Massimo Luongo was delighted by his side’s performance in their 3-1 win against Millwall, arguing that they could’ve scored more goals given their commanding performance at Portman Road.
The Blues flew into an early lead, with the Australian international finding the back of the net shortly after Conor Chaplin’s fifth-minute opener. Nathan Broadhead put the game to bed shortly before half-time, allowing them to take the sting out of the game after the break.
“It was a really good game,” Luongo said.
“In the first half, we came out of the traps flying. Over the last few games, we’ve either conceded early or we haven’t started too well, so I think that was really good for us mentally to get that first goal, press and put in tackles to set the tone of the game.
“We had a lot of good stuff in the first half. 1-0 or 3-0 doesn’t matter, I think we were coming out of that first half looking really good.
“The second half was more of a controlled performance. They changed their shape a little bit to look more secure.
“They got the goal, but we were quite comfortable. I think we could’ve made it four or five, so a really good day.”
Luongo doesn’t seem to do tap-ins, with his strike against the Lions coming from the edge of the area, leaving former Town goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski helpless as the ball flew into the back of the net.
“I was saying earlier that I haven’t scored from outside the box in a long time,” he admitted.
“I don’t know if this one was maybe on the edge of the box, but that’s still quite far out for me!”
Crucially, it capped off the fast start that Ipswich needed, having conceded in the opening 15 minutes in each of their last five league games.
Manager Kieran McKenna knew the importance of addressing the issue, even though his side’s impressive results have continued, and Luongo believes that their early goals against Millwall will go a long way to changing the issue for good.
“We pride ourselves on the high press and working hard,” he revealed. “Our running stats are up there in the league.
“Over the course of five or six games and a period between international breaks, it can be tough. If we start like that in every game, I think we’re in with a chance.
“Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way, where we’ve been on top and they’ve got a silly goal or something like that, but I wouldn’t be too concerned about it.
“It’s just good today that we came out flying and got two early goals to make the game a little more our tempo.”
On top of that, their win against Joe Edwards’ men showed a big reaction to their defeat at West Brom over the weekend.
The Baggies became just the second team to beat Ipswich in the league all season, limiting them to zero shots on target across 90 minutes. They responded incredibly well to that setback, which Luongo was always confident would happen.
“West Brom are a top team,” he argued. “I’ve always struggled playing there. Their players are seasoned professionals from the Championship and the Premier League.
“It was always going to be a tough game. Take the goals away and I don’t think you could say that we were amazing, but I wouldn’t say that we were bad. The two goals highlighted that it wasn’t our day.
“It was a great reaction. I said earlier that the boys came in Monday like nothing had happened. We looked at a few things on the TV screen, the manager showed us a few things and we picked ourselves up and went again.”
The win, which caps off a month where Town picked up eight points from five games, comes at a good time.
Saturday’s home match against Coventry City kickstarts a vital run of fixtures in November where they’ll face several top teams, which will truly put their promotion credentials to the test.
“This period is tough, but we’ve got a good squad and a big squad, so I think everyone is ready to play,” Luongo explained. “Everyone will probably be used.
“We’ve seen today that Axel [Tuanzebe] came in and didn’t put a foot wrong. We’ve got the capability to change the squad and still produce a good performance.
“It’ll be tough, but it’s an exciting time, so you can come out on one side or the other side in this little period before New Year’s. It’ll be interesting to see where we are at the end of it.”
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