Tabb Looking for Goals Friday, 2nd Aug 2013 15:48 Ipswich new boy Jay Tabb is looking to rectify a problem that has haunted him for several years and if he succeeds there will be no complaints from the Town fans. The 29-year-old midfielder said: “I’ll be playing more of an attacking role than I have for the last three or four years, which is good. The manager is pretty keen on me getting into the box and getting among the goals. "That’s something that has been missing from my game for the last few seasons but I’m looking to put that right this time.” Other than hoping to increase his goal tally Tabb is promising more of the same from a team rejuvenated by Mick McCarthy’s appointment as manager back in November last year at a time when Town were bottom of the Championship. Suddenly, give or take a couple of early hiccups at Leicester and Crystal Palace, McCarthy’s team was disciplined, well organised and hard to beat, a formula that served them well as they managed to drag themselves out of the dreaded drop zone to eventually finish a respectable 14th. It was such an amazing transformation that had they managed the points-per-game average under McCarthy over the entire league programme it would have seen them claim sixth spot and gatecrash the play-offs. Tabb added: “That’s the basis of any successful side. The manager and TC have been keen to stress that point during pre-season. There’s no point working your socks off to win the ball and then giving it straight back again. “We have to build on what we did last year without the ball, continue to be hard-working and hopefully add a bit of quality, when we have the ball back, to try and score more goals. If we can add all that together then hopefully we will have a good season. “I don’t want to blow our own trumpet and make predictions but we’ve got a strong squad and the manager has expectations of us. I’m not going to say we’ll do this or that but we’re quietly confident we can have a good season. “I think it is wide open and it will be close. There will be 10 or 12 teams thinking they are in with a chance and add to that the fact that Norwich and Southampton both came up from League One and were promoted again, so maybe you’ve got to look at the newly-promoted teams as well. “The Championship is wide open and if you get on a good run of games and find yourselves in the top six you have got a real chance.” Town open the campaign on Saturday with a trip to face Tabb’s former club Reading, where a change of manager — Nigel Adkins replacing Brian McDermott — failed to prevent the Royals’ relegation from the Premier League. Tabb added: “When the season finished here I went in and said goodbye to the boys at Reading and spoke to the manager briefly. He seemed like a really nice guy. He had them playing the way he wanted to and if the club had wanted to keep me they would have made me an offer. “It didn’t come but I was quite keen to leave anyway. I think sometimes it is good to have a change. I had four and a half years at Reading and it was great. "I had a really good time there and achieved the highlight of my career, getting promoted and playing in the Premiership, so I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Reading. “The people who work there, the players and the fans, it’s a great club. But now I’m at a new club and hoping to further my career here.”
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