Town boss Paul Cook said his team will need a little bit of time to gel following their 2-1 defeat at Cheltenham.

Reflecting on the result the Blues manager said: “It’s just so disappointing, isn’t it? I think for our supporters, who travelled in great numbers again.

“I would suggest we started the game really well, we looked a really dangerous side and unfortunately we end up defending our 18-yard box for too many throw-ins.

“Two bounces of the ball go against us, one for Macauley [Bonne] to put us 2-0 up, the other a bit of a disappointing goal, if you like.

“Then all of a sudden we’re back on the end of another two goals against. I think, as you know, all good teams are built on solidity and unfortunately for us at the minute, we’re not as solid as we’d like to be, and that’s for sure.”

Is that going to take time? “I understand everyone’s questions, I’ve been around football all my life, I understand the fans’ expectancy, everyone’s expectancy.

“We’ve had Tom Carroll making his debut, we’ve had big [Cameron] Burgess making his debut, we’ve Hayden Coulson on the bench for the first time, we’ve got lads injured, we’re not making excuses.

“The reality is we need a little bit of time to gel, a little bit of time to get everyone together, but we also should be doing better than we are with the players that we have available. There’s a little bit of both tinged in there.”

Does he see signs that the first win of the season is coming? “I think we’ve played three games, haven’t we? When Macauley chips it over the lad’s head and he’s in on goal with no goalie at 1-0 up, I think even you might think it’s coming!

“As a manager, I try to be as calm as I can because it’s easy after the game, especially the way football is, we’re Ipswich Town, everyone will go the extra yard to beat us, I get that.

“For our lads now, the last thing we need is me shouting and screaming at them because I feel pressure. I don’t feel pressure. I feel pressure to get the team to perform to the ability that I can, I feel pressure then to get the players on the pitch that we’ve signed, the Chaplins, the Edmundsons and the like, Coulsons.

“We’ve got a lot of good players who haven’t even played yet. The reality is we’re searching for that first win, I get that. Hopefully it can come on Saturday.”

Asked what he says to fans who might be getting a little bit edgy, he said: “I get it, I 100 per cent get it for Ipswich Town fans.

“I think when, as a manager, and again everyone will always have their opinions, and I respect everyone’s opinions, when you have the changes at the club that we’ve had, if people think we’re just going to get up and running and everyone will click, Cameron Burgess has only just met Woolfy. We’re asking them to then go and play together.

“Vaz [Vaclav Hladky] has never met Burgess and we’re asking them to then go and play against a team that put you under pressure, so a little bit of sanity must prevail, whilst we’re very, very disappointed, of course we are.”

Cook had praise for Kyle Edwards, who was hugely impressive in the first half and felt the former West Brom man wasn’t given the ball enough after the break.

“Outstanding. He’s going to be a fantastic player for the club, I think you can see why we courted him for so long,” he said.

“Great credit to our owners again for pursuing such a quality player. And again, it’s integrating him quickly.

“We’ve got to get him the ball, I think it’s quite clear for everyone in the stadium to see the quality the lad possesses, and for some reason we stopped getting him the ball.

“As I say, I don’t understand that, but it’s something that we’ll go back and we’ll analyse and look at.”

Cook was also pleased with Burgess’s debut, the centre-half having signed from Accrington Stanley on Sunday.

“I thought he was outstanding,” he said. “Again, you’re talking about lads who travelled on the bus yesterday, they haven’t even been in the building.

“We’ve got to just be careful that we’ve put such a good squad together, which is given, the reality, we expect to win every game.

“We’ve also got to factor in how hard the opposition want to beat us. Tonight probably 1100, 1200 Ipswich Town fans travelled, all after work, fantastic support and it makes a cup-tie atmosphere. We’ve got to build our lads to be resilient to see these games out.”

Quizzed on whether the signing of Tom Carroll, the Blues’ 16th of the summer, will be the end of his recruitment drive, he responded: “Again, you never know, you never know in football. We’ll just see what it brings.

