Town go into tomorrow’s home clash with Leeds United having established a new club record of 21 games unbeaten in all competitions, a commendable feat at any level, but current skipper Sam Morsy admits he is not overly concerned.
Indeed, asked if he took a great deal of pride in the achievement, he went as far as to admit: "Not really, no. I don’t really pay too much attention to that. When you do focus on something like that, you’re still just one game away from losing and what happens when you lose it?
"We’re a good team but I’ve never really been interested in that. We just focus on each individual game. At the start of that run, we weren’t looking at going on a 21-game unbeaten run – the aim would have been to fully focus on the next one and that’s what we will do tomorrow.”
Town will equal another record tomorrow should they maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign, matching the 23-game undefeated league run established in the 1979/80 season under Sir Bobby Robson.
Talking of stats, Morsy will be making his 500th career appearance at Portman Road tomorrow. He has made 90 for the Blues to add to the 35 for previous club Middlesbrough, 14 on loan at Barnsley, 164 for Wigan, 117 for Chesterfield and 78 for Port Vale, having joined them from first club Wolves, where he did not graduate to first-team level. Add them together and it comes to 499, so tomorrow will see him reach a significant career landmark.
By comparison, Town’s latest signing Brandon Williams, who has agreed a season-long loan move from Manchester United, is still in the infancy of a career that has seen him clock up 81 appearances between his parent club and Norwich City, where he spent the 2021/22 campaign on loan.
But Morsy is certainly impressed with 22-year-old Williams’s switch to Suffolk, admitting: "If you’d told me two weeks ago, I probably wouldn’t have thought he would be within our reach.
"He’s another quality signing, someone the manager knows really well from their time together at Manchester United, and I have no doubt that he has plenty to add to the squad. I’m delighted to have him on board.
"As well as his great quality, he has great athleticism and a great pedigree. He has a lot of experience, has played a good number of games in the Premier League from a young age and that top-level experience will benefit us.
"He’s an excellent addition to the squad and from what we’ve seen in training you can see how determined he is to do well with us, no doubt about it.
"He had offers from teams higher in the football pyramid but he has chosen us, probably because of the strong relationship he has with the manager, so we’re delighted to have him. It just shows where he’s at; he wants to be here, wants to dig in and wants to play regularly.”
Another new recruit, midfielder Jack Taylor, has also caught the skipper’s eye since he arrived in the summer at a cost of £1.5 million from Peterborough United. He may not have featured a great deal so far, but the one-time Chelsea youngster and Republic of Ireland U21 international is another one sure to feature more often in the future.
Morsy added: "It’s still really early days for Jack, although he’s been here a while after the deal was done in time for him to have the entire pre-season with us.
"He’s a really good lad and he’s learning all the time. He’s got lots of quality and offers something different to what we had. He’s a natural box-to-box midfielder who wants to score goals.
"He’s working really hard and improving all the time, as all the lads are. It’s about being ready to play when required. The team is doing really well at the moment but the same XI aren’t going to play every week.
"There are always going to be injuries, suspensions and the manager making changes when he feels the time is right for different systems, so it’s really important that when you are out of the team you are ready to come in when needed.
"There are six of us challenging for two midfield positions, all with different qualities and ready to offer different things. It’s a strong unit and that’s how it has to be, because it’s never straight sailing.
"You saw last season how Lee [Evans] got injured, Dom [Ball] was injured and it was me and young Cam [Humphreys] in there for a while, so it’s never straightforward. So far, Mass [Luongo] and me have made a good start, but like I say it’s a strong unit.
"I think even young Cam, despite his age, is a real quality player and when he’s needed, he’s going to show it. Jack’s just come to the club and we’ve got Lee and Dom as well, so there are plenty of strong options there for the manager.
"In terms of new players, each one who has come into the club has added something different – their own individual quality – and made their mark. I know the club are quite keen to bring in more players to help us and by the end of the transfer window, hopefully, we’ll be in a strong place.”
Morsy also sang the praises of defender or wing-back, Greg Leigh, who departed yesterday on a permanent transfer to Oxford United, managed by former MK Dons pair Liam Manning and his assistant, Chris Hogg, who were also colleagues at academy level with Town.
He added: "Greg played a massive role here and was brilliant last season to be fair. He came on for Leif [Davis] in the latter stages of games and always did well, same as when he started. Greg was also a very popular member of the squad and to be successful you need guys like that in the dressing room.
"He did brilliantly here but he wants to play regular football now and he’s at a club where they could do really well. They have a really good coach.
"We wish Greg all the best and he’ll be missed here. He’s a great character, which is what you want on top of his quality as a player. He was part of our success last season and now he has an opportunity to be playing week in, week out, which I’m sure he will take.”
Morsy and Australian partner Massimo Luongo have featured in all three of Town’s league games this season and both are determined to retain their places for as long as possible.
Asked how they were finding it compared to last season, the skipper said: "I don’t think we’re finding it too much different to last season in League One, to be honest.
"We have a strong partnership and we’ve been strong in the first few games. Of course, the players are going to be a better calibre in the Championship, but again it’s about what we do and that means trying to make sure we are the dominant midfield partnership in the game.”
Are the games in the Championship different to those in League One? He added: "It depends on the game to be honest. At Sunderland it was more counter-attacking, but I thought against both Stoke and last week at QPR we had a lot more of the ball and were able to dominate. It just depends on how the game plays out.
"You have to try to be dominant and to win the battle, whether that’s having the majority of possession or little of the ball. How can you affect the team without the ball, how can you find space and how good can you be in transition as well? However the game goes, you’ve still got to win the battle.”