A new Ipswich Town era without Paul Cook at the helm got off to the worst possible start on Tuesday night as Charlton Athletic defeated the Tractor Boys 2-0 at a packed-out Valley.

Cook was disposed of over the weekend after a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup with Barrow of League Two, whilst also leaving the Suffolk side in 11th position in the third tier.

After only arriving a few days before as a development squad coach, ex-Ipswich defender John McGreal was placed in caretaker charge and he clearly had a tough task on his hands first time out against the in-form Addicks.

Ipswich fans followed their team to the capital in their numbers but they didn't get a performance to match their support with Johnnie Jackson's side utterly dominant.

 

 

 

 

Let's look at three things we clearly learnt following the defeat for Town on the road.

Time to change systems

Paul Cook was very rigid in his system and tactics in which he seemingly only played a 4-2-3-1 formation and refused to budge from it.

So what did Ipswich do? They decided to appoint an interim manager whose favoured system is the exact same one as Cook's.

There were a few alterations such as Janoi Donacien moving over to left-back but it was much of the same aside from that and they quickly faltered.

It may be time to go back to basics with a 4-4-2 which could see Joe Pigott finally get a chance alongside Macauley Bonne or perhaps even a 3-5-2 which seems to be a favoured formation by many in the EFL now.

Walton the only shining light

Ipswich will be thanking their lucky stars that Brighton loanee Christian Walton was in-between the sticks or else the score could have been even worse.

Charlton had 21 shots on Tuesday night and 10 of those were on target, meaning Walton had a busy night keeping goal.

Walton made a number of stops to stop the Addicks adding to their lead and it was only a couple of minutes from the end when his resistance was broken and Alex Gilbey doubled Charlton's advantage.

It could have been more embarrassing if he didn't play which is probably the only positive that could come out of the match for the away side.

It may not have been a Paul Cook problem

Cook was clearly not getting the best out of the squad he had at his disposal and the hierarchy at Portman Road decided it was necessary to sack the ex-Wigan manager - but was it the right call?

A lot of changes were made over the summer in terms of the playing squad and it could be fair to say that they have not all gelled together, and their first performance under McGreal was not a convincing one.

Is there a few too many individuals at Ipswich Town and not team players? That could be the case, but it was Cook who was recruiting those players so the blame does have to lay with him if that is the case.

We won't know now what would have happened if Cook was given until January to address the shortcomings but by the end of the current campaign we will have all realised if Cook was holding the team back or if it was the players.