Town boss Paul Lambert says he’s been delighted with the way his whole team has defended this season with his top-of-the-table Blues having kept clean sheets in their first three league games, all of which have ended in 2-0 victories.

A fourth clean sheet on Saturday away against the MK Dons would equal a club record most recently achieved in 1977/78 when they won two and drew two of their opening fixtures in the First Division.

The Blues won four league games in a row without conceding at the beginning of a campaign for the only time in 1974/75, also in Division One.

“I think the whole team has been really strong, the way we’ve been playing has been really strong.,” Lambert said.

“The guys at the back have done really great, the midfield three have been really strong and the front three are pressing really well.

“Collectively we’ve done really well and three games without conceding has been a big help to us all.

“I always believe that if you’re defence is really strong it’s a good cornerstone to start, it gives you a base, and the guys at the back at the minute have been excellent.”

The central defensive pairing of James Wilson and Toto Nsiala both probably got their chance due to injuries to other players, Luke Woolfenden has had a groin problem and skipper Luke Chambers has been at right-back in Kane Vincent-Young’s absence, but have both grabbed their opportunity.

“James Wilson has been really good,” Lambert said. “It’s funny, he got a chance because Woolfenden got injured. He’s come in and he and Toto Nsiala have been excellent together. Really strong, really powerful, defending the way they should be.

“I think the two guys if they do anything less there are guys waiting to take their place and I think that drives them on. I think James Wilson at this moment, with Toto, is playing ever so well.”

Is it fair to say they wouldn’t have been the pairing you would have expected to start the campaign back at the beginning of pre-season?

“I’d made up my mind during the lockdown,” Lambert continued. “I changed a few things and I told the lads ‘It doesn’t matter to me what happened last season or what you are or who you are at the football club, if you’re in and you’re playing well, you stay in’.

“And I think they’ve all taken that on board, that if I want to play, I have to play well.

“Toto’s situation is a prime example. People said Toto has made mistakes and he went to Bolton and didn’t do well at Bolton, but you look at that lad and he’s been absolutely terrific for us.

“What happened last season, has no significance to me on how well they’re doing this year.”

Speaking after skippering in the Fulham Carabao Cup tie last month, Nsiala said he had “shut out the noise”, admitting that criticism on social media had got to him last season.

Is that something which has been spoken about as a group, “shut[ting] out the noise” in the manner Nsiala outlined?

“No, I can only speak from my own experience,” Lambert said. “I don’t do social media, I don’t do any of that stuff because I think it’s nonsense.

“To listen to people say this and that, they had toast and egg [for breakfast]. Brilliant, well done! I’m not interested in all that. I’m not interested in what you had for your breakfast or whether Phil’s getting a hair transplant [I’m not - Phil], I’m not interested in all that.

“I’m totally fine, I’m really relaxed because I don’t have any outside influences influencing me. The guys here, we try and have a word with them and say ‘Forget everything that’s on the outside because you can’t influence anything from the outside. Concentrate on what we’re telling you. Don’t get caught up on anything. You’re a footballer and I trust you to perform’.

“It’s not great to listen to people getting into a war of words on a keyboard, it’s not healthy for them and it’s not the right way. But that’s just my opinion.

“If the guys can take it on board and they don’t use as much social media, they can use it if there are private things or whatever they do, but don’t get involved in anything on the outside because it’s not healthy.”

The competition for places at the back was increased last week when Mark McGuinness was signed on loan from Arsenal and Lambert has been impressed by the 19-year-old in training.

“Brilliant, top class,” Lambert enthused. “He’s very good, really good, really, really good. He’s going to have a massive future, and I think you can see it.

“Again, the form of Nsiala and Wilson has been top drawer. He knows he’s got a fight on his hands but how he trains and how he plays the game is really, really good.”

Behind the back four Tomas Holy has kept four clean sheets in the four games he’s played in all competitions this season. However, Lambert says there’s not too much between the Czech and summer signing David Cornell.

“The two of them were very close in pre-season,” he said. “Dai [Cornell] hadn’t trained much before he came in, Tomas had a little bit on him albeit he had an operation on his shoulder and the familiarity thing of Tomas knowing everybody gave him an edge on that.

“Dai is now breathing down his neck as Tomas knows, but Holy hasn’t conceded a goal, he’s been very, very good, so again it’s Tomas’s to lose. Dai, I’m certainly sure will push him all the way to stay in the side.”

Photo: Matchday Images

miltonmowbray added 08:40 - Oct 3 Bowl of Bran Flakes for me (important to stay regular) and a delicious glass of orange juice (no bits, I'm not an animal).
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