Darren O'Dea
Darren O’Dea has told Ipswich that he’d be interested in extending his stay with the Championship club into the new year.
Five straight defeats in the league have sent Ipswich tumbling towards the relegation zone with Roy Keane under increasing pressure from fans that expected the Irishman to lead a push for promotion.
After recovering from a thigh injury picked up on international duty O’Dea has been a regular in the Ipswich defence and is open minded about extending his loan beyond it’s January 17 deadline.
The 23-year-old told the Ipswich website: “I’m really enjoying it here and I’d like to stay. I’ve not really thought about it too much though, it’s down to other people to sort out but I’m certainly enjoying my football here.
“I think my time at Ipswich has helped me improve as a player and we have to see what happens over the next few weeks but it’s not important at the moment, all I want to do is help the team get back up the table.”
Keane is without doubt a perfectionist and is as critical of himself as he is of his players.
Expectations were high when the club appointed the former Celtic midfielder as manager but results since he took over at Portman Road have been nothing to shout about.
The success of Paul Lambert at rivals Norwich has increased the criticism of Keane who never ducks the issues when his own future is questioned.
After losing to bottom of the league Preston on Saturday he said: “You always have to start with the man in the mirror and I have to look at myself. I’ve got to do a lot better.
“I can sit and give excuses, not having enough streetwise players, injuries affecting us but at the end of the day, we have not won enough games – and we have certainly lost too many over the last two months or so, what is it – nine out of 11.
“Our results lately are just not acceptable. And it’s not just over the last few months, we have not won enough football games since I’ve been here.
“I don’t like losing games. I’ve got my pride so it’s hurting. It’s hurting me, my staff and the players and it will be hurting the fans as well. We’re not daft, we have got to get better results.”
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I’d give him another try.
He’s got some experience, he knows the ropes and although he’s not the greatest he’s got a bit of heart and fire about him that are maybe missing from this season’s defence