In the latest of a new monthly column, American expat, PR professional and Ipswich Town fan James Wall shares his thoughts on the Blues from across the pond.
Readers, allow me to confess. There is something I do every night that I hide from my partner involving sneaking my laptop into the living room after she falls asleep.
I sit in the dark, combing the web, devouring content she would frown upon were she to find out...
Yes, I'm addicted to Ipswich Town video podcasts. The EADT’s Kings of Anglia, plus Blue Monday, Talking Town and more are filling my ears and eyes with ITFC news and views. I can't get enough of them, even if they cost me precious hours of rest.
I hope you don't judge me too harshly for my secret vice. But can you blame me, with Town second in the Championship and on such a great run?
The abundance of news and commentary about all things Town is in sharp contrast to when I first moved to the States in the mid 1990s, when I could scarcely find the Saturday results in the back pages of the New York Times.
No-one over here was interested in English soccer back in those days, and pre-internet I couldn’t tap into the EADT or other news sources. But nowadays… Not only is there an abundance of Town podcasts, but the narratives involving our club have started to multiply in recent weeks.
Last week we had the trade deadline, with all it expectations, hopes and inevitable let-downs. Who was going to come in the Portman Road door? Who was going to be sold? Who was going to cast back into the depths of League One and (dare we mention it) League Two or below?
I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping for a big name striker-signing (perhaps from the continent) who’d ride into the stadium on a white horse, boots in hand, and waltz pass every defender in the Championship. Didn’t most of you have the same hopes as I did?
We did get a Dane, but not in the form that I expected. Dane Scarlett is described by our manager as 'an explosive finisher with both feet who has good movement in the final third' and 'an exciting young forward'. He’s headed out this week to the England U21 squad, which should tell us Town fans that he’s got big potential. I’m really looking forward to seeing Dane in action, despite my dream of a big-name striker being dashed.
A few days earlier Brandon Williamson arrived with a Manchester United pedigree and a good number of Premier League games under his belt. Poor old Brandon endured a Leif Davis-like debut against Leeds and then managed an own goal against Reading in the League cup. But his performance against Cardiff as he came on from the bench looked much more assured.
The narrative that caught my attention, though, was about Freddie Ladapo. Was forgotten Freddie about to be shipped back to League One on loan or even sold? He had seemingly been supplanted by Kayden Jackson, whose pace Kieran McKenna loves to deploy to get in behind ponderous Championship back lines.
With another striker coming in the door, was there no more room for solid old Freddie, notwithstanding his 17 league goals last season? But Finisher Freddie survived the window and then went into to show everyone why McKenna hasn’t given up on him with an exemplary performance from the bench against Cardiff.
With both Scarlett and Jackson available to come on for the injured George Hirst, the manager chose Freddie instead - and what an inspired decision that turned out to be. Freddie scored two poacher-like goals in quick succession to win the match.
As a Freddie fan – of his loping gait, laid-back demeanor and infectious smile – I was happy. But while our forwards have found their shooting boots, the backline hasn’t exactly been solid the last couple of games, in marked contrast to last season when we had that record clean sheet run.
The right side of defence has looked especially dodgy. We’ve missed Janoi Donacien’s solidity on that side and whilst I am a fan of Harry Clarke’s athleticism and power moving forward, he was beaten far too many times on Saturday. It was a similar story against Leeds.
Teams coming to Portman Road are going to attack that right side with gusto in earnest every game unless McKenna is able to shore things up. I’m hoping Clarke’s injury is the main issue and that the more game time he gets, the better he’ll be on the defensive side of the ball. Fingers crossed.
Talking about defence, I’m excited that Axel Tuanzabe will be trialing with the club over the next few weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wolfy and Cam Burgess but having a centre-back known by McKenna and of clear pedigree could only be a plus.
Our centre-back pairing looked sluggish against Leeds and with only young Elkan Baggott and the out-of-form George Edmundson backing them up, we could use a proven, Championship calibre centre-half to step in to help stem the goal flow that we’ve witnessed at Portman Road the last two weeks.
But overall, we’ve watched five swashbuckling league displays since the season began. Second in the table heading into the international break would have been a fantasy for all of us before the season began. Long may the winning continue!
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