The good thing about JET, Martin, Carson and Stevenson is that they are all versatile in the roles that they can play. If Jewell is to play the 4-2-3-1 formation then they can all play in any position of those three advanced places. Young Byron Lawrence will also look to break more frequently into the squads, having made his debut at the age of just 16 on the last day of the season.
Strikers
Rejuvenated from his rehabilitation after his gambling problems, Michael Chopra starts as Ipswich’s main striker. After coming clean about his addiction, the talismanic forward has revealed that this is the fittest and hungriest he has felt in all his time in professional football. He accumulated 14 goals in 42 games last season, but admits he was far from his best and is targeting around 25-30 this year, nothing like putting pressure on yourself Michael..
Jason Scotland has proven to be a bit of a fan favourite at Portman Road, despite, like many others in the squad, a difficult start. Although not that once deadly fearsome striker at Swansea, the ex-Trinidad and Tobago international can definitely still have an impact at this level of football. At 33, he knows he is not going to start every game but accepts this and is just professional about his job. He can still play a bit too, transforming his game to bring others in to play. He will prove another valuable asset for Town from the bench or if Jewell opts for two upfront, from the start.
Beyond these two, Town are again worryingly short of options. Fresh from his successful loan spell at Swindon last season, academy graduate Ronan Murray should get more minutes for Town this year. Clever on the ball and with an eye for a pass, Murray is also very versatile meaning he could see game time in one of the wide berths or in the role behind the striker over the course of the season.
Nathan Ellington is surplus to requirements so it is clear to see that Jewell needs to add one, maybe two more frontmen to the equation. After being linked with every striker under the sun, I would personally like to see Town sign a big target man striker and a quick nippy one. I think Town fans really miss someone with the character, physical presence and mould of a Shekfi Kuqi/Alan Lee (before he turned to the dark side); they were crowd pleasers who also scored a few goals for the club. Free agents Emile Heskey and Dave Kitson have been linked but I’m not convinced they would do the business.
The trouble with Town’s strikers at the minute is none of them have much height or pace. If we have to go long for one reason or another, we’re not exactly going to trouble Championship defenders in the air are we? They will just gobble it easily. Likewise, if we play a ball over the top – Chops and Scotland are not going to pull away from defenders. When we had someone to bring on like Danny Haynes, the crowd again got excited, he was a fresh young talent who frightened the pants of opposing defenders with his blistering pace (just ask those neighbours down the road). I think we need someone like that again.
Final Overview
It is clear to see that although our starting 11 is strong and very capable of competing in the Npower Championship, we do not have the required strength in depth to pull away from this mid-table fiasco we keep finding ourselves in season after season.
We need to add players desperately to our paper-thin squad otherwise it is just no good. Injuries and suspensions do happen over the course of the season, and if we get too many of these at the wrong time or to the wrong players, then you never know what might happen. We currently have 22 players signed on ready and raring to go but eight of these are under the age of 21 and have no or very little playing experience.
As mentioned, we still need around four more players to be able to really compete and fulfil our potential, because don’t get me wrong – we do have some damn good players here but it’s not just about the starting 11 anymore, it’s about the whole squad, and at the moment that is only strong enough for a mid-table finish.
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