Town midfielder Jack Taylor says comparisons should not be made between the Blues’ current squad and the Championship promotion-winning side from two seasons ago.
Since earning back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League, there has been significant turnover at Portman Road across the last four transfer windows.
Ipswich midfielder Jack Taylor. Photo: Barry Goodwin
Taylor is one of only five senior players to remain at the club from the last Championship campaign alongside Leif Davis, Wes Burns, George Hirst and Christian Walton.
Despite plenty of change in personnel around him, Taylor has been rewarded with more minutes this season than any previous campaign, with more than half of his league starts having come this term.
The midfielder is pleased with how he has performed when called upon by manager Kieran McKenna, and says there are still plenty of areas that he feels he can enhance after recently surpassing a century of matches for Town.
“Especially being in the middle of the park, you need to be a bit of an all-action sort of player,” he said. “All aspects of my game I feel like I can improve on, but nothing in particular.
“I’ve stepped up my game in all aspects. I’m trying to influence the game as much as I can and bring the best version of myself. I had that spell where I didn’t play a lot of minutes and then I got put in and I think I took that opportunity.
“I’ve said before that I’m really proud of how I dealt with that situation at the time. My main objective is to get this club back in the Premier League. If I do my best to do that, my job is done.”
Reflecting back to the group assembled during his debut campaign, Taylor continued: “I don’t think you can compare, the squad’s completely different.
“If you look at all the positions, the players that have left and the players that have come in, they’re different profiles so it’s difficult to judge it on that.
“Talent-wise, probably a little bit more now I would say. We’ve got a great group now, but the group we had at the time, we knew our jobs and the team didn’t really rotate as much as it does this year, which is what you need in the Championship.
“We started off really slow this season and we added some players which is obviously going to take time, especially with young players coming in. To embed them with how we are around the building and the culture of the club.
“We’re on the right steps and once it gets into full flow, I think we’ll see the best out of this group.”
Last month’s January transfer window saw two new faces arrive at Portman Road in the form of forward Anis Mehmeti and midfielder Dan Neil.
Sunderland loanee Neil, who captained the Black Cats to promotion from the Championship last season, provides an extra battle for places in an area of the pitch that also features Jens Cajuste and the virtually ever-present Azor Matusiwa.
Taylor, who also continued to heap praise on Matusiwa, welcomes the new competition.
“He’s a good lad,” he said of Neil. “A lot of us have played against him before, and Jack Clarke has played with him. He was speaking a lot before he came and just added that he’s going to be a good addition to the unit. The competition is so healthy, and you need that in a promotion push.
“That’s a great option to have, whether the gaffer sees a game that’s going to work out better for someone else with that profile. If that’s going to get us the three points or up the pitch more, then so be it.
“There’s different profiles in every position, no-one’s a like-for-like which I think is good. Competition in the midfield unit now is probably the strongest it’s been.
“Azor’s been brilliant. You know what you’re going to get from him, he seems to always be there on second balls and appears out of nowhere. The regains he gets for us are so important for how we want to play, especially when teams are trying to counter on us.
“It probably hit him by surprise the intensity of the Championship. All players have got to learn, it’s how you react and he’s reacted brilliantly since then. Long may it continue for him.”
One of Taylor’s own key attributes is his ability to find the net from long range, with goals against Swansea City and Wolverhampton Wanderers from outside the box among his catalogue of strikes in his Town career to date.
The 27-year-old popped up in the right place at the right time from a set piece with an uncharacteristic close-range finish against Blackburn Rovers last month, a goal that marked his first in more than a year.
Taylor said: “It was probably one of the worst goals I’ve scored. Every goal matters and hopefully I’ll get my opportunity to score from a bit further out. As long as the team’s winning, that’s the main focus.
“Teams like getting bodies behind the ball and it’s tougher to get your angles, but there’s still opportunities for me to try and get more goals.”
Away from club football, Taylor has been capped 10 times by the Republic of Ireland and is a regular fixture in international squads, featuring in each of the last five squads named by manager Heimir Hallgrímsson.
Next month sees the Boys in Green take on the Czech Republic away from home in a play-off semi-final for the World Cup, a tournament that the Irish have not qualified for since 2002.
“Here and there they see how you are and things like that,” Taylor said. “I think they let you just crack on with your club and when that comes round a bit closer, they’ll make a few phone calls. Hopefully, I’ll get that phone call.
“It always helps your chances if you’re playing and playing well for a team near the top as well. Hopefully I’ll get picked and we can get to the World Cup.”