Blues boss Paul Lambert didn’t mince his words after Town’s embarrassing 1-0 FA Cup defeat at League One Accrington, stating that the “club should never be in the state it’s in”, that it “needs to be rebuilt” and that “players are not good enough and without a doubt some will go”. Billy Kee’s 76th minute goal saw Stanley into round four which Town last reached back in 2010.

"Sometimes you've got to play football with desire," he said. "We never had that. I thought we turned up and thought we were going to be [the better team].

"There was nothing really in the game. We give too many fouls away, freekicks, and balls come into our box and, as I've said before, we're not the biggest of teams. We've got to defend it better. But we give so many crazy fouls away, it just puts pressure on everybody.

"The second half was mostly us, we had most of the game and should have scored a few chances, but you can't keep making the errors and think it's good enough."

Reflecting on Town's current situation - bottom of the table by 10 points and dumped out of both cups by lower division sides - more widely, he added: "This club needs to be rebuilt. Players are not good enough and without a doubt some will go. You have to hit that level.

"I didn't say we were outfought, it was the desire, but I never said we were outfought because we had a go in the second half, but they dealt with the crossed balls better than we did.

"You have to be clinical in both boxes and that’s what they did, it's part of the game. I know exactly what will happen here."

Asked whether he learnt anything from the match, he responded: "Not overly, I know exactly who lets us down and who doesn't but that's the reality of the game. The game won’t wait for anybody, you have to step up to the plate and hopefully one or two guys will come in and help us."

Lambert reiterated that he doesn't take cup competitions lightly and aims to win every match he is involved in.

“Anybody that knows me knows I was really successful as a footballer and I know what it takes to win things, to play in big level games and any competition you go and try to win.

“It's not right, we had unbelievable support today and to go out again, nine years is the last time the club was through to [round four].

"This club should never be in the state it’s in. It should never be in the mess it's in."

He added: "It’s an absolute disgrace what’s happened here. It should never have happened, it's too big a club. But it does happen to clubs if you take your eye off the ball.

“I’m not going to stand here and say it's a bed of roses because we have to get the club out of the position it’s in, that's the reality of it.

"All the niceties sometimes go out the window. I'll certainly not put up with that.

"I certainly won't put up with some of the things [I saw today]. It’s not good enough for this club and that’s the reality of it. I’m not going to hide behind any rocks or smoking jackets. It's not good enough. That’s the bottom line.

“We have to be stronger as a football club and get more nasty with it as well.

"It’s my job to get players in here that can help us. We can't do an influx because of the way it's happened but we'll try and get one or two in that actually know what this [level of] football is all about."

Were there a few home truths in the dressing room afterwards? "I’ll always tell them the truth in the dressing room. I protect them to an extent with [the media] but I'll tell them the truth in the dressing room."

Regarding the seven changes he made to his team: “We had one or two injuries. Trevoh [Chalobah] hasn't recovered from the knock against Millwall and Luke [Chambers] has had a bit of a calf problem, had been carrying it and decided I think [he needed a rest].

“Bart [Bialkowski], I was always going to play. Myles [Kenlock] has done great for us but I had to have a look at Callum [Elder], who I thought did well.

"I think Will Keane is going to be a really good player for us. I thought Andre [Dozzell] did well in the centre of the pitch. The team is mine, I pick it, no problem. Where we let ourselves down is in both boxes."

Lambert confirmed that Flynn Downes was subbed at the break as he was concerned that the midfielder might get sent off having been booked in the first half for a clash with Accrington's Sam Finley.

“I think if you raise your hands you give the referee a decision to make," he said. "I had to watch that situation so he didn’t get red-carded.”

Why did he wait until the 80th minute to add a second striker to his attack when Ellis Harrison was introduced? “We did it at the end but then it becomes this long ball game at certain times and I don’t want to be that type of team.

"But we had chances to score not just with two up top, we had chances in the second half without a two. We just never defended the box.”

Lambert says more new additions could arrive early in the week to come with Cardiff winger Anthony Pilkington believed to be among the players currently in discussions.

“We’re trying to do a couple and hopefully they will come at the start of the week. We’ll see,” he added.

“If I need to, I’ll get half a dozen players that know what this club needs to succeed in Championship football.”

Accringtn manager John Coleman was delighted with his side's winning goal and is now eyeing a trip to Anfield in the next round.

"Billy took his chance, it's something we have worked on in training and I am delighted for the lads," he said.

"The finances from a cup run, and a good draw, can change this club not only for this season but next season too.

"It means we can strengthen for this season if we do get a plum draw in the next round.

"As a Liverpool fan, Liverpool away would suit me but I would also like anyone at home. Realistically we are never going to win the cup, although fairytales do happen."

Photo: Action Images

blueboy1981 added 19:45 - Jan 6 ........ but what are the alternatives to Evans ownership of ITFC - people ? Where are the offers to buy the Club ? - what is the answer ? Would very much like to know logical and feasible answers to the above.
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Dissboyitfc added 20:12 - Jan 6 I can tell you something, those who maybe thinking of protests against Evans, think again! if he walks we really could be in the brown stuff, so think carefully! I for one dont think it will improve the playing side of things, the rebuild should start now! to destroy it further is something no fan should want! Forcing Evans out is not the way forward, because he could just sell to the first interested party if he sells i would like to think that he would still have the best interests of ipswich in his thoughts and although i am no Evans fan we could get worse i believe.

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budgieplucker added 20:16 - Jan 6 On an earlier thread I was critical of ME not making a few modest additional investments at key times. The debt in essence will never be repaid and is contained within the ME empire and to a certain extent why should we worry if he wants to offset this in a creative accounting manner. 30+ million was bought for 6 million so albeit owned on paper to ME the previous shareholders had to write it off. Yes he could wind the club up but in all probability he would probably end up selling it for a nominal amount. The fact that he doesn't own the land at PR is a protection valve for the future. As much as I can look to be critical of a lot of what has gone on I do think there has been a lack of appreciation of what ME has tried to do. We as a club have never had huge financial backing and prided ourselves on producing our own players. ME has strongly supported this with his investment in the academy to the tune of 2 million a year and the under 18s and the under 23s are clearly benefitting from this. This is at a time where other clubs, Huddersfield and Brentford to name a couple have questioned the value of academies. The difficulty in bringing young players through either into the premiership or championship seems to be exacerbated by the greater amounts of money being made available to continue the influx of foreign players. Brentford regularly making careful acquisitions of good technical players rather than spending much of their money on maintaining a fully traditional type of club structure. ME confesses to not being a football man and prefers to take advice from a number of people in the game. He gives his managers time and freedom to run the club. Again I can't be too critical with him in this respect, especially remembering the Cobbold family who very rarely interfered with the day to day footballing matters. So some of those same values that were afforded to Sir Alf and Sir Bob have been maintained. For all his faults MM brought the club back together after the Keane and Jewell disastrous attempts of running the club and by all accounts all the staff at Portman Road had great affection for him. Again I cannot defend Mick for a lot that went on in the last year or two, he brought this on himself, but to listen to the keyboard warriors claiming that MM had ruined our club was listening to an incredulous claim. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to run a full blown defence of ME, he does have to have a good look at himself in terms where we currently find ourselves, but to try and completely cast him as the pantomime villain is I think completely not in keeping with the fairness and tolerance of the large number and decently respectful ITFC fans that I believe makes us still a special club. Did Sunderland go down last year with a load of Division 1 players? No they didn't, the got relegated from the Premiership and had supposedly quality players at their disposal at the start of their campaign. Ask Blackburn fans what they think of their rich benefactors the Venky's, ask Cardiff fans how they feel about Vincent Tan. What about Assem Allum period of ownership at Hull or the Oystens at Blackburn. It doesn't take long for interests to wain when these rich people can't buy the success they thought they might be able to. The love of the fans doesn't last long. To be fair to Marcus Evans he has tried to install a philosophy and some discipline in recent years albeit with little cash to back it up but he has been consistent in the level of funding he has been prepared to put into the club. The rich sheik formerly at Forest soon gave up, 12 managers in ten years. I wouldn't want Karanka as our manager as much as I respect him, nor would I want a flood of foreign imports. I don't profess to have the answers like many on here, the modern game lacks a lot of decency. I do believe ME has shown a lack of ambition in more recent years and cannot argue with some of the well constructed criticism that is made against him. But fellow supporters we too have to look at ourselves. Yes we do deserve a lot better. But a lot of our comments are often way off the mark We wanted a young and hungry manager, I did though think it was short sighted of us to dismiss a name like Steve Mclaren. Was Marcus Evans influenced by us not wanting the Wally with the brolly. Most professionals who have worked with him say he is the best coach they have ever worked with and he has had good reputation with developing young players. Arguably he started at QPR with a squad of lesser ability than us but a good stream of young players coming through, he acquired some good experience and premiership loans. QPR are now pretty much safe and we're probably joint favourites with ourselves to go down. They also had the recent shadows of a transfer embargo. The club has been turned around in a relatively short period of time. I am Paul Lambert fan and hope we can keep him next season.

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warktheline added 20:19 - Jan 6 Many clubs have gone through financial difficulties and transition, clubs have also gone into administration and fought back! The biggest issue here is what's going on the pitch! A winning team will always attract positivity, as ive said so many times, with the 'right manager' our club would rapidly transform with or without Evans! Evans has for too long been a 'hindrance'....a thorn in the side of Ipswich Town FC!

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brendenward35 added 20:29 - Jan 6 Just seen hesky bent and Owen playing for England 5 a side PL get Marcus on the phone sign all 3 better than we currently have.
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cat added 20:34 - Jan 6 Warktheline - like I said it ain't gone to plan, failed if you like. He brought the business with good intentions and despite the fact it's clearly failed, he appears to be committed to keeping us afloat, and that's where my gratitude lies! As for all that about lacking passion etc, he's never done any of that from day one (clearly not his style) even in the slightly more successful times (lol) so why expect him to change now. If I was in his shoes and I heard or read all the negative feedback and I weren't getting anything out of it, then I'd say feck you lot I'm off. Let's hope he don't think like me, because without a buyer we'd be well stuffed.

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blueboy1981 added 23:12 - Jan 6 ....... and still no one comes up with an alternative ownership suggestion, and yet continually touts for Evans exit. May I suggest as Dissboyitfc has already mentioned, the last thing anyone should do is be part of any protest aimed at Evans. The alternatives are just not there.
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Swn98 added 08:07 - Jan 7 What a fool you are dirty i wouldn't go anyway because i deplore the loutish behaviour of some so called town fans at the Derby games. Another untruth about me corrected.
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Razor added 11:04 - Jan 7 I see one or two people now getting on Lamberts back. Please can we all stick together on this for the good of the club----he has been dealt a rubbish hand and lets see what the transfer window brings. A win on Saturday and this board may look a little different next week.
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