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Cook: There's a Sloppiness That Comes Into the Team
Saturday, 9th Oct 2021 18:41

Manager Paul Cook was delighted to see his side win back-to-back games for the first time since he took charge of the club as they defeated Shrewsbury 2-1 at Portman Road, but was less than impressed by the sloppiness in the second half of the first half.

Conor Chaplin gave Town the lead in the 23rd minute during a dominant opening from the Blues. However, Town allowed the visitors into the game and Shaun Whalley levelled on 28.

The Blues improved after the break and Macauley Bonne netted the winner in the 55th minute.

“I come in front in you all the time, I’ll always be as honest as I can,” Cook said afterwards. “For 20 minutes it was probably as good as I’ve seen us play this year, everything about us looked good.

“We score and then I don’t know what goes through their minds for the next 10 minutes. We speak about scoring and the importance of scoring again, playing in their half, being aggressive, getting on second balls, and there’s just a sloppiness around us that comes into the team.

“That was apparent at Accrington last week, that was apparent in the second half of the first half if you like today.

“Great credit to the players, we’ve won, we’ve dug a result out. Our fans leave the stadium elated and I can’t thank them enough, the support is unreal, the stadium’s rocking, but as a manager I want to enjoy watching our team play and today I’m back to not enjoying them.”

Is that down to mentality? “One hundred per cent, it’s mentality. One hundred per cent. You can’t be good and then just decide to say ‘Well, OK, we’re doing OK in the game, let’s go and not be as good’.

“Football’s about habits, the best teams have the best habits. It’s about repetition, it’s about mentality and at the minute we’ve got a really nice group of lads, trust me, they’re really good lads in there that are good players, but at the minute that mentality to be a good team is not quite there yet and it’s something that we’ve got to work really hard on.”

Having regained the lead in the second half, did Cook feel his side managed the situation better?

“After what I said to them, they had no choice at half-time, I wouldn’t have given a goal away if I was them!” he said.

“Football’s about mentality, you’ve watched Ipswich for a lot longer than I have. You probably turn up now and when we score you probably think ‘The next 10 minutes are going to be fun’.

“And you look, and I’m not being disrespectful, any single player making a small error is not the error that counts, but it contributes to the bigger picture. And every single one of them’s got to tighten up.”

Asked what the mood in the dressing room was like at half-time, Cook said: “Not very good. But it is what it is. I’m delighted that we’ve won. Back-to-back wins, that’s great.


“The league is what it is, but I respect all the opposition we play, it’s very much about what Ipswich Town team is going to turn up at the minute and that concerns me because throughout my managerial career, I’ve always enjoyed watching my teams because I know what they’re going to produce.

“We don’t always win, I get it, I can lose, I’ve got no problem losing. I didn’t enjoy the way we lost at Accrington last week and I didn’t enjoy the second half of the first half today.”

Asked about Bonne, who took his goals tally for his hometown club to nine and is now League One’s joint-top scorer with Morecambe’s Cole Stockton, Cook said: “I’m delighted for Macauley, but we win as a team. I come out here all the time, the season is a long season, managers have to come out and answer questions from you, after every performance there’s a debate about what you’re going to do.

“At the minute I just see us as a brand new set of players that are still learning and when you see us we show signs of being really good and stepping up and then we show a couple of signs that we don’t like, and they’re the signs that we concentrate on.”

While Cook was relatively downbeat, the Blues have won back-to-back games for the first time under his management and they have won four and drawn one of their last six.

The result - and the lack of action elsewhere due to international postponements - means the Blues are up to 14th, six points off the play-offs and 10 points from the top two.

“The Sky fella’s evacuated from me, he’s given me a little break for a couple of weeks, hasn’t he?” Cook laughed in reference to some questioning he saw as over-critical following the 5-2 home defeat to Bolton.

“It’s footie lads. I got brought in here to do a job, I love my job, you know me, I don’t get dead down when we get beaten, my team is to make the team better with the coaches and the staff, that’s what we do.

