Town boss Paul Cook wants his side to play attacking football with the full-backs “bombing on”, but says they will have to be adaptable and patient during the season ahead as they face teams who may look to park the bus and frustrate them.

At Monday evening’s PLC EGM, Cook was asked about his approach to the game, the questioner having said he didn’t want to see the ball being slowly passed around between the team’s back four in their own half of the field as was so often the case under former manager Paul Lambert.

Cook, who last week reiterated that 4-2-3-1 is his preferred system but says he may have to move to two up front at times, outlined his philosophy.

“I think in boxing they say styles make a good fight and I think the importance for us is that when teams do come and defend deep it can get frustrating,” he said.

“The reality for us is that we want to engage in and open football match with everyone. That’s what we want to do.

“We want to press every team, but you can’t press teams who don’t want to play out, for example.

“So we’ve got to really be adaptable. The reality for us is that we’re going to play with full-backs bombing on all the time.

“We’ll defend with a little box, our two central midfielders and our centre-halves, everyone else is going to attack.

“But at times we have to be patient. That’s just part and parcel of the game, especially if teams defend deep.

“The brutal truth is that we want to play attacking football, but to do that sometimes you’ve got to have an opposition that want to engage with you in the same game.

“If someone’s going to set up with what we call the low block nowadays in modern football, but basically means park the bus, it can be very difficult because the best way to beat teams that park the bus is a diagonal ball to a big striker who heads it down for a little striker to come in and score.

“And that’s what we’ve got to try and work on. We’ve got to be able to adapt to the way different teams come here.

“When I started off managing, I only wanted teams to play the way I wanted to watch football. That’s certainly not passing sideways and back and boring the life out of everyone, so hopefully I can deliver that for you.”

He added: “My view of watching football is that you get your flair players the ball and trust your flair players to produce.

“The reality over the years, Ipswich Town have had some very, very good flair players, probably over the last year or two our better flair players haven’t been the ones we’ve been getting the ball to.

“Now this year I feel bringing players to the club that when we do get them the ball, they will produce for us.”

Photo: TWTD

Ravanelly added 11:15 - Aug 4 Like those of us who are still waiting for refunds after the new ticketing site took multiple payments for a single transaction
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TimmyH added 11:35 - Aug 4 'Patient' - I think that word will come up a few times this season, Morecambe will come here with momentum after being promoted and will look straight away to take a scalp.
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blu_dru added 11:53 - Aug 4 I think someone said on here Morecombe have a whole new team and manager so shouldnt have quite the promotion high about them?
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Towny_in_Taipei added 12:09 - Aug 4 You'd like to think most fans would also be patient, but after reading some comments on here I doubt that very much. I'm sure some so-called fans want us to fail as they get some perverse enjoyment out of posting negative guff!
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roystevensonsrocket added 12:41 - Aug 4 If we have a miserable start I wouldn't worry too much as long we get going eventurely. I'm sure we will get going in the end because believe it or not we do have quality players now . As long we get into the top six and have momentum then I'll be confident of promotion . Obviously it would be better if we flew out of the blocks and lead from gun to tape .
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Europablue added 12:56 - Aug 4 I'll certainly be patient with the style of play if we are getting results.
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jong75 added 13:34 - Aug 4 I dont expect us to be briliiant at the start of the season as it will take time for the team to gel, but I do expect us to be promoted this season.
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blue86 added 14:09 - Aug 4 Like what cook said here, we will need to be patient for this side to develop. Also encouraging he said he would play with two strikers when needed. 4231/4222 with flying fullbacks sounds good to me! Wont happen overnight obviously, but hope we get stronger as the season goes on. Coyb
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Pettabelieveit added 14:28 - Aug 4 A manager at this football club that wants to press and adopt an expansive style - breath of fresh air!
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BeattiesBackPocket added 14:50 - Aug 4 He's spot on people and fans have to be patient. We are changing the style, the whole team, back room staff everything that's stagnated at Portman road the past 14 years. We have a team behind the scenes who want to take us to heights with great experience of running clubs. Anyone expecting us to fly away with the league needs to give their head a wobble although there will be a minority on here who will moan after our first loss anyone who knows football realises it can take time and promotion this season will be an added bonus

