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Aluko: A Bitter One But We'll Bring Fans Happy Times
Sunday, 12th Sep 2021 11:35

Blues full league debutant Sone Aluko admitted Saturday’s 5-2 home defeat to Bolton Wanderers was a bitter one to take but believes better times will come.

Aluko was one of Town’s best performers on an afternoon which was largely a huge disappointment as the Trotters ended a near 20-year wait for a league win at Portman Road.

“It’s a bitter one, it’s a tough one,” he said afterwards. “I don’t know what to say, to be honest.

“We got off to a good start. And that’s our weakness, when we score a goal, the next five minutes for us is crucial and we keep getting that wrong, but that’s what we’re trying to fix and we will fix.

“The only way out of this is to work hard and keep going and we’ll grind it and it will get better.

“There are very good players in that team but we’re a new team. It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact, we’re a new team, we’re still learning and it will improve.”

Why does he believe that the Blues are letting teams back into games in the five minutes after scoring? “A bit of naivety. We’re making mistakes and we’re getting punished, every mistake we make they seem to score, sometimes teams miss and let you off the hook.

“But we need to focus, we need to concentrate on winning games and the level of mistakes we’re making individually and as a team, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot, that’s got to stop and it will stop.”

Despite the Blues having dropped to 22nd in the table, 10 points off second and 12 behind leaders Sunderland, the 32-year-old says there’s no alarm.

“We’re a long way off panicking, it’s a long season,” he said. “There’ll be lots of ups and downs between and the end.


“When you build a whole new team it’s going to be a bit of a rollercoaster, especially in the early days, I think you’ve got to be patient.

“But, like I say, it’s tough, but it will change, everyone’s working very, very hard, the coaching staff, the manager, the players, we’re grind away at it.”

Are there enough leaders in the squad? “For sure, I had my full league debut today, George [Edmundson] and the goalkeeper [Christian Walton] made their debuts, there are still players still coming in, Santi [Bersant Celina] will come in, he’ll add something to the team, Sam Morsy, we’ve got experience in the team and we’ve got good young players, so there’s a good blend.

“It will get better, I’ve no doubt about that, it’s just today is a rough day and we take it on the chin, you roll with the punches and go again.”

The fifth Bolton goal and final whistle both led to boos from the home support and the Nigerian international sees why.

“It’s understandable,” he admitted. “We can’t get beaten 5-2 at home and expect fans to do anything else but the reaction they gave us at the end. But we’ll give them some happy times as well and they’ll get behind us.

“We still feel it in the games when things are going well they get behind us and they let us know when it doesn’t, and we’re as disappointed as they are.”

Asked whether he was happy with his own performance, he said: “I’m not sure you can be happy when you lose 5-2. It is what it is. I try to contribute. I thought I was unfortunate in my first game here that I got injured and I’ve been out of the team since then.

“I had a brief appearance [from the bench against Wimbledon] and then in the last two weeks I got the chance to get my fitness up so it’s been coming, I’ll improve and the team will improve.”

Aluko made his Town debut from the start in the Carabao Cup tie against Newport in which he picked up an injury.

“It happened so early in the game. I was thinking, ‘I can’t come off on my debut’, so I just played through it, which with hindsight probably wasn’t a great decision.

“But I feel good now and the fitness will improve, the team’s fitness will improve, a lot of players came in late in the window, didn’t have great pre-seasons. We’ll get better.

“They’re all factors, I don’t want to make excuses but they’re all factors that leading to our concentration, leading to mistakes, that’s football.”

"Aluko spent most of pre-season with Derby having left Reading at the end of last season and says he thought a move to the Championship Rams was all but sorted.

“I thought I was Derby, it was pretty much close to all being agreed,” he said. “That didn’t didn’t happen, Ipswich had contacted me not long before that. I knew about that, so as soon as Derby [broke down] I got in contact with Ipswich and said let’s try and sort something out.

“It was very, very appealing, they’ve signed very, very good players, more players were coming in after me and it’s been good.

“[Apart from] today I’ve enjoyed it, really good, [going] in the right direction, it’s a big club, at the first game of the season there were 23,000 or something here, that’s incredible.

“It’s good, there’ll be happy days here, good times are coming and hopefully I’ll be part of that.”