“You’ve got to have a little bit of manners when you get beat, and I always try to. I’m deeply hurt as you can imagine, especially after being 1-0 up and it’s looking good. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gone our way, and as I say we just keep working hard.”

Is he happy to go into the season with the squad as it is? “You know yourself, it’s football, it’s a long season, you need all your players fit and available.

“The reality for us is that we’ve had a massive overhaul in players, we’ve got a few injuries. They’re not excuses, they’re just statements of fact, they’re not excuses to why we haven’t won tonight or we haven’t won at Burton.

“The big moments are not going our way at the minute and we must make them go our way.”

Currently sidelined are Toto Nsiala, James Norwood, Conor Chaplin (all hamstring), Sone Aluko and Will Burns. Asked whether any of those are serious long-term issues, Cook said: “No, no, no. The injuries aren’t an excuse for the performance tonight.

“I thought our performance at times was OK. And you guys watch it. Sometimes we have a lot of possession without any penetration and unfortunately when teams sit low against you and counter-attack, it’s a lot more difficult than people think.

“We gave a goal away against Morecambe, against Burton, where people have not really been in the ascendancy in the game but they’ve scored.

“Tonight after 60 minutes, we looked very comfortable in the game and we end up losing 2-1. That’s the learning curve.”

Cheltenham manager Michael Duff was pleased with his side's performance and victory over one of the division's bigger clubs.

“It's just a win, but a good win against a big team obviously,” he told Gloucestershire Live. “The second part of the first half and in the second half we were excellent.

“We were more aggressive and got on the front foot. We asked the back three to be a little bit braver and the wing-backs to go really narrow because they caused us problems in the first 20 minutes with their shape, a sort of box in the middle of the pitch and we couldn't quite seem to land on it.

“Ultimately, the performances, the desire, the togetherness, we had to ride our luck - their chance at 1-0 is probably a big one in the game now, looking at that.

“We looked a threat and it was a really good performance. Hopefully the supporters will see that and they came along with it as well. Hopefully we'll have a few more of those days.”

Photo: TWTD

SohoBlue added 23:41 - Aug 17 Glance around the results tonight and you can see it's a tough league. Lots of ‘Big' teams with better established squads struggling. Fine margins. I think 10 games in is the first benchmark I'm looking at. Hold tight…
9

WalkRules added 23:43 - Aug 17 To stress only the second half was frustrating! The first half showed real promise.
3

Reuserscurtains added 23:45 - Aug 17 Night, Monkey.
0

Reuserscurtains added 23:45 - Aug 17 Night, Monkey.
0

Monkey_Blue added 23:47 - Aug 17 Oh sorry Reuserscurtains. You think it is up to you whether is express my opinion or not. Idiot
-6

Reuserscurtains added 23:47 - Aug 17 Haha
1

TractorBeezer added 23:48 - Aug 17 I was impressed with Edwards with his pace and determination. Unfortunately we lost the fight in the second half and didnt deal with the second balls. That's schoolboy stuff. We have an army of coaches to convey lessons learnt before Saturday.
6

brassy added 00:03 - Aug 18 it was obvious after 60 mins we needed subs not 88.
5

Granthamblue62 added 00:29 - Aug 18 Well, after all the pre-season hype the mood of optimism is quickly evaporating. The "time to gel" mantra will soon wear thin. There can be few excuses. This is a group of highly talented players, well beyond what we might have expected to get through the doors. They have all week to practice tactics. Mistakes being made are an insult to school boys (school boy error etc). To have an 8 point gap already seems ridiculous. Although not a fan of pressing the panic button, at some point the spotlight has to be shone on Cook. His record at Town so far is abysmal. Next game is a 'must win' for me.

