Town skipper Chambers admits the team needs to go back to basics in tomorrow night’s match at Leeds

The Blues’ new-look dynamic style of play drew plenty of plaudits following a flying start to the season, but two defeats either side of the international break – 3-2 at home to Brighton and 5-1 at Reading last Friday night – has brought everyone back down to earth with a bump.

Manager Mick McCarthy, who prided himself on his side’s organisation, spirit and belligerence last season, admitted that he had selected a far too attacking formation at Madejski Stadium and now looks set to shuffle his pack against a Leeds side who have drawn five of their six games so far.

“It wasn’t what we expected, even after going 1-0 down,” said Chambers, reflecting on the team’s heaviest loss since the 5-0 and 6-0 thrashings suffered at Crystal Palace and Leicester respectively during McCarthy’s first month in charge almost three years ago.

“We got back into the game pretty quickly then they scored another quick goal. I still think we started the second half pretty brightly but they’ve ended up being ruthless. They’ve punished us, with us giving the ball away and them breaking on us.

“We could have scored more but then they could have too. They’ve been very ruthless in the way they did their job and they probably had five or six chances and scored five goals.

“It’s never nice conceding that many goals and it’s something we need to work on very, very quickly. We’ve conceded eight goals in two games now and, as a team who base ourselves on being very solid at the back, it’s tough to take.

“But we still find ourselves near the top of the league and thankfully we have another game on Tuesday to put things right.”

He continued: “We have to bounce back. We have always had a good mentality and togetherness in the squad and this is one we have to try and learn from quickly.

“If anyone in the squad thought this season was going to be ours and it was going to be easy for us, then it showed tonight it’s not going to be the case.

“We’ve shown we’re a good team, but I don’t think any of the lads have become complacent.

“If we want to be at the top of the league we have to make sure that never, ever, happens again.

“We’ve had some tough times at Leeds but every game is tough. We were confident going into Friday night and we were looking to bounce back, but that’s two defeats in a row now and we need to stop that run.

“We’re looking forward to Leeds now and we want to get a smile back on our faces.”