Town skipper Luke Chambers has saluted team-mates Bart Bialkowski and Adam Webster — and admitted he hopes the club will not be tempted to part with either in the January transfer window.
Chambers joked: "Bart? I don’t think he’s playing very well at all. But seriously, I hope he’s still here. He’s done the business for the last two years and it’s not easy to get Player of the Year twice in a row.
"We know how good Bart is and if there’s people who want to buy him they will have to come up with a lot of money, won’t they?
"Adam? He’s making me look alright. Potentially, I think, he has absolutely everything and I think he is learning a lot off the gaffer, who is on his case a bit!
"Adam thrives on it and he’s been putting in good performances in the last few weeks, and if he continues to play the way he has been doing I think there will be people starting to take a look at him.
"Portsmouth play a little bit differently to the way we play here but he’s taking freekicks and sending them 70 yards with his left foot — and he’s right-footed. It doesn’t faze him at all. He’s lining them up and I’m thinking ‘What are we doing here, Webby?’. Bash, 70 yards and hit straight to people.
"He’s got so much ability — left foot, right foot, defensively he’s very quick, he’s very good in the air and he’s a big boy. I’m really enjoying playing alongside him at the minute.
"We’ve been chatting quite a lot and we seem to complement each other well. Of course, we’ve still had chat after games because we’ve still been conceding quite a few goals.
"In the games where we’ve conceded goals we haven’t felt like we were in any danger, it’s just been individual mistakes and it’s been a running theme over the last few months.
"Going back to Webby, in my view he’s up there with the very best in the league. A Premier League player of the future? Yes, 100 per cent as far as I’m concerned.”
Whether or not Town part company with anyone in the transfer window, Chambers sees it as an opportunity to welcome new faces into Mick McCarthy’s squad.
"We need some new faces,” he added. "We’d love new players in, whether they cost 10 million or 10 grand, but you just never know what will happen.
"There are boys out on loan who are doing well and I imagine we might see some of them back. We especially need midfield players because we have some long-term injuries and it would be great to have as many new players as we can. It gives everyone a boost, whether they are inside the building or outside.”
Chambers hailed the impact of new summer arrivals Joe Garner, Martyn Waghorn and on-loan Manchester City winger Bersant Celina, adding: "I think the gaffer should be applauded for who he has brought in, especially this season, because the new boys have made a massive difference to us as a team. It’s down to him and his staff, and I would never try to get involved with that.
"All the new players who have come in have bought into how we do things here from minute one.
"They have been a breath of fresh air around the place and they still are. They are enjoying living here and playing for the club.
"They are enjoying coming in to work every day and we are over the moon to have them here. But we’re only half way through the season and we need to continue pushing on.
"One of the manager’s strengths is that he does his homework on new signings. He never really brings in too many bad eggs. We’ve had chats in the past and we could mention a couple but you could definitely count them all on one hand, comfortably.”
Meanwhile, Chambers will be more than happy to make it five games in 15 days if he follows up tomorrow’s home clash with Derby by also playing at Fulham next Tuesday, as well as in the FA Cup third round clash with Championship rivals Sheffield United at Portman Road on Saturday week.
He added: "I love playing every game, especially playing in the middle because I haven’t had to do quite as much running as I would at right-back. My body seems to be holding up and I feel fresh.
"I also feel I’m playing quite well and I always aim to play as well as I possibly can — that’s all I ever aim for in order to help the team.”