pointer Vs. Ipswich

It’s finally here! The 2017/18 Championship season kicked-off last night with two games, but the one you’ve been waiting for is today.

Here’s the first edition of our new pre-match piece where we’ll be discussing what’s to come for Blues, how they might approach the game and how they could exploit their opponents.

Overview

Blues are in action as they travel to Portman Road to take on Ipswich Town in our season opener. It’s Harry Redknapp`s first full season in charge at the club after he successfully guided us to second tier safety in the last three games of our last campaign.

I’m expecting all three of our summer signings (David Stockdale, Marc Roberts and Cheikh Ndoye) to start the game against Mick McCarthy`s side but the notable absentee for Blues will be Lukas Jutkiewicz. The calf injury he sustained in the final pre-season game against Swansea last week hasn’t cleared up so it paves the way for Clayton Donaldson or Che Adams to lead the line for Blues.

Approach

Make no mistake about it, Redknapp would love to get off to a flying start with three points. We’d all love that. But I just have the feeling that Blues may find it more difficult with their limited attacking options.

That said, I’d expect the line-up to be in a 4-4-1-1 formation with David Davis covering the right side of midfield in what is likely to be a dogged, well-fought game.

What that means is that Redknapp will be looking for his side to concentrate on being solid first and foremost. He’d then be asking the likes of Donaldson and Adams to provide us with that outlet when going forward and breaking away.

With the new centre back pairing of Marc Roberts and Michael Morrison, I’m sure we’d be comfortable in soaking up a bit of pressure but, judging by what Jacques Maghoma said in his pre-match interview on BluesTV, Blues will be looking to play from the back and then get it quickly into the feet of the attackers.

Exploit

With it being a new season, it’s difficult to suggest where Blues might be able to exploit their opponents.

But, after Ipswich lost their final pre-season game 6-1 to Charlton last week, there may be a little fragility there for Blues to exploit.

Although you can’t read too much into it and it’s likely that they’ll want to prove a point, it would be wise for Blues get out of the blocks quickly and unsettle the Portman Road crowd.

If we can get Ndoye and Davis in the faces of the Ipswich midfield right from the get-go, it could give Blues the confidence to push on.

Ipswich is always a tough place to go and McCarthy`s teams are always difficult to beat but if Blues stick together and play as a unit, then we`ll give ourselves a good chance of taking points away.

Here’s hoping for a successful season and the perfect start for Blues in this Redknapp era.

Keep Right On!

Share this article

Keep Right On!