Caretaker-boss Bryan Klug felt the Blues’ 3-0 defeat at Millwall summed up the team’s current shortcomings. New manager Paul Lambert and his staff watched from the stands and will meet the squad and staff for the first time at Playford Road tomorrow.
"I think the game probably sums up, how can I put this, it would show all our problems or shortcomings probably,” Klug said.
"Summing up the game, I thought we were in the game, I don’t think either team really had total control. But I thought Millwall always carried a much bigger threat than us possibly.
"We knew, everyone knows they score a lot of goals off set plays and we didn’t defend well enough on those occasions really.
"When you’re in a bad run and things go against you and you’re thinking that you don’t score many goals, it becomes difficult and the game became difficult.”
Town were once again made to pay for their inability to defend set pieces with 12 of this season’s 25 opposition goals having come via corners, freekicks or throws.
"They’ve got some big old players, some big old lumps,” Klug added. "It’s very difficult to win the first header.
"We have an organisation that should deal with it but you have to win sometimes the first ball, sometimes the second ball and they took their chances, they’ve got a goalscorer.”
As has been the case in most recent games, heads dropped after the first goal was conceded with Klug admitting that had an impact.
"If you’ve ever played football and you’re not sure you’re going to score many goals, that confidence does tend to drain away and I saw that,” he said.
"But I’ve no complaints with any of the players, I thought we kept going, there was no throwing in the towel and that’s got to be a good sign for the new manager coming in.
"The game’s alright between the boxes but it’s in the boxes that it matters and that’s what we’ve got to get better at and that can be achieved if you work hard at it and you get a bit more confidence and you buy somebody who can score 30 goals a season or something like that.”
Does he feel that a new manager coming in and the fresh start that brings will help boost confidence.
"I think from the players’ point of view that is the role. They’re all there, I’ve only worked with them yesterday and talked to them today and they see that, a clean slate is what they want.
"And they see that and they’ve realised they’ve got a manager who has got an experienced eye so they’ve got to impress him.
"Hopefully, I’m guessing that’s part of the plan, to have a bounce, but there wasn’t too much of a bounce today unfortunately, although if we’d defended set pieces we might be talking about some other things.”
He says Lambert is yet to speak to the squad and confirmed that that will happen tomorrow.
"No, Paul was at the game, I’ve not spoken to him yet,” he added. "He probably won’t want to speak to me now. We’re training tomorrow and the work starts. Everybody’s in.”
Asked what he thinks Lambert will have made of the performance, he responded: "You’ll have to ask him. I don’t know, he’s obviously got a very experienced eye. He’ll see things that he can grow, he’ll see things that he’ll need to eradicate.
"It’ll be interesting to find out. As I say, there are things that he might think are good but he’ll certainly, like all of us, know what’s blatantly obvious.”
Klug admits things have got to be turned around soon with Town bottom and five points from safety.
"Of course it does, it’s urgent,” he reflected. "I think when Mick [McCarthy] joined on November 1st [2012] we had seven points and we’ve only got nine now and we went on a fantastic run. We realise that.
"It’s not all doom and gloom, the players have got to stick together and we’ve got to fight. We know we’re in a fight but I was asking the players today to try and be a little bit brave on the ball and they found that difficult to do.
"I think some players found that more difficult than others, but we’ll get back out on the training field and find a way.”
Klug says the switch to 3-5-2 was specifically for Millwall rather than being what he believes is the system which best suits the squad in all circumstances.
"That was based on the way that Millwall played, we felt that was the best way to [approach the game],” he added.
"To a certain degree I thought the shape of the team was OK because we weren’t getting ripped apart in open play, we conceded at set plays.
"I thought keeping two up top, we hoped we’d get opportunities. We didn’t get too many, I get that.
"But that was not that we think that that’s the best way, we thought today that was the best way to try and get something but it didn’t work out.”
Klug says midfielder Cole Skuse was subbed at half-time as the ankle injury he was carrying from the Leeds game was getting worse.
Millwall boss Neil Harris felt a comfortable victory had been coming given his side's recent displays.
"I think it’s been due hasn’t it? I think with the performances. I’ll be honest, that wasn’t our best performance for a while," he insisted.
"I thought it was extremely possible. We could have played much better at 3-0 up, certainly. But I don’t give a damn about that, I wanted a clean sheet, the team wanted a clean sheet.
"I think it’s not easy for Ipswich with the position they’re in and where they are in that transition with a new manager coming in and being here today.
"It’s not easy for them, but it’s not easy for us either because you can’t prepare because don’t know who you’re going to face, what formation you’re going to face and it’s tough for the players as well.
"I thought, without being at our best, I thought we were clinical at key moments, we created some chances, not as many as we had done, but to get the clean sheet and give up very few opportunities was an excellent performance in the Championship.”