Glenn Roeder admits he is ruing the loss of Ian Pearce for the
first half of the season.
"I was really expecting big things from Ian this year," says Glenn, "and he was in my plans in a big way, but we are not going to see him much before December."
Glenn is still looking at bringing in a centre half, though it is now unlikely that Taribo West will be coming to the club.
Stuart Pearce, Igor Stimac, and Hannu Tihinen all played their part at the back last season and of course Glenn is without the services of all three.
"We have been left short in that department," he admits.
"Stuart Pearce felt it would be much too difficult for him in the Premiership this year," says Glenn.
"We had a chat before the last game of the season against Middlesbrough and he made it clear that that was the way he had been thinking for a while.
"Igor we let go home for compassionate family reasons because his daughter had asthma; we allowed him to go back to Croatia where he said the air was much cleaner."
Glenn explains that there would have been no point forcing him to see out the last year of his contract, and says:
"It wouldn't have been the right thing to do; I'm not sure we'd have seen the best of him this year, with him thinking of his family at all times.
"His wife had told him she wasn't going to come back and live in London.
"To have kept him here in his last season with his wife and family back in Croatia wouldn't have worked because his mind would have always been drifting back."
As for Hannu, he appears to have been priced out of a move by his club in Norway but, with their season ending now, it remains to be seen whether he will look to go out on loan as he did to West Ham last year.
Glenn is acutely aware of the need to strengthen the back line and adds:
"It is an area that we need to look at, improve, and bring in at least one more central defender."
In the absence of Tomas Repka Glenn used Scott Minto as one of the back three at Ipswich, and he says:
"I asked Scott if he had played there before and he said he had, for Benfica.
"I couldn't check it so I had to believe him!"
Whether he employs that formation for the home game with Fulham remains to be seen, but he will still have to cover for Tomas' absence through suspension.
"I have been extremely pleased with Tomas Repka," says Glenn, "he has proved already to our supporters why he was so highly valued by Fiorentina and why he coped with three seasons and over 100 appearances in Serie A and European football.
"You can see why he is a regular with the Czech Republic and I have been delighted with what he has done so far, other than with those two sendings off at Middlesbrough and Blackburn.
"When you see what went on in the Leeds v Chelsea game and there is no action taken, you feel pretty hard done by when Tomas is sent off for fairly innocuous tackles."
"I was really expecting big things from Ian this year," says Glenn, "and he was in my plans in a big way, but we are not going to see him much before December."
Glenn is still looking at bringing in a centre half, though it is now unlikely that Taribo West will be coming to the club.
Stuart Pearce, Igor Stimac, and Hannu Tihinen all played their part at the back last season and of course Glenn is without the services of all three.
"We have been left short in that department," he admits.
"Stuart Pearce felt it would be much too difficult for him in the Premiership this year," says Glenn.
"We had a chat before the last game of the season against Middlesbrough and he made it clear that that was the way he had been thinking for a while.
"Igor we let go home for compassionate family reasons because his daughter had asthma; we allowed him to go back to Croatia where he said the air was much cleaner."
Glenn explains that there would have been no point forcing him to see out the last year of his contract, and says:
"It wouldn't have been the right thing to do; I'm not sure we'd have seen the best of him this year, with him thinking of his family at all times.
"His wife had told him she wasn't going to come back and live in London.
"To have kept him here in his last season with his wife and family back in Croatia wouldn't have worked because his mind would have always been drifting back."
As for Hannu, he appears to have been priced out of a move by his club in Norway but, with their season ending now, it remains to be seen whether he will look to go out on loan as he did to West Ham last year.
Glenn is acutely aware of the need to strengthen the back line and adds:
"It is an area that we need to look at, improve, and bring in at least one more central defender."
In the absence of Tomas Repka Glenn used Scott Minto as one of the back three at Ipswich, and he says:
"I asked Scott if he had played there before and he said he had, for Benfica.
"I couldn't check it so I had to believe him!"
Whether he employs that formation for the home game with Fulham remains to be seen, but he will still have to cover for Tomas' absence through suspension.
"I have been extremely pleased with Tomas Repka," says Glenn, "he has proved already to our supporters why he was so highly valued by Fiorentina and why he coped with three seasons and over 100 appearances in Serie A and European football.
"You can see why he is a regular with the Czech Republic and I have been delighted with what he has done so far, other than with those two sendings off at Middlesbrough and Blackburn.
"When you see what went on in the Leeds v Chelsea game and there is no action taken, you feel pretty hard done by when Tomas is sent off for fairly innocuous tackles."