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Wilson: Tough One to Take But Positives From Performance
Sunday, 9th Feb 2020 14:01

Blues defender James Wilson admitted the 1-0 loss at Sunderland was tough to take with Town having dominated the first half and having had a number of chances. The 30-year-old says no one at Portman Road is panicking despite a third successive defeat having seen Town drop out of the top six for the first time since the opening day of the season.

“Really tough,” the former Lincoln City and Sheffield United man said afterwards.

“I thought we played some really nice football in the first half and in the second half I think we had chances but it’s a tough place to come and when they’re on the front foot it’s difficult sometimes.

“It’s a tough one but I think there were a lot of positives to come from it definitely.”

With hindsight Wilson says the Blues should have been ready for the Black Cats’ second-half onslaught after Town had controlled the first period.

“Yes, we should have been, we should have weathered it better,” he reflected. “I don’t think we played half as well as we did in the first half in the second, so it’s frustrating.

“But they’re always going to have spells, especially here in front of a big crowd, and I think we did have some good chances in the second half so it wasn’t that we didn’t create ourselves. It’s frustrating.”

Regarding Chris Maguire’s winning goal in the 81st minute, Wilson said: “I think we can work on stopping that at source. I think there are things we can do to stop that but it was a good finish.”


Asked whether the mood in the dressing room after the game was flat, he said: “Not flat, more frustrated than anything. Flat’s not the right word, we’re still seventh in the league, we’ve still got 14 games to go, I think if we can put a run together then we’ll be right in amongst it, so I don’t think it’s flat.”

The centre-half says the biggest disappointment was not making the most of the chances created.

“Definitely,” he added. “I think things could have gone our way, there were a few decisions that didn’t go our way, that’s also frustrating but that seems to happen every week so that’s nothing new. But we need to take that out of it and do it ourselves.”

Saturday’s game was hardly the first time this season that the Blues have been unable to turn decent performances into goals but Wilson believes Town have the players capable of finding the target with the frequency required.

“Of course, we’ve definitely got the players to do it,” he insisted. “The last three games haven’t gone well but there’s no saying that we can’t go on a five or six-game run like we did before and we’ll be right in amongst it again at the end, it’s so tight in the league. I think that’s what we’ve got to look to do.”

At the other end of the field there was a change of keeper with Will Norris dropping out and Tomas Holy returning to the XI.

Wilson says Norris accepted the decision to drop him professionally: “Yes, of course, everyone’s in it together. Will knows that he’s played some really good games, he’s been brilliant for us and the big man’s got to come in and do the same.”

Despite the result, the Wales international felt the display was a significant step-up from the performances against Rotherham and Peterborough.

“I think so, definitely,” he said. “For 60 minutes of the game I think we were on top, they had spells but I think it’s really frustrating to lose the game 1-0.”

Even though the defeat saw the Blues drop out of the top six, Wilson isn’t getting too concerned about the league table at this stage.

“It’s not worrying, no, if we do what we know we can do then we’ll be OK, it’s just producing that,” he said.

However, he admits the pressure is going to build the longer Town remain in their current position.

“I guess so, but I don’t see the pressure from within at all,” he added. “I think we all know that we’re working hard and we’re doing the right things we’ll have chances in games, we’ll win games, it’s just doing that on the day.”

He added: “I think if you look at the league there’s no panic. I think it changes every Tuesday, every Saturday it changes, so we’ve just got to keep calm and keep doing things we believe in.”

Looking ahead to Tuesday’s game at AFC Wimbledon, Wilson agreed that it could be a big one in the context of Town’s season with the Blues needing all three points.

“Yes, it’s a big game, but we go into every game wanting to win it,” he said. “There’s not going to be any difference on Tuesday, I think we’ll go in with the same attitude we did here, we want to win the game, we don’t do anything different.”

Town's current situation is the reverse of the one earlier in the season with the Blues now the ones chasing and with the teams above them having games in hand.

“To be honest, if we work hard and do the things we know we can do we shouldn’t even be looking at the league table,” Wilson insisted.

