Roy Keane said Town had no one to blame but themselves after their 3-1 home defeat to Swansea. Keane refused to criticise referee Andy D’Urso despite the Billericay-based official turning down what appeared to be a certain Town penalty.

The Blues manager, whose side have now lost five in a row in the league, said: “No excuses, we have no one to blame but ourselves, not just the defending but the chances we missed and not dealing with the setback of the first goal.

“Obviously the first two goals were hard to take, but there are no excuses. We’ve got to do better, simple as that.”

Keane’s team looked to be on their way to a win when Andros Townsend put them in front but he says his side couldn’t secure the result: “When you’re comfortable, that’s when you get into trouble. That brings a different type of pressure — trying to kill the game off. When we didn’t get the second goal we were constantly under pressure trying to keep a clean sheet.

“The first goal was a soft one, but even then you’ve got to steady the ship and keep your head and we didn’t do that. The second goal was comical, I suppose, but I’m pretty sure I had the same conversation with you last week.

“It’s a bit like Groundhog Day — doing the same thing over and over again. You’ve all seen that movie, it’s quite good I know, but we’re doing the same thing over and over again and I keep coming up here saying the same stuff. You’ve got to draw the line somewhere on it.”

Despite having what looked to be a solid claim for a penalty turned down by Andy D’Urso, Keane kept to his usual policy of not criticising referees: “The official didn’t cost us the result today. Let’s not try and find another excuse for us losing the match. It would be too easy but it would be wrong.

“Remember, we were 2-1 down at the time. Who’s to say we would have scored the penalty? We’re pretty sure it was a penalty, but who’s to say we would have scored it?”

The Irishman accepts that five league defeats in a row simply isn’t good enough: “It’s unacceptable and we’d had two or three before that, then we had a couple of wins in between. But it’s eight defeats in 10, which is unacceptable.”

Keane confirmed that David Norris missed out because he has a virus, while Damien Delaney was fit to be called upon if needed. Darren O’Dea picked up a hamstring injury and is a doubt for next week’s trip to Preston. The on-loan Celtic man was already set to go home to Glasgow early in the week with his girlfriend still to give birth to their first baby.

Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the win: “It was very, very pleasing. I heard the players talking and they said that maybe a season or two ago we would have lost the game.

“It shows the mentality in the group at the moment that we’ve got the belief to keep going. We’ve shown a number of times that we want to control and dominate games with the ball and our ability to keep going has served us very well. It’s a fantastic result for us at a place where it’s always difficult to come and get a result.”

Rodgers says he feels for his friend Roy Keane with several of his senior squad members missing at present: “I look at the team that he’s got and he’s missing his experienced players and this is a league in which you need these players.

“Look at Norris missing today, Delaney, Gareth McAuley out for a while. These are stalwarts of the group. I don’t think there’s any better man to be here in a fight to pull the team out of it.”

Rodgers was not unsympathetic to Town’s claims for a penalty: “I don’t think it was a turning point in the game but if you judge it on the situation, if you’re the home manager you are disappointed if you don’t get it.

“Having then seen it afterwards on the replay I can see why Andy D’Urso doesn’t give it. There was a slight touch, he’s maybe thinking that the guy can go through and get his shot off and finish. Mark Gower’s just coming across, there’s no doubt that there’s contact.”

Photo: Action Images

tractorboybig added 20:35 - Dec 4 The manger has been here 18 months ish. the ticket tout has owned us for three years ish. where are we? crap nowhere near where we were under poor leader and management and we are heading down, abandon by evans (we would still owe him all that debt and a manager who may have been a top player but is a failed manager) Blue square coming another Luton in the making....

