Thomas: Not Really Professional? I Was Just Desperate to Play Games Monday, 25th Jan 2021 12:01 Luke Thomas admits he was stung by comments made by Barnsley boss Valerien Ismael after the player completed his loan move to Town last week. Ismael claimed Thomas, who will spend the rest of the season with the Blues, displayed a “not really professional” attitude but the player is keen to point out that he was merely frustrated at the lack of first-team opportunities he was being given at Oakwell. Thomas said: “There are two opinions and different sides to it. I didn’t agree with what he came out and said but if that’s the way he felt that’s up to him. I have full respect for him, his staff and my team-mates at Barnsley but I was desperate to play games. “I lost a lot of confidence in the period of time I was there at the start of this season and I just wanted to get out and play more regularly. “Maybe I pushed for the loan move a bit more than I should have done but it was only because I wanted to be playing more often than I was. “I think most, if not all, players are confidence players. For the last three or four months, both on and off the pitch, I was struggling at Barnsley and I just felt it would do me good to make a fresh start elsewhere and now that I’m at Ipswich I will be looking to get back to my best. “I would give all my wages back if I could play on a Saturday — that’s how much I love football. I just want to play. I was getting frustrated and the fact that there was an opportunity for me to go out on loan and play a few games really appealed to me.  “Hopefully, now that I’m here at Ipswich, I can get back to playing on a regular basis and start to show what I can do. “I haven’t spoken to the manager at Barnsley about the things he said when I left there. I have just spoken to my team-mates there and wished them all the best for the rest of the season. “Every player is annoyed when they are not playing but I’m not one to show it. I’ll probably go home and be pissed off with my girlfriend or my family, or something like that, but I certainly wouldn’t show it in front of the other players and I wouldn’t give anything to the manager for not playing me. “Actually, my girlfriend is down here with me at the moment so maybe we should keep that quiet and not let her find out what I said!” Thomas has a good feeling about the temporary switch to Town and is particularly positive about adapting to manager Paul Lambert’s preferred 4-3-3 system. “Yes, it definitely suits me to play that system,” he said. “It’s probably the best formation that I could ask for to be honest. I get to be isolated in a one-v-one situation out wide and I believe 4-3-3 will be the formation for me and hopefully I can show why.” Asked about his fitness, Thomas replied: “I was involved in virtually every game for Barnsley this season before coming here. I’ve not had an injury or anything like that, so it’s not as if I’m recovering from something. I don’t think I would have any problem lasting 90 minutes.” The ex-Derby winger turned his attention to tomorrow night’s home clash with Sunderland, in which he hopes to make his full debut for the club after coming off the bench late on against Posh at the weekend. He said: “It’s obviously a massive game, it’s live on television and there’s probably no bigger game in League One than Ipswich against Sunderland. Hopefully we can go out there and get the right result to put the disappointment of Saturday’s defeat behind us.” Town will be on a double mission against the Black Cats, not only seeking to gain a rare win at the expense of one of their promotion rivals but also looking to secure victory and improve on a poor record in front of the Sky Sports cameras that has seen them win just once — 2-0 against Wigan in August last year — in their last 18 appearances on the satellite channel. “I didn’t know about that,” said Thomas, “but we’ll be doing all we can to remedy the situation. We know it is going to be a tough game but we want to put on a good performance and get the three points.”
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