Town boss Paul Cook says 12 matches is a small number of games to have played with a new squad with so many changes having been made at the club over the summer, and with promotion not won in October.

The Blues are currently 15th in the League One table, five points off the play-offs and 11 behind the top two, Plymouth and Wycombe.

“We’re 12 league games in,” Cook said. “Twelve, it’s such a low number of league games to have played with a new group that have seen so many different changes in personnel and positional play.

“Not picking the same team more than once through a multitude of reasons. To having the fanbase that craves success and demands success and having a group of players that crave delivering that for them, and a staff.

“So the reality for us is that we don’t listen to outside influences if we’re being truthful. We prefer to analyse the games, to look back, to what we could have done better at Cambridge on Saturday to have won the game.

“The key point in the game on Saturday was the goal on 41 minutes. The goal on 41 minutes and that’s something that we’ve got to eradicate.

“We’ve got to stop giving the opposition help to win the game. The opposition have got to beat us.

“For us as a club, we just keep going, we keep working hard and we keep wanting to get better and I can see our supporters leave stadiums a lot happier than they did leaving Cambridge on Saturday.”

Asked whether it is frustrating seeing his team playing well for long periods of games but not finding consistency, Cook said: “We’ve lost one game in seven, so I don’t know what your level of consistency is. We’ve lost one game in seven.

“Sometimes I frown. If you look at the previous seven games, we never won. We’ve now lost one in seven.

“If we can go through the next seven games and lose one in seven, I’ll be absolutely delighted.

“You can look for consistencies and inconsistencies, I’ll just keep working hard as a manager.”"
The opposite argument to that, one which some fans are making is the Blues’ lowly position in the table.

“We’re about to see teams promoted after 12 games, aren’t we?” Cook responded. “And I’m sure we’re going to see teams relegated after 12 games.

“If people want to look at league tables, good luck. For you guys now it gets harder because I watch punditry, I watch every manager getting questioned and I feel sad where the game’s going.

“I feel sad that people want to tell you where your season is going to end after 12 games. Because I can guarantee our supporters that I don't know where we're going to finish, but I know it's going to be a helluva lot higher than where we are today.

“So, analysing games every week and substitutions every week, it becomes tedious for us managers, it really does, especially when you're working ever so hard behind the scenes to try and make it right.

“So you can look at the league position, our fans can, and if anybody in this neck of the country thinks we're happy with our league position, then they are deluded.

“If we only lose one out of the next seven games, will our league position be the present one? No. So let's all stop debating every week what we're trying to do and where we're trying to go.

“Can we be promoted in October? Unless the EFL start changing the rules, I don't think anybody can be promoted in October, not even Wigan, Sunderland and Plymouth, who are flying. But we'll just keep doing our best to catch them.”

With the Blues top of the League One goals-for table with 23 but joint-bottom of the goals against with three other sides - Accrington, Wimbledon and Morecambe - having conceded 21, Cook was asked whether most work on the training ground is being put into improving the defensive record.

“I’ve been in these positions so many times with football and clubs,” he said. “At my first club, Chesterfield, I tried to sign Ryan Cresswell 20 times because he was 6ft 5in tall and could head every ball out of the box.

“And clubs have a way of playing. They have a style of playing, they have an identity of playing.

“The hardest teams to play against are the teams who play with no fear. Cambridge played with no fear for the last 15 or 20 minutes of that game.

“When you play with no fear, you throw men forward, caution goes to the wind, you make decisions on the pitch where you’re probably just gambling and in my world we should probably have scored again, we should kill the game off.

“I feel sometimes when you put more defensive players on the pitch, you invite pressure and when you invite pressure, you get what we got on Saturday.

“For me, I’m a very strong-minded manager, I’ll keep working the best way I can to do the best I can for the Ipswich fans to deliver results and success that sees them be happy.”

Photo: TWTD

Pencilpete added 10:53 - Oct 18 i'll just say this ... 1st 6 league Games W0 D3 L3 Pts 3 2nd 6 league games W3 D2 L1 Pts 11 yes there is ALOT to still improve on - the inability to see a game out being the main one and most of the other issues are defensive ones - if we had held on at home to Wimbledon and on saturday we'd be sitting just outside the Play off places and things would be looking much better but the improvement is there to see, they are still building the coaching team and i think Peter Reid is a great appointment and will hopefully do for Cook what John Gorman, Stewart Houston and Bryan Hamilton did for George burley 20 years ago - an experienced head who will look at things and suggest things it can only be a good thing

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Radlett_blue added 10:54 - Oct 18 For once, I agree with Cook. When you're trying to hold on to a 1 goal lead, bringing on an extra defender usually means you are going to sit deeper and invite more pressure.
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ShropshireBluenago09 added 11:07 - Oct 18 Cook is spot on.
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markchips added 11:29 - Oct 18 I really do hope Cook sorts this out and hopefully Reid will assist. We need to get to the bottom of the poor second half performances and maybe be prepared to add defensive cover during this period. There are clear signs we need another defensive midfielder who is familiar with this league and perhaps use Norwood more if he hasn't fallen out with Cook.
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Dog added 11:54 - Oct 18 The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, and expecting different results. For some reason, he cannot change tactics, adapt the game or deploy subs to slightly relieve pressure and that is what concerns me the most. Sometimes, he needs to adapt to take three points when we are under pressure is much better than trudging off the field to a late equaliser. The season, starts over the next month. I did say that i would give him 10 games but there has been improvement, so let's see where we are after having played Portsmouth, Sunderland and Wycombe. Still don't like the man, but it is too early to get rid. And lastly, I have to agree with some comments about Fraser. A little bit slow for my liking and slows things down. Let's have a change for tomorrow and see what we are like without him.