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donore added 21:10 - Dec 4 Is moving up together no longer taught at nursery school? I have not seen Town hold a line for the past 12 months!
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Plums added 21:14 - Dec 4 Hard to maintain some back four discipline when the participants change every week
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Back_The_Boss added 21:20 - Dec 4 Absolute certain penalty, Swansea were dominant and It was always going to be a game we would struggle in. 5 league defeats in a row now, just how much longer can this go on?
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kentblue added 21:40 - Dec 4 Unlucky with the penalty decision ,howevevr, there seems a certain inevitability at the moment . Can't understand why Priskin, who looks sharper and sharper is taken off to make way for an out of form striker on loan ! I just feel if Keane were to go ,( please ! ), it would be like a DARK CLOUD lifting over the club . So RK .............
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alfromcol added 21:44 - Dec 4 The results of football matches hinge on a few incidents during the 90 minutes, for most of the 90 minutes, possibly 88 of them nothing happens except the ball gets played about from man to man. In the 2 minutes today the Swansea keeper made two blinding saves that saved certain goals; a push in the area missed by the referee and Murphy not getting to the ball - goal to Swansea; Tommy Smith not putting the ball in row Z - goal to Swansea; Durso missing an obvious penalty. The result of these two minutes was losing a game that we so easily could have won. Some will say that Swansea had more of the play, this is conceded but most of it was in their own half. They made few chances other than the those where they scored. We played some very good football at times, we as supporters cried out for the hoof ball football to stop, we didn't do that today. I felt for Jamie Peters when the team was announced, what does he have to do to get RK to give him a run of games?? Players are in and out of his team week in and week out. Where was Delaney today, Civelli not on the bench, why was he on the bench for Norwich and WBA and not today. Whilst I want RK and the team to succeed, his team selection and substitutions have no consistency or logic to them. Without a win in the next couple of games and I believe RK will walk, he looks like a man resigned to his fate. He must sit in his office waiting for the phone call from on high.

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KangarooBlue added 22:19 - Dec 4 Always have been a supporter of Keane, but my patience level is decreasing week by week, he's destroyed what Ipswich truly stand for, he's destroyed our magnificent passing game where under Royle and sometimes under Magic we'd pass teams off the park, today, under Royle, we would of gone on to win that, can guarantee it The signing of Falon was a panic loan, someone who barely scores for Plymouth isn't going to do much here. The team can't gel because of the constant changing, it's the basics of football, team needs to gel to be successful. The worst thing he said was that he'll get this club promoted within two years, Sunderland was obviously a fluke. I'm sorry Keane, but please do everyone a favour and resign, you're not taking this club anywhere, in the eighteen months you've been here, we've gone backwards

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WarkyWonderLand added 22:24 - Dec 4 The time is surely nigh where ME has to make the decision and put RK and all the fans out of their misery. Would he let someone in his business empire take control of a sector, bring in virtually 2 new teams, let others leave, for the sector to go backwards with lower levels of revenue? I don't think so. RK does not make it enjoyable or fun to come to PR. How many fans do you ever see the ground with smiles. How many goals do we see? The least amount I would say in any managerial tenure at Ipswich. I, like others thought there were some spells in the game where we looked ok however, once again our 2 best players were taken off. Why?? And Fallon, can we seriously be thinking of signing him permanently. We were awful in the last 20 mins. OK, Tamas missed some great chances but why was Scotland always on the half way line? He must have been told to play deeper but all of his goals are within 6-10 yards so why? When O'Dea went off I though that they must have had the call from his girlfriend. I find that playing a loan player who's head must have been elsewhere is a bit of an insult to others especially Shane O'Connor. He is one player who always gives us 110% and makes a difference down the left. Zuiverloon was poor I thought and it must have been a real kick in the teeth for Jamie to be dropped. I for one can't feel sorry for RK. The buck stops with the manager and 5 straight league defeats must be the final straw. 8 defeats in 10, no other club would out with that. He is the man who came in and set himself up for a fall when he said promotion in 2 years. He is the man who said that any manager could get a team into the top half of the Championship. The squad we have today is the one he has put together. The only player who started today when RK came to the club was Tommy Smith (Troy Brown was on trial). Fans only have to look at the squad to see the players RK has brought in then loaned out ( Priskin last season and lee martin this year) and the players he let go. circa£10M on players, god knows how much on loan players wages and £6M on RK's wages. Progress?? He cannot blame injuries, young players or lack of signings when these are all of his players. When we went 2-1 down I thought we looked beaten then, no fire in our belly and no guts. Still think that the majority of players are scared of him and that black cloud has to be lifted. I for one didn't think there were over 16,000 town fans in there today given the empty seats. RK has been very lucky with the lack of real stick he has had from supporters for what he has done ( or hasn't). Don't feel sorry for him, we are the ones suffering cos we will still be here when he has gone. And to give him a reward for his cup efforts?? We beat Exeter, Crewe, Millwall, Northampton and a poor WBA. A really tough run of games. If he is still here then we will be in the bottom 3 by then. Time cannot be wasted and he has to go. I for one wouldn't let him sign another player given what he has done tp ITFC. He has lost the players, fans and most of all, I think he is now doubting himself and whether he wants to be here.

