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Chambers: Winning Games is the Most Important Thing Wednesday, 20th Sep 2017 12:36
Skipper Luke Chambers admits that the Blues may not currently be the easiest on the eye but says winning games is ultimately the most important thing.
Despite moving up to fifth in the Championship, two points behind leaders Leeds - who they face at Elland Road on Saturday - with a game in hand having won five of their first seven in the league, some supporters were critical of Town’s display as the beat bottom-of-the-table Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at Portman Road on Saturday.
Chambers, who made his return from an ankle injury against the Trotters, says it’s promising that the Blues are winning matches such as Saturday’s even when they’re not at their best.
“I think it can only be encouraging,” he told iFollow Ipswich. “People can say whatever they want to say, we’re winning games, we’re scoring goals, we kept a clean sheet at the weekend.
“I think whoever you play against, whatever the game in the division, it’s very, very tough, regardless of teams’ positions at the bottom of the league.
“People would have looked at our fixture at the weekend, we were at home against Bolton, they haven’t had a great start and [think] we should be brushing them aside.
“But as it showed, it’s never going to be an exhibition of football, I don’t think we’ve ever been that team and it’ll take a long time to get to that level if we want to become a team that’s very, very easy on the eye.
“At the minute what we’re doing is working, we’re picking up points, we’re finding ourselves in a good position in the division and we’re looking forward to going up [to Leeds] and having a test and hopefully putting in a better performance that might [not] be pleasing on the eye, but at the end of the day if we’re winning games, for me that’s the most important thing.”
Chambers, who played every minute of last season’s Championship campaign, is pleased to be back having missed three league games due to the ankle injury he suffered in the 4-3 win at Millwall, a problem which at one stage looked like it might keep him out until the middle of next month.
“Originally they said nine weeks, there was a bit of a fracture on the scan, of one my bones in my ankle and I’d damaged both ligaments,” he added.
“But I always tried to be positive and come back as quickly as I could. There’s still a little bit of pain there. I’m strapping it up and I did everything for five days leading up to the game and I felt probably better than I did at times last year.
“I know it’s probably not as strong as it could be, there is still a risk of me playing on it but I think that is minimal and I know what I can get through and hopefully it doesn’t detract from my individual performances. And if we’re still stronger as a team with me playing, I’m going to play no matter what.”
Meanwhile, midfielder Andre Dozzell, who is out for the season having undergone surgery for a torn cruciate knee ligament five weeks ago, has been doing hydrotherapy exercises as he takes the early steps on the road back to fitness.
The 18-year-old is expected to be out for around nine months with the injury he suffered just before half-time during the 1-0 opening day win against Birmingham City.
Photo: TWTD
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martin587 it's called sarcasm!! you know footballers only train and get tattoos have you seen how many players are inked these days, all that time and money better that than drinking and gambling like some of other players do.
Much prefer us not being privy to details that - while we'd all like to know everything that goes on behind the scenes I wouldn't have thought it'd be good for anything to have say Brett Pitman saying X Y Z.
Currie10 I think in a very polite and diplomatic way Pitman pretty much said the style of play didn't suit him at ipswich, which basically translates to "I came to the club as a sweetener in the Mings deal, having played total football under sky sports love child, to then have balls whacked up above my head when I'm not that kind of player" he is a ball to feet type forward, same as didz and also had that languid style, wasn't suited to the lone role Mick tried to use him for, due to no Murphy replacement. He did used to get frustrated, but is it any wonder?
"Never been a team playing exhibition football"!!!!!! Yes you have to be an old git like me to remember - but watch some old videos and see how ITFC used to play. At times there were few better. Yes I know those days will never return with our budgeting. Nobody can deny Chambers commitment and dedication to his job in hand. In my opinion he's not a great defender, but probably playing at the right level and can do a job for us. He is one our biggest issues though. He is a very good CLUB captain, just not a match day captain. For that you have to lead by example on the pitch. How many MOTM awards does he receive? Problem is - we do not have enough alternative leaders on the pitch who regularly do pick up MOTD - oh with the exception of one obvious candidate!
The only thing I don't agree with you about hackney blue is the dozens peice.....more like 1000,s. Systematic of what is happening in our club that fans on this board want to have a go at the large numbers who have already voted with their feet and clearly stated that it's nit just about winning it's about entertainment ......however in understanding that statement it is the new interpreted that for those of us who say it is that woe would rather see our team loose every week than be bored ridged with the style of football......there's always a balance even world class teams put on poor performances , and win . What we don't want is a like chambers esc excuse to play turgid one dimentional football every week....excusing the style when we get a win but having no plan b when we loose. The optimism returned briefly at the start of the season and the U23 display in the cup against CP gave us great hope for better football....the call was to peruse with it regardless of results as it wasn't entertaining and needed to be bedded in . Two league defeats later and we go back to turgid and MM trots his captain out to back a boring style of football....and shortsighted fans leap on the defensive .....the facts don't lie ...this style of football drives fans away ....but never mind ..the titanic enjoyed many a happy voyage despite the stubbornness of its captain........oh hang on that went down and stayed down ....nah never happen to us ....would it ??
I watched England women v Russia Women the other night. England played with confidence against a weaker opposition. They kept it tight in the first 20 minutes, used the fullbacks to build from the back and used crisp 10-yard passes across the midfield probing for openings. When the opportunities arose, they put the ball into dangerous areas. Russia just couldn't cope with the intensity of the England pressure. You could see England were enjoying their football. That meant that we, the fans were able to enjoy it too. If Ipswich could only learn to enjoy their football against 'lesser' opposition and grind out results against so-called 'better' opposition, then maybe we could enjoy it too.
Let's face it,we haven't been easy on the eye since Magilton got sacked.
I can just about put up with McCarthy's style whilst we're winning but I fear we'll get found out in the coming weeks against better teams - he's brought in some great players over the last few seasons,it's just a shame we haven't got a George Burley in charge of the style of play.
At the moment, it's less about how easy on the eye we are and more about how long we can continue winning when almost every team we play dominates the game.
In our 7 games so far every single team we've played had more shots than us. The vast majority had more shots on goals, more possession, created more clear chances. Great, enjoy that whilst it lasts, but I hope to hell the management/players aren't so complacent as to imagine that opponents will continue to be abnormally wasteful and that we'll continue to be unusually clinical.
Muccletonjoe, what is so hard to understand about football. For those who don't know about football, the idea is to score more goals than the opposition. This is done by trying to score by passing to your teammates, not kicking the ball in the general direction of a teammate surrounded by at least a couple of your opponents. If on the other hand you fill your team with more defensive minded players you have less chance of scoring therefore less chance of actually winning. It is quite an easy game to understand although some believe that if you don't play it or manage a team you can never really appreciate the nuances of the game.
Never knew we had so many fickle 'supporters'. I understand last season was a complete right off on everyone's behalf, but I don't think there is any denying we all have a soft spot for our club and town (The Pride of Anglia),. It's just find it hilarious so many people here feel too proud to support their club through thick and thin. Supporting a football team is never going to be an easy ride, It would be boring it is was. We are Ipswich Town, not Barcelona, get your head out of the clouds and get behind the club.
Well said by Chambers, who certainly made a difference with his return on Saturday. It was a tough game to watch but we got the 3 points.. 5 wins out of 7 and back up to 5th is a fantastic result. Best run of wins I've seen in the 3 years I've been supporting the club. I travel from London to all the games home/away & have been to all so far this season. Support the boys through thick and thin. Keep it up Town!
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