“We’ve just got to try and do the right things, that’s all it’s about, there are still 14 games left, so there’s plenty of time and plenty of points up for grabs if we do the right things.”


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MrTown added 14:06 - Feb 9
Should have been in front, but we didn't have as many chances as Wilson/Lambert and co are making out.

We dominated the ball though, that I agree on.

The squad just doesn't have the quality. The quality of Maguire and Gooch that you need to win games of football.
8

r2d2 added 14:08 - Feb 9
Trotting out the same old rubbish. Who is up next to trot this PR cr@p out for the Wimbledon game?
9

herobobby added 14:10 - Feb 9
Seriously !

Quote
I think we will go in with same attitude on Tuesday

A losing one........

Wake up Evans Lambert isn't up for the job,and your players certainly aren't either no passion no fight no end product,we are going nowhere

Every week the same roll out another player who talks about a good game but can't play one

😤
5

DinnernotTea added 14:10 - Feb 9
"I guess so, but I don't see the pressure from within at all,” he added

This is exactly why we're a nothing outfit when under pressure. From manager to captain there is absolutely no one with that bottle you need. Such a limp group of men.
13

ITFCsince73 added 14:14 - Feb 9
The team clearly need to start playing over 90 mins.
There has been far to much good 45 mins. Go missing until 85 mins. Then good last 5.
It's not as if we play bad when we do disappear.
It's all slow, sloppy passes, bad decisions. Just a general lack of leadership and drive.
10

Reecec196 added 14:14 - Feb 9
The team obviously can't produce the performances wilson, we can't beat anyone around us in the league.
2

Cakeman added 14:22 - Feb 9
It would be nice if the players said nothing after games like this as it's the same old PR spiel just different people saying it.
It would be refreshing if someone was honest enough to say ‘fair play we gave it a go but we just ain't good enough' at least the respect level would rise.
7

juniorblue added 14:28 - Feb 9
The mood in the dressing room should have been 'ashamed' rather than 'frustrated'. I think the attitude is wrong from the owner, the manager and the players. Do they seriously sit in the dressing room feeling frustrated, as if it is someone else's fault? Of course teams are going to come out and go at us full throttle. Do the players expect teams to lie down, let us stroll up the pitch and tap the ball in to the net? These are supposed to be professionals, but come across as very naive.
6

Suffolkboy added 14:32 - Feb 9
Careful with the obviously frustrated generalisations ; any review of past performance would certainly show we are not as able as we ought to be in converting chances into actual goals .
Even in this interview JW in coded fashion indicates the same .
It'll be a combination of things , different in each ‘miss ‘ ,and doubtless different for each player ; but a calm analysis will allocate between lack of technique, wrong positioning , lack of confidence, nervy over- reaction ,and just maybe inability ; but the cure all lays with our coaches who it seems have plenty to work on ,but do they have enough to work with ??
COYB
-1

cat added 14:52 - Feb 9
It weren't the manner in which we lost yesterday, its more down to the fact that it's 3 straight defeats on the bounce.
There's 2 ways you can look at our situation:-
1/ Stay positive and believe there's still a decent chance of top 6 finish
2/ Think our seasons doomed and blab in your beers.
Option 1 for me, but I'm under no illusions that everything's sweet, far from it, but we've shown on occasions what we are capable of, if only for 45mins on most occasions.
The thing that's most concerning are lamberts stats, cause they ain't pretty.
10

blue86 added 14:56 - Feb 9
How predictable! Let's keep saying after each crap performance "there are still x amount of games to play etc".... no, I have heard enough of the bull, just keep it shut and do it on the pitch, its wearing very thin indeed! Thing is I would love town to prove me wrong and get promoted this season, but shudder of the thought about this side in the championship, scary! We are nowhere near ready.
8

TimmyH added 14:59 - Feb 9
How many times do we hear about performance when we lose even though it was one half?

