Ipswich Town will be using this international break as a way to regroup and reassess after a sobering 4-1 defeat to West Ham United last time out in the Premier League.
Kieran McKenna’s men are yet to win in the unforgiving division from seven games, but find themselves thankfully just above that dreaded bottom three currently, owing to some positive draws away from still being winless.
The Tractor Boys manager will want more from the new recruits that entered through the door in the summer too, including Chiedozie Ogbene who is yet to really leave an impression on the Portman Road masses.
Ogbene's start at Ipswich
Ogbene would have been thrilled to relocate to Suffolk in the off-season, having just tasted relegation down to the Championship with Luton Town.
The Republic of Ireland international was a bright spark for the Hatters even as relegation became reality, with five goals and one assist picked up from 39 games, before the Tractor Boys then swooped in to give him another shot at the top flight.
He is unfortunately yet to get off the mark for his new employers, with his hefty £8m price tag potentially weighing heavy over his head, as the 27-year-old has zero goals and zero assists from five total games donning Ipswich blue.
Ogbene has only started three of those contests in all fairness, with McKenna hopeful that his new number 21 can spark into life later down the line, away from becoming a flop at Portman Road.
The ex-Luton man can boast the fact that he scored away at Anfield when he was on the books still at the Hatters, but that ultimately counts for nothing now in his new location, especially if his game time doesn’t increase due to below-par performances.
Ipswich will just hope they don’t rue not sealing a deal for this target down the right wing instead, who would have cost far more at £25m, but could have been more of a success already than the lacklustre Irishman.
Who Ipswich could have signed over Ogbene
During the same summer that Ogbene entered the building from Kenilworth Road, Ipswich were regularly linked with a move for then Burnley star Wilson Odobert, in a bid to boost their options down the right flank.
Odobert would eventually join Tottenham Hotspur in a bumper £25m move, instead of relocating to Suffolk, with the North London titans well aware of how promising a talent the ex-Clarets attacker is to splash out that amount.
Stat – per 90 mins*
Odobert
Games played
29
Goals scored
3
Assists
2
Shots*
1.7
Big chances missed
2
Big chances created
7
Much like Ogbene was for Rob Edwards’ men, Odobert was a lively presence in a team that eventually succumbed to their relegation fate, with three goals and two assists registered from 29 top-flight contests for the Clarets.
He could well have had more assists to shout about too, with seven big chances in total created, as Ange Postecoglou’s men then took a gamble on the “extraordinary” Frenchman – as he was labelled by football journalist Andres Onrubia Ramos before his switch to Burnley – during the transfer window, hopeful he could blossom into even more of a top star surrounded by higher quality performers.
It hasn’t completely worked in the 19-year-old’s favour, with an injury issue now ruling him out of action “long term” according to Postecoglou, after he went down with a hamstring concern against Coventry City last month.
Before that, however, he was showing glimpses of his Turf Moor brilliance in his fresh surroundings, with a showing against Newcastle United in September seeing him register four efforts at Nick Pope’s goal as a tenacious figure in attack.
Going back to matters in Suffolk, McKenna will just hope Ogbene can come good over the months to come, as the Tractor Boys strive to keep their relegation demons at bay.
There will be a worry that the relegation-threatened outfit should have just gone all out to land Odobert instead though, who is only still 19 years of age and with lots of room to grow, over settling for the ex-Luton midfielder.
Ipswich let a "great" player leave for £0, now he's outscoring Szmodics
This former Ipswich Town player continues to shine away from Suffolk.
ByKelan Sarson