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Suffolkboy added 15:09 - Aug 4 Warnin* signs , or just needing to restrain expectations and advising caution ?! We shall see ! COYB
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TBT added 15:10 - Aug 4 Question. My wife and I are season ticket holders but I am ill with COVID (post double vaccination so I feel doubly sorry for those sick pre-vaccination as this is rubbish). We are being told to isolate for ten days so is there any way we can watch Saturday's game on a screen?
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Monkey_Blue added 15:47 - Aug 4 Wow!! Cooks ideas are ground breaking. I suspect he'll be getting a call from every manager who wants to hear the obvious. I reckon pep might even be listening in and changing his assertions and plans. However the idiots will lap this up whilst forgetting it's been said thousands of times before and by managers of our club they hate. Oh well. I guess I'll think for myself

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KernewekBlue added 16:07 - Aug 4 Monkey_Blue really is a breath of stale air! "Oh well. I guess I'll think for myself" You think whatever the heck you like matey but one thing's for sure, without question... you're a doom-mongering troll who loves nothing better than to spout your gloom-laden b*ll*cks all over everyone else's optimism. You seem intent on finding the black lining in every silver cloud and broadcasting your cr*p here to bring down the mood. I'm sure 99% of the folks who read your drivel wish you were nowhere near this site. Grow up and stop spewing all that spiteful negativity even before a ball has been kicked in anger! D*mb*ss!

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Trac70 added 16:28 - Aug 4 I see "Yellow and green monkey" is talking 💩💩again.
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istanblue added 16:38 - Aug 4 Expectation management.
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Spanishblueblood added 16:44 - Aug 4 Monkey Spew, spewing the same old yellow and green sh1te, run along, back to your six fingered cousins!!
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ArnieM added 17:18 - Aug 4 The biggest challenge this Club faces this season, is the patience of the fan base. Let's pray fans hold it together , and more importantly support this team with every fibre of their being, and make more noise than we've eve4 done!
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norfolkbluey added 17:31 - Aug 4 In general I don't think its the fans that will be impatient its more likely it will be the new owners who have bought into the club with large amounts of money. American owners have a reputation for wanting results and quickly. I do hope PC gets his team going reasonably quickly and certainly before Christmas otherwise Santa will not be calling at his house with any presents from America. Good luck Cooky you have my support and many other supporters.

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ringwoodblue added 19:31 - Aug 4 Like all managers, Cook will be judged by results. Last season's appalling win percentage after he took over still concerns me but I'm wiping the slate clean starting on Saturday.
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dubblue added 21:42 - Aug 4 I am not so bothered how we start it is how we progress throughout the season that matters. Afterall look what happened the last two seasons with our bright start. With so many new players it will take time for them to get use to the new team!
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KernewekBlue added 21:44 - Aug 4 Look guys, most of us know there is no quick fix here. League One is a tough place to be and an even tougher place to get out of... that has been proven many, many times over. No manager, I don't care who they may be, could have made a silk purse out the sows ears we had representing our club over the last few seasons... we were a dead donkey just waiting for the knackers yard boys to come around and put us out of our misery. But then, a ray of hope in the form of Evans selling the club to a group of people with some money and ambition, who are buying in relative race horses to what we had previously and a new optimism has grown around that. It is reasonable to expect some much needed improvement in our competitiveness and the football we should be seeing played by our new team this season... but that does not in any way guarantee we gain promotion this term. You don't expect to run before you can walk. This is a work in progress and so any improvement ought to be welcomed by true fans of this great club. Building season on season, enjoying more success on the pitch and starting to compete for the top spots in the table is what I'm looking forward to witnessing. As long as the owners back up their ambition with steady progress and better results while serving up better entertainment for the fans, they should be supported 100%. Our time will come, it just might not materialise overnight. Give the club our undivided support and help to push us forward and we'll all reap the benefits. COYB

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JewellintheTown added 23:11 - Aug 4 I'll just be happy to feel entertained again, unlike our past few seasons. A win at this stage & start of our rebuild would be the icing on the cake though.
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KiwiBlue2 added 01:10 - Aug 5 Kernewek - another great post nicely summing up the present situation. I am looking forward to the season getting underway and also a few more new faces arriving before the end of this month. It is also worth bearing in mind that the owners will have some funds available in January if needed. All in all this is the most promising situation the club has been in at the start of the season for a very long time.... coyb

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Eddie1985 added 06:49 - Aug 5 Should be putting more pressure on yourself Cook, poor results last year now you have the players you want you have done your demolision man job so over to you to get results. There's only so much patience you can demand given the total backing you received after poor results when you came in last year. There may be bumps along the way but he's gonna need to get a few results to inspire faith in his ability

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