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Lambert: I Knew the Start Was Creating a Problem
Tuesday, 17th Dec 2019 13:59

Boss Paul Lambert says he knew Town’s excellent start to the season might create a problem with expectancy later on down the line if form dropped.

The Blues were unbeaten in their first 11 League One matches, winning eight, and quickly moved to the top of the table.

However, their more recent league form has been more stuttering with only two wins in the last eight games, in which the Blues have lost three times.

Their last League One victory was three games ago back on November 5th at Rochdale and they are now second, seven points behind leaders Wycombe, although with a game in hand.

“I knew the league was never going to be easy,” Lambert said in answer to a shareholder’s question at last night’s PLC AGM.

“I knew the start we had was creating a problem because the expectancy level would be unbelievably high because of the history of the club.

“My [level is] always realism. I knew for a fact that we were going to have a blip somewhere or we were going to have a little sticky patch. But we’ve lost three games in the league all season, it’s nothing.


“We’re not even halfway through the league, you don’t win a title in November, you don’t win a title in January, you don’t win it in February, you don’t win it in March, you don’t win it in April but you might win it in May.

“There’s a helluva long way to go, but the sense of disappointment is incredible, or the negativity that I feel about the place.

“We’ve lost three games [in the league]. So what? It happens. We’re a right good side and for somebody to beat us we have to have a really off day and they have to punch above their weight.

“Even on Saturday, we had so many chances to win the game. It never happened, Bristol Rovers threw their bodies into things, teams will come here [and do that].

“You see teams play at a really high level when they play here and then you go and watch them the next week and their level will fall because they can’t sustain it.

“We have to sustain it because of the size of the club and everybody’s there to beat you. If it was that easy, Sunderland and Portsmouth would have been out of the league long ago.

“Sheffield Wednesday wouldn’t have been in it, Nottingham Forest wouldn’t have been in it, Leeds United wouldn’t have been in it. It’s a really, really tough league. We’ll be there or thereabouts come May, that’s for sure.

"Ideally number one, that’s what I want. I always think second’s not good enough.”

Lambert has had praise for the atmosphere instilled by the likes of Blue Action at games home and away since he took over and he says the support needed waking up when he took over in October 2018.

Commenting on flares, which he has previously mentioned in his press conferences, but which are an offence to bring into a British stadium, Lambert said: “You probably know, I go to German football quite a lot and I’ve never seen one accident happen in a crowd over there.

“The North Stand, that’s your typical home end, they get right behind you, get right on you.

“As I said the other day, if you’re paying money, £20 or £30 to go into a game and you want to sit on your backside and criticise someone, I’d rather sit in the house with the missus and say ‘You’re bursting my head here!’.

“I rather come to a football match and just absolutely have a right great time for 90 minutes. Whether that’s flares or flags or banners or whatever, I’d want to go and enjoy myself.

“The football club had lost a lot of young ones, a lot of generations are missing here.

"The football club needed that. If I’m not here in the summer or next summer or whatever it is, the club needs the supporters, it needs the young ones to come in and create a party. It needs it.

“Don’t take this the wrong way anybody from Suffolk, but you sit on your backsides for so long, everything’s dead slow down here, it’s really, really slow.

“I’m not used to the slowness, [general manager of football operations] Lee [O'Neill] will tell you, it does my head in. It takes four weeks to get a yes!

“You’ve got to wake it up, whether it’s through criticism or support. And I’d rather have that than play in front of 12,000 people, that’s for sure.”

You can find notes from the question and answer session on the TWTD Forum here.