He added: “It’s my first time outside of the Championship or Premier League. But I know the ambition of the club.

“First of all I wanted to stay in the Championship, that was the aim, but coming to League One, coming to Ipswich, I knew they wanted to get back in the Championship as soon as possible, they’ve not hidden that, I’ve not hidden it, I’ve said we want to get promoted, that’s the aim of the club. We’re all willing to work as hard as we can and do whatever it takes to get there.”


Photo: Matchday Images



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buzbyblue added 11:55 - Sep 12
Walton looked awful, worried about being hit all the time.....

Need to drop both Evans & Harper, both have offered NO protection to the back 4 or anything going forward
8

tractorboybig added 12:01 - Sep 12
well aluko surely you guys cannot make it any worse??????
4

Linkboy13 added 12:15 - Sep 12
Aluko one of the few bright spots in the team showed great quality on the ball and the willingness to work. Im afraid league one is no motivation for some of the players in our squad only the money it seems. Wes Burns is quality surprised he's not playing in the championship. Macaulay Bonne is showing the right attitude and desire required to get a team out of league one. KVY can't defend at all and Donasien struggled when he came on but i would give him an extended run in the team. Lastly any goalkeeper would struggle in a team with no protection in front of him .
14

Gforce added 12:16 - Sep 12
The future midfield pairing has to be Carroll and Morsy,it would give us far more defensive cover and a more cohesive passing unit,with greater balance.
Both Evans and Harper need a break/ rest from the side,though I still believe Harper will be a terrific player in time.
In the meantime I'll carry on enjoying the canary island sunshine,at least for a few more days.(sorry to rub it in )
5

DavefromWatford added 12:23 - Sep 12
i agree with busbyblue defensive midfield is the problem area. i am sure Carroll & Morsy will take their places but Cook needs to change the system sometimes. You cant play 4,2,3,1 all the time there must be a plan B but he doesn`t seem to have one. Watching the highlights all the problems were the R/B area giving players far to much room. it took me back to when Town played Arsenal & Carlos Edwards gave their player far to much room. I hope Cook plays 442 or 433 against West Ham & plays Piggott & Bonne together.
I cant wait to see Celina, Edwards , Morsy & Carroll all playing at the same time. I can understand Walton being worried, so would i have been with that midfield. lol
2

Kirbmeister added 12:28 - Sep 12
I said at the start of the season, when a lot of fans were assuming we'd rip
It up just because we spent money, that it would take a couple of years. We've replaced one set of average players with another set of average players. The unrealistic expectations are sitting heavy on their shoulders.
-4

ruds added 12:51 - Sep 12
Sone , you prove to me that you can bring good times to Portman Road and I will commit to a half season ticket. After walking out after 58 minutes yesterday my confidence in being entertained has been shattered.

School Report would read - Need to do better or won't be passing any GCSE's anytime soon!!
-1

mickeyjb added 12:59 - Sep 12
Fair play to the lad, that was certainly the short straw being told to go do a press conference after that pump served up yesterday. Shame we can't emulate our sponsor and be top of the league for however many weeks it's been!!
4

PinstripeBlue added 13:24 - Sep 12
“it's going to be a bit of a rollercoaster” I am really looking forward the high bits.
1

Ebantiass added 13:31 - Sep 12
Simply not good enough as we all know. I said at the beginning of the season cook would get 10 games of 100% support and loyality from me to see what he could do and how the team develops.

For me Cook has four more games.

Call me crazy but i believe that he will come good for us.
1

Steve_D added 13:34 - Sep 12
Promised a new dawn , we get the same rainy day with some poor sod wheeled out to tell us it's all going to be ok and just need that bit of luck which will turn the season around , problem is heard it for the last goodness knows how many years
1

Pezzer added 13:35 - Sep 12
Need to consider 3-5-2, 3-4-2-1, 4-3-3 or some formation that improves our defensive frailties. A lot of teams (evrn in the Premier League on Sat doing this).
1

Tufty added 13:54 - Sep 12
I drove my grandson 360 mile round trip for his first visit to Portman rd and his first match.
He now thinks Ipswich town are rubbish.
On that showing you can't argue with him.
Gel or Jelly
More of a monsoon than a rainy day Steve D.
I thought Americans had no time for losers.
1

bobble added 13:59 - Sep 12
12pts behind where we want to be with no win yet ?

