Town boss Roy Keane says he is yet to consider whether the Blues will look at signing new loan strike pair Daryl Murphy and David Healy on a permanent basis in the summer. The duo joined Town from Sunderland on half-season loans on Monday.

Keane said: ”We’ve not even thought about it, to be honest with you. What you find when we’ve spoken to clubs, particularly when you’re trying to get players from the Premiership, is that they’re on decent money and rightly so, they’ve earned the move to warrant the contract.

”No doubt if the two boys score 20 goals between them, we’ll have a look at it in the summer. But they’ve only been here 24/48 hours, let’s see how it pans out.”

The Blues boss confirmed that Murphy will be seen as a striker rather than a left-sided midfielder and that the pair could go straight into Saturday’s side facing Middlesbrough at Portman Road.

Keane says the new additions can net the goals to take the Blues away from the relegation zone: “The two new lads will give us something a bit different to the other strikers we have here.

“I hope that they score goals, especially David, who is more of a goalscorer than Murph. But Murph too has got goals for me in the Championship.

“I decided we had to shake up things, especially after last Saturday. I got two in, but I was hoping to get one or two more in as well. That's something I'll be hoping to address from next week.”

Keane confirmed that it is defensive areas that he will be looking to cover with these further loan additions.

The Blues are still likely to without the injured Jon Walters and Brian Murphy for Saturday's game, while new midfield signing Devann Yao is likely to be given his first public run-out in a Town shirt for the reserves next Wednesday at Norwich.

Photo: Action Images

HighgateBlue added 10:54 - Feb 4 What were the other areas he was looking to strengthen then? Goalie and left back?
0

OsborneOneNil added 11:04 - Feb 4 Imo, the main and obvious area we could do with someone is in the play maker department.........
0

itfccymru added 11:13 - Feb 4 Esetianal signings for us in my opinion; David Healy is guarenteed to give us goals, and if we want to be pushing for the play-off's next season we NEED a 20 goal a season man, and we have finally found him!, Daryl Murphy is anouther player we need to push on, he's versitile, who can also score goals, and is the closest one to Jon Walters who can fill the void when he is injured/suspended ect, Come on Keano, sign them up!

0

squiz added 11:23 - Feb 4 OsborneOneNil - I agree. I dont think the problem is really with the strikers. We dont have any creativity in midfield, just a load of carthorses who put alot of effort in, but dont have much skill on the ball. We arnt creating enough chances. Every striker misses chances - look at defoe last night, he needed about 5 chances before he finally scored, then he ended up with a hatrick.

0

tractorgirl2 added 11:32 - Feb 4 i think we have too see how they do first, but i am hopeing david starts getting goals soon because he could be our 20 goal a season striker, murphy will not score that many but good target man, if every thing goes well i would loved them too stay
0

8ashblue added 12:05 - Feb 4 i agree with squiz as service has been poor from midfield. we dont seem to have any player that can carry the ball into the penalty area. the gap between midfield and our strikers is too big so once the forwards get the ball there's noone in support. Most of our shooting is outside the area and is pretty obvious so keeper has plenty of time or ball goes well wide. On top of that when we do get near enough shots are weak or wide (eg Priskin). i too hope the new signings are better equiped but unless the midfielders play their part its not going to change much

0

bubblesblue79 added 12:17 - Feb 4 8ashblue, thats what leadbitter and jon walters are for!!!!!!!!!
0

cbower added 12:43 - Feb 4 The one advantage of a loan deal is that neither party is committed long-term if things don't go well (I accept that if the reverse happens then the loan deal can also have disadvantages - player does well and goes back to parent club as we hope is the case with Priskin). Let's wait and see on Healy and Murphy. As to the other issue that has come up here reagarding midfielders, I have commented before that we do not have anyone getting beyond our striker (s) although I think both Leadbitter and Norris are capable of doing so. Walters is certainly able to do this but let's not forget, he has effectively been played as a striker for most of the season! I think with Norris & Leadbitter, it is the fear of losing the game that is constraining their drive forward. Their defensive duties override and perhaps this has contributed to us not losing many since the Barnsley game (i know Norris has only been back since Xmas so substitute others in for him before that!) but also not winning enough. Loosen the shackles on at least one of them and we may see more link between midfield and attack?

0

Mark added 12:56 - Feb 4 It seems sensible. I guess this tells us that we haven't agreed fees already, should the loans be successful, and it reminds us that these players are on very high wages so will be costly now and should we sign them in the summer. I guess in the summer if Evans comes up with some more millions, we could spend all this just on securing the loan players we have (Rosenior, Colback, Murphy, Healy). Really then this team needs to play like a promotion team to demonstrate that Keane is successfully rebuilding the side ready to go up next year. Regarding the need for a playmaker, isn't that exactly what Owen Garvan is? He doesn't seem to have had many chances recently.

