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McCarthy: Delighted With Players
Monday, 21st Apr 2014 18:24

Boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with his players as they drew 2-2 at home with Bournemouth believing that they had been at a disadvantage with the Cherries having had a day longer to prepare for the match.

“It was a hard-fought game, I think it was a really good advert for the Championship. It was a fairly open game.

“We certainly had a disadvantage in terms of playing Saturday and Monday. Normally it’s Saturday-Tuesday, they had Friday-Monday and I can’t express the pride I have for the lads, the way they go about it.

“They do their job every single week and put an effort in for me, for themselves, for the crowd, for the club, they stick together. I think they honour the shirt, really. I think they’re fantastic.

“I think they’ve done it again today. At the end of that game they were running on empty some of them. Normally on a Monday we do nothing, today we had 95 minutes of football to play.”

The Blues manager was pleased with his side’s opening goal and wasn’t overly critical with the manner in which they conceded Bournemouth’s two equalisers.

“I thought ours was a great goal, as I always do,” he said. “We took a quick throw-in and caught them with their pants down a bit.


“Skusey got there with great effort and Ando, who was being sick prior to that gets in at the far stick and scores.

“I don’t think we could have done a great deal about their two goals, an unbelievable overhead kick and a deflection.

“It happens. They had other chances and we’ve had days when we’ve had it and probably got away with it because we’ve had a deflection or a penalty, and it happens during a season.

“I thought our lads were terrific, they’re a good side, Bournemouth, and having that day extra they moved us around but we stuck with it and we’ve come away with a well-deserved point.”

McCarthy said midfielder Luke Hyam was never in with a shout of playing having picked up a knock at Watford, while centre-half Christophe Berra was closer to being involved after suffering a knee injury at Vicarage Road.

“They couldn’t play, I don’t think they’re greatly serious injuries. Christophe’s knee had swollen up. It went down considerably yesterday, it was really swollen after the game at Watford.

“Luke was never in with a chance, Christophe did come in and have a jog, he couldn’t play, so I’m hoping they’ll be OK for next week.

“Ando I think has got a hamstring and he was also being sick on the pitch, I don’t know what it was, he scored after that as well. Woody’s got a dead leg.”

Sub Tyrone Mings came close to a winning goal and McCarthy says he and assistant Terry Connor have been encouraging the left-back to get forward at set pieces.

“Me and TC have told him to go up, he’s 6ft 4in or 6ft 5in tall and he got his head on it and he was unfortunate,” he added.

“It would have been nice but it wasn’t to be and they had chances as well, so I think overall it was a fair result.

“I think it’s a good point for us they way we’ve had to play the two games in two days and I’m really delighted with the lads. Overall, at the end of that game, it’s a good point for us.”

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe believed his side did enough to win the match: “I thought we were the better team today, I thought we created the better chances and played the better football and we’re disappointed not to win.

“Very interesting tactically to see both teams going for the result at the end. We tried to throw the kitchen sink at it and tried to score, but ultimately we just couldn’t get that golden chance we needed.”

Elsewhere, Carlos Edwards helped loan side Millwall to a 0-0 home draw with Doncaster, while in League One Elliott Hewitt and Gillingham drew 1-1 at Walsall.


Photo: Action Images



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TractorCam added 18:33 - Apr 21
Delighted with what? Holding on to a point?
-7

kozmik added 18:35 - Apr 21
Thanks Mick, last season we didnt know which division we would be in until near the end, this year has been the same, but far more interesting!
10

irishtim added 18:36 - Apr 21
Like a manager who praises and defends his players. Our promotion will come. Prob not this season. Well done . Great to hear our players playing for the club.
27

Michael11 added 18:38 - Apr 21
Delighted that we got a point at home after being totally dominated by a team in their first year in this division? Simply not been good enough this weekend, and mainly down to McCarthy's tactics and substitute decisions. He's done an incredible job with us and I love him to pieces, but he doesn't half frustrate you at times.
0

Smithy added 18:44 - Apr 21
A little puzzled with the last substitution, just seemed a little bit negative with both Taylor and Marriott on the bench I thought we would go for it if one of them was brought on. Anyways great progress made whatever happens this season so a big thanks to MM.
9

blues1 added 18:51 - Apr 21
Michael 11. ive not always agreed with what you've had to say but I cant disagree with anything you've said here. hes also so predictable with his substitutions too. with 60 mins gone today I said to my mate, "theres 30 mins to go, we're 2-1 up, mings and Marriott are both warming up, who do you reckon he'll bring on"? and sure enough, it was mings. all that happened then was we invited pressure on ourselves, and boy did it happen. as the home team we should have been pressing them, not the other way round. Mm can go on all he likes about the extra days rest they had, but I don't buy it. footballers are supposed to be fit sportsmen, and if they cant play 2 games in 3 days then somethings wrong,imo. you don't find tennis players complaining about tiredness and they play 2 or 3 matches a week for most of the year, on their own so don't get a rest in their matches as all footballers do, at some point in a game.
7

StochesStotasBlewe added 18:52 - Apr 21
Mick, I,ve no problem with the players obvious commitment, sheer desire, effort etc etc. It,s the tactics at home especially, baffling substitutions that I find difficult to understand sometimes.
3

ArnieM added 19:03 - Apr 21
If someone had said Town would be in or around the top 6-8 positions almost all season we'd have asked them what are they on given that for the last 4 years we have narrowly missed relegation. For Gods sake some of you just enjoy what has to date been a fantastic season for us and next season promises to be even better under MM if his record of getting all his teams promoted I his 2nd full season in charge.

so what's it to be. Winge or back the best set of players to form a true " team" that weve had to cheer in the last 6-8 years??
16

blueboy1981 added 19:03 - Apr 21
............ I guess we have to believe we are the only Team to play two matches over the weekend - BUT many have had to do what we have, and possibly gleaned a better return of points for such.