why does every manager we employ become worse than the previous one ?
5

jas0999 added 14:25 - Sep 12
Evans looks poor. Harper little better. The manager out of his depth.
4

Cakeman added 14:32 - Sep 12
Aluko had a very decent game I thought and in all fairness the game was very entertaining and we were well in it until they scored their fourth. After that it could have been a pan full.
Aluko, Burns and Bonne were the pick for us.
As I see it the gap between our defensive midfield pair and the front runners is far too great which is why we have been overrun in midfield in every game we've played thus far.
I honestly believe our defenders are good players but at the moment it is like a battle scene from Zulu with our defence trying to repel wave after wave of attacks.
Until the midfield is plugged we are in danger of falling in every game.
We have so many good attacking players but in the system that Paul Cook plays only a few of them can play at the same time.
The system needs to change to accommodate the players we have not vice-versa.

5

ringwoodblue added 14:40 - Sep 12
Tufty - I'm sorry for you and your grandson. What an unfortunate first match for him to watch but at least it didn't take him long to work out Ipswich are rubbish which they are right now.

Cook and the players get paid whatever happens but the fans continue to suffer. Apart from Bonne, none of them seem to care about the club, it's just a job to them and if it doesn't work out at Ipswich they will just go elsewhere.



1

1psw1ch added 15:53 - Sep 12
YEAH WHEN COOK IS SACKED,,, DISGUSTING TIMES
-3

dirtydingusmagee added 15:59 - Sep 12
is there anyone on here old enough to remember a player being sent out to talk about a win. ?
11

warksonwater added 17:03 - Sep 12
I'm very relieved that things are going to get better. I was beginning to worry.
But with the gap to the play-offs, let alone automatic, already a chasm, I already have severe doubts about whether we can make it. A sorry position after six games. Our first win will be a relief, and hopefully will give us the confidence to go on a run, as top half by Christmas is otherwise already looking fanciful.
2

Saxonblue74 added 17:40 - Sep 12
We've turned table topping starts into disastrous seasons, so why can't we turn this around? I'm certainly not going to write off a season after 6 games!
5

midastouch added 17:44 - Sep 12
We're going loco down in AcAluko
If we stay near the bottom of the league for too long!

Out of the all the players we signed Sone was probably the one I was the least keen on. And yet yesterday he was probably the best of a bad bunch! Hard to make sense of what is happening right now! We seem tactically naive.

We all hear the stories of how Fergie did virtually nothing for 6 seasons at Utd and Sir Bobby had little joy in his first 3 seasons with us. But managers never get that long these days. In the modern game they are lucky to get 3 or 6 months if things don't start to pick up. In fact, I don't know if I can take another 3 or 6 games of this, let alone 3 or 6 months, never mind or 3 or 6 seasons! Really hard to know how long to give Cook. The new owners must be pulling their hair out! They will have about as much hair left as Cook soon if things don't start to pick up!

And as for the US pension fund investment, I hope anybody invested over there isn't hoping to retire any time soon! The only way to get any sort of retirement fund out of Ipswich these days is to move to Colchester! :-)
2

EssexTractor added 18:23 - Sep 12
After Jim Magilton left our playing squad who has excited and been dominant in midfield , over a long period ..?
Jimmy Bullard had a purple spell ..an exciting player but toward end of his career, Keith Andrews looked to have an eye for goal and also got stuck in ,, but again toward his end..
That's the fundamental problem for what over 10;years, all those managers and no one has the wit to find a midfielder…Magilton, Holland , Dyer players who did excite in those heady days against Bolton ..but sadly 20 years ago….
1

warksonwater added 18:57 - Sep 12
I'm very relieved that things are going to get better. I was beginning to worry.
But with the gap to the play-offs, let alone automatic, already a chasm, I already have severe doubts about whether we can make it. A sorry position after six games. Our first win will be a relief, and hopefully will give us the confidence to go on a run, as top half by Christmas is otherwise already looking fanciful.
1

GoingUp added 20:02 - Sep 12
Looking forward to another 7 goal laugh next home match. Disgraceful!!!
0


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