Chambers: We’ll Turn the Corner, Hopefully Starting on Sunday
Thursday, 30th Aug 2018 12:11

Town skipper Luke Chambers is convinced things will improve in the near future — and hopefully as soon as Sunday when Norwich are the visitors to Portman Road in the first East Anglian derby clash of the new campaign.

Asked to assess the team’s start to the season — two points from a possible 15 sees them bottom of the table — Chambers said: “It’s a work in progress, probably, and we are a little bit disappointed not to have taken as many points as we feel our performances probably deserved.

“There are certain things that we can work on and immediately that should improve our points total. We know what they are and we’ll be doing that over the foreseeable future.”

Seven of the nine goals Town have conceded in their six league and cup games have come from set pieces, which has surprised Chambers. He added: “That has been a decent strength of ours over the last few years and it is something we need to improve quickly.

“We are looking a threat from our own set pieces, which is a bonus, but we need to work on not giving freekicks and corners away too easily.

“That is one of the things we need to stop. Diving into tackles and just not defending properly in our final third is allowing teams, with the quality they have in this league from set pieces, dead ball opportunities that are always going to be difficult to defend.

“As well as you play in 90 minutes, the opposition are always going to have one opportunity to put the ball in your box and that can be the difference in this league.

“The fans are concerned and as players we are concerned. I haven’t looked at the league but I know where we are.

“But it’s five games in and we could easily be in mid-table or even higher than that if we’d taken our chances at different times in those games, or not conceded goals that we could have avoided. But that is football and we have to learn quickly.

“We have a lot of new players coming in from leagues below and they haven’t had experience of the Championship, plus the three games in a week that we have played is a massive ask for the lads.

“Yes, you might do that in the leagues below but the distances and the intensity of the division we are in is massive and the lads will be better for that.

“I think we had three players in the team at the weekend that had played last season and had Championship experience. There are a lot of new players but I don’t think that’s what has caused us to lose games.

“We’re conceding from set pieces because we are not defending properly, or not doing our jobs throughout the team.

“First and foremost, when the opposition get a set piece, mark your man. If it’s there to be caught come and do that or punch it. If it’s there to be headed, head it. If it’s there to throw your body in the way, do that.

“If we do all that and add it to the performances that we’ve shown in the last few weeks I think we’ll be fine.”

New boss Paul Hurst has so far added 10 new players to the squad but Chambers added: “I’m not really surprised by anything in football any more.

“There have been lots of changes and lots of new faces but there are still a few of us left from the previous regime. We are enjoying the work and the new ideas.

“We have been falling down at set pieces, which has been infuriating because I feel we have produced good performances, whereas last season we might not have been turning in great performances but we were still picking up points.

“That’s not what anyone wants to see but at the end of the day we have to pick up points. You can ask for time and patience to let the changes bed in but it needs to happen sooner rather than later.”

Chambers has experienced many ups and downs in his career but when asked if he was still enjoying his football he responded: “I am very much enjoying it and, as I’ve said before, I am feeling very fit and strong.

“I think the whole squad has benefited from what we have been doing from day one and I think some of the boys who have come in later on are still adjusting to where the manager wants them to be.

“The international break coming up will be a chance for everyone to get some extra work in.

“For me, personally, I am very much enjoying it. I’m enjoying having the ball and I know I haven’t always been someone who smacks it into the channels all the time.

“I’m enjoying playing football and it is everyone’s responsibility to make an angle for each other and that’s what I think we need to continue to do — keep believing, keep remaining confident and I’m sure everything will be fine.

“We’ll turn the corner, hopefully starting on Sunday. It is a big, big game and it’s probably a perfect game at a perfect time for us. We’re really looking forward to going out there and having a good day.”

Photo: Action Images

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bobble added 12:15 - Aug 30 2 out of 15 is bad,../., but its a long season, a couple of wins and we are mid table..and the odds on going up are sky high while we are bottom , i put 50 on us to go up this season and i will be a zillionaire when it happens
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SouperJim added 12:25 - Aug 30

This is good stuff from Chambo and is why he's our captain, taking responsibility and telling it like it is. I think most of us will agree with his honest assessment.

I also agree that Sunday is the perfect game at the right time for us, let's get out there and smash them to pieces, it's been a long time coming for the club and I just have a feeling we've got a real performance coming from this team. I'll absolutely Kevin Keegan it if we beat them.

Bluearmy_81 added 12:52 - Aug 30 Heard nothing about the red card, how long does it take? Farce. Should take 2 seconds to decide as it was the most ridiculous decision I have ever seen in 32 years of watching football.
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