Our problem is : Tactics ? Substitutions ? - which I am sure only MM can see the logic in.

Very dissapointed with the whole game / result today - and one has to question whether the desire for the play off's is actually there - with certain people !!

Hit the minus button - but this is truth - not falicy.
-7

TimmyH added 19:04 - Apr 21
Yep unfortunately too many times this season there have been strange tactics or formations that have looked just too defensive (largely at home). I think the effort is there but unfortunately lacking quality in certain positions. Over the summer we need a quality footballing central midfielder as well as more quality out wide as the bare minimum.
3

bluesfranc added 19:08 - Apr 21
Go on about his tactics all you want but he was screaming at the players to get forward not telling them to drop back... D'urso is an awful ref, gave us nothing pretty much, gave them freekicks for nothing which they ended up scoring from, first half we were woeful, second best to everything but second half we improved and attacked a lot, had Mings had scored that header it would be a very different result and none of you would be criticising McCarthy... We're still able to get 6th place so no harm done...
We've made incredible progress since Mick took over, there's good times ahead, and we only have McCarthy to thank for that
7

TimmyH added 19:09 - Apr 21
* By the way who was it that said we had one of the fittest teams in the league? - Tunnicliffe? and that was coming form an ex-player of recent times, not the manager, so he should know, so can't really use it as excuse although very strange scheduling of games!
0

josephgarrett added 19:11 - Apr 21
Everybody's comments are wrong
-9

captainfantastic added 19:16 - Apr 21
@TimmyH

I think you're getting mixed up between fitness and fatigue buddy. It's pretty difficult for the muscles to recover from a game which had been played 48 hours before.
5

Count_Arthur added 19:35 - Apr 21
I thought we played ok, but Bournemouth played better and just seemed to want it more. Cyclists in the Tour de France ride 100s of km (up mountains) day after day after day and don't get paid anything like as much as footballers in the top two flights of our league, so I think a blaming a poor performance on lack of fatigue or fitness is a bit lame (pardon the pun).

That said we're in a far better position than we've been in for ages at this point in the season, so let's keep up the increasingly great support at the games and get behind MM, TC and the team. COYB!
5

TimmyH added 19:45 - Apr 21
@captain - 48 hours rest as professionals whose muscles have come accustomed to playing once/twice a week for 90 minutes and practice for another hour or so most weekdays should be no problem, shouldn't make that much difference between us and Bournemouth I would have thought.
3

Hatman added 19:49 - Apr 21
Frustrating to be so near yet so far..., but the only thing we've been near for the last few years since Keane decimated us is League 1. You do sense Mick has pulled a good, honest group together on a shoestring, no big time Charlies, and that next season we can be even stronger in this league mounting a serious promotion challenge.
4

Michael11 added 19:53 - Apr 21
@blues1

Didn't realise I'd divided opinion with past comments so I apologise haha all I've ever done is back the boys and I'm 100% behind McCarthy. I think we've had a superb season but today, I just don't see how he's happy with a draw when it feels like a massive chance passed up.
3

northernblues added 19:55 - Apr 21
1 point from 6 is dissapointing considering what was on offer! still 1 point off the play offs 2 games to go is good progess compared to the recent seasons under jewell and keane!
0

Blue041273 added 19:59 - Apr 21
Comparisons with Tennis and Cycling are pointless. Both are completely different to Football and the fitness/stamina dynamics do not bear comparison. Footballers routinely run 6 to 9 miles during a game, much of it at a sprint, while enduring a high degree of physical contact. Rugby players endure much more physical contact but cover much less mileage. Cyclists, depending on their discipline within the sport, use more reserves of energy and require longer recovery times. Tennis players may play longer matches but do not cover the same amount of ground and have little or no physical challenges. The fitness of Town's players cannot be disputed, yet today they were tired. With a small squad it was only to be expected that's we would run out of gas sometime.
4

GerkensBeard added 20:00 - Apr 21
At the end of the day that was a point gained for me. Bournemouth totally dominated, we looked like we were feeling the effects of the 2 games in quick succession and only really had about 4 shots all game. Credit to Bournemouth they were fantastic even though I thought our performance was very lacklustre.

Go again Saturday and hoping that Burnley have the promotion hangover but can't see it happening considering they've only lost once at home to Leicester all season. Would just love to see it go down to the last day of the season because then anything could happen!! But all in all with the players and budget MM has done a fantastic job this season. A few times his tactics may have been wrong but other than that I can't really criticise. Going from a club destined for relegation last season to fighting for the playoffs this season with next to no money and with in my eyes an average bunch of players he has done a sensational job. And I'm sure there would be bemoaning our style of play and tactics if we do make the top 6 this season.All in all Proud to be an Ipswich fan at this time
2

northernblues added 20:07 - Apr 21
gerkensbead fyi
burnley lost at home to boro 2 weeks ago
-4

captainfantastic added 20:08 - Apr 21
@Timmy

Just because they are professionals it doesn't make them superheroes. Of course they suffer fatigue and considering they had 33% more recovery time than us, yes - it would make a big difference, especially in the closing stages
1

ipswichtillidie added 20:08 - Apr 21
2 points dropped in an inept home performance. We all recognise we have come along way under Mick and the effort and desire isn't in doubt but the quality (especially from the middle of the park) was again missing.. What was so disappointing today thou was the lack of ambition to win the game....
-2

battyblue added 20:15 - Apr 21
I watched Burnley win promotion to the prem at two nil up they were pushing for three not sitting back soaking up pressure and playing hoof ball cograts to Shawn Dyche who has his team playing fine attacking football just wish we could for a change.
7


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