After six successive victories and seven clean sheets, we can say with certainty that Ipswich Town has some momentum. If we include the Sheffield Wednesday game at Portman Road, which ended 2-2, it is eight matches where we have averaged more than two goals a game and are hitting our top form at precisely the right time.
Momentum could steer us to the Championship – even if it has to be through the dreaded play-offs, but another M-word is now on everybody’s lips. Massimo has sprung onto the scene from seemingly nowhere, and he was arguably our best player a the weekend. There were four acquisitions in January and Harry Clarke, Nathan Broadhead, and George Hirst were the players everyone was talking about, but as Massimo Luongo was only here as a stop-gap until the end of the season, we did not give his former credentials much thought. He was not getting much of a mention.
Thanks in the main to an injury to Lee Evans, Luongo was drafted into the first-team squad, and to our amazement, he not only made the team against Burton in our 4-0 win but he has kept his place ever since! That was four matches ago, and according to supporters on the TWTD website, he was given the MOTM award in half of them!
He is loving his football right now, and as long as he does not incur any injuries, I can see him staying in the team – regardless of whether Lee Evans is fit again. Luongo is much more accurate with his passing and has proved that he can score too. More to the point, it is his physicality and football intelligence that make him a stand-out performer, and it seems inevitable that he will get a contract at the end of the current campaign. He deserves it. He works brilliantly in midfield with Sam Morsy, and his grit and guile eased the pressure on our captain from going in too hard and consequently picking up any yellow cards over the last few games. Sam is a wise old owl, but I think he must have been delighted to have Luongo by his side. I think he needed that.
