Cole Skuse believes Town are stronger this season despite the loss of Aaron Cresswell, so often described by boss Mick McCarthy as the best left-back in the Championship, to West Ham in the summer.
And the reason is fairly straightforward — Tyrone Mings has made such an impact since inheriting the number three shirt and McCarthy has also made some astute signings to increase the overall strength of a squad that finished ninth, four points adrift of the coveted play-off places, last term.
Skuse said: "We lost Cressy to West Ham and he was a massive player for us last year. But Mingsy’s come in and just grown as a player and person with each game he has played. A lot of people said that when Cressy left maybe that was a big loss but Mingsy has come in and been unbelievable.
"We’ve made some good additions — Kevin Bru has done very well and now we have Noel Hunt and Sean St Ledger with us. They are vastly experienced players and if we can attract players like that to the club it is not going to do us any harm.
"Noel is a forward player and if you’re bringing him in on top of Murphy, McGoldrick, Bajner and Sammon it shows the strength we have. I know Didzy has said that teams are kind of scared of us a bit because they are adjusting the way they play to accommodate us, which is a compliment to us.”
Skuse was buoyed by last week’s 2-2 draw at Bournemouth, who are one point ahead of Town in second spot, and especially the circumstances in which it was achieved after Eddie Howe’s men took a second-minute lead.
He said: "It was a great result. Not many teams will go there and pick up points this year. They’re a very, very good side. To go behind twice and claw your way back into the game is a great trait to have and we did it very well.
"I would say they are the best team we have played so far. No disrespect to any other teams, but the way they play and the way they move the ball to set themselves up, they are the best we have faced this season.
"But the way we are picking up points away from home says we are doing something right and the other good sign is that we can go behind and still get something from the game. That ability is a great thing to have in our locker.
"It’s not a lot different this season in terms of the closeness of the squad because we’ve always been very close. It seems to be a really good mix this year, as if everything is fitting into place. We seem to be handling situations better than we did last year.”