Boss Mick McCarthy says he'd give on-loan Crystal Palace man Jonny Williams a kick if he was marking him but believes the Wales international deals with the physical side of the game well, despite his diminutive stature.

Williams has been on the end of some rough treatment at times since he joined the Blues from Crystal Palace last month but appears to take it in his stride.

Former centre-half McCarthy admits that he’d give the 5ft 6in tall midfielder a kick if he was playing against him: “Of course I would! I wouldn’t want to be chasing him for 90 minutes, that’s for sure. If he was limping on one leg I’d have more chance of catching him!

“I’m not going to just kick him, but it’s part of the game. If you just let the best players play without any physical contact or intimidation or professionalism, whatever you want to call it, you get beaten, that’s what happens.

“Why is it that underdogs win games? It’s because they get in people’s faces and tackle them and upset them and then they play on the front foot and play their football.

“It’s part of the game. Jonny handles it so well. He’s brave, he’s courageous with the ball and courageous without it. He takes his knocks.”

He says his players have upped their performances playing alongside Williams but believes the 20-year-old has similarly stepped up: “I think maybe Jonny’s raised his game as well.

“Mind you, I said to him this morning ‘Palace are really missing you, pal!’. I greeted him with that and he said ‘Thanks, gaffer!’.

“But we’re getting the benefit of him because he’s terrific. Everybody appreciates him for what he can do, he’s a terrific talent.”

Meanwhile, McCarthy says Christophe Berra will have been delighted to win the Supporters Player of the Year award last week: “It’s a lovely feeling, especially when it’s the supporters that vote for you because whatever we think about supporters’ opinions, they know who the best players are.

“They tell you about picking teams and tactics and all of that, but they go week in, week out and know who are the good players are in the team, they know who are the best players and they recognise when people have done well for their club.”

He says he’s keen to discuss extending the Scottish international’s contract with his terms currently up at the end of June 2015: “Of course, I’d love to but that’s a conversation I’ll have to have with Christophe.”

McCarthy also had praise for left-back Tyrone Mings, who is set to drop back to the bench at Watford on Saturday with Aaron Cresswell returning from his groin injury.

“He stuck at it, he’s a good player, Ty,” the Blues boss added. “Barring the fact that we’ve probably got the best left-back in the league, arguably the best left-back in the league, Tyrone would be playing.

“That’s frustrating for him, but that’s the way it is with the squad. We’ve got games on Saturday and Monday, he might have to play on Monday, who knows.”

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich121 added 09:44 - Apr 18 I would rest smith for tomorrow because we don't want him out any longer than necessary, and I would keep Mings in- but at rb and move chambers to the centre with Berra.
1

Bluetone added 10:37 - Apr 18 "Former centre-half McCarthy admits that he'd give the 5ft 6in tall midfielder a kick if he was playing against him: “Of course I would! I wouldn't want to be chasing him for 90 minutes, that's for sure. If he was limping on one leg I'd have more chance of catching him!" This is the type of attitude I find detestable about McCarthy. There is too much if you can't win by fair means cheat in football today.

-2

bohslegend added 11:25 - Apr 18 @bluetone How anal can you get? What a ridiculous thing to say! McCarthy is 'detestable' because he jokingly agrees with the reporter that he would kick Jonny if he had to play against him. If anything MM has been a model of fairness and respect to both the opposition and the laws of the game on countless occasions.
3

Bluetone added 12:00 - Apr 18 You think it was a joke I think it is the type of comment that brings the game into disrepute. Do I think that McCarthy would have done that as a player undoubtedly Yes.
-3

bohslegend added 12:35 - Apr 18 and so would Tommy Smith! In fact most good defenders. Can you actually hear me all the way up there on your high moral ground??? But even the joke aside, give MM some begrudging credit - he is quite obviously saying this to 'get in the heads' of upcoming opposing players, just watch, I bet Jonny gets taken down in the next couple of games for a peno or close-in free kick.

1

IamSpartacus added 13:19 - Apr 18 Haha... Bluetone detesting McCarthy because he wants to win. Hahaha. McCarthy, as a player, would have definitely kicked the crap out of Williams, but that is mainly because that was a different era where the talented players had to be a bit tougher. It wouldn't be tolerated now. Rules were brought in to protect the flair players but that seems to have gone too far in many games, so I'd suggest Bluetone concentrate his high moral annoyances on Simulation/diving instead, a far more worthy thing to detest - I remember being amongst the boos against Boncho Guenchev when he dived whilst playing for us. He soon stopped. In short, I suspect Bluetones comments are a thinly veiled swipe at MM just because he doesn't like him, not because he has any valid issue with the subject matter.

0

Bluetone added 13:33 - Apr 18 Cheating is just that cheating - whether it is diving to claim an advantage or kicking an opponent just because you cannot beat him by fair means. Both of which I find deplorable.
1

Vic added 15:07 - Apr 18 I doubt bluetone has ever played football in any kind of proper team or he wouldn't say talk such rubbish.
-2

Bluetone added 15:46 - Apr 18 Vic you are an arse. You think playing a game by the rules is rubbish? I feel sorry for you and anyone you have influence over.
0

bring_back_Wickham added 18:41 - Apr 18 Blue tone is angry
1

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls