Conceding six goals in Town’s final warm-up fixture will count for nothing when the action starts for real at the weekend for Bartosz Bialkowski & Co.
Around 350 Ipswich supporters had to sit and suffer at the Valley last Saturday as League One outfit Charlton thrashed Mick McCarthy’s team 6-1, an embarrassing scoreline that forced the manager to describe his side’s display as "completely disgraceful”.
Goalkeeper Bialkowski admitted: "The only good thing about it was that it was a friendly game. It’s behind us now and now we’re fully focused on Birmingham on Saturday.
"We have watched a few clips from the game at Charlton — it wasn’t nice, I’ve got to say — but it just had to be done. I am sure we have learned a lesson and we must make sure it doesn’t happen again.
"Take the Charlton game away and the other pre-season games were really good. We have tried to play football and we have played some good football, scoring some good goals. We should focus on that.
"I’m really looking forward to the new season. It’s been a while but we’ve had our holidays and it’s back to business again. It’s a good feeling because I’ve been missing the atmosphere, the Saturday buzz, and here we go again.”
The manner of the defeat at Charlton saw boss McCarthy later conceded that had it happened during the season it would have seen people question whether he’d lost the dressing room.
But Bialkowski insisted: "That is not the case, not at all, and it has never been the case. He’s a top manager, probably the best manager I’ve ever worked with. He’s a top guy and while we’re not just playing for him — we are also playing for ourselves, our families, the fans, the club, the badge — I’m sure none of the lads are against the manager.”
Is he still the man for the job? "Absolutely, he has proved it in the past,” added the Pole. "He has taken two teams [Sunderland and Wolves] to the Premier League and we could not have a better manager right now. He got the club in the play-offs two years ago and the following season we finished seventh.”
Bialkowski has been encouraged by Town’s new signings and singled out £750,000 striker Joe Garner for special praise, adding: "Joe Garner has been a top, top guy and you can see he is a top player. He has been working so hard in the pre-season and scored a few good goals. Hopefully he’s going to take that into the new season.
"We have other new players who can make an impact and every season there are a few young players showing they can come in and do a job. We have Andre Dozzell, Tristan Nydam and Flynn Downes, who has been superb in pre-season. He has a good chance of being a first eleven player.
"Andre has benefited from his recent success with England at U19 level. Helping them to win the European Championship was massive for him — it’s something he will always remember — and I’m sure that has given him added confidence.
"Since he came back from the tournament he has shown it and he’s been good on the ball. He always has been but he’s getting better and he looks stronger too.”
Bialkowski would love to clock up a hat-trick of consecutive Player of the Year awards from the Town fans but at the same time he knows it might reflect a better season if the accolade is instead handed over to one of his outfield colleagues.
He smiled: "I know that the season before last I was the Player of the Year and we finished seventh — but I will be more than happy if someone else wins it, someone who can score 25 or 30 goals, for example, and who is going to take us to the Premier League.”