Paul Merson slams Ipswich Town live on Sky Sports - 'There's something wrong'

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·12 de marzo de 2026

Paul Merson slams Ipswich Town live on Sky Sports - 'There's something wrong'

Paul Merson has slammed Ipswich Town after their latest draws against Leicester City and Stoke City in the Championship...

Paul Merson has slammed Ipswich Town after Kieran McKenna's side dropped points to Stoke City and Leicester City in the last two Championship games.

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Kieran McKenna's side have arguably the best squad in the Championship, but Ipswich Town have never been inside the automatic promotion places all season. Despite being unbeaten in five league games, they have not overtaken Middlesbrough.

They are fourth and behind Millwall and Coventry City as well, even though they have seldom lost since late November when they lost 2-1 away to Oxford United. That means they have lost just three of the last 19 league games.

Three wins and three clean sheets against Watford, Swansea City, and Hull City recently put them in an excellent position to finally become the chased rather than the chaser, but they failed to beat both Stoke City and Leicester City in the bottom half of the division.

Paul Merson's view of Ipswich Town and their promotion hopes

Speaking on Sky Sports News on their Gillette Labs Soccer Special show on Tuesday, Merson provided his view of Ipswich and the key run ahead of them, with the likes of Millwall, Southampton, and Norwich City in their next five.

"The games eat up very quickly now, especially playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, and you’ve got Easter coming up. "These games will go very quickly, so you can’t be dropping points against Leicester [and Stoke] who are right down the bottom. "It was a disappointing result. When I watched the game, it seemed like first half, ‘we’ll just turn up and we’ll wipe the floor with Leicester’. "Then, second half, I thought they were outstanding. The way they moved past with the ball and made chance after chance. "But there’s something wrong with them because their first half performance was nowhere near good enough."

How Kieran McKenna will be perceived without another promotion with Ipswich

Expectations were high for McKenna and Ipswich heading into the 2025/26 season, yet their campaign has felt extremely underwhelming relative to those expectations. After winning promotion in 2024 and establishing momentum under McKenna, many believed Ipswich should be one of the strongest contenders for automatic promotion from the Championship.

Instead, the team has struggled for consistency. In many respects, the current squad appears stronger than the one that surged to promotion in 2024: key performers from that season have either declined in form, departed, or been more than adequately replaced with better talent than League One players they took through to the top flight.

The drop in fluency has been noticeable, particularly compared with the high-intensity, cohesive style that defined their earlier success. That said, given the club’s recent trajectory, automatic promotion felt like the minimum expectation, even if it came via second place rather than first.

Being outside those positions after 37 matches raises uncomfortable questions about whether Ipswich have stalled under McKenna, who was usually seen as their biggest asset. Credit must go to Middlesbrough and Millwall, who have performed superbly to move above Ipswich despite starting the season with less external hype.

The final nine matches will therefore be decisive. They will shape not only Ipswich's promotion chances but also the broader perception of McKenna — determining whether this season becomes a temporary setback or a sign that he isn't as impressive as those back-to-back promotions made him appear.