Blues boss Mick McCarthy admitted that Town’s 5-0 defeat at Crystal Palace was “a sobering experience” and that the Eagles “murdered” his team.

McCarthy said: “It’s a bit of a sobering experience but I didn’t come away from Saturday thinking it was all sweetness and light, by any stretch of the imagination.

“I think I probably said afterwards that I didn’t think that one victory was just going to turn it all around. Crystal Palace are a different proposition to Birmingham, they’re a good side at the moment.”

He says the display continued his process of learning about his squad: “They made mistakes, they gave penalties away and as usual players are telling me that it wasn’t a penalty, it wasn’t a penalty, it wasn’t a penalty.

“Players are the same. If players give penalties away, they’re always going to say it’s not a penalty. I’ll have to look at them closer, I’ll have to look at them on the replay before I’m going to say categorically that they were penalties. Of course, I’ve learnt a lot about them. It’s been a long five days I can tell you.”

McCarthy had praise for Wilfried Zaha and the Palace team as a whole: “He’s been doing it to a lot of teams. We didn’t come here with one win and 10 points and suddenly become a really top team.

“I fully understood it was going to be a little bit that way. I took them on and I thought that it was going to be a little bit that way, but I decided to take them on.

“And you know what? For a part of it I think it worked. The first goal is a mistake, the second one’s a penalty. However they came about, we’ve a fair bit of work to do.”

He says his approach isn’t going to be altered by the performance: “It’s not changed it at all. I was fully aware of it.

“If anybody thought that me coming in and getting one win at Birmingham and was suddenly expecting us to come to Crystal Palace, who are flying high and are unbeaten in 13 or 14 now, [amd get a win] were a little bit misguided in their thoughts.

“I think there will be other teams around the league that we’ll have to beat and get points off. Crystal Palace, they murdered us tonight, they were much better than us.

“They were terrific all around the pitch. Ollie’s inherited a really good side there. That just doesn’t come over night, that’s been born through recruitment and then organising a team.

“You look at them, they’re all a good size, athletic, they’ve got two really good wingers. They’re a good team, worthy of being top.”

Despite the size of the defeat, McCarthy, who says he can’t remember a team conceding three penalties in a game, let alone in 11 minutes, was reasonably pleased with how his side had begun each half: “I thought we started well and I thought we started the second half well too, bizarrely enough, but within eight or 10 minutes we were 4-0 down.

“There’s got to be a thread running through it, hasn’t there? We’ve conceded more goals than anybody else.

“You can go through the whole catalogue there in terms of how we conceded. Even at 4-0, for the last goal, we’ve got a corner kick and the bloke [Damien Delaney] that prevented us scoring to make it 4-1, who has left our place, and they score from the resulting corner.

“That’s just organisation. Whatever you do, if you’re 4-0 down, don’t get beaten by five. My five years has told me a lot, I’ve a lot more to do.”

New Palace manager Ian Holloway was delighted with his team’s display: “It was a fantastic performance from start to finish and the great thing about this lot is that they grind on.”

Holloway’s Blackpool beat the Blues 6-0 earlier in the season and he believes Town didn’t deserve to be on the end of two such heavy defeats: “I’ve got to say both scorelines flattered us.

“I have to say I thought Ipswich were terrific, the spirit they showed, the way they got about the game, they controlled the ball for quite a long period but without the end product.

“Even the shot that DJ got off, Speroni’s focus on that ball when he picked that up was absolutely sublime. I’ve got nothing to do with that yet, that was what I inherited.

“What I want to try and do is free them up and smile and sing and join in and keep going. That’s not a clown, that’s someone who wants to get people to enjoy what they do, and I don’t care about the score. I want to enjoy their performance and I did tonight, and that’s all I can say really.”

Asked whether Ipswich had approached Blackpool before Mick McCarthy took over or he had spoken to the Blues, he said: “No, all it was was speculation.

