Ipswich’s Sam Morsy confronts his own supporters after the Tractorboys picked up a disappointing draw at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night.
The League One highflyers’ captain was captured on video with it getting rather heated after he went over to applaud the travelling support at the Memorial Stadium.
Stalemate prolongs disappointment for Ipswich, seeing just one win in the last eight league matches having lost ground on Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday in race for automatic promotion.
The result against Bristol Rovers also sees them drop out of the top three for the first time since August at the expense of Bolton Wanderers, who hit five past MK Dons.
Morsy had to be pulled away from a confrontation with his supporters, exchanging a few angry words, and now the 31-year old is getting slammed on social media.
— Rosie McEvoy (@rosiemce13) February 14, 2023
Morsy became aware of this, and wrote: “To the Blue Army,
“I’d like to apologise for my actions after yesterday’s match.
“I was emotional and I completely understand the fans frustrations, we will give all we have to turn it around.
“I can’t explain how proud I am to lead this iconic football club.
“Every single week you turn up in your numbers, pay your hard earned cash to follow us home & away and there’s not a second that goes by that I don’t appreciate that.
“See you on Saturday.”
Morsy dominated the first period with his side defending well, with Cameron Humphreys having the best chance to score, only to send his effort wide.
Rovers captain Aaron Collins wasted an opportunity when he was put through by Anthony Evans and shot straight at Ipswich keeper Christian Walton.
Collins’ rising shot was pushed to safety by Walton. Walton also denied Scott Sinclair, hitting one from 20 yards after Collins’ good work.
Walton had another lucky escape after he dropped Evans’ corner. Sinclair’s shot went goalwards, but Luke Woolfenden was able to clear the line via a post.
Substitute Luke Broadhead’s shot was blocked by Ellery Balcombe, helping Rovers end a five-game losing streak.
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna said Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton apologised to him after the 0-0 draw, as per East Anglian Daily Times.
“Look, we’re playing tonight against one of the most attacking and aggressive and open teams in the league who usually score a lot and concede a lot.
“Their manager, credit to him for his honesty, has apologised to me straight after the game for not being willing to give us a match and not being willing to play their normal way.
“Credit that he has the self-awareness and the honesty to say that. I understand why, but it doesn’t help us.
“That’s the level – I don’t know if you want to call it a level of respect, because we haven’t won enough games – but that’s the approach that teams are taking against us a little bit more.
“I think we face a completely different Bristol side tonight than any Bristol side I’ve seen this season. That shows why they managed to grind out a clean sheet.
“That’s the challenge we face. We can’t hide from it. We need to face it. We need to keep working to find solutions individually. We need to keep working to find solutions tactically.
“I thought tonight we tried a lot of different ways. We tried to go longer into the front, we tried to cross it, we tried to go into feet, we tried to go in behind, we tried to go early and aggressive with our substitutes.
“We had 15 shots from inside the penalty box, 21 shots in total and we didn’t manage to find a goal.
“Tonight it wasn’t enough and we just need to keep working to find solutions. It’s certainly a challenge.”
On four wins from 15 in the league not being good enough for a team with automatic promotion ambitions, he replied: “No. There’s no getting away from that. We know that. It’s too many draws. We haven’t lost many games, but it’s too many draws.
“I think in isolation, if I’m honest, a draw tonight, 0-0 away on a Tuesday night, when a team sets up like that against you and then has threats on the counter-attack, a draw isn’t a disaster.
“But the accumulation of draws makes it a disappointing run.
“But these things can change. We’ve shown in the first half of the season that we can accumulate a lot of points. We showed in my time last year that we can accumulate a lot of points and put a run together.
“That’s not happening at the moment. I still feel like we’re not far away from it, to be honest. I feel like in general the performances and attitude haven’t been far away.
“I don’t think we were far away tonight. But of course the supporters don’t want to hear that at the moment. There’s frustration there. I understand that.
“From our point of view we need to keep working to find solutions, we need to keep the players’ confidence up because it’s not easy for them at the moment. They desperately want to be successful as well.
“We need to stay strong and keep the confidence and belief high enough to give us a good chance to win the next game and just build on that.”
Asked what he feels has been behind his side’s downturn in results since late October, McKenna said: “I don’t think it’s ever one thing or it would be easy to fix.
“We’ve drawn games. When you don’t win then of course your confidence can be affected because you’re not winning games as freely as you were and you’re not going into the game to win as freely. Individually you are not at the same level of confidence.
“But it’s very fine margins. We could have scored in the first minute today. We had a couple of chances in the first couple of minutes of the game and if one of them goes in then the game is different.
“We had chances right to the last minute of the game. They defended en masse, they put their bodies on the line, they fought for a nil-nil and they got it.
“Those are the challenges ahead of us. We just need to keep fighting, get the first win and make sure we keep the attitude consistent, as it was tonight, where I’ve got no complaints.
“Keep that attitude and just look to fight for a result at the time.”
