Boss Roy Keane said he had learnt a lot about his side after Tuesday’s 3-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace. The Town manager admitted his team have a long way to go if they are to be Championship contenders this season.

Keane said: "I learned a great deal about my side and I know we've got a big challenge ahead, but then again I already knew that.

"When you concede three at home you're always going to make life difficult for yourselves. It could have been more but then we could have scored more than one.

"In defence of the players, I take full responsibility. There were new players out there, young players and a new partnership up front.

"I know as well as anyone that sometimes these things don't happen straight away in football. It takes time to click.

"There are genuine reasons why we haven't hit the ground running and it would be very tempting to make excuses.

"In glimpses we looked dangerous, but we expect better and the players demand better of each other.

"There have been a lot of expectation around the place, particularly in the summer, and it's been a reality check for us all.

"The players are aware that there is a lot of hard work in front of them and that applies to all of us. We are under no illusions and we have to take our medicine again today and move on. But hopefully there is not too much medicine to come.

"We had our chances and Owen and Jon Stead contributed to that in the second half, but we conceded three goals and two of them were bad goals to concede.

"We didn't really get going early in the second half and we were still recovering from the first goal when they scored the second, so it was always going to be hard to get something out of the game after that.

"We expressed ourselves better in the last half hour and we have to do that when we go to West Brom at the weekend."

Palace boss Neil Warnock was delighted to get the win after the misfortunes of Saturday's defeat to Bristol City: "It was nice to get the disappointment and injustice of the weekend out of the way - not just by winning but playing as we did.

"We showed a great attitude, were solid at the back and inventive in midfield. I couldn't ask for more, especially at such a difficult place as Ipswich.

"It's been a weird feeling since Saturday. When you should win a game and an unfortunate thing like that happens you can't get over it.

"But you have to put things in perspective and we only lost a game of football."

Warnock was particularly happy with former Blue Darren Ambrose, who scored two and created one: "I've always liked Darren and offered £1 million for him when he was at Ipswich.

"He's drawn the short straw in the last couple of years but he was the first person who came to speak to me in the summer.

"I said he could be influential for me and score goals and he plays with a smile on his face.

"He's not worried about making a mistake because he knows he's not going to get a rollicking from me."

Photo: Action Images

dubblue added 10:57 - Aug 19 We need to be patient .....there's a two year plan which will see us promoted, only at the moment it looks like the promotion will be from division one back to the championship! Back to reality we need to sort out the defence - one thing I would not have expected from a Keane team is a lack of confidence and organisation.
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jamie22 added 10:58 - Aug 19 People need to lay off McAuley, he was very good last season, everyone takes time to get into the new season, some more than others, and we will have to live with it. I want to see Bruce at centre back, he was very good, however could have been ten times better at CB. I have seen a few goes at Pim, i think he is very good and he is still young. Harding should still be here hwoever that is the past, same with Rhodes, move on with it. I would like to see Garvan and Trotter together, Trotter showed glimses of being a good midfielder and I think Keane knows his potential. Priskin needs time to gel with the squad, we bought him 10 days ago, 3 of them he spent with Hungrary. I saw a comment about Delaney at CB, interesting idea, I agree that he would be better suited there, mainly because his defending is very good, only once or twice a game does an attacker get past him. However everything else in his game is not up to this teams standard.

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itfcserbia added 11:02 - Aug 19 delaney is rubbish! nothing at all better than harding or richards, just different... i'm very disapointed by his performance...
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devontractorboy added 11:03 - Aug 19 i8canarrys never mind Val Doonicans 'Delaneys donkey', I think wecould also field 'Paddy McGinty's Goat at the moment!!! Apologies to all those under about 50....who won't have a clue!!!!
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bleedblue added 11:20 - Aug 19 If i had wrote this last night, i would of been not thinking staright (alcohol intoxicated) and would have gone nuts!! However, I think we alkl need to chill out and realise that we are 3 games in to the season, yes we haven\'t played well since the second half at Coventry, but in certain areas we have seen improvement. People are saying the next three games will be tough (WBA, Preston, Borough) but lets be honest, i can count the teams on my hand which aren\'t in the race for promotion this year, the rest are and there will not be any easy games for us, we lost to a good side last night (dam you Darren!) and we need to accept that, and move on!! Its a long season ahead, but im confident Keano will do his hype justice!! Come on you blues!!

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dboyips added 11:26 - Aug 19 Bruce was our best defender .midfielder and goal scoring threat. Pity the rest of them dont show the same passion for cause. I still think it will all come right in the end.You cant win anything in August but if it carries on the same way we will be playing catchup.
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dirtydingusmagee added 11:28 - Aug 19 LIGHTENINGBOY, i think you are not far out,i have said RK wont get through two years, i hope i finish with egg on my face ,but i reckon it will be on Roys. BENSABLUE Palace did take the game by the scruff of the neck,as you said,...but i thought thats what Roy Keane was all about! iron man,motivator, winner,..well i hope he can get his act together quickly,....at moment he's pissing into the wind .

