Blues boss Paul Jewell admitted that he is envious of the pace in the Crystal Palace team after the Eagles beat Town 1-0 at Portman Road on Saturday. Palace wide men Wilfried Zaha and Sean Scannell were a constant threat for Dougie Freedman’s side.

Jewell said: “It obviously is a concern for us and Crystal Palace caused us problems. We’d all like pacy players in the team but we haven’t got a lot of them at the moment. It’s a concern, but I was concerned five weeks ago [during the winning run].

“Crystal Palace came and got men behind the ball and we just didn’t move the ball quickly enough. We didn’t have a lot of movement, we didn’t have options. In the last few games we’ve had options on the ball.

“We got in-between people, but against Palace it was a bit like playing in straight lines and we don’t want to go back to that, that’s the easy way out. It was a bad day at the office.”

The Town boss says he hasn’t been thinking that the team was the finished article in recent weeks with work having continued to keep the loan players at the club and to bring new signings to Portman Road: “There are 33 games left, a ridiculous amount of games left.

“It is a league which is relentless and we haven’t been sat here thinking our team is perfect, we know we need improving and we’re trying to improve it all the time.

“We are in contact with the players we already have but we’re also looking for players not just for this season but beyond. We’re looking to improve the whole team, the whole squad.

“Whether we’d won or lost to Palace, my focus and my forward thinking wouldn’t have changed, we’re always trying to improve.”

Town’s full-backs Carlos Edwards and Aaron Cresswell were pinned back by the visitors’ wide threat on Saturday and Jewell believes plenty of other sides will have similar problems against the Eagles: “There won’t be too many players who play against Crystal Palace’s [wingers] who’ll get forward because they are as quick as anything in this league, and even above.

“Crystal Palace had won three out of their last five away games [before Saturday]. They went to Brighton and won 3-1 and you can see why because they’ve got pace in abundance and they’ve got a good team. I thought Southampton were good earlier in the season, but Palace look good as well.”

While the Blues manager says that while it’s a shame to see the six-match unbeaten run come to an end, he feels it was inevitable: “We’re Ipswich, we’re not Real Madrid and I don’t know when we last went on a run of five or six games unbeaten.

“We’ve enjoyed it but we’ve had a setback. I don’t know a team in the world that doesn’t have setbacks. We’ve had bigger setbacks this season and bounced back. Hopefully we’ll have a good week’s training and look forward to Millwall.”

Photo: Action Images

BROTHERBLUE1974 added 09:17 - Oct 24 Martin or Carson. If I remember correctly Carson tore them apart last season.
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HolbrookBlue added 09:25 - Oct 24 Commenting about lack of pace is fair but what about width. Playing wider would have made Palace think a bit more and could have provided more crosses for the strikers. Opposing teams seem to have worked out how to nullify the diamond quite easily.
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KenDubZ added 09:28 - Oct 24 You people like Bowyer in the squad clearly you don't want pace. Your forgetting they have confidence to run at player like Martin but you like us passing so you can't have it both ways. When you put 5 in the middle let Edwards go right and Martin left and then bullard Keith and grant in the middle there's some pace and if Sonko ain't back out wabara right back he has pace to burn !!

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scooterblue added 09:28 - Oct 24 i don't like being negative but apart from Edward's. Delaney and Leadbitter the team on saturday was all Jewell's team.
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KenDubZ added 09:30 - Oct 24 Scooter blue you noticed aswell be can't moan be choose his team !!
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Bluecynic added 09:32 - Oct 24 I wondered about Wabara-hesbgot pace and quality.
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Frase1987 added 09:32 - Oct 24 If the other team has more pace you play a wide formation to stop your fullbacks getting murdered. This was ignored on sat, hopefully PJ has learnt from it.
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blueoff added 09:36 - Oct 24 PJ, some of the players you've signed, the only pace they'll have is a pace maker !
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BlueVelvet added 09:43 - Oct 24 I sense something up between Bullard and Bowyer. Bullard seems less energetic now that Bowyer is on the scene
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sotd78 added 09:54 - Oct 24 Some sommentaries on here are spot on. The narrow diamond has been sussed by putting two wide players against our fullbacks. That those players on saturday were also top players made it worse. So then with all our exppereince why don't we change it. We could have at half time gone four five one with Chopra up and JET wide right. We would have then hemmed in both Saha and Scannell and made it much more of a game. We pay a fortune to coaches and managers who seem less abloe to see tactics than the average Sunday League managers who are on here. It was obvious on Tuesday against Pompey. It is even more obvious now that we cannot afoor three old lags over 30 in midfield.....

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PaulSlocombe added 10:03 - Oct 24 Jewell has moaned about a lack of pace on several occasions. Remind me again who assembled the squad?
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Keaneish added 10:04 - Oct 24 Yeah, have to agree, Jewell got this one wrong. 4-4-2 would have nullified this. After speaking with my Palace mate about the system they played i felt the diamond would have been too congested and loads of space for wide players. Shame as we have the personnel to have coped with this but never mind, not too despondent. Lets just smash a few past Millwall and take 3pts Saturday!

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sonian_blue added 10:14 - Oct 24 'Envious of their pace' Well pick Carson then, didnt he burst onto the scene against the very same Palace last season?
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Surco72 added 10:28 - Oct 24 1 defeat in 6 games ,top five on form and 4 points off automatic promotion ,1 before saturday and suddenly Jewell is under attack for and the team is crap again ? Get real Palace are a good side and will be in the mix at the end ,West Ham are a better side and we played them off the park a few weeks ago ,i dont recall many asking for Martin and Carson to be playing then ? All teams are dropping points and will continue to do so over the season ,so lets not over analyse every single game as if its the end of the world especially as we started without our two main strikers and centre back . And scooterblue as you pointed out only 3 players on saturday were left from the Keane era which is why we are nearer the top of the league rather than the bottom like we have been for the last two seasons

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hogster1970 added 10:37 - Oct 24 well yes some to be slating PJ and some dont, well for me i think the diamond brought stabilty to the squad, how ever he does need to be a bit more frugal with the bench, as for the last 5 games we got away with it as we dont seem to have no impact players who could help change a sytem if required and on tue and sat we so needed to change format, like alot on here i still feel carson should be on the bench atleast, i know he is young but god he has great feet and is fast , ideal person to bring on to run at tired team with 30 mins to play. as said diamond is ok but if you nullify the wing backs then you are buggered, thats what palace done to a certain degree, as well as leadboots and bullard not passing the ball round at all well, i do hope and pray he is atleast on the bench for sat, as i think we only created 2 chances on sat, god i lost count even in the first half against brighton how many we created,

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EdJK added 10:48 - Oct 24 Surco72 I could not agree with you more. Well said!!
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blueherts added 11:07 - Oct 24 It does seem since Carson has been discussing his contract he has not appeared again . Warbara , Carson and Martin will give us width and pace( two of them will) PJ has done a top job in bringing in a solid midfield system that has seen as beat and get points off top teams - CP were too good on the day , but we dont need to make drastic changes - Cresswell will be missed but we have cover - Is o Connor still around ?? We have some good left sided players at the club with pace. I think we need to look at that for next few games as Carson , Reece and O Connor will be largely unknown to some of the oppo. It is amazing though how few managers at all levels have a Plan B and can change half way through a game - only the very best can do it Keep positive chaps - rather be here than this time last year !!!

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BlueBadger added 11:08 - Oct 24 Well he will insist on signing the over-30's...
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jas0999 added 11:20 - Oct 24 Too many similar players in midfield - all with their strengths, but collectively too slow. No point PJ moaning - he is in charge of the team and it's been evident for months that we lack the necessary pace to be real challengers. That takes nothing away from the winning run - but now teams have worked out the diamond, PJ needs to act and come up with a plan B - that was lacking big time on Saturday. The biggest worry is the form of Bullard - now he does look miles off the pace and not entirely fit.

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tomos91 added 11:32 - Oct 24 We all think we know it better than PJ but he has done well. Hats off to him. Like he said we have 33 games left, and near enough 7 months. He is proving to ME he knows how to buy the right players. Hopefully ME see's this and will be more willing to invest.
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Keaneish added 11:37 - Oct 24 Fairly sure no one is slating PJ. Everyone agrees he's done well. My point Surco is that no other teams have played the same system as Palace and we would have been wise to counter act their threat before laying out our game plan. Don't feel we really did this and a 4-4-2 would have. Think PJ knows this and at the end of the season would probably hold his hands up as we had no alternative strategy from the bench. Martin and Edwards/Carson may have offered this on this occasion.

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Keaneish added 12:13 - Oct 24 Why do people keep saying 'worked out the diamond!?' - it's not exactly a new or secret formation that we're the first to invent!
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Surco72 added 12:24 - Oct 24 Jas 0999 who are real challengers Saints apart West Ham who we beat a few weeks ago ,Boro who we outplayed and only won their first game in 6 on Saturday ,Leeds who we beat , Leicester who we are above in the league ? We played Palace who are in very good form with a weakened side ,all sides will have injuries and bad games that is why the league is so tight . Teams have worked out the diamond ? what teams Palace who didnt change their formation or selection for our game they just played better on the day . And Bullard was quality against West Ham,Boro,Brighton and Cardiff ,2 quiet games does not make him miles off the pace or unfit suddenly

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bobble added 12:34 - Oct 24 the difference is under the dark lord we would be on a run of 6 defeats and 2 pts from the bottom.what a bunch of moaning woosies some are.... i love a bit of moaning most of the time, it turns me on.... bit of grunting is good too.............. but moaning about not going 2nd ? this early in the season ? where were all you perfectionists when the dark lord was destroying our club ? waffling on about how we will have to wait a few seasons for roy to get it right ..rome wasn't built in a day.......and the keane haters are all libyan fascists who should go back to carrow road because they don't understand that roy will have to take us down a division to make us great again.......idiots

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Guthrum added 12:34 - Oct 24 Agree Keanish. The "diamond" will win us more games throughout the season. Not every other club has the personnel to be able to counter our system, or, for that matter, resist the strong drive through the centre that it can provide. Good passing can be a substitute for pace, but it sounds like that (which I saw at Cardiff) was missing against Palace.
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