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BoonyBoy25 added 14:12 - Dec 17
we did have a good start to the season but we have never gone out and convincingley beat a team. i'm afraid all this squad rotation and postponing games has really gone against us.

we have never fielded a positive attacking team apart from saturday but then played skuse at right back. not really sure whats going on but hopefully we will turn it round but some really hard games coming up.
4

Chrisd added 14:29 - Dec 17
PL missing the point. Even when we were top during the early part of the campaign we weren't convincing in games. We seemed to nick goals and keep the opposition out. Our general play wasn't typical of a top 2 side, we performed quite poorly at times. If anything it's caught up with us and the luck has evened out. I do wonder whether he lives in cloud cuckoo land with these types of comments? The festive period of fixtures is going to be very interesting as we've got some tough games, it will show whether the start of the season was a blip and actually how we are now is a truer reflection of us as a side.
5

TractorCam added 14:49 - Dec 17
Oh, that's alright then.... doh!
0

TractorCam added 14:52 - Dec 17
Boonyboy, my opinion is 3 strikers on the pitch is not positive, as proven 2 were just out of position drifting wide the whole game. The 352 is my favourite as you have 2 upfront, a player in the 'number 10' and 2 wing backs creating chances.
1

IpswichToon added 15:21 - Dec 17
I can't help but think things could be drastically different right now had that goal against Wycombe not been disallowed. Not only would the gap to us and Wycombe be 3 points less, but we may well have taken momentum from that game, but instead were left scratching our heads. Fine margins! But I believe we are very close to things just 'clicking', hopefully then it all slots into place and we find some form and some actual 90 minute performances!
2

runningout added 16:02 - Dec 17
Swings and roundabouts. Wasting energy thinking about goals that never were. As for expectancy. It's because our squad is decent enough to have Expectations from us. They are better than they think they are for sure
3

ShropshireBluenago09 added 16:12 - Dec 17
Right behind you Lambo. Some people need to get real.
3

Suffolkboy added 17:03 - Dec 17
Never be afraid to deal and speak with honesty and integrity,believing only in the positive !
Don't worry PL, most of us can see through the ‘negativity ‘ and ‘unwarranted ‘ and still think and believe in ITFC under your tutelage and guidance ,
Saturday WAS sad , in that even at 2 goals down ,we observed this was a game still we could win ; and so it was ,but you and we mustn't rely on too much patience ,in coaching there'll have to be an effort to stress the need for cohesion ,commitment and partnership all over the park - this I'm certain is nothing to do with rotation .Our squad have enough about them to know how, to effect improvement and are well capable of bringing to their game the bite and urgency we see opposition display .
Quite obviously there's a need for some technical improvement ( but when ever has any player not understood he can improve ) ,and no doubt you and the coaches will be working hard on morale, physicality and skills !
COYB
1

DurhamTownFan added 17:10 - Dec 17
What, so you'd rather have lost games? I don't get this. How can you turn a brilliant start into a negative? He's even tying himself into confused knots now, worse than the starting line-up!

We do all need to chill, but PL needs to simplify his selection and tactics, and I'm sure it will come.
3

Lathers added 17:16 - Dec 17
IpswichToon - I'd love some of your positivity but I fail to see how or why you think we are close to things just ‘clicking'? I remember how poor we were back in August watching us beat 10-man Shrewsbury 3-0 and if anything we've looked even more disjointed over the past month.
2

Kickingblock added 19:14 - Dec 17
Please can the line be drawn on this reality check and get the team back winning games.
Town should be the team administering punishment!
1

brittaniaman added 19:55 - Dec 17
This is a Funny old League, Coventry were a class above and Beat us when we played them yet a week later Shrewsbury beat them, how can one make that out ???
0

harlingblue added 02:04 - Dec 18
Our great start to the season should not be seen as a rod for our back, without it we would be midtable.
I think that momentum has been lost due the unnecessary cancelling of games (the so called International break), too many cup games that have seen constant team/formation changes.
We are now left to concentrate totally on promotion, and the lesser of the cups.
Surely Paul Lambert can now pick a settled team/formation for league games, and let the U23 team managers pick the best of the unused 1st team squad plus the best of their own for the cup game/s, as they would be inclined to really want to win?
1

tractorboy2421 added 08:45 - Dec 18
Surely PL must have an idea of his starting 11??
We've played enough games now to know our strengths & weaknesses, teams are starting to work us out
1

PinstripeBlue added 07:36 - Dec 19
We all know you can only win the league in May. But you can definitely lose on the way.
0


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