Paul Jewell has hardly put a foot wrong since he walked into Portman Road and I don’t think many Ipswich fans could disagree with that.

Two defeats, one no doubt due to the tiredness experienced in the wake of the Arsenal win and the other which was very much anticipated at the Emirates, have rightly done nothing to dim the fans warmth towards the new man at the helm.

But is there a running theme between the three wins on the bounce? Has Jewell played some sort of tactical masterstroke, something that fella Keane would never have done?

4-3-3 anyone? If we all cast our minds back to the start of the season, when we were right up there at the top of the table, we were playing the formation that is currently serving us so well and served us so well then. Commanding victories at Middlesbrough and Palace, good displays against Burnley and Bristol City all built on a mixture of quick wingers, a free Norris and a solid core to the side.

We may have looked like we weren’t going to score enough goals at times, but we were passing the ball as well as we had at any time under Keane’s reign and getting good results on the whole.

I’m not of course saying that Jewell has noticed this and gone back to it; I would imagine he saw us in the Arsenal game play superbly set out in a 4-5-1 and has stuck with it since then, but he has played it with the conviction that Keane never did. A proper winger one side in Martin, a rejuvenated Wickham the other and a confident Priskin up top, with a central midfield trio to rival any in this division.

Firstly, would Keane have had the nerve to play Martin in a wide role? No, we know that from his first year in charge, and secondly, when we went through a patchy run, would he have stuck with the same eleven? Again, we know he wouldn’t and didn’t, changing the formation and crucial personnel on far too regular basis. Another of Jewell’s strengths is the consistency in his team selection and obvious man management skills. If people think Priskin’s resurgence is a pure coincidence after Keane left, I would imagine they are mistaken.

So Keane had the right idea, but the more negative the tactics got, the worse we got and the inevitable happened, he had to go. His legacy? Four centre backs and four central midfielders toiling away with barely an ounce of flair amongst them.

Jewell has changed that, playing a successful formation with motivated and more crucially, exciting players. Talk of the play-offs is madness, but this league is mad, and this team is suddenly fun. Come on Town.

JetaimePeters added 18:23 - Feb 10 The Playoffs!
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Blue92 added 20:21 - Feb 10 Talk of the play-offs is madness, yes - but isn't talk of pretty much anything in this league pretty mad too?
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Parisblue72 added 06:24 - Feb 11 So in other words, "NO!"
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DiamondGezzer added 07:32 - Feb 11 What exactly did Roy Keane do for ITFC. Let me think....got it, took a hefty pay check !
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TractorRoyNo1 added 11:06 - Feb 11 hindsight is 2p a bucket, but all those games without a win at the start of last season built the fear into him and team from which he could not recover he got some things right and some wrong, but i think HE will look back and think one of his biggest mistakes was accepting that Clegg would negotiate transfers with other clubs, and the more PJ can avoid that the better for him and all of us

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exeterblu added 11:10 - Feb 11 I dont think you can doubt RK's determination or commitment to the cause, unfortunalty, I think that his managerial inexperience showed through. I was suprised that having played in a team with Beckham, Giggs etc, that RK could not see the benefit of using wingers to play with width and spread the opponents defence. I think that having played at such heady heights that Keane looked at our players and though the only way to win was nicking a 1-0 with hoofball - not trusting the players to settle into a nice passing rythme. We now know this is not the case - we have a squad of good players, and when given the ability to attack they are more than capable of doing so. Some managers are 'made' for clubs ; think Fergs at Man u , Mourinho at Chelsea or King Kenny at the pool...I strongly believe that Jewell is the man to lead ITFC onto great glory again - I know its not all going to be smooth, and we must be prepared for ups and down, but all in all as optomistic about ITFC since we beat Barnsley in the playoff final in 2000 :) COYB !!

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tractorboy2434 added 11:54 - Feb 11 Keane is not an inexperienced manager, he had time at Sunderland and here, about 4 seasons in total, certainly long enough for someone who played at the highest level to know what his best team was and what tactics to employ, the truth is that he was tactically naive, a poor man manager and stuck rigidly to a system which was failing, then when we went behind astonishingly for such an experienced player he had no plan B, all in all a managerial disaster.

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MVBlue added 15:03 - Feb 11 So it took Keane 18 months to find that 4-3-3 worked, but he then changed that again. Keane got so many things wrong. Man management, substitutions, negative tactics, rotation, press. He never repaid our loyalty too him. Jewell is a clever man and we have done well to get him. We will lose a few but we'll lose them 3-2 not 0-3. Keane the player was an aggressive Man U irritant, as a manager he was a non-entity here.

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DanLyles added 09:24 - Feb 12 Great article, totally agree about the formation and that Bullard, Norris and Leadbitter rivals any central midfield in the division. It's great to see Martin come back and play so well but I definitely think that Jewell will look for a Scott Sinclair style and calibre player for the wing in addition to another striker in the summer. Maybe we will be able to pay Hull to keep Bullard for aonther year if he's happy here? I think that PJ will also look to bring in his own full backs too.

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jas0999 added 09:48 - Feb 13 No chance of making the play-offs. Particularly if you can't hold on at BARNSLEY with less than a minute to go and when in possession of the football. Simply stupid.
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rosseden added 11:24 - Feb 13 ''What exactly did Roy Keane do for ITFC'' I think you have to look deeper to see the longer term benefits that RK brought to the club. His 'legacy' for want of a better term has to be the infrastructure and certain mindsets he brings, admittiedly hes a little to extreme for ITFC, but i do feel that longer term we will see benefits from his input..... oh, and for the record, i thought he should have gone, and i wastn a massive fan when he was here, but i do think people need to see if for what is is which goes far deeper than the on pitch cac we had to watch.......

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IP3 added 03:14 - Feb 17 He was always keen to help with the youngsters, travelling to away FA Youth Cup game etc, and integrating some into the first team. But that is all I will take from his reign at PR.
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Lightningboy added 14:15 - Feb 17 Keane was a joke & a disaster for this club. To quote Keane..."any half decent manager can get a team into the top half of the table". He couldn't.
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fourth added 17:31 - Feb 20 Yes, I agree. Mr Jewell has a footballing nouse that Keane didn't build over his whole United career. There is a big difference between manning the trenches in a blinkered way (and RK WAS a brilliant player) and playing football which attempts to recognise the talents and abilities of ALL players and channel it into a team. Mr Keane is supremely egotistic. Mr Jewell enjoys the success of others. He is not a defensive personality. I think that a mix of along the turf and winger centring football to a big centreforward (who?)is on the cards. We are likely to see midfield players scoring at present and inconsistent service to 1 target, which will develop to a highly competent midfield that can attack but whose purpose is, primarily excellent service. Just thoughts!

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Tractorog added 15:50 - Feb 22 A good well argued blogg.
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