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Mick McCarthy reflected on the fickle nature of football as he prepares to meet resurgent Wanderers at the Macron tomorrow.
The Ipswich boss admits his task is tougher than it would have appeared a while ago, as the Whites struggled at the foot of the Championship under Dougie Freedman.
But the Yorkshireman was at a loss to explain exactly why his opponents had hit a rich vein of form.
“They're five unbeaten. It's funny isn't it?” he said. “A new manager comes in, changes things around, finds a new formula – a new shape or a new team – and suddenly it picks up.
“You get a couple of results and everyone starts to believe again. They are certainly a tougher prospect for us than they would have been a few weeks ago.
“Neil Lennon is quite clearly a good manager because he's done well at Celtic – including the Champions League. There's no doubt they’ve always had good players there. For whatever reason it sometimes doesn't work out for a manager, I've been there myself, then somebody suddenly finds something that works.”
Any positive result against the Whites would be a good one for McCarthy, who wasn’t far away from taking the job at Bolton when Freedman was appointed back in 2012.
“You know my philosophy on that,” he said. “If I was offered a point then I'd take it now. That was the case at Charlton actually. We looked like we were going to get a point and I was happy with that (Noel Hunt scored stoppage-time winner to snatch 1-0 win).
“We'll be going there to win, but if we end up with a point I won't be complaining.”
McCarthy does not fear that some teams are now starting to wake up to the threats offered by Ipswich, who have been the surprise package of the Championship this season.
“I hope we cause them problems when they're looking at it. A team that's on form you don’t even have to look at the DVDs, you just know you’re going to get a really tough and difficult game.
“When they start looking at us I hope they see our front two and think 'how are we going to deal with that?”
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The Ipswich boss admits his task is tougher than it would have appeared a while ago, as the Whites struggled at the foot of the Championship under Dougie Freedman.
But the Yorkshireman was at a loss to explain exactly why his opponents had hit a rich vein of form.
“They're five unbeaten. It's funny isn't it?” he said. “A new manager comes in, changes things around, finds a new formula – a new shape or a new team – and suddenly it picks up.
“You get a couple of results and everyone starts to believe again. They are certainly a tougher prospect for us than they would have been a few weeks ago.
“Neil Lennon is quite clearly a good manager because he's done well at Celtic – including the Champions League. There's no doubt they’ve always had good players there. For whatever reason it sometimes doesn't work out for a manager, I've been there myself, then somebody suddenly finds something that works.”
Any positive result against the Whites would be a good one for McCarthy, who wasn’t far away from taking the job at Bolton when Freedman was appointed back in 2012.
“You know my philosophy on that,” he said. “If I was offered a point then I'd take it now. That was the case at Charlton actually. We looked like we were going to get a point and I was happy with that (Noel Hunt scored stoppage-time winner to snatch 1-0 win).
“We'll be going there to win, but if we end up with a point I won't be complaining.”
McCarthy does not fear that some teams are now starting to wake up to the threats offered by Ipswich, who have been the surprise package of the Championship this season.
“I hope we cause them problems when they're looking at it. A team that's on form you don’t even have to look at the DVDs, you just know you’re going to get a really tough and difficult game.
“When they start looking at us I hope they see our front two and think 'how are we going to deal with that?”
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