Ipswich Town column: Recruitment for life in Premier League has to be called into question heading into January transfer window

It is the season to give – and Ipswich Town certainly did that on Saturday.

As Conor Chaplin passed the ball straight out of play from kick-off, only for us to concede within 25 seconds, I did worry that we’d be in for a long afternoon and, sadly, that was the case.

Town were totally outclassed, without Newcastle having to really get near hitting top gear.

‘That will happen this season’ – was the usual messaging. Of course it will.

Our squad is nowhere near the level of some of these sides, but I was really frustrated with that performance, especially the third goal, which in my opinion is just inexcusable.

Last season we thrived off momentum from the season before that, bouncing back from adversity and continuously putting a run of results together.

Now obviously that’s going to be 10xs harder to do in this league, but after winning away at Wolves, I did see this one as a game to get something out of again and get some momentum going, especially before fixtures with Arsenal and Chelsea.

Is the jump in quality too high? It’s beginning to look that way, isn’t it?

After spending record-breaking amounts in the summer, you can’t help feel Town may need to do that all over again in January if they are to be anywhere near it.

It’s funny really, as what dawns on me when I’m trying to work out how we can get out of this is that Town are in a completely different world in terms of the opposition.

I do think recruitment has to be questioned though.

Mark Ashton said: “We’ll get things wrong along the way,” and that’s clearly been the case with some of the signings.

They don’t look good enough, especially one between the sticks.

You always get strange results over the Christmas period and let’s pray for one at The Emirates, in favour of those in blue.

Come on Ipswich, it’s not over yet.