Boss Roy Keane says he needs to add one more loan player to his squad having signed Sunderland’s Jack Colback for a second time at the end of last week. The 20-year-old looks set to make his second Town debut in Tuesday’s game at Watford.

Speaking after Saturday’s defeat to Coventry, Keane said he was pleased to have completed the midfielder’s signing: “We’re glad to get Jack, we’ve been trying to sort it out for a week. We were never in a mad rush for Saturday, we weren’t going to force it because Jack had a few things to sort out and one or two other options.

“He’ll be training with us on Sunday and he’s coming here to play games. He’ll come into the squad on Tuesday and we’ll see how the players respond over the next couple of days.

“I’m pleased with Jack, but we still probably need one more. Jack’s a good lad and it helps that he knows the club. The fans will be pleased and I know the staff and myself are pleased to have him in the door and I’m sure the players will be as well because he can play in a number of positions."

Colback had offers from a number of other Championship clubs but Keane says he was always hopeful that last season's Players' Player of the Year would opt for a return to Portman Road: “Jack had a few things to weigh up but I was always quietly confident that he would come here.”

Keane refused to blame his use of a single central striker for Saturday's defeat: “The two goals we conceded were set pieces, the penalty and the corner.

“We’ll look at the way we set up, but I think it’s always an easy excuse for a manager to say ‘I got it wrong, we should have played him’. I thought the players who started the game were good enough to get something out of it.

“I was pleased to go in 1-0 at half-time. I thought we couldn’t have got any worse, and we weren’t, but then we gave the penalty away.

“If we keep a clean sheet in the second half, we’re confident we can get one goal. I don’t think we’re a team capable of scoring three or four goals, but we can certainly score one at home. The penalty was a really bad goal to give away.”

The Blues boss felt Gareth McAuley went to ground too readily: “You’re always telling your defenders to stay on their feet, as soon as you go off your feet there’s trouble.

“We’ve had it before, the first couple of QPR goals came from players going off their feet. Stay on your feet, it’s not all about being a hero and diving in, you’ve got to use your brain. But we move on, we’ve got another tough game on Tuesday.”

Keane admitted his side again made too little of their set pieces against the Sky Blues: “Whether we can give them credit for it or their goalkeeper, we were a bit predictable. We don’t want our players to be robotic, we do drills with them, but if they see something we tell them to go and do it.

“Set pieces are massive in the Championship and we were not good enough in terms of defending and also going forward.”

Overall, Keane felt his team might have grabbed a point from the game: “As a manager you’ve got to take your medicine. They beat us 2-1 but I still think there was enough in it for us to get something out of it. But ifs and ands are no good to you, you’ve got to go and do the business.

“We’ve had games earlier in the season where I don’t think we’ve played particularly well, not had that much possession and won. It is all about putting the ball in the back of the net, one way or another. Set pieces or otherwise a goal’s a goal."

Photo: Action Images

SouperJim added 13:24 - Oct 18 Yorkshire I agree that it's slightly ridiculous to be calling for Keane's head given our league position. But the form table makes alarming reading. 4 points from the last 4 games is relegation form, fact. And those 4 could easily have been 2 if it wasn't for Alex Bruce.
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dirtydingusmagee added 13:27 - Oct 18 i had to read Keanes comments twice because i couldnt believe it first time ! WE CAN SCORE ONE GOAL AT HOME ! bloody hell that really instils confidence,
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yorkshire added 13:30 - Oct 18 SouperJim - you are right - we have not played well the last couple of games - but in the Cardiff game we played well and deserved to win, we were unlucky in the Reading game and possibly slightly lucky in the Leeds game and then didnt deserve anything from the Cov game - so on balance 4 points from 4 tough games is acceptable in my book. In the Championship any team can literally beat any team - home or away - there is no massive gulf in class between any of the teams. So to call for our managers head so soon into the season is daft - but to be honest expected from some of the idiots on here

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Dolly2.0 added 13:34 - Oct 18 Did we really CHOOSE to attack the North Stand first half? I assumed we'd LOST the toss!
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whoppit added 13:39 - Oct 18 Yep, somehow we are still sixth in the table but heading down. Just wait for a few more weeks and someone will say "we are still 15th in the table and the play off's are reachable". The last straw is Keane's love of 4-5-1 at home against Coventry. Are you guys still going to be cooing over Keane if he plays that formation against the Budgies and we get beat?? Thought not !! Get rid of now !!!!

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Pessimistic added 13:39 - Oct 18 I have heard it on the grapevine that keane is after an attacking midfielder who plays in the prem.
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Blooman_Group added 13:55 - Oct 18 I honestly think that we have a good strike force at town atm (including Priskin) but we show no creativity in the midfield. DN and GL are quality battlers but they seem to fixed to a blade of grass in the middle of pitch
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matt4itfc1 added 14:15 - Oct 18 Devontractorboy, shut up you old saggy milky swingrat. you dont know anythin you aborted ratchild, go finger a lemon whilst knockin off ya dad.
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jonnysuave added 14:20 - Oct 18 Hold on chaps. My guess is that Livermore will settle in to Midfield and become the creative midfielder we need for the time he is here. Scotland has given a reasonable return its the rest of the team that need to contribute up front. I grant you the negative tactics are stifling opportunities for goals. However, my guess is that everyone at the club are so haunted by last years start that we've gone for solidity... This has enabled us to stay in the mix and hopefully gain some sort of confidence... Success (and hopefully a better style of football) should breed from there. We should look at Ipswich as a work in progress, even if that work is a little dull at times.