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Egg100s added 11:44 - Aug 19 If Keano's really learnt a lot about his players he will have seen that BROOOOCE!! has fight and leds by true example....he must be made captain. He certainly seems to wear the shirt with pride and not too many can say that at the moment
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lukeym18 added 11:48 - Aug 19 at least keane is honest and admits its his fault. and didnt slate the players in the press like magilton did, it is early days yet still got 43 games to get to where we want to be, yes we want to see things different from when jim was here but it dosent always happen straight away. lets stay positive & hope the players do well on saturday.
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StowTractorBoy added 11:50 - Aug 19 All these suggested teams that are being listed just proves to me that this squad is miles off a play off place in fact we will be nearer the bottom than the top. I wanted Magilton out but this squad looks even worse than last season and what we have is just not working. I can see no points from Saturday which will mean almost certainly a bottom 3 place. This is a bad dream and relegation is now a reality if things do not change rapidly. Just hope we recover as Burnley did last season from a wretched start, but I won't hold my breath as collectively the players we have are nowhere near good enough.

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JayITFC added 12:04 - Aug 19 Wish Ambrose had played like that when on loan here last season! Not gonna start on Delaney else I won't stop...
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dirtydingusmagee added 12:11 - Aug 19 i think to say relegation is a reality is a bit strong, STB but i think we will be nearer that than promotion, It gets me down when all you here year in year out is ''we are building '' ,......... when is the roof going on ?
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billbao added 12:14 - Aug 19 Keane really needs to buy a central midfielder, we need someone to replace Norris. A midfield of Healy and Trotter is not going to get us promoted.
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matt_the_blue added 12:15 - Aug 19 Come on people, turn off the sirens and stop screaming in the streets. I was there last night and I will agree it was appalling, McAuley seemed to be switched off at times, when Delaney did get stuck in and managed to win the ball he had no idea what to do with it and the midfield seemed to dissolve every time Palace went on a counter-attack. But as it's been pointed out already we're ONLY 3 GAMES IN! Providing Keano addresses the problems bloody quickly (which I'm quietly confident he will) we can recover. No-one in the league has got the full 9 points from their opening 3 games and the table is obviously still v tight so there's nothing to say we can't leapfrog up after a few games, providing we tighten up the defence (we NEED a decent LB) and the midfield (Peters and Garvan in the middle - I didn't rate Healy or Trotter last night at all). Keep Wickham and Priskin up front - I think they can be a brilliant partnership if the feed from midfield improves. I was v impressed with Bruce last night and I do think he would make a better captain than McAuley, McAuley has tried his best but I just think Bruce has more passion and fight to galvanise the team. Just remember - we patiently gave JM a lot of time and even when he was sacked a lot of people on the old club fanzine site said he should have been given longer. Lets not start talking about changing managers again already - do we really want to start a manager merry-go-round and end up going in to a downward spiral like Newcastle did last season?

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dobbie73 added 12:16 - Aug 19 dirtydingusmagee - your roof comment made me chuckle, lol.
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DrJeckyll added 12:46 - Aug 19 I think you should all hold your nerve a bit better. I saw very encouraging signs last nite and think we have been getting progressively better wiv each game so far this season. New players hav to be given time to gel, anyone who knows anything about football knows that. Also anyone who knows anything about people knows that people do not respond best wiv people on their backs all the time. Just look at what Warnock said about Ambrose "He's not afraid to make a mistake because he knows i wont give him a rollicking" you all need to look up the word supporter in the dictionary cos few of you seem to have a clue wot it means. I honestlt believe we hav the worst fans in the world. At saturdays game people were moaning only 10 mins into the game

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goldenblueboy added 12:51 - Aug 19 Sort it out Keano. - Half the team don't look like they could make it in League 1 at the moment let alone push for the Championship! We need to beat the Baggies - massive ask of which I honestly don't think we will beat them unfortunately. But once we've got that first win under our belts we'll be absolutely fine. COYB!!!!
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fugs added 12:54 - Aug 19 Fugs says: looking back over the (Sunderland) history - am I right in thinking that things started badly there but that RK's (very successful) 'get out of jail card' was obtained through a spending spree and a churn through a huge number of players, rather than 'motivating the team' etc etc.? That is the worrying thing, given that ME has said that we have to sell before we buy - i.e. no vasts sums to use on a spending spree. By and large, we have the team we have + a few recruits which on last nights evidence look dodgy to say the least. What happens if we get to 8 games without a win? I am sure (hope) that we will not get to that, though...Counago the unlikely saviour?

