I would love to be the one to say I told you so. But that is just rude, is it not?

Two wins and two convincing displays later and the Town are, upon time of writing, sitting ninth in the table. The league table does not lie and ninth sounds a whole lot more heart-warming than 19th.

Yet, where has all this optimism suddenly came from? Well that is, quite simply, that is what two wins bring to the table. People immediately forget the start to the season that they declared ‘useless’, ‘miserable’ and in more blunt terms, ‘rubbish.’ Even though, as I outlined in my previous blog, the start was not really that rubbish at all.

So, where do we stand now after these two, let us be truthful, fantastic home wins against two decent enough, if not mind-blowingly good sides in Millwall and Brighton? At the end of the season will either of these be play-off contenders? I would probably say no. But then again, you just do not know. We stand then in pretty much the same position that we were beforehand - a position that cannot really be judged.

The old cliché saying that has been this week quoted by Derby manager Steve McClaren in a BBC article - "We can't be looking at the league table" - seems to be something that every manager on the planet says, sometimes to ease pressure off a really good start and then other times to try and take the pressure off his own shoulders, such as Felix Magath, after a quite dreadful one.

The point is thus, for me, nothing has really changed apart from we have gained some valuable points that will, I am sure, prove immensely useful come the end of the season.

So, what about the team itself? Well, I do have to agree that in our past three games we do look far more organised, far more creative and in turn more settled.

The organisation interlinks with the settled side. The Town team in the past few games now has, that one magic word we had all been craving out for, ‘balance.’ Indeed, we now have two full-backs, two full-backs whom I might add, look extremely promising.

It is worth adding what a signing Jonny Parr looks like being. In addition, in Christophe Berra and Luke Chambers, we have two committed and arguably two of the best centre-backs in the Championship. Balance is the key to a well working side and upon writing only four teams can boast a better defensive record than Ipswich. Town have only conceded six goals thus far.

Moreover, it is worth noting that our midfield looks more creative. This is not to say that somebody such as Jonny Williams would not be an outstanding signing, instead it is miraculous almost that our midfield saviour was at the club all along.

The steps that young Teddy Bishop has made have been incredible. Bishop is an intelligent, young and gifted football. He aims to bring the ball forward and, for this writer, brings some much needed creativity into a stubborn, hard-working midfield. Which in turn, next to either Skuse or Hyam and with Anderson and Tabb on the wings, Town have in abundance.

The attack is hardly worth discussing. We all know the quality that McGoldrick possesses and it is incredible to see the commitment and effort that he is putting in. Indeed, it would not have surprised me if McCarthy had said something on the lines of, ‘I know you are disappointed about the rejected move, but fire us into the Premier League and earn a shot at it.’ There can be little doubting he is good enough.

In terms of Murphy, those two goals over the last few days will, hopefully, give him a confidence boost to go on and hit 15 and maybe even 20 goals. I do not see why it cannot be done. He has hit three in seven. He is on course to hit about 15-plus again with ease. Partner that with the sum of goals sure to come from McGoldrick and it is all looking rather rosy, is it not?

Oh, I should add, let us just get that midfield scoring, shall we?

So, upon reflection, where do we stand? Well, not really anywhere different. In all realism, we have a mixed bag of games coming up. We face Wigan away, Rotherham at home and then end our month at Sheffield Wednesday. Indeed, our October set of fixtures are made up of Forest away, Blackburn at home, Cardiff away and a home game against Huddersfield. It looks tough, no doubt.

Yet, there are points there for Town. There is no team in this league that can claim to be that much better or better at all than Ipswich. The equality of teams is, often, overwhelming. But it is, also what makes the Championship such a compelling, competitive and often such a frustrating league too!

However, after all of those games, we will start to get a better idea of where Ipswich are standing in this division. I really do hope that, we can keep a good run going and that; we sit in a healthy top eight-plus come the end of that run.

Then I think we will have some idea to whether a play-off battle, or better, is what we have to look forward to this season.

KBsSocks added 17:14 - Sep 17 11 points from 7 games is 1.57 pt/game thus far, which is Playoff standard. I reckon we'll get 10 from the next 7, which brings down the average to 1.5 pt/game. Same sort of standard as last year, if maintained over the whole season. So, 11 or 12 or even 13 points from the next 7 games is a good / very good haul :-) Could we do it ? With luck, yes.
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Blue041273 added 09:31 - Sep 18 Football is a funny old game!!! Quite rightly there was an element of despair in looking at the season ahead after the Norwich game. Now, as illustrated in this item, a sense of optimism has emerged. Like everyone else I was truly ecstatic with the outcomes of the Millwall & Brighton games. But without wanting to pour cold water over this there are games to come when the results will not go in our favour. While the performances in the last two games were good, we could have conceded an early goal in each which might have affected the outcomes. Football is not an exact science and results in the Championship are difficult to predict. The inner glow that comes with winning two games on the bounce and the optimism that that inspires is truly something to be enjoyed, but we will need to maintain/improve the level of performance before we can start to get really excited about the season ahead.

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Nuggets added 17:03 - Sep 19 It's all well and good patting ourselves on the back (I was one of the few that stood by Mick with a blog posted days after the Norwich defeat), but as we all know, football is a fickle, old game, if we lose our next three games then the critics will be out again and McCarthy will be back 'under pressure'. We'll be alright this year and there are some encouraging recent developments, not to mention the back-to-back wins. But some perspective is needed. We've been a lower-mid-table side for several years now and last season's impressive finish, under McCarthy, and the turnaround this campaign is offering us promising signs that we're heading into a more positive direction. Yes the style of football can be dull, yes McCarthy has his favourites, which can divide and upset the fanbase but, ultimately, we're getting results and that should be the most important factor to consider when the more expectant and hopeful among us are expecting a play-off push.

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Blue041273 added 11:36 - Sep 20 Just as a postscript, Vis-a-Vis the upturn in our fortunes it should not be overlooked that this coincided with the visit of the Norwegian Blues (aka the dead parrots). Who needs good management or sound tactics when we have lucky charms like these people. Thanks guys and gals; you brought that luck we needed. You're welcome back any time!
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KBsSocks added 08:58 - Sep 24 My grin is broad :-D Four or more points from the next four games and we're really FLYING !
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KBsSocks added 17:05 - Sep 27 Grin is broader now - one point from the next three, and we'll be disappointed.
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