Midfielder Carlos Edwards said Town’s habit of giving away soft goals is becoming almost laughable after the Blues gifted Swansea a 3-1 victory at Portman Road on Saturday. That game came only a week after a series of defensive errors handed Norwich City a 4-1 derby win at Carrow Road.
Edwards said: "That’s another one that has got away. Things were looking good at 1-0 up and then we gave two sloppy goals away, again.
"It was the same at Norwich the previous week. It’s not the way to go and we have to sort it out. If we are going to go forward, we have to cut out these soft goals, but we have been saying that for a long time now. It’s getting to the stage where it is almost laughable.”
The Trinidad and Tobago international says boss Roy Keane impresses upon his back four the importance of getting the ball clear: "The manager has been telling us over and over again that the defenders, if they are in any doubt, should put the ball in the stand! But some of our defenders seem to think that they are Franz Beckenbauer. It’s costing us.
"It’s frustrating for the rest of the team, but then we are not scoring enough goals either. We need our strikers to start believing in themselves and scoring some goals. We are all to blame.
"We should be getting better and better, but we are taking one step forward and two back. We are not going forward at all at the moment.”
The former Sunderland man was adamant he should have won his second spotkick in a week when Mark Gower brought him down with the game at 2-1: "It was a penalty and I thought that the referee was going to give it. But I don’t think it cost us the game because we had already conceded two soft goals by then.
"It’s frustrating for the manager and for the fans. Every defeat is painful, but they’re always more painful when they happen at home and this one is a hard one to take. It’s another home defeat and we can’t keep doing this.”
The 32-year-old says the Blues must get back to form quickly: "Preston away is a big game, but then all the games are big now.
"We desperately need to get a win for the manager, the fans and ourselves. This has all been going on for too long. The manager deserves better. We need a win because this is all rubbing salt into the wounds.”