“But you’ve got to work hard. Your habits when you want to be successful have to be very strong and consistent. Our habits are like a volume you can wind up and down, and that’s got to change, that’s got to become more consistent.”

He added: “We got into great situations in the game where we’ve worked hard on how we will hurt them, changing play, moving their midfield three about and then some of the decisions we make we help the opposition.

“And by the way I’m not being disrespectful to Shrewsbury, Steve [Cotterill]’s been a top manager, he is a top manager, these are good players we’re playing against, but after 23 minutes you’d expect us to go on and win 2-0 or 3-0, let’s have it right, we looked comfortable.

“Yet you go in at half-time and the game’s in the balance. That shouldn’t have been like that today.”

Does he believe there’s a lot more to come from the group? “Let’s see. My only thing is how hard we’ll work. I just told the players that in no uncertain terms.

“Our fans, it’s great to see the stadium like that for the last two games, the last time I walked off here was against Bolton [prior to that] and I actually jogged down the tunnel, I’ve got to tell you straight.

“You can see how much it means to our supporters and our club and to everyone. I’ve got the lucky job of trying to help them achieve what we want. I guarantee we will work harder and we will be better.”

Regarding the injury which forced left-back Matt Penney off in the second half, Cook said: “His hamstring was tightening and with these hamstrings we had an opportunity if Toto [Nsiala] goes on at least we know if a few balls come into the box late on that we have to defend that we can do it. Hopefully Matt will be OK.”


Shrews boss Steve Cotterill was unhappy with the refereeing, believing the corner which led to Town’s winning goal was incorrectly awarded and that his side ought to have been given a penalty.

“Once lads go back out [after half-time] you need a couple of things to go your way,” Cotterill told the Shropshire Star.

“We certainly don't feel it was a corner, we know we've got to defend the corner better, but if it's not a corner then it's not a corner.

“Elliott can keep that in play, so why would he let it roll out if it wasn't a corner? We wouldn't do that, we could keep it out or get a throw-in.

“It's not a corner and it's happened twice this season, the crowd have got them back in the game today, they've put pressure on the referee and he's ended up buckling on that.

“They buckled when it was a penalty and we don't get a penalty, there's no coincidence with that being at their end.

“I'm not sure but, just looking at the camera angles you've got, it looks a penalty to me.

“Luke Leahy says his [George Edmundson’s] shinpad has caught him. When he's being that specific, I trust Luke. I ask them to give me the truth so when I come to you guys I'm not telling you a bare-faced lie.

“We feel really hard done by with that, but that's what happens when you come away to a big club, those fine margin moments, when they don't go your way, we end up losing the game 2-1 when we haven't deserved to lose the game.”

Reflecting on the display overall, he added: “It was probably patchy. I thought we were very well organised up until they scored their goal and then we haven't defended a cross very well.

“They've ended up with a free header for the goal and Marko makes a save and they get the rebound, we're not happy with that part of the first part of the game.

“Other than that we thought we got to a stage where it was almost like they were running out of ideas even though it was that early in the game.

“We were quite happy with our start, getting into the game, it was almost like when they scored it kickstarted us again with a real good goal by Shaun and we go in at half-time.

“We're slightly disappointed with the [second] goal but we needed to do more of the same in the second half and we've not managed to do that.

“I felt the midfield lost a little bit of the shape in the first half that worked so well, not that any of them did anything bad, but it wasn't quite as tight or organised.”


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confederateblue added 18:43 - Oct 9
Ma Bonne lies over the ocean
Ma Bonne lies over the sea
Ma Bonne lies over the ocean
So bring back ma Bonne to me

BRING BACK, BRING BACK, BRING BACK MA BONNE TO ME TO ME

PLEASE LORD COOKIE, BRING BACK BIG MAC BONNE TO ME!