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bluesman added 22:36 - Dec 4 I HATE to see us outpassed. WE WANT TO SEE FOOTBALL. That's why so many are staying away, its not the results its the horrible way we are getting them. WE WANT OUR FOOTBALL BACK
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SammyT added 22:41 - Dec 4 Same old same old. Sh*t refs and no decisions going our way.
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SammyT added 22:47 - Dec 4 Fed up with it. Wickam hauled down at hull. Delaney should have only had a yellow at norwich and holt maybe a red. Could of had 2 pens against WBA. Big centre halves wrestled our strikers to the floor away at Scunny and Watford. Beginning to think the refs hate keane as much as some of u lot on here...never ever get big decisions. That is why we arent in top six. Oh... Priskin was taken off today because he can't score btw. Creative? Yes. Movement = superb. Needs goals

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tractorboy2434 added 22:50 - Dec 4 RK has been successful in one are of ITFC, he has successfully driven away 7000 regular supporters and that figure is set to rise between now and Xmas, I bet ME is pleased at how successful his manager is, Muppet.
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tractorboy2434 added 22:59 - Dec 4 Re warky wonderland, excellent post, it is not difficult for anyone with any knowledge of football to see what is wrong at ITFC, the difficult bit is to see what is actually right, unfortunately I think the club is rotten to the core, we have a faceless owner, a corporate nobody as chief executive and a manager whose main interest seems to be giving endless press conferences to sky tv when he should be busting a gut to cut out the repeated, mind blowing defensive mistakes, oh and finding a striker who can score goals because the ones we have are not going to do it, Priskin, 1.7M, looks pretty but no end product, I ask you 1.7M !!!

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osborne1nil added 23:06 - Dec 4 I too have some sympathy with RK as you do not expect some of your players to not do the basics especially after Norwich last Sunday. Smith apart from the defensive mistake that gifed them a goal did okay. Zooverlooney I thought was poor and agree with Mark in that he is a short term loan who appears no better than the players we let go and IMO even though Peters isn't a RB, less effective. I think that if he had started with Peters in place of Zoo and O'Connor in place of O'dea then we may well have got the result. I feel that Murphy is not as good as Richard Wright was and if Fulop is fit, will play again on Saturday. Murphy should have moved off his line and come out for that first goal and claimed the ball. Fallon, looked awful again. Why replace Priskin with him (unless he had a knock). He looks every bit the cart horse that other posts on here have said. Surely he will be sent back to Plymouth when his short loan period ends. Would rather have seen Counago or Stead out there anyday. These loan players seem to be taking priority over alot of the Town players who are on the books, when they leave where are left? Why was Civelli not on the bench, surely it is worth giving him 5 / 10 mins at the end of a game to get him back in? Perhaps not in todays game as it panned out but he was not even on the bench. Not sure how much blame can be placed at ME. He made it clear from day 1 that he was prepared to put money into ITFC but did not want to be the public face of IT and should be respected for that. He / his team need to make a decision on Keane sooner than later because with the football we are being served and the obvious lack of cohesion within the team, the gates and revenue will be falling. Only today I heard a few people chatting about not renewing next year if Keane is still here and they have been coming for years. The problem is that Simon Clegg publicly is no David Sheepshanks, who like him or not was right behind IT and was regularly available to talk to about Town and showed a genuine passion for Town. Clegg IMO doesn't and his inability to get some of the players Keane is reported to have targeted is obvious. This could be because the budget he has available is not sufficient, the trouble is we don't know. I can't see RK walking away and needs a decision to be made fom the club. 19 months in charge with little / no progress and a large sum of cash spent is not good enough. We are getting very close to the relegation zone where we spent to long in last year! Make a change ME before it's too late as this run can't continue.

