Ipswich new boy Luke Chambers does not believe the current lack of depth to Paul Jewell’s senior squad will stand in the way of success in the new season.
But the 26-year-old central defender, signed on a free transfer after his Nottingham Forest contract expired, does echo the manager’s comments about the need to bring in new players.
Chambers said: "It’s a small squad and there’s no getting away from the fact that we probably need a few more players. The gaffer is doing his utmost to bring players in and we know that the extra competition will only breed success.
"The more players we have and the more high-quality players that he brings in, the better everyone is going to be, because at the end of the day you are going to have to be on your toes and performing week in and week out if you want to be in the team.”
Chambers revealed that a lot of time during the pre-season programme had been devoted to trying to improve the goals-against column that proved so costly last term.
He added: "We’ve been doing a lot of that. Early on in pre-season, in the games against Southend and Luton, we conceded some poor goals and it’s something we need to eradicate.
"But it’s something that can be fixed pretty easily. We have identified where we can improve, we have worked on these things and we feel that in the last few games we have done it.
"That’s all you can do — identify the mistakes and hopefully they don’t happen again. The mistakes we were making were ones that can easily be cut out. That’s the positive thing and I don’t think we are too far away.
"The gaffer has mentioned that he wants me to come in and try to make us a more solid unit. We have some good lads back there but it’s not just about the back four.
"We will have to defend from the front and I think we’ve done that in the last few games with Lee Martin and Chops up top. They have been working their socks off. That has filtered through all the way to the back and we’ve been looking a lot more solid.”