Caretaker-boss Chris Hutchings felt he was let down by his more experienced players as the Blues slumped to a dismal 3-0 home defeat in what’s likely to be the former Chelsea full-back’s only game in charge.
Hutchings admitted that it was very much a below par display: "It wasn’t very good, obviously there was a lot of anxiousness about.
"Any manager or coach will say to start the game brightly or sharply, and we conceded after 46 seconds or whatever it was. That puts you on the back foot straight away.
"Then for 10 minutes we came under the cosh a little bit and as the game wore on we got back into it a little bit, but didn’t create too many clear cut chances and were wasteful with a few freekicks.
"In the second half, it was pretty even. I thought they scored a little bit against the run of play in that particular phase. I’m not saying we were dominating the game in any way shape or form because we weren’t.
"Then we’ve obviously tried to make changes to try and get back into it and it opened up a little bit more.
"The things that we’ve been working on very briefly in the last couple of days, about trying to get down the line, we’ve let their wideman cut inside and score, which is very disappointing.”
He says the more senior players were outshone by the youngsters: "One or two of the older players haven’t performed anywhere near what they can do, but I was pleased for Luke Hyam and Josh Carson, they were the only bright sparks, showing a little bit of effort and commitment.
"I don’t think we got it from one or two of the older players, but we conceded in the opening minute and confidence in sport is a massive thing. Whether that affected one or two remains to be seen, but it was very disappointing.
"I thought Josh and Luke stuck to their task well and showed a little bit of enthusiasm and a little bit of workrate.
"Sometimes when you put younger players in you could ask for a little bit more quality but I thought those two did all right today.”
He says words were had in the dressing room: "I was angry, disappointed, that should go without saying.
"The players are disappointed, one or two things have been said that will remain in the dressing room. It’s not good getting beaten 3-0, I’ve got to come up here and defend that.
"I told them they need to look at themselves in the mirror. I don’t pass it out of play, I don’t pass it to the opposition, and the players that haven’t performed anywhere that they can know that.”
Asked whether the players are waiting for the new manager to come in, he added: "I don’t think they’re waiting for something to happen because they should be professional people and have that desire and drive to perform for anybody. It’s their job, they get well paid for it and that’s what they should do.
"They haven’t [performed] for a while, and that’s why they’re four points adrift at the bottom of the table.”
He says they should be able to cope with the speculation that’s currently surrounding the club, and believes that self-belief is the biggest issue: "I think what it is is a lack of confidence, like in any sport.
"When you’re down you’ve got to show a bit of balls and come back. Some can, some can’t, sometimes it takes longer than others to come through periods like this.”
The Sir Bobby Robson Stand chanted ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ at one point in the second half, and in some cases Hutchings found it difficult to disagree based on that performance: "I didn’t hear that, but that’s their opinion. They probably are right for one or two.”
He admits that whoever comes in has a difficult task: "It’s going to be very hard whoever takes over, but you have to grind it out.
"If you can get new players in, I think that’s what’s needed, if I’m totally honest. But that remains to be seen.
"You never want to take over a team at the bottom of the table but it’ll be an opportunity for someone.”
He says he’s yet to decide whether to bring the squad in for training tomorrow, as has often been the case after defeats and is in the dark about where things go in the immediate future: "I don’t know. I was just told to try and prepare for the game. We’re just taking things day by day as all the staff do.
"That’s what happens at football clubs. The manager goes and someone has to take charge of the team and the day to day running of it, the training, and you get on with things. It’s not a nice scenario, but that’s how it is.”
Massimo Luongo played for parent club Tottenham’s U21s this morning, but Hutchings says he’ll be back at the club on Monday: "Being a loanee, they have called him back to play as he wasn’t in the squad and we’ve allowed him to do that, but he’ll be back on Monday morning.”
Wednesday boss Dave Jones believed the result had been coming: "We’ve felt that for the last five or six games. We’ve stuck to what we believed in and kept believing it would turn and unfortunately for Ipswich today, they probably got the full force of us.
"On Wednesday [against Blackburn], the one thing we didn’t do, and the only thing we haven’t done over the last four or five games, is put the ball in the back of the net. We’ve dominated games.”