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ipswich85 added 23:12 - Dec 4 I do think it's time for keane to go 8 defeats in 10 league games is unacceptable. So I think keane should go and I think and some people might not agree that we should bring pardew who I think will do a good job for us even though I didn't even like him when he was west ham but he has done well with the clubs his managed.
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alex12345 added 23:54 - Dec 4 I think its fair to say that Keane isnt 100% fully to blame for the downfall of this club,, Simon clegg isn't anywhere near as good as David Sheepshanks was at letting the fans know the ins and outs. Marcus Evans will not for some reason show his face and in the summer made Keane sell to buy which is why these loan players have appeared. Yes, Roy Keane is 75% the reason as in every profession these days, ultimately the buck stops with the boss, however i think the club needs a major, major overhaul to get back to anywhere near the "good old days." Keane, clegg and evans should all leave this club. Although this would mean we wouldnt have the money we do at the moment,, i for one would rather a proper chairman who invests in the club and actually CARES about OUR club E.g Sheepshanks,, not someone like evans doing it purely for financial investment and couldnt give two hoots about Ipswich Town FC. Thinking to the good old days before Marcus Evans when we didnt have all of this money, we still attracted players like kuqi, jimmy juan, peralta etc.. When we were in the premiership under burley and getting into the play offs under big fat joe,, even under magilton coming very very close to play offs.. These were exciting times and now we have realistically fallen a long, long way and we are now a very average championship team in turmoil and we clearly have a long way to getting back to these times. We need Keane out, Martin o neill, Curbishley or another EXPERIENCED manager with matty holland as his number 2 (someone who really does care about the club) to get this club back on track,, give them time,, give them money,, and probably most important of all GET THE ATTENDANCES BACK TO PORTMAN ROAD. A big crowd is so vital to any promotion chasing team and its a cliche but they really are the 12th man to any team at home.

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Essexblue78 added 23:59 - Dec 4 Dire, depressing, incompetent and sadly, unless miracles do occur, doomed to possibly the worst season in our marvellous history. Even if Roy walked or was pushed what prospects for the successor this season? Would new cash miracously be available and how many of the loanees would be required..aside from Andros (who has talents but has he consistency?) who else would the new man or indeed fans want to spend their money on in buying on a permanent basis? Zuiverloon new to it but no improvement on what was here already, O Dea ( please dont confirm the rumour that he is a relative of Graham Harbey!) simply awful.(look again at todays goal , yes Smith made an error but O Dea put him in that tangle!) Livermore . flattered to deceive, Colback , not quite up to last year and lightweight, ..Fallon.. speechless that anyone with any brain at all would even consider him!.. And as for Roys bench warmers , who are they and what do they do?!!! Tony his mate, what is his title? Ian Charlie McParland looks as though he would like to get up and "encourage" but appears to be scared to and the others , whoever are they, presumably Roys dog walkers! And what is the salary cost for this group?? Please justify it... I do believe that none of the chosen players go out and not try or dont care..the obvious truth is that they are either not up to the required standard or not "brought on" by this sorry collection that we fans have to say are custodians of a once wonderful and admired and proper football club. We live in hope but that is becoming more and more forlorn.... Mr Evans please come forward and publicly announce your intentions for the remainder of this season...

