Jonathan Douglas has hit back at critics who have labelled him and fellow Town midfielder Cole Skuse as two of a kind.
A number of supporters have criticised the pairing, believing they offer too little in terms of creating scoring chances or grabbing a goal themselves, and the team’s recent run of four games without a win has done nothing to stem the flak.
But Douglas said: "I don’t think we are two deep-lying midfielders. I think I’m more in the box than the centre-forward.
"I’ve got licence to go forward and Skusey mainly does the sitting. But I can see where the fans are coming from and because we haven’t scored lately they are probably looking to see where we can create more chances.
"The gaffer puts a team together that he thinks is going to win but unfortunately, over the last few games, that hasn’t been the case. We know the ability we have in the squad and with players coming back from injury it’s only a matter of time before we turn the corner.”
Douglas has also allayed fears that his age — he turns 35 on November 22nd — means he needs to be treated differently to his team-mates in terms of preparation for a demanding Championship campaign. He insisted: "I do exactly the same as everybody else.
"I train for the same amount of time as everybody else but I’m sure that if I went to the physio and said I needed a day here or there he’d give me a rest. I don’t want to do that and don’t want to be giving anybody excuses that I’m not fit. I just do what the other lads do and I’m enjoying it.
"It’s up to the manager how he manages. I’m not going to go to him and say ‘I’m not fit’ or anything. That’s not the type of player I am — I want to play in every game — but if he sees fit to rest me that’s his decision. I’ll respect his decision because I respect him as a manager and as a man. If I’m left out I’ll still support the lads.”
Douglas is still chasing his first goal of the season and added: "It just hasn’t fallen for me and of course when I did score against Norwich it was wrongly disallowed for offside.
"Then in our last game against Huddersfield their guy just nicked in when I was going to shoot. But I feel it’s coming and if I keep getting into the box it’s only a matter of time.
"It would be nice if it came on Saturday. You need to save your energy. You can’t be running around here, there and everywhere and need to pick and choose when the time is right to get in there. Overall I think I’ve been doing that and I believe the chances and the goals will come.”
Meanwhile, Douglas is still undecided about his future once the time comes to quit playing. He said: "I don’t know and I haven’t really thought about it. I have started on my coaching badges and I’ll see how it goes from there. I wouldn’t mind being a manager one day but for now I’m still happy playing.
"I’m doing my badges in the background but I’ll see how long I can carry on playing before I look too far ahead. I feel really good and, touch wood, everything is going well so far.
"Since I’ve come here I haven’t had any serious injury problems and I’m enjoying playing for a club like Ipswich. It’s a big club and I’m enjoying every minute of it.”