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MickMillsTash added 11:54 - Oct 18 The next 6 games are significantly harder than the first 12 I hope he is able to chirp after Rotherham at home but if we cannot hold out against Cambridge and Accrington the evidence is not making me feel optimistic.
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Monkey_Blue added 12:07 - Oct 18 Who have we played in those 7 games? Our three league wins come from bottom half teams, in fact two of which are in the bottom 4. None of the others are top 6. If we get 11 points from the next 6 league games then you can talk about improvement. We've had such a kind fixture list. Only one of the Top 6 in the first 12 games and that was at home.
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nick8 added 12:15 - Oct 18 Wigan have made similar amount of changes to us and look where they are you clueless scouser.. excuses excuses, please sack this clueless manager
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masetheace added 12:17 - Oct 18 Not long ago he was saying we will take 10 games to gel !!!
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MaySixth added 12:31 - Oct 18 Well said Cook. The flouncers are tedious.
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Len_Brennan added 13:02 - Oct 18 Nobody is promoted after 12 games, that part is true enough; but your ability to be promoted can be seriously restricted by what you have achieved in those 12 games, especially in terms of automatic promotion. We were (joint) promotion favourites & have had the easiest possible start to the season. Even if we had started the season well, we would not be expecting to go on a winning streak over our upcoming set of fixtures, so the likelihood is that 12 games with a low return of points will become 25 games with a relatively low return of points - 9 of our next 13 games are against the top sides in the league, and 5 of those are away from home. Something is not right with the team; the manager still does not know what his best side is or how to plug the leaks we have. He says scoring goals is not a problem, but it is still part of the problem if you are not scoring more than the opposition and the possible solution to stopping the opposition may impact upon our goal threat. I wanted Paul Cook to be our manager, I want him to do well for us, but I have yet to feel that he is the man for the job & his consistent inability to positively react to what is happening during a game is leaving me less & less convinced by him.

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Saxonblue74 added 13:17 - Oct 18 Can't disagree with that. In terms of who we are yet to play, it isn't always more difficult to beat the teams at the top. They are likely more confident of beating us and will come to attack and win, not shut up shop in the hope of scraping a point. Could just play right into our hands. Some good games to look forward to in the coming weeks. I still firmly believe we can gain promotion this season.

1

Monkey_Blue added 13:31 - Oct 18 The teams near the bottom of the league are easier to beat otherwise they wouldn't be at the bottom of the league and losing more often than those at the top.
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BlueNomad added 14:21 - Oct 18 Sadly the only way we will go up now is to have a couple of excellent runs and win the play-offs. I expected more at the beginning of the season.
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Orraman added 14:34 - Oct 18 Wigan are sitting fairly pretty at the moment with 12 games played with a complete new squad. Can't see the difference Cook? Look in the mirror. I keep reading all reports on TWTD because I am interested in all things concerning Ipswich Town but it is hard going ploughing through the s***e you spout all the time.
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Oldboy added 15:11 - Oct 18 Promoted? No. Keeping yourself in contention? Yes.
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rgp1 added 15:25 - Oct 18 I'm afraid he's in denial again. Our goals against column will tell you where the problem lies.
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ButchersBrokenNose added 16:05 - Oct 18 Another example of Mr. Cook getting defensive when asked a hard but fair question about his performance. I think he is in the wrong line of work.
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therein61 added 16:05 - Oct 18 While nobody is promoted in October some sides are building consistency, but we are not until that happens we will probably further up the table but out of the picture when the gongs are handed out.
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ringwoodblue added 16:52 - Oct 18 “The hardest teams to play against are the teams who play with no fear” So Paul, if that's true, why don't you manage and coach the team to play with no fear? “So, analysing games every week and substitutions every week, it becomes tedious for us managers, it really does“. Aww, poor managers! I'll tell you what's tedious, it losing or drawing games from winning positions every other week, it's hearing managers and players say how they are going to put things right every week and then not doing so.

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istanblue added 22:46 - Oct 18 No, but you can certainly throw promotion away in October, Paul. Top 2 already looks beyond us.
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wilnisfan added 05:20 - Oct 19 I completely understand why Cook doesn't like to speak to the media. But the last person who bristled at click bait questions was Mick and when results didn't go his way for a while it unfortunately (for everyone involved with the club) turned nasty. I don't disagree with the way he is handling it as I wouldn't have any other solution either. But until the full interview is posted to see the context of questioning, going from click bait to normal questions we will never understand as fans why he seems so angry. But the end result is that ultimately we may throw out all the good things Cook has done with the bath water, same as with Mick when we sold players who went on to play in the premier league. Obviously not exactly the same with different people in charge but if the club bow to media pressure again we could end up in the same cycle

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sally added 11:48 - Oct 19 Cook has got to go. Its a results game. He referred to the last 7 games, only 1 lost. Quite convenient stats. Well I'm looking at the results from the season start . Not his PR Bull sh-t!!!!!
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