Ipswich Town manager Paul Lambert says he knows what his team have to do better in order to get back to winning ways at Southend United this afternoon.
Following an 11-game unbeaten start, the Blues have slipped off top spot in League One following back-to-back 2-0 defeats against Accrington Stanley (a) and Rotherham United (h) last Sunday and Wednesday respectively.
This afternoon they face a Shrimpers side who have lost 14 of their 18 games across all competitions this season, claiming fewer points (5) and conceding more goals (40) than Bolton.
The Essex side were thrashed 7-1 by Doncaster at Roots Hall on Tuesday night in front of their watching new boss Sol Campbell. The former England international, who masterminded Macclesfield's great escape in League Two last season, has former Town favourite Hermann Hreidarsson and ex-Manchester United striker Andy Cole as part of his backroom staff.
"I don't really get caught up in 'new manager syndrome'," said Lambert. "There could be (a lift), but it's still the same group of guys. Losing seven goals the other night will be a big factor in their heads. I don't know what he'll do.
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"For me it's not important. We respect them, but we have to go down there and play our game and play the way we play and be the way we want to be. That's the most important thing."
Lambert continued: "The players know exactly what the difference was between the last two games and the previous 11. I'm not sure the basics were there. Previously we'd been bang at it with everything we've done, but in the last two we've not had that.
"We've spoken about it, we know where we think we went wrong, but we also we recognise you're never going to dominate and win every game.
"We've set an unbelievably high standard and when that happens there will always be a 'what happened there?' response to a defeat. That's human nature.
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"I heard Jurgen Klopp saying that the other day after Liverpool's record goes. He just laughs. You know it's coming, you just don't know when. There can't be a major over-hype, there's no point getting down, because it happens.
"After we win a game I never dwell on it and get too carried away. It's the same after a defeat. It's about staying level."
He added: "All the good things outweigh the negative stuff. I'm experienced enough to know how to handle a win and how to handle a defeat. We just try and pass that on to the team.
"I'm so happy with how they've gone about things, we're sitting in a really good position and we're still a really good side.
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"I've always said there'll be bumps and bruises along the way. If somebody had said to me at the beginning we'd be in this position now then I'd have said 'that's okay'."
Town have had to abandon their wing-back system midway through the last two defeats after the damage was done, the opposition making their extra numbers down the flanks count.
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Asked if a change in system was something he was considering, Lambert said: "We analyse everything. I've played 4-4-2, I've played 4-3-3, I've played three at the back, four in the middle, five in the middle… The principles are always the same. The system doesn't make any difference. It's the principles of my way of playing that's the most important thing.
"We've won games with it (wing-backs), we've lost games with it. We've won games with 4-4-2, we've drawn games with 4-4-2, with 4-3-3 we were getting beat 1-0 by Wimbledon and then we changed it.
"The main thing for me is the principles of what we believe in to win games."
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