“The truth is that [Palace chairman] Steve Parish rang [Blackpool] chairman Karl Oyston and Karl spoke to me like I knew he would and I said, for the first time ever, ‘I want to speak to someone else’.”

Photo: Action Images

lowtit added 07:26 - Nov 7 welcome to the harsh reality of being an ipswich manager mick - Im sure you're going to see far worse things than three penalties conceded in eleven minutes before your tenure has expired -
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WarkyWonderLand added 07:27 - Nov 7 We have all got to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. Sticking together on the terraces is the part we have to play and let Mick sort the team out. We have got to show some Passion at PR on Saturday and make some noise. Palace were where we are not so long ago. And god only knows why Mr jewell let Delaney go with no replacement. Coyb
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Tufty added 07:30 - Nov 7 Ever heard the expression "NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"
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wrighty_blue97 added 08:12 - Nov 7 Poor result, and maybe we got a bit carried away after a brilliant game on saturday, forget about last night and now lets make portman road a sell out on saturday to welcome super mick to our once great club, COYB!
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Legend added 08:25 - Nov 7 Too little too late, Jewell should have been given the boot months ago. Nice one Clegg. I really feel for us this season.
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bluefeast added 08:26 - Nov 7 The morning after the night before ,a little time for reflextion. Did i say things in haste whilst at the game last night. Answer NO i did not. Ive only just sussed that everyside we play has worked out the weakness in our side which is so easy to exploit. Its two things. Isolate our right hand side of defence. A basic tactic but where for us Edwards is attacked by the player with the ball and Chambers is attacked by players running off the ball in support. Basically that pulls Chambers out of position and allows the attacking player a one on one with Edwards. End result in comes a cross. The stats show we concede more goals from crosses from the left hand side of the pitch than any other side .

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TR11BLU added 08:26 - Nov 7 As I said when Mick came in, first move has got to be ship out ALL the loanees and start again. Cant be any worse can it?
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BerkshireBlue added 08:32 - Nov 7 For those that didn't go to the game let's be absolutely clear on one thing: Palace were most certainly the better side but we matched them for long periods and the scoreline is not reflective of the game. The main difference was that all the Palace players played well and with confidence; we had too many players off the pace and bereft of confidence (Coker in partcular was shockingly bad). Zaha and Appiah were frightenly quick and skillful and even the infamous Joel Ward managed to skip past 3 Town players with ease to set up their 4th goal on a plate. For us, only Wellens and DJ for his work rate alone come out of the game with any credit. Personally I would make a number of changes for Saturday's game but that's McCarthy's job - I only hope he can see the blindingly obvious! Welcome to Town Mick McCarthy!!

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BerkshireBlue added 08:46 - Nov 7 Ref my comment above I meant Zaha and Bolaise were frightenly quick.
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bluefeast added 08:47 - Nov 7 Berkshire Blue you are spot on.I was there also. Here is one obvious problem.Reocoker played on Saturday at Birmingham and played well.But he is not fit. So to expect 2 games in 3 days is daft ,so i do not see why he was picked. However he is only one issue.Murphy is no good on the left hand side.Its not difficult is it,put pace against him and its lights out.We are exposed because our side lacks pace , it makes it look like they dont care. Think an under 18 game against an over 40 side. Us oldies would try hard,but pace is something we had 10 years ago. So ,given that issue why the previous manager filled the team with small people in general with no pace ,and then always said we lack pace and power is daft.So MM rebuild job is on. iN HIM I TRUST ,HE WILL BE CERTAIN OF THE WAY FORWARD.

