THERE are those who believe the league season doesn’t really get going until teams have ten games under their belts, and then there are the bookies.
While patience is key at the start of the campaign, it’s a virtue the gambling firms either refuse or feel unable to acknowledge, with odds on clubs being promoted or relegated appearing to change minute-by-minute during any particular game.
This is a League One promo race as the club, according to the Illinois sports betting aggregator, has become a solid favorite to make it to the championship next May, Ipswich already drifting in odds from 2/1 to 7/2. Portsmouth, on the other hand, did exactly the opposite, increasing from 7/2 to 2/1.
Ipswich manager Paul Cook has not enjoyed the best of starts to what should be his first full campaign at the club; the Tractor Boys were seen as the side most likely to win the title but find themselves sitting just above the bottom three. If you need reminding, there are 46 games in the regular season, plus potential play-offs, but Cook already appears happy to dampen expectations.
“The goals against column is too much – you can’t win games when you concede like we do, and we’ve got to stop that quickly,” said Cook, who has also seen his side crash out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of League Two Newport County.
“We’re very much a work in progress – we showed some really good signs with some of the intent in our attacking play, and our quality is good, but defensively in that aggression side of the game is where we need to improve.
“No-one’s going to give us a leg-up. We’ve got to work ever so hard; we’ve got to spend those hours on the training ground with repetition and decision-making.”
It may be more a case of an attempt to ease the pressure on his players, with any manager worth their salt eager to turn the focus on themselves if they fear their squad are likely to come under pressure from fans or the media.
Cook admitted he feels he still has much to do to gain the fans’ trust, and is taking a cautious approach in a bid to keep them on side. After just six months in charge, he appears happy to warn fans that there’s still plenty of work to do before his team are firing on all cylinders, in the hope the supporters will appreciate any upturn in form when it arrives.
One of Cook’s former clubs, Portsmouth, may also be wise to dampen expectations, with their fans suffering several years of frustration as they attempt to steer a course back to Championship football for the first time in more than ten years.
Two finishes just outside the play-off places, and two failures in the play-offs themselves in the last four seasons have been a real test of their supporters’ patience, and a top-two finish at the end of 46 games is the best way to ease the pressure all round.
And if the bookies are to be believed at present, then Pompey and Sunderland are in line to finish the season in the top two places, the Wearsiders are now 13/8 favourites for promotion. The odds though, are sure to be very different come the end of September.
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