Ipswich Town: Promotion contenders or a false dawn?

currently find themselves second in the League One
table trailing by four points and, although they have a game
in hand, the points tally doesn't look nearly as attractive as it did a few
weeks ago.

That said, if you had asked the Tractor Boy fan base in
August if they'd take this position at this time then 99% would have torn your
arm off. The question is will Town maintain their place in the automatic
promotion spots or will they drift into mid-table as many bigger clubs have
done in the past?

A good start to the season but falling form worries fans

Last season, the form on the pitch was nothing short of
appalling as Ipswich plummeted into the third tier for the first time in over
60 years without so much as a whimper. The summer window brought some decent
signings into Portman Road though with James Norwood, a free transfer from
, perhaps the best piece of business and the 2019/20 campaign
got under way with Paul Lambert's men going undefeated in 11 games.

Recently though their form has been on the slide, not
dramatically but drawing games they would have previously won. It now looks
like they might have a fight to win promotion rather than rampantly returning
to the , which is how it looked early on in the season.

The key players

If Ipswich are to bounce back up at the first time of asking
then there are a handful of players through the spine of their team that will
need to be on top of their game. At the heart of the defence is skipper Luke
Chambers; the ex- man has made over 300 appearances for the
Blues and is one of two players, along with Cole Skuse, who are widely credited
with holding the club together whilst Paul Hurst was at the helm. His
leadership will be key in any promotion battle.

At the front end of the pitch James Norwood and Kayden
Jackson are charged with finding the net. Jackson
was signed by Hurst
for £1.7m but only contributed four goals in 39 games last
year, meanwhile Norwood was scoring at ease to fire Tranmere out of .
This season the duo has struck up a partnership that has already yielded 14
goals – seven each – and they'll need to keep banging the goals in to stand a
chance of going up.

In addition to that trio is a double act that has come
through the ranks at the club in defender Luke Woolfenden and England youth
midfielder Flynn Downes. Downes, aged 20, has perhaps been the most impressive
of Ipswich's players this season and has started to look like the teams answer
to a NFL Super Bowl winning quarterback as he's added offensive ambition and
improved patterns of play to his ever combative style.

Woolfenden, 21, has been solid defensively and more than
competent on the ball regardless of who has played alongside him. If rumours
are to believed, Championship clubs could come sniffing for the youngsters in
January and Marcus Evans will need to stand firm if he truly harnesses ambition
of moving forwards.

The gaffer

In the dugout for the is ex- manager
Lambert. He's done a terrific job of reconnecting the club with it's fans since
arriving to replace
Hurst in October 2018
. Of course, in typical fickle fan behaviour, a few question
marks have arisen off the back of the recent wobble.

They've sacrificed leads in four of the last six games in
all competitions and whilst Lambert has an open philosophy on the game, which
can see games become end to end, a more pragmatic approach – like that offered
by former boss Mick – would perhaps help turn these draws into wins.

Promotion of bust?

The fans that turn up to Portman Road – and on away days –
have been phenomenal and with the quality Lambert has at his disposal you have
to fancy Town to win more than they lose, which gives them a good chance of
going up.

They'll
need to rebuff any interest in their players in January, but Evans has proven
in the past that he won't sell his assets easy and, come May, we still wouldn't
be surprised to see Ipswich go up as Champions. They currently lead the odds like a
favourite horse in the Kentucky Derby
, so we are keen to see if they will
follow the bookmakers predictions.

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