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BerkshireBlue added 09:03 - Nov 7 Bluefeast I agree about Murphy - he's one of the "blindingly obvious" I was referring to in my post. Murphy was OKish in the first half and won a few headers that didn't lead to anything but second half he was completely anonymous. Not in a month of Sundays is he a left midfielder. Likewise Edwards: a reasonable right midfielder but a right back he is not. He caught the eye a few times because of some desperate saving tackles but they came about because he was out of position to start with! He drifts all over the place and exposes Chambers all the time. We all know that our defence has been shockingly poor for many years and no matter how we chop and change the centre backs Edwards has been the first choice RB throughout that time. I would add that he's the most inept and uninspirational Captain Town have had in a very long time. This is not a dig, I'm not one of the moaners that gets on players backs, but something has to change. I'd try Chambers at RB (he played there for Forest) and play Edwards at right mid. But as I said earlier, McCarthy picks the team!!

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Daleyitfc added 09:07 - Nov 7 The key to all of this is Lee Martin : he needs to be turfed out with immediate effect, as he drags the team down to non-league level. This is the acid test for McCarthy : fail to do what is necessary and we all know what happens next : nothing for 18 months, then a new manager.
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bluefeast added 09:18 - Nov 7 BerkshireBlue added 09:03 - Nov 7 I AGREE WITH ALL OF THE BELOW IN FULL. I would suggest 90% of others would also. We need the manager to see the same. I would try the following. Chambers right back , Smith left back ,Ndaw right side centre half ,Higinbottom left side centre half , smith left back , right mid edwards left mid chambers. Any two central midfielders , then up front Ellington (energy in the one half he has played , and DJ. iT MAY LOOK ODD ,BUT I RECKON IT WOULD BE A BALANCED UNIT Bluefeast I agree about Murphy - he's one of the "blindingly obvious" I was referring to in my post. Murphy was OKish in the first half and won a few headers that didn't lead to anything but second half he was completely anonymous. Not in a month of Sundays is he a left midfielder. Likewise Edwards: a reasonable right midfielder but a right back he is not. He caught the eye a few times because of some desperate saving tackles but they came about because he was out of position to start with! He drifts all over the place and exposes Chambers all the time. We all know that our defence has been shockingly poor for many years and no matter how we chop and change the centre backs Edwards has been the first choice RB throughout that time. I would add that he's the most inept and uninspirational Captain Town have had in a very long time. This is not a dig, I'm not one of the moaners that gets on players backs, but something has to change. I'd try Chambers at RB (he played there for Forest) and play Edwards at right mid. But as I said earlier, McCarthy picks the team!!

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bluefeast added 09:19 - Nov 7 I MEAN CRESSWELL LEFT MID
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Kesgraveblue57 added 09:29 - Nov 7 It's hard to take a defeat such as last night, just be glad you have McCarthy in charge not Jewell. Now it is all up to McCarthy his honeymoon is over, let him get on with his work ! But accept you have a lot more bad defeats to come and that's for sure.
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bluefeast added 09:38 - Nov 7 THIS IS INTERESTING Calamitous Town gave away three penalties in 11 second-half minutes to gift Ian Holloway a debut victory in charge of the newly-installed league leaders. For Mick McCarthy, the size of his task at Portman Road has been made abundantly clear with basement club Ipswich now five points adrift of safety and with a minus-20 goal difference. And former Premier League midfielder Reo-Coker spared no feelings with a brutal assessment — that mirrored loanee Richie Wellens damning criticism of the team last month. Reo-Coker said: “The goals we conceded were embarrassing. That's not the level we are at — and that's not Championship level. "I have made it very clear in the dressing room that this will never happen again" Nigel Reo-Coker “It was schoolboy defending. I have made it very clear in the dressing room that this will never happen again. They didn't have to work hard at all to get the goals, we gifted them five through lazy defending and no will-to-win. “We should all be embarrassed about it. You don't concede three penalties in a game, not at this level.” Four second-half goals, including two penalties scored and one missed, saw the rampant Eagles soar to the top of the Championship. Now with McCarthy's first home match in charge against Burnley on Saturday, the experienced Reo-Coker has made it clear what he expects. He said: “This is not about management, new or old — I think that's just an easy cop-out for some players. “This is about the players, they need to stand up as men and be counted. It is about having desire and working hard and we did not work hard enough. “Today is the bottom line — this is where it stops. I haven't come here to be made to look like a fool. As long as I am here, it's not going to happen again.”

