Ipswich Town fans will now be fearing the worst when it comes to their team’s chances at surviving in the Premier League after a demoralising 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last time out.
Tomorrow night sees the Tractor Boys travel to Old Trafford desperate to pile on the Manchester United misery, with another loss potentially plunging them further into trouble near the bottom of the division, considering there is already a five-point gap opening up between themselves and Wolverhampton Wanderers occupying 17th spot.
Kieran McKenna will have to remain confident no matter how bleak it currently looks, with the display against Spurs still littered with positives, away from the final score.
Positives from the Spurs loss
Indeed, even though the Tractor Boys would trudge off the pitch at the end in low spirits, it wasn’t as if they didn’t create chances throughout.
Come full-time, the Suffolk hosts would actually accumulate a hefty 17 shots across the course of the full 90 minutes, with Ange Postecoglou’s away side only managing ten in contrast, but did have four goals ultimately hit the back of Alex Palmer’s unlucky net.
Omari Hutchinson would end up scoring Ipswich’s only strike of the day, with the ex-Chelsea man standing out as a lively attacker throughout, even as other faces fluffed their lines.
But, there still is a wastefulness in the Ipswich camp that will slightly irk McKenna, with Delap the only individual in his ranks at the moment who can boast double digits in the Premier League when it comes to strikes.
Even if that is the case, the Northern Irishman still made the right call to ditch this blunt attacker last summer who remains goalless in league action for his new employers, despite once being a reliable head for McKenna to call upon.
Ipswich's "proven goalscorer" is now struggling
Before a ball was kicked to start the new daunting top-flight season, Ipswich did release a few seasoned heads that had become parts of the furniture at Portman Road during the club’s dizzying rise from League One all the way up to the promised land.
One of those faces would end up being experienced EFL goalscorer Freddie Ladapo – who was hailed as a “proven goalscorer” by McKenna after signing way back in 2022 – with the now 32-year-old centre-forward calling Suffolk home for 75 games as 25 goals also came his way.
Ladapo’s main goalscoring heroics for the Tractor Boys would come during the 2022/23 season when the club were still fighting to break out of the third tier, with the clinical 6 foot 1 striker bagging 17 strikes from 46 league games to secure automatic promotion for his team.
He would also chip in with two league strikes last campaign, but it was clear the ageing forward wouldn’t be capable of adjusting to the bright lights of the Premier League, with Ladapo – who departed on a free transfer – now struggling to get going back in League One with promotion-chasing Huddersfield Town.
Stat – per 90 mins*
Ladapo
Games played
19
Games started
1
Minutes averaged*
27 mins
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Stats by Sofascore
It’s not as if the EFL veteran has been starting every game for Michael Duff’s Terriers, however, with Ladapo only managing one league start so far this season, yet his many substitute cameos for the West Yorkshire side in the league still haven’t seen a single goal come about.
He does have one strike in the EFL Trophy to slightly shout about, but it’s certainly a sharp decline from the Ladapo that was firing on all cylinders in Suffolk to once steer his team to promotion glory.
All in all, even while Ipswich are over reliant on Delap to get them out of sticky situations, there will be no regrets about letting this loyal servant leave, with Ladapo’s career now in danger of completely fizzling out at Huddersfield.
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