Former Ipswich Town boss Roy Keane says he fears for the Blues in the Premier League this season.
Town defied all the odds to rip straight through the Championship last term after escaping League One, and were tipped by many to go straight back down.
But despite being winless in eight games so far and losing their last two matches, an impressive run of four straight draws before that still has them sitting above the drop zone as they head to Brentford this weekend.
However Keane, who managed Town between 2009 and 2011 – his last job as a boss in football – believes the Blues are destined to struggle.
Speaking on the latest Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: “I fear for Southampton and Ipswich with relegation this season.
“Even when they are struggling, the energy of the crowd keeps you going in the first few weeks, but even that is looking like it’s going already.
“Even Everton going down to Ipswich last weekend and getting a result, I bet that Ipswich saw that as a good opportunity of getting three points and would have been thoroughly disappointed.”
He continued: “For the teams near the bottom, you always know that when you’re coming up against the top sides, they’ll know that they are in for a tough game, but when you play against the teams that are around you, deep down you’ll be thinking that it’s a good opportunity to pick up points.
“However, when that doesn’t happen and they beat you, it’s so hard to mentally pick yourself back up again.
“In the Championship, you’ll be used to winning every week because you got promoted, but then you come to the Premier League and you’re getting beat most weeks, so as a manager, it’s hard to keep your energy levels up.”
And Keane, who was sacked as Town boss in January 2011 with his side struggling in 19th spot in the Championship, said teams like Town will already be feeling the pressure of the relegation fight.
He did stress, however, that draws are still valuable results for teams in the fight to stay up.
He explained: “For managers, the focus used to be getting 11 wins and you’d be safe from relegation, but that isn’t the case anymore.
“When I was a manager in the Premier League, the aim was a point a game and that would keep us in the league, but it’s much less than that now. It seems to be that it’s getting harder now for the teams at the bottom.
“If you look at the record, all three of the newly promoted sides went back down last season, it’s looking like two of the three will go down this season, and that’s not good for the league.
“It’s already got to the stage for the teams at the bottom thinking that they have to win games already, but that’s not right because even getting draws would be good for those teams.
“For Southampton last weekend, being 2-0 up and then getting pegged back to 2-2, even getting the draw would have been big for them, so to have lost it like that, would have been hard for them.
“The two teams you’d worry about are Ipswich and Southampton.”
– Keane was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet
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