Halfway through the campaign, Ipswich Town still feels like a side trying to steady itself after a summer that knocked the whole thing slightly off balance.
The back‑to‑back promotions had been built on a tight group who knew every run, every shout, every bad day, and then suddenly that core wasn’t there anymore.
Broadhead gone. Morsy gone. Burgess gone. Woolfenden, the local lad who felt stitched into the place, is gone too. And you could see the aftershock in the early months.
Nothing dramatic, just that strange, unsettled feeling where the passes don’t land quite right and the whole thing feels a touch out of tune.
A hangover from the rise, mixed with the emptiness of losing the lads who’d carried so much of it. But something shifted after the turn of the year.
Ever since the 1st of January, the team have started to click again, not suddenly, not in one big moment, but in those small, steady ways where you look up and realise the shape is tighter, the confidence is creeping back, and a new version of Ipswich is slowly taking hold.
Ipswich are halfway through the season in a good spot, even if it hasn’t always felt that steady watching it unfold.
Some of the early games had that slightly off feel, like the team were still working out how to play without the old leaders, and the results sometimes looked better than the performances.
But they never really drifted away from the top group, just stayed in that bunch where one good run could change everything.
The home front has been a big part of keeping things together.
The unbeaten run at Portman Road actually started back in late 2025 against Stoke, and it’s now stretched to five games without a loss.
It hasn’t been flashy, more than slow, steady feeling where the place starts to feel familiar again, like the team knows how to manage the awkward spells and the crowd helps drag them through the tight moments.
Away games have been all over the place, really.
Some of them felt like they were drifting for long stretches, others had that scrappy edge where nobody quite settled, and a few just slipped into that weird middle ground where you’re not sure if Ipswich were close to winning it or close to losing it.
But since the year turned, there’s been a different feel to them. Not suddenly brilliant, just less shaky.
They haven’t lost in 2026, and you can see little things starting to line up players taking up better spots, passes arriving a bit quicker, the whole thing looking less like it’s about to fall apart when the tempo changes.
They’re still right in the mix, not running away with anything, but not drifting either, and it finally feels like the season’s moving in a direction that makes sense rather than one you have to talk yourself into.
The first one that really stuck came back in September, when Ipswich smashed Sheffield United 5–0.
It felt a bit out of nowhere at the time; everything just clicked for once. The movement, the finishing, the press, all of it.
One of those afternoons where you suddenly remember what the team can look like when the pieces line up.
Then into October, the derby was the big one. The 3–1 win over Norwich wasn’t just a good result; it was the first home derby win in 16 years, which is ridiculous when you say it out loud.
The football didn’t have to be perfect because the whole place was already bouncing. It carried its own weight.
November ended up being the month where the away form finally showed some life.
The 4–1 at QPR had that messy start, and then suddenly Ipswich settled and took control.
A couple of weeks later came the 4–1 at Swansea, same sort of pattern, a bit of early chaos, then a long stretch where they looked sharper and more confident than they had in most away games up to that point.
All of these games nudged the season along in their own way, each one landing at a moment where Ipswich needed a reminder of what they can actually do when things fall into place.
It’s been a season where different players have stepped forward at odd moments, sometimes carrying things for a week or two before someone else picks it up, and a few of them have stood out more than the rest.
Jack Clarke has ended up being the one with the numbers next to his name — ten goals already, which is a bit mad considering how many matches have drifted without much rhythm.
Half the time he looks quiet and then suddenly, he’s the one finishing the move that nobody else looked ready for.
Jaden Philogene has been the spark differently.
He’s on nine goals, one behind Clarke, but it’s the way he changes the feel of a match that stands out more than the tally.
Some games look half‑asleep until he gets on the ball and starts running at people, and then everything wakes up a bit.
He’s had spells where he’s basically the only one trying to make something happen.
At the back, Christian Walton has been the steady one, even when the rest of the team looks like they’re wobbling.
Nine clean sheets, the most in the league, which says more about him than it does about the defence in front of him.
He’s had those games where he does nothing for ages and then suddenly has to make a big stop, and he’s handled those moments without fuss.
Azor Matusiwa has been brought in to fill the space Morsy left behind, not by trying to be him but by doing the job in his own way.
He’s been the glue in midfield, the one who stops everything from falling apart when matches get scrappy.
Covers ground, breaks things up, keeps the whole thing from tilting when the tempo goes weird. You notice him most when he’s not there, which probably tells the story better than anything else.
Marcelino Núñez has ended up in that No.10 spot for Ipswich, drifting around in those pockets where he can poke at things or speed the game up a bit.
His move was a bit of a controversial one when it happened; you could feel people weren’t sure about it, and now and then, that still hangs in the background.
But on the pitch, he’s been the one trying to force something when the whole team starts playing too safe.
Some games, he’s just popping up between the lines, taking risks nobody else is really looking for, and it keeps the whole thing from going flat.
The squad’s sat at 25 players with an average age of 27.5, and it’s been enough to deal with pretty much anything the season has thrown at it.
It’s not a young group or an old one, just that middle ground where most of them know what they’re doing, and Ipswich have more or less always had the depth to cope with whatever situation comes up.
Some weeks the rotation looks smooth, other weeks it feels like a bit of a scramble, but the options have been there when they’ve needed them, enough experience to get through the scrappy stuff, enough legs to keep the tempo up when games start drifting.
And with Wes Burns back, the whole picture shifts again.
He gives the squad that direct running they’ve missed at times, the kind of outlet that makes rotation feel less like plugging gaps and more like actually changing the shape of a game.
A few players have taken on more minutes than planned, and some roles have been filled out of necessity rather than design, but the group hasn’t cracked under it.
It’s not perfect depth, but it’s been enough and more importantly, it’s been there when it mattered.
The next run feels like one of those stretches that can shove the season one way or the other.
Ipswich have four straight league games on the road, which is a lot of travelling and a lot of tight‑margin football before they’re finally back at Portman Road against Swansea.
There’s also that game in hand over Pompey sitting there, the kind of thing everyone keeps half an eye on because it could matter later, and a midweek trip to Watford thrown into the mix that never makes life simple.
And right in the middle of all that, you’ve got the back‑to‑back clashes with Wrexham, first in the Cup and then straight into the league.
This is the sort of double hit that can either give you a bit of momentum or leave you feeling like you’ve been dragged through it.
Nothing about this run is straightforward, but it’s the kind of spell where you find out what the squad’s really made of.
The season hasn’t been perfect, but it hasn’t fallen away either, and that’s the important bit.
If Ipswich just keep picking up points, even the scrappy ones, the gap to Middlesbrough will keep tightening.
Town want to be right on their shoulder for the moment they hit a bad patch because every team does sooner or later.
It’s been a grind at times, but the squad have held their shape, the big players have stepped up when they’ve had to, and there’s still enough in this group to push if they stay steady through the next run.
