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Jewell: Greater Emphasis on Passing - Ipswich Town News

Town manager Paul Jewell says he’s always intended to play football the right way since taking over at Portman Road but says there has been an even greater emphasis on passing ahead of the start of the new season.

Jewell said: "We’ve always wanted to play football. If anyone watches us training you don’t see us practising knocking the ball long.

"I think we’ve just got to try and mix the game up, it’s about playing football in the right areas. We want to pass the ball, we are a small team, and we’ve got to pass the ball quickly.”

He felt his team lacked tempo in the first half of the 3-1 Capital One Cup victory over Bristol Rovers: "I thought in the first half on Tuesday that because Bristol Rovers sat behind us, we got into a pattern of play of passing the ball a little bit slowly. We haven’t got that option to go long.

"We would like a big guy up front, ‘a good big ‘un’s always better than a good little ‘un’, as they say, but that doesn’t mean to say we just want to bang it long and play for flick-ons, we want to try and mix the game up. But definitely there’s been an emphasis on trying to pass the ball more this year.”

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