5

alexsmith111 added 00:52 - Aug 18 You have until November in my opinion. It shouldn't be hard to expect this proposed magnificent and gelling team to be in the top half in November and build on it
5

chapmanp added 02:13 - Aug 18 Cook's role is to make sure the players at his disposal win football matches. We don't win football matches. Cook is in danger of starting the season worse than Hurst's “season”, who we all agree is our worst ever manager. A win on Saturday or Cook's cooked.
5

Len_Brennan added 04:26 - Aug 18 I think they will gel & it will come together for this squad, because such a massive turnover of first team players in one transfer window is totally unsettling no matter how good the players are; so they need a bit of time to get to know each other & the manager's formation/game plan. Having said that, it is absolutely fair to be critical of Cook at this point because - it was his decision to just get rid of pretty much everybody & cause the massive turnover which he sees as the problem we have - we're not just judging him on the, frankly, terrible results this season, but also on the 14 games he had last season, when he took over a team on the fringe of the playoffs, with time & an easier run in than our promotion rivals - he was brought in, at that point in time, in order to get us up, with the players we had in te squad then. That is the fundamental role of a manager, to get the best out of the players he has at his disposal. I can think of few managers who have had the luxury of just discarding a whole squad & given the chance to bring in 16 new players that he choose, who are individually as good or better than any of their rival's players. Just how confident would we be going forward with Cook had he not had new owners backing him so thoroughly; if he had to operate under the constraints previous managers had to? - the way he went about discarding the old squad. Of course change was needed, but the manner of it was at best petty, which didn't sit well with many of us - his tactical awareness; his performance on the sideline is not inspiring. Making key switches of players & formations is key in the modern game with 7 subs available; Cook seems to have a basic plan, which Morecambe & Cheltenham have been able to get to grips with - the sides we've played this season, are the among the weakest in the league, albeit Burton have improved massively under Hasselbaink - had Cook made the same immediate impact that Jimmy H did at Burton, we would have gone up last season, rather than slip further down the table - he doesn't know his best line up & won't play Fraser as the #10 behind Pigott, despite it being the obvious thing to do. Continual shifting around of the many expectant starters in the forwards, will cause problems, either in terms of establishing partnerships/awareness or disharmony, which needs to be managed very well; hopefully Cook can do that. The likes of Chaplin, Bonne, Barry, Aluko & Edwards haven't come down to League 1 to be on the bench, or get 10 minutes now & then; similarly Pigott & Fraser haven't turned down opportunities to go to the Championship to be bit part players. Norwood, Dobra & even Jackson will expect minutes too I was very much a 'get Paul Cook in' enthusiast since last December, mainly because I knew we would not go up under Lambert, so I have been bitterly disappointed by him so far. I have also taken a fair bit of criticism on here & told I'm not a real fan because I was pointing out some of this stuff since the end of last season - the kind of discussion & opinion that messageboards like this are supposed to be for. It doesn't make me any less of a fan to recognise problems, weaknesses or concerns we may have; we have to be able to air these views & debate them with other fans who love the club; whether we are right or wrong. As I say, I still expect us to come good, as the quality we now have is extraordinary at this level, & Edwards in particular looks like an exceptional footballer; but teams have been 'too good to go down' or 'too good not go up' before and it hasn't worked out that way, so we can't just assume it, while ignoring what we are seeing.

26

Granthamblue62 added 05:32 - Aug 18 Len Brennan, a well-written and observed synopsis of the current situation. We just appear very limited and tactically inept at times. The basic errors would be laughable, if not so costly. Let's be clear, this is a very talented group of players at the manager's disposal. I wonder how long we hang in there to see what Cook can conjure up? Can't help but feel the man is a fraud at the moment. The glib, throw-away statements are a little 'Lambert-esque'. Perhaps when we each come to our final day of reckoning and we're beckoned to step forward at the Pearly Gates, St Peter will state, "one final question, which team did you support down there?" "Ipswich Town Sir." "Ok guys, let this one through. Send him to the executive suite, he's suffered enough."

