Roy Keane's start to life as Ipswich Town manager has been quite.....well......disappointing. The results and some of the performances have been underwhelming, although that could be due to the heightened expectations that he lugs around with him.

The former Manchester United captain has been forced to learn the hard way that there is a reason why the bulk of his squad is made up with the type of players it is - they were not considered good enough elsewhere.

Of course, there are always some exceptions but the manager has had to figure out that his current crop cannot play to the standards he wants them to.

Some will say that he should have learned this lesson when in charge at Sunderland. Maybe he did, but only to a certain extent. After all, that Sunderland squad was a lot better than the current Ipswich one - plus he was given funds with which to bring in plenty of new faces.

So is it that surprising that they have been lurking around the bottom of the Championship table? Well yes it is. Keane is surely a better manager than what he has shown so far at Portman Road and his team's recent results (unbeaten in their last seven games) are starting to show that there is something worth fighting for at the club.

The only way is up.......or so he hopes

When he agreed to take over at Ipswich, Keane stated that his plan was to guide them to promotion after two years. Well the halfway report for Year One is almost due and it won't be pretty reading for the board of directors. However, they will be heartened by the fact that improvements have been made.

Every manager makes mistakes. Keane tends to make a lot of his in the public eye. But at least he is learning from them. For example, he has gone some way to sorting out his goalkeeping crisis by signing Brian Murphy, rightly restored Owen Garvan to his midfield, and identified the need to find a goalscorer.

Bravo Roy. If he keeps this up, then Ipswich will surely leapfrog a lot of the mid-level clubs that occupy the lower half of the Championship. A few wins and The Tractor Boys will be sniffing around the promotion play-off places.

Right now it may look like a big ask to achieve promotion, but the Championship is the type of league where teams swap places every week and a good run of results that elevate teams into positions they never thought they could reach.

Taking over the spotlight

In recent weeks Keane has been in the news for a lot of the wrong reasons. He has made comments that have in turned created headlines and stories that are still running today.

Was this a deliberate tactic by the 38-year-old? Did he only say those things so that the pressure would be lifted off his under-performing team and focused on himself instead?

It wouldn't be that surprising if he did do it on purpose. Keane is a very clever person and knows that he can distract the media whenever he wants. And maybe, just maybe, that was the breather his team needed to get their results back on track.

New recruits will be key

In order for Keane to get Ipswich up into the play-off places and stay there, he will need to be clever with his signings in January. As already stated Murphy is signed on and waiting, although he needs reinforcements that will bring quality and consistency.

Speculation has suggested that he is eyeing up a move for Barnet striker John O'Flynn, while Bohemians youngster Conor Powell is seen as the answer to his left-back problems. Both of those would be good signings, but the fans will be expecting at least one big name to arrive at the club when the transfer window re-opens.

The contacts that Keane has made throughout his career should come in handy when he attempts to bring new faces in. It will be interesting to see who he targets and what sort of impact they can have on Ipswich.

Promotion was the two-year target, but it can be achieved this year if Keane sorts out all of the issues that hampered his team's performances earlier in the season and he gets the best out of the players that he has.

Feedback

Eirefan: I agree that goalkeepers need a lot of cover from their defence, but a good keeper organises his defence. Then again keepers can stand out all on their own and I think Ireland has produced (and continues to) some top class shot-stoppers over the years. The future looks bright in that department for the national team for some years to come.
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