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tractorboy2434 added 00:09 - Dec 5 You have simply run out of excuses Mr Keane, I have heard them all, week after week, you are paid to coach, employ the correct staff, the correct tactics and get the players to carry out your instructions, they cannot, you cannot, the team cannot, NO MORE EXCUSES, you have run out of time and money, GO NOW.
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moomoosereni added 00:22 - Dec 5 I think the most depressing thing about ITFC at the moment is not Roy Keane, but how a trip to PR feels more like a punishment nowadays. The crowds reducing, the crowds getting quieter and finally the crowds getting very very restless. I've some great memories of towns matches played over the Xmas and New years period. I feel this year won't create many memories if Keane is still in charge. You've got us to the semi finals of the Carling Cup and in some respects I'm sure most fans are grateful for this. I also agree that ME and SC have been less than impactive in the transfer market and this must change. Roy Keane hasn't had the funds or the right options when its come to transfers, agreed to some extend. BUT, he has still been able to dip into the transfer and loan market and hasn't brought any little gems to this club. Magilton wasn't the greatest but he still brough in Gio, he brought in Stead and best to my memory he brought in Jon Walters. Keane on the other hand has brought in some average proffesionals and others that have come with a lot of expectations and are yet to deliver in full. Priskin is starting to come good, but his lack of goals unfortunately isn't helping. Scotland for me has shown glimses of a player that can score goals, but after a fairly good start, is also not delivering. Colback returning baffled me. Whilst he was terrific last season and you'd never not want him at the club, I didn't really think we needed him. We had a lot of cover and then upon him coming back, Keane was playing him on the left instead of Townsend? The only reason I could come up with for this was because Keane obviously thought he had to justify bringing in another loan player so had to play him?! I could go on all night, but I, along with so many others don't want to have to see this club lose another manager, but they also don't want to see this club fall to bits and fall into League 1 and become the next Sheff Weds or Leeds. Please, if you are going to stay after 8 losses in 10, SORT IT OUT. If you just don't think you can, then do the honourable thing and leave this Football Club so we have a chance of saving face on this very disappointing season.

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langeydong added 00:39 - Dec 5 My blame lies with Tommy Smith and the rest of our dithering defence. They're clearly not brilliant experienced players so why in by the hand of Zeus are they not getting rid of the ball when its in danger zones. Both him and O'dea took stupid touches that have royally arse f-cked us.
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kerryblue added 02:42 - Dec 5 Roy enough is enough,just go your not up to the job and going now will give the club which is bigger than you a chance.
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arc123 added 07:47 - Dec 5 We did play well today, but I think Roy should go now. There were good points today, I think we have a real talent with Troy Brown, and Andros Townsend and Grant Leadbitter played well today and Carlos Edwards. However these players are not up to it (at least under Keane). Marton Fulop (looks like he doesn't care) Giani Zuiverloon (hopeless) Darren O'Dea (not a left back) Damien Delaney (too slow) Tommy Smith (one minute looks like Kevin Beattie,the next Drissa Diallo) Jack Colback (not as good as last season,and a bit weak for the championship) Colin Healy (speechless) Rory Fallon (this guy already looks like the worst striker in our history) Look at the players Keane has let go Jordan Rhodes, Liam Trotter, Owen Garven etc. The coaches he has let go, Klug etc. The yes man he has by his side in the dugout. We would have got Brendan Rodgers in the summer if we had done the right thing and offered him the managers job, not disrespect him with the role of Keane's assistant.

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BrandonsBlues added 07:55 - Dec 5 But ask yourself why it has taken Rk this long to go back to 2 up front. To bring two wide men in midfield, to use proper full backs. Much of our recent bad run has been down to poor formation, square pegs round holes. can any of you understand the four centre backs, the four centre midfielders, the one up front, the poor substitutions. This drop down the league has more to do then the recent individual mistakes that have crept in the last couple of games. The tinker man is worse then ranerai.

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brogansnose added 08:45 - Dec 5 Its not all Keanes fault. but as Kerry say's, enough is enough. I would love it for a miracle to happen and Keane to turn it around but i think that we have seen enough to know that this regime is not going to do that. Oh, and Clegg, you can go too. Finally, i can't remember ever swearing so much at a match. D' Urso you incompetant, ignorant, self seeking, venal, arrogant excuse of a human being. Dirty Dingus- if you have got any Prozac spare can you send me some, cheers.

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BrandonsBlues added 09:02 - Dec 5 Oh and another record for Rk to add to his collection of unwanted new stats for ITFC. Does anyone know how many new stats Rk has notched in his abysmal tenure as IT's boss, such as biggest defeat to arch rivals, most losses, longest none winning streak. Someone please let me know. All he needs is to beat the biggest ever defeat and maybe then he might go oneway or the other

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