It's great to be confident, but a lot of people seem to think we just have to turn up to beat Ipswich on Sunday. I don't think it'll be so easy. There's a reason they have 60 points.
The main one is Mick McCarthy. He'll have them organised, committed, united and competitive. If you are looking for someone who can turn a limited bunch of mid-table Championship cloggers into promotion hopefuls, I doubt there is anyone better than McCarthy in the whole of England.
In football the most beautiful teams are not always the most successful. That's part of the frustration and the fascination of the game. Compare Bournemouth and Ipswich. The former have by general agreement probably played the most expansive and attractive football at times in the Championship this year. The latter would have got nul points for artistic expression if these were given. Yet they are one point ahead of Bournemouth after 33 games. Or think about the game at Ipswich earlier this season. We were so totally in control for 89 minutes of it that it was truly embarrassing (actually, I lie - it was enormously enjoyable) and yet they should have equalised in the early part of the second half when a player (Murphy?) missed a free header and their only chance of the game.
And that's how they'll approach this game. They'll hoof it and hoof it and hoof it, and it doesn't matter if we deal with it comfortably for the first 34 times. On the 35th we might switch off, and suddenly they've got a goal (and the goal we conceded at Blackburn suggests we haven't totally overcome our tendency to switch off at key moments). Class may always tell in the end (and God help Ipswich if they do get promoted), but hoofball can get you a long way with grit and a bit of luck.
So let's give them credit for what they have achieved with the very little they have at their disposal. And let's hope we play to our potential, that luck or the ref isn't against us, and we can make our vastly superior overall class tell on Sunday.
The main one is Mick McCarthy. He'll have them organised, committed, united and competitive. If you are looking for someone who can turn a limited bunch of mid-table Championship cloggers into promotion hopefuls, I doubt there is anyone better than McCarthy in the whole of England.
In football the most beautiful teams are not always the most successful. That's part of the frustration and the fascination of the game. Compare Bournemouth and Ipswich. The former have by general agreement probably played the most expansive and attractive football at times in the Championship this year. The latter would have got nul points for artistic expression if these were given. Yet they are one point ahead of Bournemouth after 33 games. Or think about the game at Ipswich earlier this season. We were so totally in control for 89 minutes of it that it was truly embarrassing (actually, I lie - it was enormously enjoyable) and yet they should have equalised in the early part of the second half when a player (Murphy?) missed a free header and their only chance of the game.
And that's how they'll approach this game. They'll hoof it and hoof it and hoof it, and it doesn't matter if we deal with it comfortably for the first 34 times. On the 35th we might switch off, and suddenly they've got a goal (and the goal we conceded at Blackburn suggests we haven't totally overcome our tendency to switch off at key moments). Class may always tell in the end (and God help Ipswich if they do get promoted), but hoofball can get you a long way with grit and a bit of luck.
So let's give them credit for what they have achieved with the very little they have at their disposal. And let's hope we play to our potential, that luck or the ref isn't against us, and we can make our vastly superior overall class tell on Sunday.
