Boss Paul Lambert felt his side weren’t good enough in both boxes during their 3-0 defeat at QPR, but despite the result was pleased with his team’s overall performance.

“Whether we deserved to win the game, I don’t know, but performance-wise we were dominating the ball in long spells,” he said when asked whether he believed the result didn’t really match his team’s display.

“I think the difference was at both ends of the pitch. I don’t think we did enough in the attacking third and we didn’t defend as strongly as we should have done.

“The first goal, we’ve got the ball, we’re on top in the game and Jon Nolan’s tried that pass, which is fine, I’m telling them how to play, no blame attached to him whatsoever.

“The great thing about it was that he kept on trying to take the ball and it takes a big player to go and do that when you’ve made a big mistake, so that’s my problem.

“The second goal was a standard freekick, which was bog standard really, which shouldn’t have happened.

“But performance-wise, football-wise, we’re playing really well, but in both boxes I didn’t think we did enough.”

The Blues boss thought the error was tough on Nolan, who otherwise put in as good a performance as he has since he joined Town.

“He’s playing really well,” he said. “As I said before, I’d never criticise somebody for trying to go on the ball. I know what it’s like myself, there’s not a player alive that doesn’t make a mistake.

“OK, he made a mistake but he goes again and I was delighted with how his level kept on going. He never went away from trying to do things right, which is great. That’s a big compliment from me to him. He’ll learn.”

Despite having an awful lot to do at 2-0 down he thought his side took the game to Rangers.

“Even at 2-0, even at the start of the second half, QPR sat back as the home team which was testament to us because we were forcing the issue at 2-0, but we never did enough in the final third.”

Reflecting further on his side’s lack of creativity in and around the opposition area, he added: “You need that little bit of devilment in the final third of the pitch and we need people to get at people in one-v-one situations and make things happen.

“I’d never criticise somebody for going and making things happen because you have to go and excite people and get people going.

“But I’ve only been here a few weeks now and I can’t ask any more from the group of lads. They need a little bit of help as I’ve said, football-wise we’re learning, we’re playing a lot of good stuff but we just need to be a bit more clinical in both boxes.

The gap to safety has stretched to seven points but Lambert says there are still a lot of games to play.

“How quickly that can change is incredible and there’s a long, long way to go, a helluva long way to go,” he insisted.

“And the beauty about it is that every team knows it. As long as we finish above that line, it doesn’t matter where you are.”

Lambert spoke to referee Keith Stroud towards the end and wasn’t happy with some of the Hampshire-based official’s decision-making.

“I think the first one with Luke Chambers [when he was booked for a foul on Darnell Furlong], I thought was bizarre, I thought it was a foul on Luke and I think that set the tone. I thought there were some decisions which were a bit strange.”

Regarding Grant Ward, who was stretchered to the tunnel having walked off the pitch, he added: “We don’t really know [the extent of the injury], it’s a bit early at the minute, it’s his knee that has given him the problem, hopefully it’s not too bad.”

Lambert also confirmed that Teddy Bishop has been suffering with a virus but is on the mend, while Flynn Downes missed the Sheffield United match with a calf strain before returning today.

“Flynn had a calf strain last weekend, so we lost him [for Saturday]. I thought he had a good game, I think he’s getting better and better.”

Looking ahead to the January transfer window, Lambert continued: “We’re trying, we’ve tried to get a few lads in. Hopefully that will happen. There’s a long way on that but hopefully something will happen.

Any chance of additions being recruited for Millwall or Accrington? “We’ll try. If I can get them in for January 1st then great, but this can be a long window this one.”

QPR manager Steve McClaren felt the timing of his side's two quick-fire first-half goals was crucial.

"I thought Ipswich made it very difficult for us as I knew they would. I was impressed by the crowd because they had to be patient.

"We scored the goals at the right time, and it’s one of those 'find a way to win' performances — and we move on to Saturday."

Photo: TWTD

trulyblue added 18:40 - Dec 26 Poor between the boxes aswell Paul.
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Letchworth_Blue added 18:43 - Dec 26 We didnt do enough in the middle either...
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brendenward35 added 18:52 - Dec 26 PL can't defend these player shocking performance and none of those player deserve to wear the shirt. Qpr didn't even have to try gifted goals. I hope PL watches the video and he will realise how bad it really was.
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brendenward35 added 18:53 - Dec 26 PL can't defend these player shocking performance and none of those player deserve to wear the shirt. Qpr didn't even have to try gifted goals. I hope PL watches the video and he will realise how bad it really was.
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jayessess added 18:53 - Dec 26 Gotta disagree. Don't think PL is wrong to say we were decent enough passing through midfield, but he's wrong if he thinks that matters in the slightest if we're bad in both boxes.
3

marco007 added 19:04 - Dec 26 1) PL is delusional if he thinks we are playing well. I understand the logic of trying to build confidence but please don't assume us fans are idiots...we can all see how poor we are. 2) Nolan was damn awful...he almost gave a goal away with a stray pass a few minutes before the goal and overall was too safe, too weak and obviously bereft of confidence. If he was playing so well why was he taken off?? Taking us for idiots again PL?? 3) QPR won at an absolute canter. The only reason we had spells of possession was that QPR were in cruise mode...even then we created nothing. 4) Defense...full backs are awful, Chambers is past it and we have two goalkeepers that are completely off form 5) Midfield has zero creativity with too many going through the motions 6) Attack...we have zero quality...Harrison is good at flick ons and diving/falling over, Jackson is a good sprinter, Sears a good athlete, Roberts is good for nothing but none of them are any good at putting the ball in the back of the net. 7) Overall conclusion is that we are a team of division 1 players heading to where they belong....we can only pray for a miracle in January Happy New Year 😏