🎥 Kieran McKenna on tonight’s game.#itfc pic.twitter.com/ryZEe0Sfzk
— Ipswich Town FC (@IpswichTown) February 14, 2023
Joey Barton said, as per Bristol Live: “There were lots of positives to take out of the game in terms of our defensive performance. It was proper, it’s what we’ve been looking for.
“I felt after the game on Saturday (the defeat at Lincoln City), in the midst of that battle being lost and the adversity of stuff going against us, I felt some young saplings really started to emerge and seeing the character in those moments is key.
“Tonight, you’ve seen them grow further. I thought there were some really good performances and it would be unfair of me to single out an individual because it was a real group and team effort. We haven’t won again, but we’ve managed to stop the bleeding against a very good side.
“You can only be proud as a coach of the players. In the adversity, to come into the stadium with what’s going on in terms of the results profile against a promotion-chasing team and to stick to the game plan in the manner they did, I’m so pleased for the group and so pleased for the football club.”
Here’s what Twitter users said as Ipswich’s Sam Morsy confronts his own club’s supporters after a disappointing draw at Bristol Rovers…
@crablitt81: He may go back to warming the bench in L1. Lot of them have had way too much smoke blown up their arse by our fanbase
@CarlNcharlie123: Oh dear … not good signs that
@djsimonbizzle: And so it starts
@sportsturfman: Echoes of Charlton away last season 🙈
@JonSuperIpswich: That’s not good, this is getting sour
@TheRealTudes: Oh dear, that’s not good 😞
@westleydan: Roll on mid table finish then
@ct_nicholls: Ha ha ha. And so it begins. #ITFC
@Jack98771254: anybody screaming anything negative about or to morsy should be embarrassed. our best player by a country mile without him we’d be lucky to be within 10 points of our current position
@Brooks19732001: First time he’s aggressively gone forwards in weeks
@WilbrahamBlue: Absolutely looking for that for some time now Morsy. Pissed at his own downfall no doubt. #itfc
@janthonydean: Poor from @sammorsy08 that. fans travelled in big numbers again to be served that dross.
@BlueTractorView: He made a more positive move there than the whole game. Two games in a row the match has past Humphries by and he still plays 90 min. Just rubbish thoughtless football
@DanBurmby: FFS, how we criticised Sheffield Wed fans when they turned on their team eh? Pissed up ‘lads’ giving it large, you see it at every away game. Talk about the players having smoke blown up their arse, as fans we’re no different. If you don’t want to support don’t *ucking go!
@BradderzEllis: Ahh I absolutely love this time of year… weathers getting warmer, more football gets played and Ipswich town football club start cracking under pressure after winning the league in august… sit back everyone the wheels are slowly coming off again 😂😂😂
@Ryann_BRFC_95: Getting pissy because you’ve drew 0-0 to the mighty Gas on a Tuesday night is a beautiful sight
@Tretty123: Didn’t they win the League about 4 months ago?
@not2ezlma0: bottling it once again love it
@HibbzKent: Shambles of a captain, shambles of a player
@benrobinson97: They’re falling apart 😂😂 #pafc
@Wintheleague21: Oh dear. Falling apart. #itfc
@steve_corrigan: Oh dear, the tractor wheels are well and truly falling off 😂 fuck off Morsy
@Justin__Herbert: Not seen anything to convince me he’s captain material since he’s been at the club. Hides away after playing shit and now turning on the fans. We have no right to banter anyone again #itfc
@masonnitfc: not a good look is it
@Iain_Taylor8: Seeing this makes me sad 😭 #itfc
@llfvi12: @sammorsy08 If you’re acting like this to people who traveled across the country on a Tuesday night to watch that shit, I trust you’ve given it twice as bad to your teammates in the dressing room?
@Southy2402: Well, this says it all… Captain arguing with the fans. This season is not going anywhere
@jamieitfc_: banter era continues. morsy needs to put this energy into being a proper captain not arguing with the people who spend their hard earned money on watching this absolute shitshow. #itfc
@Luke8644: Feels like it’s falling apart now. Top 2 gone, fans selling out every week, constant support yet the players haven’t turned up since October. Not good enough at all, they need a shot up the arse. #itfc
@SidDriver: What a captain… Done our bit and some….😳😳😳😳 We’re very loyal fans but you’ve gotta show us something…
@B19LFS: Great captain. Setting an amazing example to the rest of the squad. 🙄🙄
@IpswichCulture: Fans have done their bit, like asked of them. Have a right to be angry now.
@Adzyinho: Lost his head cos he’s let us down when all we have done is do what he said
@DGWB_1: Great captain! Come over and apologise? Nope just get mad at fans unreal that
@MaxiWardley: Not good 🤦🏼♂️ #itfc
@_dan1878: deserves all the stick coming his way hasn’t been interested for months
@oscarcrichton: The annual Ipswich Town bottlejob has started vamos
You must be logged in to post a comment Login