A New Year will Show Us a New Ipswich

Since Big Mick’s arrival at the beginning of November we’ve already experienced some familiar highs and lows. A couple of humbling defeats left us all feeling a little deflated after the immediate impact created by MM and TC in the win over Birmingham, which had a few people assuming we’d already turned the corner only for an embarrassing 5-0 defeat to remind us that our Rome wouldn’t be built in a day.

I think we can all agree that the first half of our season has been somewhat anti-climactic but McCarthy has already given us a glimpse of what the future holds and with this has provided us all with a rejuvenated belief that good times are ahead. The festive period is always said to be a telling time. It provides a good oversight of where your club’s at half way through the season, and with the games coming thick and fast it can also be a decisive time. Irrelevant of where you are at the start of the busy 10 day period, a few wins will see you looking optimistically up at who’s above you whilst a few defeats have you looking down ominously at who’s now able to catch you. Fortunately our festive period proved better than expected with much needed wins away at both Charlton and Wolves, and whilst the defeat at home to Brighton was disappointing I don’t believe it was unexpected.

Taking 7 points from the possible 12 available was encouraging, but more encouraging has been McCarthy’s reaction to this, immediately improving the squad by bringing in Kisnorbo, McLean and McGoldrick in the space of a few hours. Of course it’s been disappointing to lose DJ Campbell in amongst the changes but we remain hopeful he will return. Without him though the attacking options at our disposal still look quite formidable. Chopra, Murphy, Scotland, Taylor, McLean and McGoldrick would be included in most Championship match day squads. Add to that the as yet unfulfilled potential of JET and we now possess a mixture of pace, power and skill up front.

Aaron McLean and David McGoldrick have added to Town's striking options

I have of course failed to mention Ellington and Murray, both of whom seem to have finally run out of time at Ipswich and will surely be moved on this month? The latter will undoubtedly cause a rift amongst supporters with many mumbling about the mistakes made in letting Rhodes and Wickham move on, but how long can we keep hold of these players just because they’ve progressed through the youth set-up? The truth is that under 3 managers now, young Ronan has failed to break into the first team at a time when frankly we’ve struggled for goals and performances have been inept. This tells me he probably isn’t good enough. We have to trust Mick with this judgement, and of course I could be well off the mark, but the acquisition of 2 new strikers and possibly a 3rd (if DJ Campbell becomes available) would suggest I’m not.

So the striking options available to us now look good, but what about elsewhere? Both wide positions remain areas of concern for me. Martin has been much better of late, since MM’s arrival in fact, but for me he’s still not the natural winger we need. He constantly fails to take the ball forward further than ten yards and his final delivery is often average. The other flank offers a long-term concern as we all know Edwards can’t play forever and he too seems bereft of confidence to take on the full-backs and drive into the box

Martin has improved but isn't a natural wideman

So what to do? I have a theory that long-term the left wing position may well be occupied by young Cresswell. With the correct coaching I believe he could become a very valuable asset in this position. He is pacey, has a great delivery on him and as demonstrated against Wolves, has the ability to finish well. He needs to bulk up physically but if he did this I genuinely believe he could be Gareth Bale-esque for us. The middle of the park is less of a concern. In Hyam our future is in very capable hands and N’Daw provides the physical presence sorely needed for any team to progress out of the 2nd tier in English football. My only concern here would be the lack of creativity we possess at present, but again with good coaching there is no reason Hyam can’t develop this aspect of his game.

On Saturday against Premier League opposition in Aston Villa, MM offered the captaincy to Tommy Smith, perhaps the most telling thing he’s done since his arrival at the club. I think it’s fair to assume that barring injuries or a significant dip in form, Tommy will take the armband for the start of next season and at such a young age can Captain us for a number of years providing us with some much needed stability at the back; something we’ve not had for a number of seasons now.

There is still much work for McCarthy to do in order to turn us into a promotion winning team, but the nucleus is now there for him to work with, manage and coach without needing a mass overhaul further. One or two additions are needed until I believe we will have a very clear idea of Mick McCarthy’s first eleven for next season.

All photos copyright Empics / Press Association Sport.

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