0

brittaniaman added 13:58 - Feb 4 Ironic that Yao"s first game back here is against Norwich away, because his last game here was against Norwich at portman rd on a nice sunny afternoon in the autumn.Hope he does as well again.
0

Flip added 14:03 - Feb 4 i also agree with OsbourneOneNil, leadbitter and norris both rarely give the ball away but we need someone like (i know hes at galatasaray and at the min, out of our league) giovani dos santos, someone who can run at defenders and create something out of nothing just to make other defenders come across to create space for the strikers, we never have anyone who has abit of pace who makes defenders work, and i guarantee these keane haters who be anti murphy cos he wont score as many as healy but hes not an out n out goalscorer hes a heskey type player, big tall and strong so holds up play when the balls played to him and healy will play off him for headed flick ons, i dunno why we just save our money from signing a left back and focus fully on a goalkeeper or a playmaker, someone different who will add something different about our team, peters and d.wright both decent left backs

0

JohnWarksTash added 14:07 - Feb 4 Im a little confused by the posts claiming Healy will be our 20 goals a season striker? Looking at his career stas he averages a goal every 4 games, has never reproduced his international goals ration, and has not been a regular in any team for a good few years......please let me be wrong, but I doubt he is going to set the world alight!! Last time he was playing in East Anglia (with Norwich....lest we forget!), he scored 2 goals in 10 games! Woo hoo our prayers are answered...NOT!

0

Liverpool_blu added 14:39 - Feb 4 Lets Play 4-3-3 on Satursday with Healy, Stead and Murphy Up Front.
0

mightytown added 15:01 - Feb 4 yeah, im agreement, decent signings of two strikers who should help us beat the drop and hopefully finish the season on a high. a midfield playmaker is missing, that extra touch of creativity, to set us apart but now is not the time to be bringing that person in. in an ideal world garvan would fit the role but as weve seen all season and have known for sometime, he is immensely talented but as of yet, way off cementing a regular starting place. that is why we have had to find a balance between the attributes of garvan, colback and norris, with norris being the most consistent and better performer. the key in this situation is finding someone to play alongside leadbitter. leadbitter has easily been our best signing and its clear to see he has the ability to be playing top flight premier league football, we are starting to see the raw assembly of a very good team but it will take time. i can only speculate who would be suited as the driving force of our attack alongside leadbitter, so i wont bother! but this all depends on us finishing strong this season and doing some good business in the summer. there are plenty of games left and with our form improving (despite the blip at preston) we will easily pick up enough points between now and the end of the season, even if we dont completely smack it! so here's hoping for a win on saturday! COYB, look forward to seeing murphy, healy and yao!

0

Daleyitfc added 17:25 - Feb 4 The other positions we need to strengthen are manager and chairman.
0

Lomas93 added 17:34 - Feb 4 shut up daleyitfc you obviously havent a clue about football you idiot
0

ChambersM added 17:49 - Feb 4 i like the 4-3-3 idea
0

alex12345 added 17:52 - Feb 4 Totally agree with Lomas 93
0

AJblue added 18:54 - Feb 4 Daleyitfc, could do with replacing some , so called fans too!!
0

50yearsablue added 21:58 - Feb 4 If we have no creativity, as some suggest, why have we had more shots on target than any other championship team? The simple fact is that not enough have found the net.
0

buryblue77 added 23:32 - Feb 4 Agree with 4-3-3 as has been mentioned but not with Murphy, Healy and Stead, wait until Walters is back for that or throw Martin/Edwards/Peters instead of one of Stead/Healy. Murphy can play on the left side of that formation but not so sure about playing either Stead or Healy on the right though.
0

bennyblue added 07:18 - Feb 5 I AGREE the manager and chairman are in urgent need of change
0

corshamblue added 10:21 - Feb 5 4-3-3 but we must defend well and score 1 more goal than them! Singing to the sound of the vindaloo song "We're gonna score more goals than you.... nah ne nah .. . nah ne nah" I Wish! COYB
0

martyitfc added 16:19 - Feb 5 well wot bot this for saturday 6 players under keano at sunderland good business 3-0 town COYB EDWARDS LEADBITTER COLBACK MURPHY STEAD HEALY i forgot walters he has to be their somewhere but god work mr keane good work
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls