Well. You kind of saw that coming, didn't you?
Unbeaten in eight, seven goals in two matches, clinical demolitions of first, a bogey manager's team, and second, a "title rival" in quick succession. It no longer felt fanciful, but legitimate, to assume that the very least Aitor Karanka's mostly Untypical Boro would get at Portman Road was a draw. We believed in the team that much.
History told us otherwise, that Typical Boro were bound to show up sooner or later, particularly at a ground where we hadn't won in more than two decades. That old nemesis Daryl Murphy, whose late, late winner at the Stadium Of Light in 2008 and early, early starter for Ipswich in 2010 still stick in the craw, would get on the scoresheet again.
And so it was on a day where just about everything that could go wrong with Boro did. To my eyes the performance was a heart-breaker of sorts, not for being ghastly, but for being flat. Where we saw vibrance and belief against Blackburn, Millwall and Derby, we saw almost nothing at Portman Road.
It was a classic case of "not turning up" the moment Aitor Karanka's early plans went out the window. Denied the almost customary early Patrick Bamford goal that usually spurs the team on to a great victory (see: Norwich, Rotherham, Derby), Boro had to try and slowly take control of the game.
Along the way, it appeared that AK had instructed our defence to keep David McGoldrick quiet in the same way Mick McCarthy had clearly warned his players to beware of Patrick Bamford – Bamford's impact was minimal and Jelle Vossen never really got a kick. Needless to say that when McGoldrick found a way to get a shot on target, Murphy was waiting to respond to Dimi Konstantopoulos's parry, and it was all downhill from there. The "humiliation" of conceding a towering header from the rather diminutive Jay Tabb right on half time was clearly too much for our entire team to take.
At 2-0 down, what were Boro to do? Risk everything to save the game like Lord Fergie normally would, or settle instead for damage limitation, knowing that you will have the chance to put things right on a better day? In the end, the ambitious AK went for the former. A combination of dreadful deliveries from the flanks and an uncharacteristically malfunctioning engine room led to the call for Lee Tomlin; but even there, McCarthy was prepared, his well-drilled, sharp and organised side efficiently draining the life and hope out of Boro.
It was a painful reality check, a far cry from the Christmas present we desired. Ipswich could, and should, have scored more – even if you left Tommy Smith's post-hitting scuff out of the equation, Murphy, McCormick, Paul Anderson and Darren Ambrose always looked dangerous.
From a Southgatian victory punch to equally Southgatian "lessons learned" for Aitor Karanka as he was left to ponder why the usually imperious Grant Leadbitter was a shadow of his former self, why Vossen was a model of invisibility, why Dimi's distribution wasn't quite up to scratch and why arguably the most technically gifted defender at the club, Kenneth Omeruo, had such an off-day.
Saturday brought about the very uncomfortable reminder that when your defensive and midfield leaders, the core and heartbeat of your side, are genuinely off-key, the entire team is in serious danger of coming a cropper. You are left to rely on your match-winners – and with AK's Boro, where the team takes clear precedence over the individual, the likes of Ken Omeruo/Ben Gibson and Grant Leadbitter failing to perform is fatal.
The cynics will continue to ponder why Boro so often resorted to up-and-at-'em, hit and hope tactics and why the patient probing associated with AK's Boro was nowhere to be seen. This will almost inevitability lead to scapegoating – of the manager, of certain individual players, and so on.
But one of the great flaws of football analysis, especially from the fan's perspective, is that we are so focused on our own team's fortunes and foibles that we forget about the other team on the pitch. If we looked limited, if the likes of Bamford and Albert Adomah disappointed, it was because Ipswich denied them to room to be expressive.
Having been held by Bolton in their previous game, Mick McCarthy's side arrived with more of a point to prove, and they proved it. There was something of a complacent entitlement about Boro which descended into frustration; both shaken and irritated by the idea of “not being in control” (arguably our major weakness – we have only come from behind to win once in the league this season), we didn't just lose the game. We lost our way.
But what does the game really prove, apart from that every underdog has his day? Regardless of what the bookies said, we did have some kind of favourites tag going into this game, and it could be argued that our failure was a sign of failing to live up to newly-raised expectations. Sometimes, players just do not perform on the day, and that really should be that; unfortunately, being the fans we are, we will always be looking for answers, or lessons to be learnt.
And just as there were positives to be drawn from Saturday if you looked hard enough – Adam Reach was consistently on his game, and Daniel Ayala, George Friend, Adam Clayton and to a point Bamford beavered away gamely until their confidence dipped – there was another very uncomfortable negative about AK's team playing strategy. It was hard to forget the sight of Vossen and Bamford failing to click, Adomah receiving almost no service and, worst of all, the entire defence pushing up to support Emilio Nsue as he received the ball in the first half. Is it quite possible, now, that Vossen, Nsue and now Adomah cannot cope on their own? Do they always need the right support and supply to prosper?
It's a point worth pondering as we try to put this bubble-bursting game behind us. Let's hope that our visit to Portman Road is an aberrance rather than, heaven forbid, a hint at the traditional downward spiral post-Christmas.
Happy Holidays, everyone.
(Originally published online at Gazette Live on December 23, 2014.)
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