Ipswich Town’s Ashley Young is relishing the chance to take on in-form Coventry City at Portman Road
Ipswich Town defender Ashley Young is excited by the prospect of facing Championship table-toppers Coventry City, who they face at Portman Road tomorrow.
The clash sees the bookies’ favourites for automatic promotion go head-to-head in Suffolk, with the Sky Blues sitting pretty at the summit, 10 points clear of second, 12 ahead of third and 15 ahead of Town.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Young said.
“That’s any game we go into, and that’s not just myself, I think we’re all looking forward to it.
“When you’ve got top of the table coming to town, of course there’s a little more to it.
“We’re taking it as another game. We want to build on the last few games.
“Obviously midweek was a bit of a disappointment, although we got ourselves back into it, I felt we definitely should have got the three points.
“We’ve had a run of games away from home, so it’s nice to play in front of the fans. We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s game.”
While Coventry are over-performing pre-season expectations, Ipswich are on the other end of the spectrum, having lost at Oxford United before Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers.
The 40-year-old admitted that his team were below par against Blackburn Rovers (Image: Ross Halls)
The performance at Ewood Park was particularly poor, and Young has acknowledged that the Blues will need to be better going forward.
“We spoke before the game, at half-time and after the game as well,” he explained. “It just didn’t look like a performance that we’ve produced this season.
“You heard what the manager had to say. Us as players, we were truthful with each other and said exactly the same.
“That was Tuesday night. We’re now Friday and looking forward to a game we’ve got tomorrow, and that’s the main objective.
“We know those performances are very rare here, especially at this club. Hopefully we won’t see another one of those performances again.
“We’ve worked on things during the week, since the game on Tuesday, and then you look on the flipside of it. We had that performance on Tuesday and still went to the end and managed to get a point.
“I think we’ll be able to look back on it as a massive point at the end of the season.
“We don’t want to have another performance like that. We’ve talked about things and gone through things. As players, we’re open and honest with each other, and I think that’s the best way to be.”
Sindre Walle Egeli’s last-gasp equaliser in Lancashire took Ipswich up to seventh. It means that they are the hunters, while Coventry are being hunted.
The Sky Blues have opened a gap at the top of the Championship table (Image: PA)
Some would argue that it suits Town, but Young knows who will feel better at this moment in time.
“If you ask them, they would be happier being at the top where teams want to catch them,” he admitted.
“We want to be at the top and I’ve got every confidence in the team and the squad that we’ve got, that we can get ourselves up there. We’ve shown it in different spells, it’s just about putting it all together now.
“When you’re playing teams at the top, you want to put down a marker and show you’re the team that can be up there.
“I’ve got every confidence that we can be up there, and after tomorrow’s game, hopefully we’ll get the three points and we’ll be looking further and further up the table.”
Young is the only Championship player to have played with Coventry City boss Frank Lampard internationally. The pair were involved in the England set-up and often came head-to-head in the Premier League, especially when Young’s Manchester United took on Lampard’s Chelsea.
“I know him very well, to be honest,” Young revealed. “I could probably give you some stories, but I won’t give you any!
Young played against Coventry boss Frank Lampard in the Premier League – and they were England team-mates (Image: PA)
“We played for England together. He’s gone into the managerial side of things and doing really well. If you ask him, he’ll be full of confidence and full of confidence in his team.
“He was a fantastic player when we played together, and he’s showing that as a manager as well. He’s doing well there.
“At times back in the day, when you met up with England, there were teams who would stick together.
“There was the United table, Chelsea – it happened. As a youngster coming into the squad, I was welcomed with open arms. Lamps was one of those who did that.”
Did Young always sense that Lampard would go on to become a top manager?
“Him and Stevie G [Gerrard], when we were around England, you could tell the ones who would go on to be coaches or managers,” he recalled. “It was definitely those two who stood out to me, who were going to be managers.
“You’ve just got that type, I guess. If you ask anyone about me, you won’t have them saying, ‘yeah, he’s going to be a coach or manager’. No way.
“He just had that way about him, that he was always going to go into the managerial side of things. He’s doing well at Coventry.”
Lampard’s style of play is open and expansive. His Coventry side aim to outscore their opponents and have bagged 50 league goals already this season.
Perhaps that will suit Ipswich, or at least a neutral who wants to see a good game, but Young doesn’t mind how his side approach the game as long as they take three points.
Young is adamant that Town can still catch the teams at the top of the division (Image: Ross Halls)
“For people not attached to the clubs, they want to see a goal-fest, but for us, if we score one and they score none, that’s enough for us,” the 40-year-old admitted.
“The main thing for us is to go out there, put on a good performance and get the three points, however that’s done. There will be times where things aren’t looking so pretty in football, it’s ugly football, and there are times where you play well and don’t get the points.
“Whichever way it’s got to be done, you fight and work as hard as possible. If there are a lot of goals, hopefully it’s coming from our side, not theirs.”
With a sizeable gap between the two sides, can Ipswich catch Coventry?
“How many games are there left?” Young asked.
“Over half,” a reporter replied.
“They are catchable then,” Young chuckled. “You don’t look too far ahead.
“Of course, they are on a good run, but it’s about what we do and there are so many points to play for.
“I’ve never known a team to get automatic promotion before Christmas. Until it comes down to April, May time, that’s when you start finding out where a team is going to be, where a team is going to finish.
“That’s when we’ll be looking at the table. Until then, it’s game after game. Our next one is Coventry and that’s what we’re looking at.”
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