Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy vows Blues players will ‘work even harder’ to get results in wake of defeat to Premier League relegation rivals Southampton
Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy felt it was fine margins which went against his side in the 2-1 home loss to Southampton but feels working ‘even harder’ can still bring the results to earn their Premier League survival.
The Blues responded to Joe Aribo’s 21st-minute opener which came against the run of play through Liam Delap’s one-on-one finish 10 minutes later but were unable to get themselves into the lead by the interval.
And a failure to take their chances on a game where they were largely on top saw them pay the ultimate price as Nigerian Paul Onuachu reacted quickest to poke home substitute Kamaldeen Sulemana’s 87th minute spilled shot for the winner.
And the Town skipper admitted it was a bitter pill to swallow.
“Yes, definitely. We really wanted to win. We went for the win,” he said.
“We had a lot of good chances. We took the game to them. And unfortunately, it was a sucker punch at the end.”
Asked to pinpoint what went wrong against the league’s bottom side, who had only tasted one win since promotion going into the game, he said: “The first half was really good, exactly where we wanted the game to be.
“The second half was more even. But we had a lot of good opportunities to create chances and we just couldn't quite get that goal. And when a game's 1-1 in this level, there's always quality and you can get punished.”
With chances such as Nathan Broadhead’s saved effort after being played into the area towards the end of the first half going begging, Morsy admitted it was fine margins that once again went against them, as on so many occasions this season.
“Yes, And that's something that we all have to take responsibility and take ownership of,” he said.
“And each and every one of us to improve individually as a team.”
On it being a flat dressing room he had left, he said: “Yes, bitterly disappointed. But you want it to be after that. You want to feel the emotions and feel the hurt.
“And we know our fans have backed us incredibly over the years and they'll continue to back us. And we're disappointed for them today as well. We're disappointed for all of us. But we don’t want to feel sorry for ourselves. We'll work even harder.
“Like I said, each individual has to take ownership and has to keep improving. And if we do that and come together and stay together, we'll be a better team because of it.”
The defeat, coupled with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 2-0 home win against Aston Villa, leaves Town in the bottom two still but now three points from safety with 14 games to go.
But Morsy feels there is still plenty of chances to turn things back in their favour in the survival race.
“It's every game, there's an opportunity to win,” he said, “and you never know where you're going to get your points from.
“Nobody would have thought our first win would have been Tottenham or our first home win
would have been Chelsea. You don't know where you're going to get your points from, that's
for sure.
“But lots and lots of football to be played. And yes, lots of time for us to get better and get points on the board.”
On whether he still believed they can finish outside the bottom three, he replied: “Oh yes,
100 per cent, 100 per cent.
“We keep going and see how hard everybody works day to day.
“But for sure, we have to be better and we have to take on the challenge and we have to take ownership of it, look the challenge in the face and keep improving.
Asked how difficult it is to not get the rewards for their work and positive play like they have done in the previous two seasons, he replied: “No, it's not difficult because we're playing in the best league in the world.
“And we know that and we know the margins are fine. And we know that we have to grow and we have to get better, and that's a great challenge.
“It's a challenge we all dreamt of and worked hard to get to and we have to embrace it.”
Asked if he felt they were getting better as a team, he said: “Yes, definitely.
“I think from the first time we played them in the season (last gasp 1-1 draw on September 21), it was a much less even game today.
“I thought we were the better team and we have to keep pushing. But when you are improving it's never straightforward. It's bumps, it's bruises along the way, but we're definitely not going to shy away from it.”
The Egyptian international did not agree the game was symbolic of their season so far, with playing well but not getting their rewards.
He said: “I probably wouldn't say (that). I'd probably just say it's disappointing not to win.
“We've tried to win. We've come close, but there's going to be close games where we win this season for sure. We're just going to keep working.
“We're not going to feel sorry for ourselves. We're definitely not going to give ourselves that
victim mentality. We just have to get better. That's the only thing we can do.”
It was put to Morsy that three new faces have come into the squad in the January window in Ben Godfrey, Jaden Philogene and Julio Enciso to improve the quality of the team, and all three can help improve them.
“Yes, we hope so,” he said, “but again, it's football, it doesn't quite work like that. But we just have to encourage them, get them into our culture, into our group and hopefully they can all thrive.”
Morsy has been interchanged with Kalvin Phillips and Jens Cajuste week by week and was asked how easy that is to adapt to.
“It's easy,” he said. “These are really good players. I think we've got a good midfield unit and whoever plays is always ready.”
On having Delap in their side and his importance, but also requiring help, he said: “He wants to score every goal, which is great. And you need a confident striker who wants to score goals.
“He’s having a brilliant season and we've just got to keep supporting him and just keep him going.
“And again, even he can get better and keep improving and he's going to be a big player for us.
“He was on loan last season to Hull, and you come in as a young player in the Premier League and who knows what you're going to do?
“He’s just a lad who just takes it all in his stride and he'll just keep going and just score as many as he can.”
One positive from the game was a lively home and full debut from Julio Enciso and Morsy was quick to praise the Brighton loanee.
“Yes, exceptional talent. You can see straight away he loves the ball. He's a great dribbler.
He can beat people. He's going to be a big player for us,” he said.
“And yes, it's his first night in a while, so he's going to keep getting better and better.
And I'm delighted he's here.”
He added: “He’s a fantastic talent. Great quality. Really good footballing brain.
“And he's someone who is going to get better and better when he learns the style and how
we're going to play.
“He's got that individual quality, which is going to be massive for us.”
With the FA Cup fourth round tie away to Championship side Coventry City up next on Saturday, Morsy was asked if could be a good distraction from the intensity of the Premier League survival quest.
“Yes, maybe, but it's not something we think too much on. We've got to take the challenge on board,” he said.
“You know, you can't hide from it. You've got to look it in the face and keep going.”