Town loanee Mark McGuinness admits he is his own worst critic and will be going all-out to put the memory of Saturday’s home defeat by Portsmouth behind him when bottom-of-the-table Burton are the visitors to Portman Road tomorrow evening.
"I’ve had a look back at the game against Portsmouth, which is something I always do straight after every game I play,” said young defender, who is on a season-long loan from Arsenal.
"We didn’t play well, we let them get the better of us physically and it was a very disappointing result.
"They came here just one point below us in the league table and aiming to be contenders for the title, so losing to another team close to us in the league makes it that bit worse.
"No matter what — win, lose or draw — I always look back at the game. As soon as it is uploaded I’m straight on to it and watch it.
"I like to see what happened in the game and get my head around it. If things haven’t gone well for me I like to see where it went wrong and what I need to do to make it better.
"I’m very critical of myself and I have my own targets that I set as I move on to the next game.
"We talk through the game, as well as watching it, and I make notes with the intention of making improvements next time out.
"Hopefully I tick them off and we move on. There are always learning curves along the way with each game I play and I’m always telling myself what I need to improve upon in the next game I play.
"The good thing about the games coming thick and fast is that you don’t have to wait too long for an opportunity to put things right.
"I don’t mind the hectic schedule — in fact I like it — and I know that might sound mad. Once you’re in a flow of games I think it’s good.
"We lost and didn’t play well against Portsmouth on Saturday but we have a chance tomorrow night to fix it and return to winning ways.
"I analyse my own performance and I get the coaches in to provide feedback as well.
"It’s about me trying to get better and improve as I move forward in my career, but it’s also about getting one game out of the way before I move on to the next one.
"With the games coming round so quickly you can’t really dwell on them for too long. But you need to make sure you have got one game out of your head before you move on to concentrate on the next one.”
McGuinness is also keen to provide the 2,000 fans allowed to attend tomorrow’s fixture with a better experience than those who witnessed Saturday’s defeat to Kenny Jackett’s team.
Supporters were admitted to Portman Road for the first time since March but despite their early enthusiasm the fans were quick to pass comment on the team’s display with a chorus of boos at half-time and again at the end of what was Town’s third home league defeat in a row with no goals scored.
The teenager, who turns 20 early next month, added: "It was fantastic to have supporters back in the stadium but at the end of the day we’re not playing great football at the moment.
"We need to improve our level of performance and give the fans something to cheer about.
"To be honest I can’t pinpoint an exact area or aspect of our game and say ‘This is where it’s going wrong’. We went to Plymouth and won after drawing away at Oxford, so we were on what you could call an okay run, but I can’t put my finger on why we didn’t play well on Saturday.
"One thing I do know is that we need to put it behind us, move on and start winning games again, hopefully starting with tomorrow night’s game against Burton.”
Meanwhile, London-born McGuinness has strengthened his connection to the Republic of Ireland, for whom he is eligible through his father. Having already won youth international honours, he made his debut for the U21 side last month when they defeated their Luxembourg counterparts 2-1 in a European Championship qualifier.
He added: "That was like the icing on the cake for me. Their campaign starts again in March so hopefully I can be involved in that. It’s an extra bit of experience for me, a step in the right direction and I enjoyed my time with them.”