Sam Morsy’s late strike against Southampton last Saturday saved our skin. Until that fabulous strike, it looked like we were heading back to Suffolk with zero points.
The Town defence is looking strong this season, thanks to the acquisition of a big keeper in Aro Muric, and two excellent defenders in Jacob Greaves and Axel Tuinzebe who look a class apart. At the expense of our defence seems to be our attack, which is not firing on all cylinders. A reasonable caveat for that is that it will take time for all our new players to fully bed in. We are in a state of transition and integration will take time.
The trouble of course is that time in the elite league is our greatest enemy. We have just 36 games to get things right and that means winning football matches. Anything less than about ten wins, and we will be in big trouble. It is not easy to spot them in advance but I do think that the bulk of our victories should come at a jam-packed Portman Road. Our home support is phenomenal and can become our extra man!
We may be struggling to pick up points at present but going three games undefeated (including two away) should boost our confidence a little. We all know this division is for the best of the best, so we have to find a way of performing consistently well. I would like to see Hirst replace Delap, and perhaps Ogbene to replace Hutchinson for the moment. Hirst provides our team with the fox-in-the-box mentality that Delap currently lacks, and Ogbene looks like a real talent if he gets more games and starts.
We shouldn’t get too carried away after just 5 games and 3 points. Under George Burley, we picked up just one more point at the same stage after promotion. Our first 5 games 23 years ago were easier too.
Agree that we will need 10 wins to stay up. We will get them and I still think we will end up in about 15th place come May.
As for our 10 required wins, being realistic 8 of them will need to be at Portman Road.
Home wins against Leicester, Southampton, Wolves and Everton are an absolute must, classic 6-pointers. Other winnable matches include Palace, Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton.
We will also benefit from unexpected good results.