11

Trequartista added 19:10 - Dec 26 Yet another manager telling us something that we can see with our own eyes is nonsense. It's bad enough having the worst Ipswich team in living memory but the manager telling us we are playing well just rubs salt into the wounds.
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lightingblue added 19:12 - Dec 26 Spoke with some qpr fans after the game. They all said that the defence was all over the place, midfield was nonexistent and we couldn't shoot for toffee. I'm afraid to say but that's a fair assessment.
7

Pencilpete added 19:16 - Dec 26 I think we need to show more patience here, all these players have either had 5 years of hoofball drummed into them by Big Mick or have come from the lower leagues and had the Hurst disaster to contend with. Lambert has come in and tried to get them playing and passing, it won't happen overnight and it's not going to help if I'd fans get on their backs whenever they make a mistake. We've been crying out for this positive approach and style of play for years but we need to accept it's a work in progress

36

MrTown added 19:23 - Dec 26 I can understand he doesn't want to dig his players out in the press, I can understand. That was a real negative under PH. I just hope he told them a few home truths behind closed doors.
7

bushhillblue added 19:31 - Dec 26 changes midfield and strikers cnnstandily i suggest pl goes to specsavers and looks at that back 4 its the worst ive seen in all my years for gods sake change it
4

Carberry added 19:47 - Dec 26 Sorry Paul but that assessment is garbage. Why would you try to play football from the back and constantly give the ball to Chambers the weakest player creatively? Nolan was dreadful, nobody posed a threat, Harrison didn't get a kick, we didn't appear to have any pace up front. For most of the match we were just going nowhere. We're not far from being a top, top team you said recently, Paul. I hope you are reassessing tonight.

3

Walk_the_Wark added 19:53 - Dec 26 Lets try supporting the team eh?
17

blueboy1981 added 20:15 - Dec 26 Feel for you PL - you're most certainly trying to get blood from a stone with this lot - most annoying thing is that giving the ball away, and not even able to get the simple basics right, is giving games away.
4

Lathers added 20:26 - Dec 26 We haven't done enough in either box all season, but the real reason for that is because we don't have a good enough midfield options who can defend and create. It's easy to blame and under pressure defence or a service-starved attack. There's no doubt Chalobah will be a good player one day, Nolan isn't up to this level, Downes and the other kids are in at the deep end and you can't expect them to boss things. Skuse is Ok. We need 2 decent Championship midfielders as a priority, and an experienced target man up top. After that then clearly we need new wingers, full backs and another centre back... maybe a goalkeeper 😂 Merry Christmas everyone.

3

dommyboyblue added 20:31 - Dec 26 Basically we are up the creek this season. The players are not up to the job and Lambert has his work cut out. To be honest I did not think there was a lot in it first 30 minutes but that dreadful pass from nolan cost us game, as that turned the tide and then we were always on catch up. Lambert is trying to keep it positive but must know we are nowhere near where we need to be. Hopefully he can turn it around but for now looking forward to visiting my sister and family for gillingham's away next year. Ffs.

3

Daddio added 20:47 - Dec 26 PL has inherited a group of players, from that he is trying to form a team, hopefully with some decent additions he can start to turn the tide. There is no point in bringing in another 10 players as that will take more time for them to gel. Yes we need to improve in all areas but as has been said before, we cannot change all the players at once. I just hope he can get some experienced players in that can change a game or even just hold up the ball. Like others I agree that the players that occupy the full back positions are embarrassing. Let's hope for a good week 😌

3

Kingfisher49 added 21:08 - Dec 26 The need is for a few players to be bought in but after Hurst's bad buys and full compliment of loans then the options are limited. Somehow I feel it will be as much a job of unloading some to bring in the players he wants. A couple of free agents on short contracts may be one solution. It would never surprise me to see Bart move on and someone like John Ruddy to come in from Wolves. Glenn Johnson and Robert Huth are both free agents, and perhaps Aaron Cresswell who is struggling for match time at West Ham might fancy coming back.But PL is an experienced manager and in him we must trust.

4

Carberry added 21:11 - Dec 26 There's a lot of talk about how positive the dressing room is and what a great bunch of lads we have however there were a horrible few moments after the first goal when Nolan, realising what he had done to give it away, looked totally distraught and broken. Not one of our good blokes went and had a word with him or put their arm around him or encouraged him - the best teams do this, they didn't, in fact they turned their backs on him, it was very noticeable. No surprise his performance suffered until he was substituted.

4

Lord_Mac added 21:30 - Dec 26 How many times have we seen teams like us buried at this time of year. I remember Rotherham. Even then, we gave them 4 points! We are gone, no point in pretending otherwise or wasting money in Jan. Bring back our kids, prepare an assault on League One.
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dukey44 added 22:10 - Dec 26 Am I the only one that don't understand why he won't touch the rubbish back 4?
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rozeeboy added 22:18 - Dec 26 Paul, by all means defend your players but please let us know if your instruction to Nolan was to pass to the opposition. Keeping the ball is a fairly simple task and we consistently fail at it. I had binned this game off as a defeat but that was a poor show. Add in that Bolton and Millwall did us no favours. Still within touching distance. Keeping the faith until evens shows us the colour of his money.

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BrettenhamBlue added 22:23 - Dec 26 We never do enough in either box.
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Dissboyitfc added 23:22 - Dec 26 that was pants Paul, there really wasnt much in it at all, until Nolans howler! down hill after that Really hope we get the right personnel in, in january
3

hyperbrit added 04:26 - Dec 27 EVANS !!!!!!
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