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alfromcol added 14:22 - Oct 18 Saw Rooney in Portman Road this morning!
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devontractorboy added 14:41 - Oct 18 Keaneish & others who blindly worship Keane, would you have accepted our performance now after more than a year of his 'management', poor first halves all this season is not a team going out with confidence, far from it and we still ain't scoring nearly enough goals. I hope he's gone by the end of this season!!
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whoppit added 14:46 - Oct 18 Agree 100% Devontractorboy. I am starting to think that having this nutcase in charge of our club is not going anywhere. How about Martin O'Neill who is a real proper manager who is tried and tested rather than Keane who has simply not done and never will do what he promised with Ipswich. Wake up people - I have.
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dirtydingusmagee added 15:12 - Oct 18 no doubt about it Keane is prone to digging deep holes when it comes to making statements .!
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depressed added 15:41 - Oct 18 Oh yeh thats right ..we havn't lost a game playing 4.4.2 have we. Its up to the midfielders to get forward and support the striker when playing 4.5.1 sadly something thats not happening. Good teams have players who can chip in with goals whatever position they play, not to just rely on the front man. Ipswich win 25 ish posts.....We lose 70ish posts . Fickle!
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devontractorboy added 16:18 - Oct 18 Depressed are you truly happy with the way we are playing under Keane? Results are important I agree but also is the way you play the game & we have become tighter at the back (most games) but it all fizzles out in the final third. The team near me (Exeter City) have very average players, no money & a supporters trust but the manager gets them playing with passion, commitment and has got them promoted twice. It's all about motivation and we have all seen examples of our managers skills in that area. We have improved on last season thank God, but still have a long way to go. I said it when he arrived and I'll say it again Keane is the wrong manager for a club like Ipswich. He ain't a people person no matter how you look at it!!

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Ipswich24 added 16:21 - Oct 18 Some people on here have not a clue about football just interested in arguing a speaking c***! It is blatantly obvious what we need we need someone like a David Johnson with pace and if your going play long ball it needs to be to a priskin or a wickham not a 5ft player Scotland will be very good if he plays in and around penalty box feeding off good supply I would try 3-5-2 formation what we played when sucsessful under Burley we have the players to do that team on tues and formation should be Fulop Mcaulay Delaney Smith Edwards Colback Livermore Peters Norris/Townsend Scotland Priskin Must play Priskin it is against old club players always do something against old clubs!

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greenkingtone added 16:25 - Oct 18 jonny, if ITFC is a work in progress, I wish I could see what the Project Plan is. As The Beat says, I agree with devon and whoppit one hundred percent mate!
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poggie added 16:32 - Oct 18 Personally, I never wanted Keane at Ipswich, and was actually quite depressed when he joined. I believed he would introduce a negative, boring style of football that we're not used to here. I have supported Ipswich for over 25 years, and whatever we've been through before, we were always known as a good footballing side with integrity. Keane is trying to change this, and as I saw years ago when Lou Macari tried to do the same at West Ham, it can take years to recover from this kind of mis-management. I would be delighted if I were to find we'd sacked Keane - I just don't think he's the right man for us! Sorry if that upsets anyone, but it is my opinion.

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naa added 17:45 - Oct 18 To be honest, if we played with the ball on the ground and players actually committed forwards to support the attack I'd be happy. But RKs comments make it quite clear that he's urging players to be cautious and not commit forwards. He's too scared of conceding to be able to create a team capable of attacking it seems. That's sad, and also very annoying for season ticket holders who have to leave every game entirely dissatisfied with the performance but "at least we scraped a win/draw" (though not this week obviously). Still, I thought the second half was encouraging with decent movement (at times) and the desire to pass on the floor. So, I wouldn't advicate RK's sacking yet but if this season continues in the vein in which it's started (performance, if not result-wise) I will definitely be happy to see the back of him.

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ChambersM added 19:31 - Oct 18 Keane out. Getting boring now.
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Back_The_Boss added 20:06 - Oct 18 I will be at Watford to cheer on the blues. Whose the loan signing going to be then? The excitement is getting too much.
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depressed added 20:55 - Oct 18 devontractorboy.....I admit i'm not overly impressed with what ive seen this season, but having said that i think man utd and liverpool supporters are not happy either with there teams performances of late. We were guilty of leaking goals left right and center last season so priority one is to make it harder for teams to score against us and with the exception of QPR i think the team has improved. The flip side to that is that we will be more cautious when we go forward. Fans on here talk about 1 up front..2 up front but do we really care who scores as long as we win. At the end of the day you either agree or dissagree with Keanes tactics its all about opinions. 3pts tomorrow night me hopes!

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corshamblue added 21:10 - Oct 18 .. So if someone doesn't go to ground he's a pratt! Harsh! Maybe he had believe in his own ability, if a little misjudged should be applauded. So we lost, get over it, learn, get better. New loan signing with be a LB from WBA!
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ChambersM added 23:09 - Oct 18 corshamblue i was calling keane a pratt actually, for making yet another stupid comment.
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itfc4eva added 14:26 - Oct 19 a striker is needed. we have 4 strikers, in which 1 or 2 play. we dont need any more midfielders
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