9

martin587 added 05:56 - Aug 18 It is very disappointing after expecting so much but we must be patient and give this talented squad time to gel.We are in patches playing very good football.Mistakes are being due to misunderstandings with each other.Let's judge the team and manager after ten games then IF we are still struggling it's time to be critical.I'm not happy but still optimistic.Only time will tell.

6

Nobbysnuts added 06:15 - Aug 18 Just p#ss off mate...and stick your excuses up your a#se...
-1

blueskyz added 06:29 - Aug 18 Six months in and there are questions over Cook's tactics. Why were we so static, passing it back and forth along the defence? Why was Evans going backwards? Where are the crosses? Why are strikers not getting chances. There isn't really any more ‘time to gel' left. We're eight points off the top!
6

jayceee added 06:46 - Aug 18 "Unfortunately, it hasn't gone our way" Time to go your way Cook. I've never been this vocally critical about our previous managers despite perhaps having as much reason to. But since his first day at the club, I've yet to see or hear anything that inspires confidence from Cook. It's always excuses, for loses or forthcoming losses, blaming and then sacking his team - he literally exudes insecurity which would only destroy morale. The fact that not everyone can see this blows my mind. We've changed everything at the club - bar one thing... The manager. Change that, and we'll see the turnaround. Give him 4 or 5 more games if you need to, but what happens when we go on a long non-winning streak again after xmas? Cook will turn on his players again.

-4

bedsitfc added 06:51 - Aug 18 Already planning for another league 1 season
-3

johnwarksshorts added 06:59 - Aug 18 PC has 7 games left before I make judgement on him. I've said that since start of season. Very frustrating night.
7

jonnysuave added 07:16 - Aug 18 So odd reading these posts. It was so clear last night that the general quality of play from Ipswich (including when we were under the cosh) is so much better than anything we have seen for a number of years It should also be clear to anybody that a team overhaul like the very unusual one we have had will take time to settle and understand eachother. I can only put these comments down to the mental effects of 20 years of supporting sh1te

9

number8 added 07:19 - Aug 18 Of course it will take time it's a complete overhaul of a squad that has been gathered in the last few weeks. Saying that, we should have won the game by better game management and control of key moments at both ends. Disappointing but I wanted change as the previous squad was very poor but I did see enough to give me hope and some patience.
6

tractorboybig added 07:22 - Aug 18 well thats the thee poorest teams in this div and a fourth tier reserve team and they are all better than us???? Still we may gel by christmas..........
5

tractorintheloft added 07:22 - Aug 18 If Boone hadn't missed that unmissable chance we would have rolled over Cheltenham tonight and this message board would have been lit up with positive reactions. Had we had not missed the pen v Burton we would have had the momentum to win the game. I had a sickening feeling when I saw that miss that it would cost us the game and haunt us. It's frustrating but we mustn't over react. Every pundit / commentator has had positive words about PC as a Manager and we can not keep changing direction. Plenty of teams have started badly and gone on to win this league or get promoted. Burley was a slow starter in his early seasons in the Championship and then built momentum: it will come, we have to keep backing the team. Don't knock them or it will be like West Ham every home game where the players are terrified of their own fans.

12

delias_cheesy_flaps added 07:28 - Aug 18 The one thing I found really infuriating watching the game last night was the amount of ball we had in the final third of the pitch that ended up 50 yards backwards being passed across our back 4. A trait from last season I hoped we wouldn't see again!! Donacien was particularly frustrating when taking throw-ins, instead of slinging the ball into the opponent's box he would send it backwards which then started the aimless passing across the back 4 again! We need to trust our attacking instincts and put our foot firmly on the opposition's throat when in good attacking positions.

5

BobbyBell added 07:35 - Aug 18 What a bunch of moaners and groaners we have on here. Nothing in life comes easy, it takes hard work, patience and trust. Why do some expect instant success? For God's sake get behind your club and let the players and staff build something solid for the future. Those who are already asking for even more changes are mind blowingly dumb. Do you constantly change everything in your lives hoping that one day something might accidently work?

6

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls