Midfielder Scott Fraser insists he has more to offer than Town fans have seen from him so far this season following his summer switch from Milton Keynes Dons as one of 19 new faces in manager Paul Cook’s revamped squad.
You have to go back to the opening day of the season, when the Blues were held to a 2-2 draw by newly-promoted Morecambe, for Fraser’s only goal so far and he has underlined his intention to contribute more to the cause on the months ahead.
Fraser had been sidelined for five games with a knee injury before making his comeback in Tuesday’s Papa John’s Trophy game against Colchester, which ended goalless and saw Town qualify for the knockout phase after a 4-3 win in the penalty shootout.
The Scot was asked about his injury and revealed: "It was a tweak in the left medial ligament in my knee. I was sent down to London to see a specialist and get an injection to see if it would ease the pain, which it did, although I’m still feeling it and there’s still a bit of swelling as well.
"It was just a case of waiting for it to settle down and a bit of a daft injury really. It came about when I blocked a pass in training and that opened it up. Hopefully, over the next few weeks it will settle down a bit more.”
Asked he felt he might struggle to regain his place in the side, Fraser added: "I’ve got a really good relationship with the gaffer here and I speak to him most days. Was I worried? I think you’re always worried about your place in the team when you get injured but I have a lot of belief in my ability, what I can do and how good I can be.
"At the same time, though, there is so much strength in the team and the squad that nobody really wants to be missing games if they can help it.”
So how good does he think he can be for Ipswich? "In the modern game it’s all about numbers for attacking players, which is what I consider myself to be,” he said.
"I class myself as an attacking midfielder, wherever that plays, and if you look at my stats over the last few years you will see how good I can be. I feel I still have a lot to show here.
"I want goals, I want assists, I want to create chances and with the squad I’m part of here I have no doubt they will come.”
Fraser, who has started 11 of Town’s 16 league games this season, netted 14 times in 41 starts and three appearances from the bench for the Dons last season, his first following a switch from Burton Albion in the summer of 2020 when he opted to move on rather than extend his stay with the Brewers.
He has some way to go, therefore, to match that scoring rate on behalf of Town, who moved from Milton Keynes for an undisclosed fee and signed a three-year deal to remain at Portman Road until the summer of 2024.
Fraser, whose last League One outing was in the 2-2 draw at Cambridge United four weeks ago, admits it is vital that Town build on their impressive 4-1 win at Wycombe when they went behind early on and recovered in spectacular style to turn the game on its head.
He said: "It’s 100 per cent important. We’ve been on a good run of form and we want it to continue. Take out the defeat at Plymouth — I watched that one and felt we should definitely have won it based on the chances we had — and it’s been very good. This is a very positive place at the minute and we need to keep it that way.”
Fraser and his colleagues were delighted with the news this week that Tunisian international midfielder Idris El Mizouni signed a new contract to extend his stay with the club until the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
"I’ll be honest and admit that when I signed for Ipswich he was one of the players I knew nothing about and I hadn’t seen play,” said Fraser.
"It was about a week into training before I felt him on my back. He enjoys a tackle, whether it’s in training or a game, and he’s certainly a player who trains exactly how he plays. I see that as a good thing and something that can really help him.
"When we heard he’d earned himself a new deal we were all very happy for him. The group chat was very lively once it had been announced and it just shows you the sort of group that we have here — we’re all very supportive of each other, whether it’s the boys that are playing or the boys who are not playing.
"Iddy just needs to keep his head down and keep battling away because we have a very strong group of central midfield players at the club. If the gaffer is prepared to reward him with a new contract through to 2024 he’s got to take a lot of confidence from that.”
Finally, with it being an international weekend, Fraser will be keen to see how Scotland fare in their World Cup qualifier in Moldova this evening when victory for Steve Clarke’s men would clinch their place in the play-off stage ahead of the finals being staged by Qatar 13 months from now.
The player, who started his career north of the border with home-town club Dundee United and would love to represent Scotland, said: "I’m confident about our chances but I’m Scottish so we always have to be confident. We need to be confident for each other because I don’t get much help down here.
"I think we have really improved on the international scene and hopefully the Euros was just a taster of what’s to come in the next few major international tournaments with Scotland involved.”
Town defender Cameron Burgess was born in Aberdeen before he emigrated with his family to Australia when he was 11 and Fraser added: "Cam’s Australian, not Scottish, when we are talking about it in the dressing room. Playing for Scotland is something I have spoken about before and I’ve been quite close in the past.
"It was one of the major factors in me deciding to come here when I had the chance because I knew I would be playing in front of 20,000 or more spectators, at least every second week.
"Once you’re doing that you are likely to get more recognition throughout football and what I want to do here is to progress to the next level and an even bigger scene.”