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superblue92 added 12:57 - Aug 19 in all fairness we are 3 games in and we shouldnt be worrying to much, saying that the preformances of some of the players has been very poor, Especially gareth mcCauley who is ment to be are captain, Damien Daleney Dosent seem to kno what he is doing and looks very uncomfatable, Colin Healy in my opinion is a waste of money. taking poitives out of the season so far, Walters And Martin look Very sharp as does garvan, think he should be playing in the middle everygame, he adds something different going forward as well as defending, Would Like To see abit more from priskin but i think the goals will come when he gets the chances created from the midfield. come on you blues, in keane we trust!!!!

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jim5555blue added 13:00 - Aug 19 It seems to me the real story last night is that Ambrose, in particular, their manager and the Palace team after what happened them Saturday, came very highly motivated and would probably have beaten anyone on the night. The manager took some responsibility and rightly so, he left his defence exposed last night by playing 4 out and out attacking players, Trotter & Healy didnt play in this Division last year and need time to get to the pace of the game. Pim is potentially an outstanding defender but McAuley and himself may not be a partnership.Putting Bruce at left side centre back, between Delaney and McAuley to pick up the pieces might help, with Wright at right back, though any combination would have been tested last night. Healy will come good in midfield with the right partners, possibly Garvan and Quinn/new signing. I would leave the front 3 that started the season with Priskin and Wickham to come in, though none of the 3 central strikers seem capable at the moment of playing that role in a 433, (Wickham certainly will be in future).

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MonterreyBlue added 14:41 - Aug 19 Well, this doesnt sound too good but im sure Roy is just as anxious as we are to turn things around. I am based in Monterrey, Mexico and have a season ticket to the local team. I have been in regular touch with Steve Mcall for the last 6 months and strongly recommended striker Humberto Suazo (who was linked with Sunderland) and centre back Filipe Baloy. Suazo scores almost every game and is one of the most talented strikers (and affordable) i have ever seen. Birmingham just signed a guy from Santos for 9 million, this guy would cost half and is better by miles and the fans would love him. Talented, strong, exciting on the ball and creates a lot of goals too plus a great attitude. Baloy also would be a terrific signing and a classy modern centre back (the rest of the team here is terrible tho!). What concerns me a little is Mcauley doesnt look up to it right now and we have spent 2 million on an un-proven striker plus Delaney etc. Granted Conor will develop into a class striker but we cant rely on a 16 year old to take us up. Anyway, the Club have informed me before yesterdays game they dont need any strikers and all is ok..... im not sure i agree with them.....

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8ashblue added 15:03 - Aug 19 He's certainly got that right but what will he do with all this knowledge? Drop Delaney/McAuley, i doubt it! Move Bruce inside, possible. Start Garven probably. Drop Healy almost certainly. Give Wickham a rest and pick Stead v West Brom, nailed on. On the plus side he's learnt that Wright is a top keeper and Bruce is passionate and was a good signing. I'm sure he's looking to play Thatcher and Wright asap but what combo he'll use against West Brom for central defence is anyone's guess. For sure he knows that Norris is a big loss and maybe the reurn of Pablo will help. Martin is a good signing too but not sure about Walters. He didnt do great with what he had last night a si feel that delivery/passing wasnt great but ok. i dont know what to make of Priskin yet but maybe if the delivery gets better!

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superblue92 added 16:13 - Aug 19 what the team shuold be on saturday? Wright Wright Bruce Pim Peters Walters Garvan trotter martin Stead Priskin ?
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dirtydingusmagee added 16:17 - Aug 19 Walters never had a good night last night, you are right, but he dosnt have too many bad games,and he can turn a game around. Delaney always seemed a dodgy target,he is unfortunately showing that now .Mc Auley is not up to it,Priskin is no wonderboy, and so far has been less than impressive,hasnt looked like a striker out to prove a point .Wickham will get there but he is very young ,That can be overlooked because of his size,but you cant expect him to carry the burden of title challenge.[or relegation battle some may say ].At present we are not at the races,and points are going to be hard to find i think .

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CapnBlues added 16:54 - Aug 19 jamie22 and others I don't think the majority are complaining about McAuley as a player but as a captain. If you hear any ex player talk about our previous captains in recent years like Holland, Magilton and De Vos...hell even Keane, they will tell you that all of those had a presence! Someone who could walk in the dressing room and demand respect and someone every player could go to for advice! Now none of us no what happens behind the scenes but from the pitch displays he is a terrible captain. Trotter was going mental at Mcauley last night. Do you think we'd ever see a young player screaming at Jim or De Vos even if they were having a bad game? Of course not, they were respected.

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