Boss Paul Cook admitted that Tuesday’s performance as the Blues were beaten 2—0 at home by Rotherham United was “everything I dislike about a team” and that his side’s inconsistency continues to be their consistency.
Asked how close fans are to seeing a Paul Cook team in full flow, the Town manager responded "It’s a really good question. I think you always have to be careful because, at some point, our start is going to handicap us and whenever you have a performance like we did on Tuesday night, we’ll then look back and make excuses for why we were so bad.
"Tuesday night came on the back of probably one of our better performances of the season at the Stadium of Light, without a shadow of a doubt.
"But our inconsistency this year has been our consistency and that is a big, big disappointment.
"Tuesday night was a really, really disappointing night for us as a team. Again, you must pay the opposition respect and it’s for us to sit here sometimes and go ‘We were this, we were that’.
"We have to find consistency. For our supporters to want to trust us, we have to find consistency. And even if you go back to the Oldham at home game in the FA Cup, that probably summed us up where we were at that point in time.
"Four days previous we left Wycombe [having won 4-1] and everyone sees Wycombe, Rotherham, Wigan and Plymouth, these are the top teams in the division, make no bones about it, Sunderland as well. And we’re walking into them and everyone can have an opinion.
"My opinion is I’m still searching to put that team on the pitch that I trust, the supporters trust and even the players probably themselves trust.
"So, Tuesday night was really, really disappointing. I fully agreed with any supporter. It was everything I dislike about a team, everything I dislike. But that comes off the back of Sunderland where, especially in the first half, it was everything I liked about a team.
"So I’m not different than our supporters, very, very frustrating, very hard to take, very disappointing, but as we go out this morning to train the emphasis is on culture, habits and trust, and they are big words in football, they are massive.
"If you think you’re going to develop a culture, habits and trust over 19 league games then you’re better than me, you’re a lot better than me.
"If you see the Rotherham side, using them as an example, habits, culture and trust, wow, every box ticked. And that’s something we’re searching for, something that we want to get right, and we hope to get right, we need to get right.
"So, it goes on and you know our messages from staff are consistent on how we want to play - front foot, aggressive, play forward, crosses in the box and penetration.
"On Tuesday night, we were the opposite adjective of every single one of them. As to why, I don’t know. As to how we fix it, I do know and it is my job to do that.”
Might developing the habits, culture and trust take longer than some fans might have been anticipating?
"Again, you see football today and we all love football, and we all know what goes on,” Cook continued. "How long does it take to build a good football club? And that’s the question sometimes probably for other people to answer.
"My messages are consistent. I want to be the best team on the pitch and I want us to play off of the front foot. I want us to play forward.
"If you watched us on Tuesday night, all we did was play sideways and back. As a coach and a manager, I’m like you and every fan in the stadium, I don’t get it.
"And it’s something that at every club I’ve been at I’ve probably faced times of it and thank God that at every club I’ve been at, I’ve solved it. Hopefully at Ipswich, the outcome will be exactly the same.
"But for the players, myself and everyone, it’s hard work, it’s work ethic, it’s desire, it’s habits, it’s when we get the ball why do we play sideways? Why do we have a free-kick on the halfway line and it ends up back at Christian Walton?
"I’m a supporter, and I don’t want to see it back at Christian Walton. I want to see it going forward, and that’s something that we’re still working on and still trying to ingrain into the players.”
Is that confidence? Bravery? "I think it’s just habits. I think again we go back to culture, habits and trust. And if you look, that’s all I try and create at every club I’ve been at.
"Create the correct culture for working hard, to going on the pitch to playing forward. I would rather a positive pass forward than a negative pass backwards all the time.
"At our best, we do it really well and at our worst, like Tuesday night, without a shadow of a doubt, we looked as bad as you can.
"And I think that’s when you have to look at the opposition and go, ‘Yeah, that’s a benchmark of where we want to be’.
"As a team, their whole identity was clear to see, their desire to win the game was clear to see, their energy to run forward was clear to see, and that’s where we are aspiring to be as Ipswich Town Football Club.”
Looking back at the last five league performances, Plymouth, Wycombe, Oxford, Sundereland and Rotherham, Cook was asked if it was only the display against the Millers which disappointed him.
"I’ll always try and be an honest manager,” he reflected. "I don’t believe in the opposite side of it. Tuesday night was the only game that we’ve been flattened in.
"We should have got something at Plymouth, come on guys, you can’t miss the chances we missed. At Sunderland it’s the same.
"The second half against Oxford, Oxford’s only intention was to go down with cramp and break the game up to see it out. That’s football and eventually guys we will find the consistency, we will trust our players, the culture of our club is changing daily.
"The habits then for players must be how hard you from Monday to Friday determines the outcome of Saturday.
"As you can imagine, we’re about to embark on two very hard days of work in preparation for that game on Sunday that will see our supporters leave happy.
"And all you can do is keep making steps forward. Whenever you get a disappointment in this game, you must step forward again.
"As a manager, my only way is to do that. I don’t believe in anything other than being aggressive with your play, being forward with your play and being positive.
"And that was something on Tuesday night that was the most disappointing thing. As I say, I watched us have a free-kick on the halfway line and end up with the ball back with Christian Walton.
"And I think to myself ‘Wow!’. And again for the players, whether people perceive that as confidence, whatever people perceive that as, I perceive that as a lack of bravery.
"Make positive mistakes, be positive with your play. And it’s something that as a team when we’ve seen our highs, ie Wycombe and Portsmouth, which were magnificent wins, magnificent wins, no teams go there and scores the goals we have, but we’ve also seen the lows.
"And guys what we’ve got to find, and you know it more than anything, is that consistency, and that’s what we’re searching for.”