I am rather impressed with Roy Keane this season. Ipswich Town look like a side capable of achieving a top six place and our defensive record is amongst the best in the division.
Admittedly I did have my concerns about Roy Keane in the past, and those who witnessed last season's embarrassing campaign will agree it was a bad season. However, our form has taken a dramatic turn-around 12 months on. Last season we had 11 points after 15 games, this season we have 24 points. We are also in the quarter finals of the League Cup, a decent achievement considering we are the only team outside the Premier League left in the competition.
Winning games naturally makes supporters happy, notching another three points will make all the difference come May, and in this unpredictable division, we need as many points possible if we are going to judge this season as a success.
Roy's signings certainly seem to be making a positive impact, in comparison to last season’s poor transfer record. Roy had been criticised for his transfer record at Sunderland. For Ipswich though, Marton Fulop looks like our most talented goalkeeper since the days of Richard Wright and, at a push, Kelvin Davis. Fulop has four clean sheets and as a team we have the fifth best defensive record in the league. Defensively we have been boosted by the signings of former Cardiff utility man, Mark Kennedy and the loan signing of Darren O'Dea from Celtic. However their form has been punctuated by injuries.
In fact it is Gareth McAuley, Tom Eastman and Tommy Smith who are the main reasons for our defensive record, and they have been at the club already. Whilst McAuley is no surprise, the other two youngsters have slowly strengthened their fledging reputations with a string of good performances. Along with Luke Hyam, Eastman has burst onto the Ipswich scene this season and has made several first team appearances giving Ipswich the youthful influence we have been famed for.
However, this season has not been all positive. Understandably, I find our lack of goals surprising. We have scored 19 goals in 15 games, whilst this is not a bad record; it does make us joint 14th top scorers in the division. Put simply, if we want to maintain our good form, we need to hit the back of the net more.
Apart from the prolific Jason Scotland, the rest of our strikers do not look capable of scoring more than 15 goals this season. Tamas Priskin has been scoring more frequently this season but I feel he is still far too inconsistent to be considered a serious goal-threat.
Connor Wickham has been injured for many weeks, but has failed to find the net. In my opinion he is too young to be considered as a key striker, although he is undoubtedly a good talent. The English media have a habit of over-hyping any footballer that shows an inkling of potential. A recent Daily Mirror article highlights my point, tabloid papers line up to report on Wickham. The harsh reality is that he has only scored four goals in his fledging Ipswich career. Give the lad a break.
Overall we have made an encouraging start to the season and I trust Keane to pull us through what will be a difficult festive period.
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