Very good on the ball, but need to work harder and be better off it, is manager Paul Cook’s assessment of his team after 11 league games.

The Blues are 14th in League One having made a slow start to the campaign but have recently shown an upturn in form winning three of their last five, drawing one and losing one.

They have scored 21 times, jointly the most alongside the MK Dons, with their home total of 17 at home is three more than anyone else in the top four divisions.

However, they have conceded 19 with only two League One sides having shipped more, although only four in their last five.

Cook was asked about keeper Vaclav Hladky and his progress after a tough start to his Blues career having signed from Salford City in the summer, but talked more generally about his side’s form from a defensive perspective.

“We’re 11 games into a season, aren’t we? I think if you look back on the season in general, we’ve been flattened once properly by Bolton Wanderers at home,” he said.

“Apart from that, the games have all taken formats where we have taken more points.

“If you look at the 11 games with the league settling down now, our goals-for column is great, our goals-against column is not good enough.

“The simple reality is that we are very good when we have a ball. When we don’t have the ball we need to work harder and be better.

“Vaz [Hladky] is part of that, like the strikers are part of that. We work as a team, we win as a team and we lose as a team, that’s football.

“Everybody along the way has found good moments in games, probably had disappointments in games and they’re all part of the journey in 11 games.

“The brutal reality is that we want to learn from our mistakes, we want to grow, we want to work harder and we want to get stronger.

“That can only come to effect if we can go to Cambridge tomorrow and give our fans a performance to be proud of.”

Photo: TWTD

NthQldITFC added 11:47 - Oct 15 All true. All good stuff. Think we're settling down now and will make good steady improvement in consistency and climb the league. COYB.
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Bazza8564 added 12:09 - Oct 15 Yep, keep is tight at the back, concede fewer goals, keep scoring at a similar rate, its hardly rocket science and well within the capabilities that the boys have shown last 6 games. Lets just make sure we remind ourselves of how easy Accrington was supposed to be and make sure we never fall into that complacency trap again.
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ArnieM added 12:52 - Oct 15 Hunt the ball down in packs 👍
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Europablue added 13:07 - Oct 15 It's very difficult for a goalkeeper to come into a team where he doesn't know his teammates, it's even worse if the defenders don't know each other, even worse if some of the players come in late or are injured before they can play. It was always going to take time for the defense and goalkeeper to form a unit. Having said that, I think it's far to have expected better from them. Us fans should take some responsibility because we get incredibly nervous when we go a goal ahead, having said that the team seem to be feeding that fear! Anyway, we're on an upwards trajectory now, we just need to make sure that we are in good form when we get to the playoffs.

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Linkboy13 added 13:12 - Oct 15 People keep rabbiting on about different formations but ive been saying for weeks we just don't work hard enough. No formation works unless you put the work in.
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ringwoodblue added 14:26 - Oct 15 It's not the ability or quality that's in question, it's the consistency that's still missing both between games and within games. Once we start turning out consistently good performances throughout matches, I will be happier that we've turned the corner.
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