Town manager Paul Cook says the mood in the Portman Road dressing room after the 1-0 home victory over Plymouth was no different to the one following the 2-0 loss at Fleetwood, which he says indicates that players “don’t care about the result”.
Cook was asked whether, with the season effectively over from a competitive perspective, he might introduce youngsters over the final four games, as has been discussed by fans since Tuesday’s loss at Northampton.
However, the Blues boss believes it’s currently not the right environment to bring them into and feels they may have got their chance for the wrong reasons at times.
"I don’t think so, that’s the truth,” he said. "One of the things, and I don’t mind saying, I think the young lads have been elevated here too quickly. The reason that they’ve been elevated too quickly is because the first team’s not very good. That’s the truth. You can read into that what you want.
"To play for Ipswich Town first team, it’s an honour, it’s a privilege. And probably young lads now have been stepped up, in my opinion, too quickly.
"Ipswich Town should have young kids breaking into the team. Our academy is now in the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup. Ipswich Town’s produced academy players for years and years.
"But blending them in at the right time is the right thing to do. Blending them in at the wrong time is a twofold problem. One, it’s like you’re trying to the fans that it’s right and, two, you might be telling the players they’re ahead of their pathway.
"And it’s something that I feel. I said to you a couple of a weeks ago, we’re in pain at the minute. Enjoy the pain. I have to stand there, I enjoy it. That pain’s what’s drives me on.
"So to say that the younger kids will get a chance, I wouldn’t say they will, but I wouldn’t really rule out that one or two of them won’t as well, by the way. Are you with me?
"At the minute, my sole focus is on winning tomorrow. A winning feeling is something that I feel this club lacks, whatever it is.
"The mood in the dressing room after beating Plymouth was exactly the same atmosphere as it was after losing 2-0 at Fleetwood.
"And I spoke to the players about it - that tells me you don’t care about the result. I know what happens to me when I lose games - I don’t sleep for two nights and I stare at the ceiling and I watch the games back.
"I don’t enjoy the losing because when we win, I only don’t sleep for one night and watch the games back a little bit. The reality is winning’s a lot better than losing, isn’t it?
Is that a mentality which has been instilled over a couple of seasons? "We don’t have to go there, it can also be in recruitment, can’t it? Introduce players who don’t like getting beat.”
Asked whether he’s already identified players like that that you’ll bring in in the summer, Cook smiled, nodded his head and said: "No!”