COYB

UPPA TOWEN
4

Oldboy added 18:48 - Oct 9
That will be part of your job then.
0

Suffolkboy added 19:00 - Oct 9
In any team sport the immediate moments after your side scores are the most important for renewed concentration ! The emotions of success , scoring a goal , feeling perhaps relaxed and full of confidence are DANGEROUS !
Why on earth our professionals don't regather themselves and push on is nothing short of baffling ! What is the Captain doing here ,why is the Manager ( & we as supporters ) being disappointed ?
Come on boys , do better ,show the urge to win every ball and score all the time ; we want grit and determination !
COYB
2

Europablue added 19:05 - Oct 9
Good to hear that PC was not happy, because he shouldn't be happy that we look so weak after scoring. Obviously, we are all delighted with the three points.
5

rgp1 added 19:13 - Oct 9
Unfortunately you cannot be on the ceiling one week and the floor the next, however Mr Cook this is YOUR team so stop whining about it. Simply cannot believe this is a man who has taken 7 months to get back to back wins and some think he can walk on water. I'll start to believe his words when we've won a few on the spin and not just a couple against poor sides.
-6

Bazza8564 added 19:18 - Oct 9
Gutsy honest answers but there was a little more positivity for me.

Yes we relinquished the lead again, but this week we dug in and ground it out. Thats a very un-Ipswich thing to do, but we fought hard got our noses in front and were professional enough in the last 30 minutes to close the game out and still threaten.

Leagues will not be climbed nor promotion won by winning by 6 every week, sometimes you have to beat sides that come to defend by showing a bit of fire and guts, i thought we did that today. We had a very poor 20 minutes before HT, credit to PC for firing them up and resetting the minds.

COYB.
15

Gdunkdafunk added 19:24 - Oct 9
What Bazza said! Spot on, COYB
3

GavITFC added 19:27 - Oct 9
Best interview I've heard from PC thus far. This is exactly the type of mentality we should be expecting!
6

Davidwb20 added 19:35 - Oct 9
Macauley Bonne his one of our own! We need to sign this goal machine permanently - I know we have back up strikers. However, we do not have another striker who can lead the line on their own with the way this team is set up. A little bit twitchy at times! But a deserved win! 😊
1

ArnieM added 19:36 - Oct 9
Sloppiness or over confidence ?
1

micksillett added 19:38 - Oct 9
We are still making some basic errors, but things are definitely improving and the football we are playing is far better than it has been for years! We look like a footballing side and I for one am in no doubt we'll go from strength to strength. Queue the moaners putting me in my place :)
11

rfretwell added 19:45 - Oct 9
That works for me Confederateblue, especially as Bonne could be recalled by QPR in January.
0

BromleyBloo added 20:19 - Oct 9
Have to say that for once I agree with most of what PC says there. We have the potential to be much better. Things are improving and we clearly have some players, who could really rip it up and if they do it all at the same time then we will be a serious force to contend with, but currently still some way off that and a lot more work needed……………………

COYB!!!
5

Northstandoldie added 22:26 - Oct 9
Wow I never knew that shinpads were such tough tacklers....
0

Umros added 22:29 - Oct 9
You have to laugh at opposition manager comments. I wasn't happy with referring either sir, a ball rolling down a hand in penalty box, why would Fraser go down in that position? And clattering through back of Edwards in box. Well there another 3 poor non decisions. Shrewsbury were rubbish and deserved nothing.
2

blues1 added 22:36 - Oct 9
While yes, they should probably have had a penalty, (so should we), why Cotteril thinks they didn't deserve to lose, I don't know. While teams eont always lose games like this, for me, any team who sets out simply not to lose a game deserves to do so.
2

Gforce added 22:42 - Oct 9
Win the next three and we'll probably be in the top six,what's all the fuss about !!
1

