Luke Chambers says his Ipswich Town side will use criticism in the wake of their cup exit to Exeter to fuel their fire ahead of tomorrow’s game with Aston Villa.
Manager Paul Hurst was scathingly honest in his assessment of Tuesday night’s defeat at St James Park, questioning the players’ approach and workrate on a night where they let a one-goal lead slip before exiting on spot kicks.
Captain Chambers says now is the time for the Ipswich squad to show what they are all about.
“I don’t think there was any player who went out there and didn’t give their best, although there were times in the game where we should have done better,” he said in a club interview.
“But we can use that as fire to show we do care- of course we care. Our attitudes shouldn’t be questioned – we’ve made it this far in our careers to be professional footballers so we need to respond that criticism and perform in a way where we can show we can play at this level and can put performances in to the standard required.
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“Every manager has their own way and we have to respond to what we are being asked to do.
“If the manager doesn’t feel we are doing that then he’s going to criticise, whether that’s in the dressing room or the press, whatever.
“You have to take that onboard and respond because we are playing for such a massive club which means a helluva lot to be personally. The new lads have bought in quickly and the dressing room is very, very strong.
“We want to bounce back and put in the performances to show what we’re capable of.”
Hurst was concerned by the lack of reaction when he questioned his players over their performance post-match, with Chambers also addressing the squad.
“You can say I’m a dominant character but I’m going to say it how it is,” the captain said.
“Football is all about opinions and sometimes you have disagreements but I’m never going to put people on the spot to speak if they aren’t comfortable saying it out loud. There are all sorts of different kinds of people in football, just like in life, and some people aren’t comfortable voicing their opinions. But as long as they are portrayed in the right way there isn’t a problem.
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“After the game the manager went and did his press conference and I said ‘lads, if there is a problem anywhere now then you have to speak up’.
“But at the end of the day we drew 1-1 with Exeter and lost on penalties, which is not an ideal situation. We’re not happy with ourselves but we’re looking forward to putting things right.
“There are times in every game this season where we’ve played well, played good, attacking football and we’ve probably not taken the chances in games we’ve needed to.
“Then, on the flip side of things, we’ve cost ourselves goals already. We need to eradicate that, put whatever’s happened in the past and crack on with Saturday.”
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When asked if he acts as a conduit between the players and the manager, Chambers said: “I speak to the lads a lot, they speak to me and we all speak to each other.
“We have a very strong group, we’ve had a good training session (on Thursday) and the lads are all upbeat and full of confidence and we’re looking forward to Saturday.
“We’re in a situation we don’t want to be in, two games into the league season, and there seems to be a lot of crisis talk and all of that going on.
“We’ve signed a lot of players who have played a heavy part so it’s going to be a catch-up.
“But it’s difficult to say we will be patient because this league will not wait around for you.
“Yes there have been negatives from the other night but the boys are together and are ready to go again and are confident we will play in a way which will make it very difficult for Aston Villa to come away with anything from the game.”
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