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Bergholtblue added 09:40 - Nov 7 Reality check people. McCarthy has been here a whole week now. He is still learning about the players and how to get the best out of them. I'm please we have three points out of the last two matches, that is 3 more than I expected. Any point at all from the next two will be a bonus also. Peterborough at home is a key game and then we should start to see MM and TC's influence.

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NoelTheDub added 09:41 - Nov 7 1loach 2 smith 3higgs 4 chambers 5 moshi capt 6 wellens 7 ndaw 8cresswell 9 dj 10 scotland 11martin 442 only way mick
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TrueBlueFerret added 09:56 - Nov 7 Sobering!!!!!PissedOff more like......
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Surco72 added 10:14 - Nov 7 The saddest part from all of last night was the fact that Owen Garvan looks a really good player for Palace and i recall him being hounded out of Ipswich by a number of fans on this site because he wasnt as good as Gerrard !!! Mick has now had two games to view the team and if Edwards ever plays right back or captains us again i will be stunned .Our defence has let in ridiculous amounts of soft and poor goals all season and yet three defenders have played nearly every game .Perhaps we will give them player of the year again ?

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brendenward35 added 10:34 - Nov 7 I wonder what Mick said to Ian Holloway at the end? maybe "bet your glad you didn't get this job mate" or "Think I should have applied for the Palace job instead" or maybe Ian said "unlucky mate looks like I choose the right club"
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planetblue_2011 added 10:51 - Nov 7 My team for sat 4.4.2 Loach Ainsley, moshni, smith, Cresswell Wellens, N'Daw, Hyam, Martin Campbell, Jet Subs - Lee Barrett, Higginbotham, Drury, Carson, luongo, Murphy, Scotland. Give Jet a go up front, see what he can do. Last chance for me to prove himself. Only 4 loan players in the team shouldn't have anymore than thst really. Players to get rid of, Edwards not a RB, wouldn't play him midfield either. He's had his chance. Move on!! Chambers do not rate him at all will be hard to get rid of him because he's on 3 year contract. Reo - Coker not long term. No point playing him hasn't made a difference. Chopra get rid of a waste of time. Henderson, got to play our own keepers he's no better. Keep - Dj Campbell, Wellens, Moslni, N'Daw? Murphy? - Maybe ok upfront. luongo will go back to spurs. Maybe end of season, Martin, jet and Scotland will leave. We need a DECENT RB, 2 CB, 2 wingers, Cm and STR lets see from here hey???? Higginbotham go back after 3 months

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warbeat78 added 10:57 - Nov 7 The players want to make sure they give MM ahome win for his wecome to portman rd. least they can do. JUST REWARD !!!for taking this lot on,big turnout from fans would be nice gesture as well COYBsss!!!!!
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Southamptonblue added 11:59 - Nov 7 I've been saying for a while now that the club needs a specialist defensive coach on the staff, and last night hasn't changed my mind.
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TimmyH added 12:28 - Nov 7 I have to say glad this drubbing came as soon as what it has into MM'S reign - it really shows the gulf between the top and bottom, it's not that on paper they are miles better it goes to prove with confidence and good management (obviously Freedman has got them playing well). This will really open Mick's eyes to how bad we can play although you can't take anything away from Palace but their not world beaters although in Wilfred Zaha they have a very good player, we shouldn't get beaten 5-0 and they missed a penalty. A lot of work for Mick and Terry to do and 1 result away to a very average Birmingham was never going to 'turn things around' - it's going to be a long plod to get us out of the relegation zone although I expect Mick and the lads to do it but wouldn't be surprised at the end of the year we're still in it. Going to take a month or so for MIck to install his work ethics/tactics and some new players in the January transfer window and to sort some of the loans we have out.

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