'Games are easier than training' - Chaplin on McKenna's methods

Three wins in eight days - against Portsmouth, Cambridge United and Morecambe - sees the Blues sit second in the League One table with an impressive 30 points from 13 games.

Comparing fixtures on a like-for-like basis, Ipswich are already a staggering 25 points up on last season.

"I think this season we're further along the process really," said Chaplin, speaking to the club programme.

"The boss (Kieran McKenna) came in last December and implemented his ideas, his values and his culture. We've been working on all of that for nine months now and I think we're all just that much further down the line with it and getting better at it.

"I think we've got a really good balance now this season.

"We tightened things up defensively last year and were very hard to score against, but now there are more goals going in at the other end too.

"We work on things every day in terms of patterns of play, in and out of possession, the way that we want to go about things.

"It comes to a point where the games are easier, in some ways, than training at times.

Conor Chaplin (right) celebrates with Janoi Donacien after scoring in the 3-0 win against MK Dons. (Image: (C) Copyright Stephen Waller)

"Training is that hard, with the intensity and quality that you come up against, that it is really tough. So the games sometimes become a bit more comfortable, physically and mentally, because we are so well prepared for them."

He continued: "Detail is a very big word for us in terms of training and what the boss and the other guys in the coaching team strive for. I think that people can see we've scored a lot of quite similar goals from particular areas of the pitch that we look to get into.

"We practise and work on that every single day and I think that's becoming well-oiled from our point of view.

"And I feel like we're dangerous in new areas this year too. So, if it's not happening for us in a certain way, we are capable of scoring from a set-piece to get us going when that wasn't something that happened too often last season."

The former Portsmouth, Coventry and Barnsley man added: "Across my career this is just the most I've enjoyed coming into training every day. Not just the environment, which is brilliant to be in, but the training sessions themselves are engaging, they are fun, they're competitive, intense - everything you want.

"Every day is brilliant on the training pitch and then, to go with that, you've got that camaraderie and the atmosphere around the training ground. That isn't just the players, it's the staff, the academy staff. The values and the core principles, day-to-day, is what makes it such a good place to come in to work."

Chaplin was one of 19 players signed by previous Blues boss Paul Cook last summer. Nine of those players have since departed either permanently or on loan, but the likes of Christian Walton, George Edmundson, Sam Morsy, Lee Evans, Wes Burns and Chaplin remain and form the core of this popular group.

"Last year was tough early on because of the turnover of players," said Chaplin. "This time around we've had a year together so we understand how we play and how we all fit together.

"Obviously we're closer as a group as well because we know each other better and the relationships are stronger.

"Off the pitch everyone's more settled in terms of family life and houses, which makes a big difference. I think that's evident in the way we are playing, collectively and individually.

Conor Chaplin celebrates at full-time of the win at Accrington. (Image: Archant)

"That also makes it easier for the lads that have joined this summer because there's already a shape and a structure for them to fit in to. It's been much easier helping those lads to integrate into everything this season than last year, when we were nearly all newcomers really. They've all fitted seamlessly into the group and on the training pitch.

"It's a lot easier because they've got players around them that know the jobs and the responsibilities of each and every player. We can help coach them on the pitch as well, which is something that the gaffer is big on in terms of leadership and helping each other out.

"We can set the example for training intensity. Everyone can take a lead off the players that have been here for a good amount of time now."

Chaplin continued: "I can't speak highly enough of the lads in the changing room. Credit for that goes to the old manager and to the new boss, as well as Mark Ashton and everyone else dealing with recruitment at the club. They're bringing in very good people and there isn't one bad egg in the changing room.

"They're such good, nice, down to earth, humble lads. They just want to win games, to come into training and work hard. At times, if we feel that someone's doing something wrong, then it will be said amongst ourselves. That honesty is there and that's important.

Chaplin scored 11 goals during his debut campaign for the Blues. Already this season he is on six.

"There are times in games where, as a team, we need to rely on individual quality, and it was me that scored the free-kick against Barnsley," he said.

"Across the season lots of different players are going to come up with moments like that, because we've got quality in the squad.

"We're not stupid, we're not naive enough to think that we're going to score a nice free-flowing team goal all the time. It's not going to work like that. But we've got enough quality to make sure that people to step up and make a difference when we need them to."

With a quarter of the season played, Town - a club who have finished 11th, ninth and 11th since dropping into League One - have a healthy 11-point cushion to seventh.

Following last weekend's long trip to Lancashire, McKenna's men now have two more games in front of bumper Portman Road crowds to look forward to in Lincoln (Saturday) and Derby (Fri, Oct 21).

"The manager is the youngest in the EFL, he's got a lot of new ideas and we're just enjoying every moment of it at the moment," enthused Chaplin.

"It's such fun to play in games on a Saturday or Tuesday, but the training is also brilliant. There's lots of new ideas that not everyone is used to, and not everyone's seen before, but everyone's taken to it very well and we're making progress.

"It's been a good start so far, but we're not naive. We know that it's just a small percentage of what is to come. We know there's a long way to go.

"I think there's always going to be noise from outside. If you're playing well, if you're winning, you'll get people talking you up and getting carried away. But from within, we're just focused on the next game and focused on keeping our heads down, staying humble and staying hard-working on the training pitch.

"We have to be all those things if we are going to maintain this sort of form and keep on picking up the points right across the season."