Ipswich Town: Conor Chaplin on new signings and cup defeat

The Blues were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League Two AFC Wimbledon on penalties last night, making it three straight defeats to start the season.

Six summer signings made their debuts - Dara O'Shea, Conor Townsend, Kalvin Phillips, Jens Cajuste, Jack Clarke and latest arrival Chiedozie Ogbene - as a strong XI took an early lead but couldn't see the game out.

READ MORE: Stuart Watson's verdict on cup defeat

"We had a lot of new players today," Chaplin, who captained the side, said afterwards. 

"It was a team that maybe only trained together one or two times, so it was always going to be tough for details – it’s not something you can just switch on, it’s crafted over time."

Conor Chaplin scored a late leveller last night but Town went out on penalties (Image: PA)
Asked about the flurry of new signings - 12 in total now, with spending north of £100m -Chaplin stressed that reinforcements were required as the Blues tackle the huge step up to the Premier League.

“It’s needed, the level we’re going to and we’re at now, it’s definitely needed," he said.

“We brought in some really good quality, some really exciting players, but it’s not just going to happen straight away.

“We’ve brought 11 or 12 people into the building, so it’s going to be tough – especially when we’ve been a team that’s been the same sort of core group for two years, it’s like clockwork.

“But it will get to that, we just need time on the training pitch, which is something that we’ll put in.”

READ MORE: Alex Jones' Town player ratings

Is there a danger that so many new arrivals could upset the team's famed band of brothers spirit and bond?

“No, of course not," Chaplin stressed. "It’s our job as senior players, the staff and also the duty of the new lads to come in and fit in to that as well, and also add to it.

“Bring their personality, their quirkiness, to the group and help us in their way as well.”

Chaplin says Town's band of brothers ethos will not change (Image: Ross Halls)
He concluded: "It’s really exciting. I don’t think you could expect to be in a Premier League squad and not expect competition or have to fight for your place, you’d be naïve to think so.

“It’s just exciting to be part of the group and the club at this time. It won’t stop for anyone – it’s about people having to carry on and find a way to improve all the time and stay on the journey.

“That’s definitely the way it should be.”

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Of last night's game, which saw Chaplin bag a late equaliser before the Dons went through on spot kicks, the 27-year-old lamented the Blues giving away free-kicks cheaply, and then conceding from two set-pieces.

“It’s definitely a disappointing result, but not a performance to be disappointed by," he explained.

“I thought the performance was good and it should have been a 2-0 win at least really.

“We’ve conceded two set-pieces which is really against what we’ve been about and what we’ve been so good at for the past two years.

“That’s the disappointing thing, especially because you know it’s coming – that was going to be their way of scoring, their main threat, and I don’t know if they had a shot other than the set-pieces.

“But that’s not something we were surprised about, we knew that was going to be the way the game went, it was just about seeing those moments out.

“One, not giving the fouls away, because we’re confident enough to defend in open play and set-pieces are an easy way for them to put the ball in our box.

“So it’s disappointing to give fouls away and we probably gave away too many at times.

“And then the goals were really disappointing on our part as well.

“We obviously found a way back in and then penalties is a lottery.”

Chaplin consoles Omari Hutchinson after he missed a spot kick in the shootout (Image: PA Images)
Of set-pieces, Chaplin added: “We always do the work, non-stop, every week. And we’ve been so good at them, our record speaks for itself – we’ve been really, really good from them for the last two seasons.

“It’s something that we take big, big pride in, that’s why it’s really disappointing to give two away tonight because it’s not like they’re incredible, threatening positions where they’re putting the ball in the box from.

“It should be routine. It’s a good standard delivery and we should be heading it out to the middle of our lines, and we should be dominating those areas.”