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

Nobbysnuts added 11:52 - Aug 18 If that's the case then until we have officially gelled maybe we should concede the game and save on travelling expenses.....
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Linkboy13 added 11:57 - Aug 18 TimmyH if you kept up to date with thing's you would know that Norwood is injured again and a complete waste of time.
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TimmyH added 12:16 - Aug 18 Another smart arse comment...well done Linkboy13, a waste of time? he was one of the few that came out of last season with any respect when he did play and what does that make Jackson then? People have short memories.
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bobble added 12:27 - Aug 18 worst manager we have had in years,, with best squad and budget.....????
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Marinersnose added 13:20 - Aug 18 These owners won't accept poor management. He's had the money bought the players but doesn't know what system to play. We are leaking goals and failing to score. How is Jackson going to help ? This is chaos. Not impressed.
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BurleysGloryDays added 14:13 - Aug 18 We demolished them in the first half but only went in 1-0 up. I saw nothing to concern us tonight except fans getting on the club's back, and the players losing confidence. If those two things don't happen, we will be a steamroller on the league. Some of the talent we have now is eye opening. As the commentary team for Cheltenham said at the end, this is special, because this team is going to be very very good!

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markchips added 14:31 - Aug 18 Glad some element of common sense is filtering through. Cook needs to get his defence sorted and would not be surprised to see Carroll come in as a three in the middle to shore things up. there is enough attacking talent to rotate and give six players a half each if needed.
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UhlenbeekDownTheWing added 14:39 - Aug 18 My sympathy for PC is low, as the problems he details are all of his making. He decided to sack the squad with a dozen games of last season to play. He failed to recruit players in June, and only finally brought a third centre back into the squad in mid-August. It is no surprise that communication and patterns of play are flawed given the turnover and timings of arrivals, but that was your actions and is your responsibility PC. I will continue to say this - PC is lucky to have been given this chance, but now he has recruited his squad he is the best person to try and make it work. The thing that gives me most hope is unlike Hurst he hasn't recruited from lower leagues with dubious track records. However, I think we are in a fight for mid-table obscurity - hopefully we achieve that.

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Cheshire_Blue added 15:51 - Aug 18 The new owners need to replace this man before it is too late to recover the situation. He has now had two different sets of players to work with, last season and this, and has achieved the same results.
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dirtydingusmagee added 16:39 - Aug 18 how is he can say these little clubs are up for beating us because we are massive club, why cant we be up for beating ''little clubs'', The G word keeps coming up, but look at the players we have now, where they have been , where they have come from ect ! surely surely surely we should be capable of winning those games. I dont accept the excuses he puts up, he arrived declared the team ? he took on were no good, got rid , replaces and still cant squeeze out a result, whats plan B, ? get rid of these players in January and get another squad in .? The time for excuses will soon be up PC, and YOU need to show you can do the job, history is just that ,history.

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Billysherlockblue added 16:39 - Aug 18 Im upset with last nights result but cook is the right man he has a pair. I do think he needs an assistant though for a second pair of eyes and to discuss tactics. Look how Cheltenham changed their tactics and it paid off . We just put on jackso and hoped for the bedr. Why not have gone 4.3.3 and leave piggott up front. Super blues forever 💙
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Billysherlockblue added 16:44 - Aug 18 We should be fine on Saturday everyone! THE TOWN CLOCK IS FIXED. I think this is our best excuse ive heard so far. Now i think we.ll do 5 in a row!
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DeJaBlue added 17:06 - Aug 18 This guy must be sponsored by L'Oreal the amount of times I've heard him say "Gel"
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Marcus added 17:49 - Aug 18 He needs far more hair to talk about gel. (so do I!)
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jas0999 added 17:52 - Aug 18 It will take time to reach our full potential - no doubt about that. But losing the last three games is unacceptable. There is no getting away from it, from one up, even a new team should have had enough win last night. Bonnes miss was awful. No excusing it. We need to be doing better.
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Linkboy13 added 18:34 - Aug 18 We mustn't stop signing players it's the only excitement we've got at the moment. Fans getting over excited every time we're linked with any old Tom, Dick or Harry. Just because you sign up loads of players doesn't mean it's going to work. It may come as a shock to some fans that live in a fantasy world that footballers are human beings and they might not get on with each other. Also they have families that might not settle in our lovely county. So there's plenty that can go wrong. There are signs of good things to come but wont happen without the players working much harder for each other. I was very impressed with new signing Cameron Burgess who showed great pride in wearing the blue shirt. Every player has got to show the same attitude otherwise there will no promotion to the championship.

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Barty added 19:41 - Aug 18 No need to panic just yet but 2 up front is a must imo
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tractorollson added 20:59 - Aug 18 Cook isnt the long term solution, it will take time to gel but i dont think he will be here for long
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dirtydingusmagee added 21:39 - Aug 18 if he dosnt get some points soon i think you may be right , and the next 3 games will be harder than the first 3 reckon ,we are 3 games adrift of top already
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BobbyBell added 07:31 - Aug 19 If you looked at any ITFC season from the past, even the glory years, there would be a sequence of 2 losses and a draw in 3 games. Why the hell are some people making such a meal of this? If this squad goes on to win 9 on the trot and then lose the tenth game some on here will be moaning and calling for a new manager. Get a grip people!!
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GavTWTD added 11:50 - Aug 19 PLEASE NOTE!!! I've made a change to the software so that if you go to a user account of someone you don't want to read their comments again, you can click "ignore" and those comments will disappear from news articles (and forum) in the future. If you want to undo this, go to your settings and remove it from the list of users you ignore.
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threescousers added 12:44 - Aug 19 Eh? Eh? Eh?" "Dey do do dat dough don't dey dough"
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