Town boss Paul Lambert says he’s not going to compromise the Blues’ footballing approach as he looks to put the season back on the right track as a number of senior players return from injury, admitting that his side have lost too many games in their absence.

As was the case in 2019/20, Town were quickly out of the blocks and were the early season pace-setters as they won five and drew one of their first six.

However, in a table based on the 13 matches since then they sit 16th and have lost four of their last five at home.

Despite that form, the Blues remain eighth, only a point off Accrington in the final play-off place, eight off Hull City in second and 10 behind leaders Lincoln.

“We’ve lost too many games,” Lambert said. “Hopefully the guys coming back will help us we’ve been really light on a lot of aspects of it, we’ve had too many injuries, far too many.

“But that’s the nature of the game, other guys have to step up and we’ve just lost too many games.

“If there’s a good thing about it, nobody’s running away with it. Everybody’s feeling the same sort of thing. It’s a different type of season than you’re normally going to have because there are no fans and the level of injuries that people are getting.

“But that’s football, as I said before, I never surround myself with negativity. I never surround myself with worrying or anything like that because I know how to handle it and I know how to deal with it.

“The players, we have to get them into a mindset of not worrying what happens on the outside, they just have to concentrate on what happens on the field, so that’s what we try and do with them.”

Quizzed on what he thought the crowd reaction would have been after Saturday’s loss to Swindon, he said: “They wouldn’t have accepted it, but not just that game, there are games where we’ve not performed and when you’re at a big club, you don’t expect to get a round of applause when you lose. That’s normal.

“As I say, I was fortunate enough to play for big clubs, so I know what it’s like and you’ve got to win more than not, that’s the nature of being at a big club in a division where everybody expects you to be out of it.

“It would be different if Ipswich were in the Championship and we were finding our feet again but when it’s in a division where people are expecting you to win, you have to cope with that criticism over it.

“You have to surround yourself and be really mentally strong and see it through because you will come through it and it will certainly make you mentally stronger.”

Many fans see this season going the same way as the last campaign, when Town started strongly before finishing 11th on points per game, and Lambert says that is something that he and the players have talked about.

“We spoke to the lads about that, we did exactly the same last year, got off to a whirlwind start and January time it tailed off,” he reflected.

“The same thing has happened now but the good thing is that nobody has run away with it, everybody’s quite nip and tuck at the minute.

“We’re hoping that the guys coming back from injury are going to give us something as well. As I said before, we’ve had too many injuries. There have been times when we’ve played without a frontline because we’ve not had any strikers. We’ve missed the wide guys, the midfield was decimated.

“But ultimately, you have to work hard. It doesn’t matter who comes in, you have to work hard, you can’t hide behind anything. Do the hard work and the hard yards, then you’ll not go too far wrong.”

Lambert has been steadfast in keeping to the same passing approach utilising 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 systems this season and he has no plans to take a more pragmatic approach in order to get results.

“I learned my lesson about five or six years ago, trying to change systems left, right and centre and it never got me anywhere,” he said.

“I’ll never do that again, I spoke to loads of managers and they asked me why I changed the system and I said I was trying to get a win.

“But [they told me] it just confused people. And they were 100 per cent right, and I’m talking about top managers, they were 100 per cent right and I’ll never make that same mistake again.

“We have our own beliefs on how we want to play and I’ll never make that mistake again of trying to win at all costs where it becomes horrible. Yes, you want to win, but also you’ve got a job to help players become better, so I won’t change.”

He added: “We’re hoping the guys coming back from injury will give us that help. I think it’s important that we get them back fit.”

Photo: Matchday Images

shakytown added 20:54 - Jan 15 I agree with the principle but you need to have players capable of executing this style played in their correct position and sadly we have neither and it seems all we have is a delusional manager who either cannot or will not see this. Lambert has to go.
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TractorBeezer added 21:18 - Jan 15 Two up front worth a try.
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billys_boots added 22:32 - Jan 15 Football is a simple game and involves moving the ball in a generally forward direction - because that's where the opposition's goal is. To pass backwards means you've failed. Failed to get the ball nearer the opposition goal. Passing backwards is a last resort and better, only, than losing the ball. There are virtually always forward options if you are a good enough player to see them and deliver them. Players and managers, perhaps, like sideways passing because it increases their personal and team stats such as possession and passes completed. But it becomes a dangerous habit and psychological state of mind.

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RobsonWark added 23:13 - Jan 15 Paul Lambert says “We spoke to the lads about that, we did exactly the same last year, got off to a whirlwind start and January time it tailed off,” he reflected." When did we get off to a whirlwind start last season? We got lucky with poor performances (and you saying that being top in January was the worst position to be in because then all the other teams raise there game as they want to beat us) and then got found out. Always have an excuse no matter where we are in the league. DROP CHAMBERS!!!

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RobsonWark added 23:16 - Jan 15 bbg added 18:22 - Jan 15 "Maybe we have lost games because our available players were not good enough. Chambers form has dipped in alarming fashion. He was one of our best players early in the season, he made a schoolboy error for the first goal last week. He is playing like he has an agenda with the manager. If so he needs to quickly snap out of it and do his job Have you actually watched any games over the last 3 or 4 seasons? Chambers is desperate for us to lose every game with his deliberate mistakes!!! DROP CHAMBERS!!!!

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bobble added 00:03 - Jan 16 isnt the definition of stupidity/insanity doing the same tying over and over again and expecting a different result ?
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Juggsy added 10:57 - Jan 16 Lambert won't compromise beliefs .... even if they are plainly not working and detrimental to the club. Just leave you nugget.
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terryf added 13:42 - Jan 16 It's ok having a system as long as the players are familiar and comfortable with it. Here in lies the problem. Our defence is clearly not comfortable with it and are making too many mistakes. It's all very well playing possession football in our own half but the play is so laboured the opposition are able to set up defensively to counteract any attacks. Crewe were a good example of a Team that are comfortable and know how to play 433 and they pressed us into errors when trying to play out from the back. The two centre-backs sometimes look like strangers and the full-backs have regressed from their early season promise. I'm not advocating route one football as we endured that style with McCarthy but unfortunately Lambert has no Plan B and sometimes during games you need to change things if they are not working out.

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Theipswich added 13:46 - Jan 16 Attack attack attack.....forward play and Norwood and Jackson up front. Not useless but to our advantage...
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