...and yes sort of agree with @cat above and just hope we can get some order back and belief that we can get back into the play-offs as we have some less tough looker fixtures coming up, saying that Burton, Oxford and Blackpool could be a defining point of the season and won't be easy - don't do very well against them and could be playing in catch up.
1

afcfee added 15:01 - Feb 9
Our Manager is tactically inept. Found out against all of top sides and after playing well in first half, we always flop second. That's down to other managers making tweaks that he isn't countering.
7

BeattiesBackPocket added 15:01 - Feb 9
I hear players say ‘we had a good run of games etc' you beat Lincoln at home with supposedly our best performance of the season the weekend after Southend beat them as well that sums this league up. It's an extremely poor league the only decent side I've seen is Rotherham which shows how far we've fallen as a club in the 13 years evans has been here. I'd rather here less about what the players are going to do and see it on the pitch instead!
7

afcfee added 15:02 - Feb 9
5 year deal is actually unbelievable.
7

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 15:06 - Feb 9
Wilson did ok; we played some decent football at times; I don't believe we lack effort and commitment; but we lack quality - especially when it comes to scoring goals.
6

therein61 added 15:19 - Feb 9
Another one rolled out to spout the usual crap(at least it wasn't the skipper)It's a shame they are not paid by results they might just show some fight!!!
5

tractorboybig added 15:25 - Feb 9
come on chaps we had TWO shots on target...well sort of.
3

del45 added 15:37 - Feb 9
Iook at the form league now below Southend says it all.
9

ArnieM added 16:02 - Feb 9
Same crap said after every game . I'm done with it now . Load shy te the lot of em
4

dirtydingusmagee added 16:02 - Feb 9
dont know how they keep taking positives out of sh#t results. Its same story every week,just a different story teller. Lambert is failing and is as boring to listen to as McCarthy was , but ultimately the real reason for the clubs failure is Evans,he hasnt learned anything and continues to drag the club down .
7

Karlosfandangal added 16:08 - Feb 9
Don't get all this Lambert out, we can't afford to buy a player let alone pay Lambert off.
We are a League 1 side not a Championship side.

Peterborough has spent year building a side. The only way is to sell a Downes for big money and spend it on players like Vincent Young.

Towns budget will be the same next year until they are in the Championship
-2

dirtydingusmagee added 16:12 - Feb 9
del45 i reckon Sol Campbell must be wishing they could play us now. The 3 points must be teasing the life out of him.
2

budgieplucker added 16:22 - Feb 9
Let's put some perspective around what it takes to win automatic promotion.

Luton lost 6 matches last year to take the title.

Runners up Barnsley lost seven matches.

Luton and Barnsley look as if they are coming back down.

The year before both Wigan and Blackburn only lost 6 matches each to take spots 1 and 2

In 2016/17 when Sheffield United ran away with the league with a 100 points, Bolton came runners up and lost 10 matches however they won 25 matches.

Ok so we have already lost 8 matches this year with 14 to go. If we were to do a Bolton we would have to win 12 of the 14 remaining matches.

To take second place you normally have to get somewhere near or above 85.

Given we have two teams less this year let's say around the 80 mark. That gives us a target of 32 points from 14 games, 10 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. On current form that is totally unrealistic.

Early 70 points would normally grab you a top six place, 2 games less may bring that down to mid 60s. But let's assume 7p then we have to get 22 points from 14 games which does feel doable with an improvement in form.

But to me a top two finish does on statistics now look out of our grasp.

Perhaps if the players and manager did look at the table a bit more they would understand the challenge better rather than keep saying things like nothing is won in February, if you starve yourself of the points then you can certainly loose a top two place in February!!!


7

blue86 added 16:23 - Feb 9
Karlosfandangal - I agree, obviously I want town in an ideal world to keep hold of downes and wolfenden, but this squad needs a freshen up. Thing is, from a fans point of view it's only worth selling downes or wolfy for say 8-10 million if at least half that figure is for player transfer fees, which would be a fair amount for our current level. Annoying thing is downes and wolfy could be worth double in 2 years, but you never know. Defo think this should be chambers last season, wouldn't offer skuse a new deal either, had more than enough time at town in let's be honest a dark time in our history. We arent good enough and it's there for all to see, would love to be proved wrong though!
4


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