We got the job done.
But in the end, could we and should we have done better?
Speaking post-match, Fulham boss Scott Parker came across pretty happy with how things were, but it seems as though both he and the team were, as he says ‘ticking the boxes’:
“It was a good win, a good performance all round. It ticked a lot of boxes tonight in terms of new players coming in, getting fitness and some minutes under their belt. And obviously getting a clean sheet and winning will only serve us well. It’s still early stages, but you always want to win football matches, no matter when they are.”
Before the game, I said that the match should have been more about getting some of the new players used to playing in English football and in a Scott Parker side, and we did just that as we gave four players their club debuts, but at the same time, the fact we only managed to put one past a League One side does bring me some cause for concern.
If we could only sign one this summer, what should it be?
CB
CF
It wasn’t a major problem, if you look at the stats Ipswich weren’t causing us many problems on the night and weren’t really going to majorly threaten us at the back, so once we got the first it was obvious which way the game was going. And whilst we managed to get away 15 shots (6 of which on target), you never really felt that we were in a position to dominate the game and turn them over.
That kind of effort and production upfront isn’t going to serve us much well against Premier League sides this season, we need to improve that cutting edge upfront to give us better chances at finding the net.
Otherwise, it’s going to be other teams that end up dominating us, rather than the other way around.