Bert added 23:16 - Oct 9
Good, Cook needs to keep reinforcing what he has said post match. We can all see the talent out there but we can also all see how we switch off at times. The referee was passable and penalty decisions could have gone either way but Cotterill must have been looking at a different game to me. IMO the crowd made Town go on the front foot after the first few minutes of the second half as we were still asleep at 4.00pm.
1

Fat_Boy_Tim added 23:44 - Oct 9
Brenner Woolley has to go
I don't know if it's the scars of the last 15 — 20 years or the fact that he really doesn't support the team but for me Woolley's time as the commentator of Ipswich matches has to end and end soon.
I live abroad and so watch and listen to every game through Ifollow. Today was a classic case where anyone who only heard the radio commentary would think we didn't just dominate almost the whole game. There were basically 20 mins where they got a goal (Which was a clear trip on Moresy who Wooley bizarrely said was him being weak) and put us under some pressure until half time. Before that we played some great football and didn't give them a sniff. In the second half we dominated from start to finish but it was all doom and gloom on the radio. Every time a town pass goes astray it's described as ‘awful' or ‘terrible from…' and he absolutely relishes every opportunity to point out if it's ‘Very quiet at Portman Road'. Last week at Acrington, the whole ‘How stupid was I' routing saying ‘same old Ipswich' etc was cringe worthy and stank of sticking the boot in.
It just puts a negative spin on everything and you can tell from the comments on here exactly who was listening but not watching. We've just won 4 and drawn 1 out of 6. We've scored in every league game this season.
I'm sick of him, I think he's been tainted by all those long years of dross and mediocrity and I think it's past time for a change to someone who isn't working so chuffing hard to be impartial and get someone in who actually supports the team.
Brenner out.
6

delias_cheesy_flaps added 23:55 - Oct 9
I can't say I left the ground elated Cookie, more like unimpressed!
-5

Telford_Blue added 07:48 - Oct 10
Travelled the 400 mile round trip to the match yesterday with some salopians and had a great afternoon of banter in the cobbold.
We look great with the ball, lots of little runs, pulling their players all over. I loved the fact burns penney and donacien all at times ran at people as did edwards when he came on. The 71% possession stat was a fair reflection and as much as people got on town's backs when it went back and sideways I always felt we were trying to probe and that they simply looked a bit blunt because they had so little of it.
What concerned me was the defending. My heart was in my mouth every time they ventured into our half. We look nervous and once they'd equalised (great goal too as was Bonne's) it was jitters central.
We have yet to play Sunderland Portsmouth etc who I am sure will not park a row of 3 and then a row of 5 (and sometimes Shrewsbury put the 2 frontmen back as well) in front of us. Whilst that excites me with the ball I don't think my nerves will take us without it!

All that said 3 points 4wins in six and some upwards momentum is very welcome. Up the town!
2

cat added 09:30 - Oct 10
Apart from the win and the very welcome 3 points, one of the most pleasing aspects from the afternoon was the reception P.C got before the game. This was a very comfortable win, apart from a dodgy 15 min spell when we switched off we completely dominated the game and played some decent football.
1

Edmundo added 10:44 - Oct 10
We deserved to win 3 or 4-1 imo, but perhaps 2-1 focuses the mind better at the moment. Tough couple of matches coming up, and we need at least 4 points to keep riding this (rather rough) wave.
0

BobbyBell added 11:11 - Oct 10
Maybe, just maybe, things are coming together but we must cut out the lapses in concentration. We are joint top scorers and if we hadn't given away so many goals through errors and easing off when we should be pushing forward then we would be up there in the mix. It's about discipline, concentration and the desire to ruthlessly put teams to the sword. To think that one or two goals is enough and ease off is dangerous so we must have that drive to keep on attacking and score more. I think if we can now get the mental side of the game sorted then we will put winning runs together.
4

Linkboy13 added 15:51 - Oct 11
My big worry at the moment is that we rely too much on Macaulay Bonne who looks a league above the rest of our strikers at the club in terms of ability and more importantly commitment.
0


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