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McCarthy Making No Predictions
Tuesday, 22nd Apr 2014 06:00

Boss Mick McCarthy is still making no predictions about how the play-off race will pan out with Town having only two games left to play.

“I’m not going to try,” he said after yesterday’s 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth. “It’s me that’s told you all along that the league is bonkers.

“It’s been said that nobody wants it, but I think it’s quite the opposite, everybody desperately wants it which is why it’s harder to grasp. Everybody’s playing for something. It’s a tough old league.

“We’ve got two games to play, we’ll see what happens. We’ll go to Burnley and see. I don’t know. We might win two games and it might be enough. We might get slapped in both and we might be ruing our chance. We’ll see.”

Asked whether Brighton’s 1-1 draw with Blackpool yesterday was an ideal scoreline for the Blues, McCarthy said: “We can’t do anything about other people’s results. Reading have got to play [Middlesbrough at home tonight]. They’ll be somebody asking the same question to him down there, ‘Good result at Ipswich…’.”

Town, who dropped a place back to eighth after Nottingham Forest's 2-0 victory at Leeds last night, travel to take on the now-promoted Clarets live on Sky on Saturday, before the season ends with a visit by Sheffield Wednesday on the final day.

Looking back to Town’s position at this point last season, he added: “This time last year I don’t think we were safe with two games to play and we only got safe when we beat Birmingham and then we had to go and play up at Burnley, strangely enough.

“It was only in the last fortnight that we were safe. I’m a damn sight happier being at the top end of the table and I’m not worrying whether we’re getting in the top six at all, I’m just trying our best to get there.”


Photo: Action Images



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BlueMachines added 06:20 - Apr 22
Impossible to predict!
1

Stourbridgeblue added 08:28 - Apr 22
Well I'll give it a go. 9th.
0

Bluetone added 09:50 - Apr 22
One better 8th
0

battyblue added 10:03 - Apr 22
The way we are playing i don't think we have much hope Mick Mac has got this club out of a downward spiral for which i will be eternally grateful for what he has done here but i hope he moves on to a new challenge at the end of the season because i don't think he can take the club on much further with his style of play because i and am sure hundreds of others are fed up watching this negative rubbish week in week out home and away we play at home like we are the away team ie Bournmouth on sat i don't see much changing while MM is here.
-5

oldelsworthyfan added 10:31 - Apr 22
It's a lot better than this time last year.....playing to get into the play-offs rather than playing for survival!

However, we have a defence that has leaked far too many goals this season (52!). The defensive organisation hasn't been good enough; we've been vulnerable to attacks on the right hand side (need a genuine Right Back); and we have a Goalkeeper that has done his best, but we need a better one.

Regardless of how we do in the next two matches (it is still wide open!) MM will be getting rid of quite a few players this summer and (I hope) looking for a class Goalkeeper, a genuine Right Back and a Playmaker in the middle.

He'll need some money for this. If he can find the right players, maybe it will come from the sale of (and I hate to say this) Cressy and Smith or even Berra! Having three central defenders trying to cover Right Back has left us very vulnerable.

In the meantime, let's get behind our boys for the next two matches.

COME ON THE TOWN!!!!
6

Bluetone added 10:42 - Apr 22
@ oldelsworthyfan could part of the reason for defence leaking so many goals be that due to the tactics adopted we spend so much time under pressure.
1

rfretwell added 10:49 - Apr 22
Dont slate Mick, 20 hopeless punts upfield overhit v Bournemouth gave Murphy, Williams very poor service. Cresswell, Smith, Chambers, Cole the main culprits. Dont they work on that in training???
1

rfretwell added 10:52 - Apr 22
Paul Green was excellent in centre mid when he replaced Wordsworth at half time. Got forward well, defended well, never wasted a pass , directed the others go close down and scored a good goal. He deserves a run in the team.
5

blueherts added 11:15 - Apr 22
rfretwell - got to agree with that - Thought he did actually look for a foward pass -
Also agree with the 'sitting too deep comment' I maintian this season seem better when we go behind rather than take a lead .
Lets be honest MM is two seasons ( almost) in and his remit last year was save us from going down
This season was to establish us in a Top 10 position
Now the pressure is on to get us up next season
That would be realistic expectation but we will need some investment !!
New RB , Keeper , Striker , Creative midfielder and a wide man
4

blueblood66 added 11:24 - Apr 22
WORK IN PROGRESS.
3

bohslegend added 11:43 - Apr 22
MM did remarkably well convincing so many free transfers into the club especially when you consider 2 things: Both the Dark Lord and PJ both claimed players didnt want to move to Ipswich (difficult place to get to etc etc) and also, we've only just managed to stay up in the Championship. Not exactly an overly attractive proposition for any player looking to better himself. But MM did get in some very good players, for no money, despite the difficulties mentioned above.
This Summer, we all hope that ME will give him some kind of cash now that he has proven he can take teams to a competitive position in the league, and as well as that the soon to be Free Agents will see a stable club, with a well-respected manager (well, outside its own fans) and a team capable of going one or two places better next season.
Therefore, I believe that this Summer we will see a number of important players brought into the fold, on top of the best of our current crop, and with the guys who received valuable first team experience on-loan (Veseli, Marriott, Hewitt etc) coming back in to make the squad stronger in depth.
On top of ALL of that, we should have our Local Derby back! And we'll be wearing the 3 Stripes! No matter if we go up or not I'm already looking forward to next season,..
6

TimmyH added 12:06 - Apr 22
Anybody could get that 6th spot down to about 11th the way this league is! unfortunately for us we have had a relatively poor Easter weekend an in my opinion now depend on a hung over Burnley to turn up for us to stand any chance of getting in the play-offs.
3

bohslegend added 13:40 - Apr 22
So we now depend on a hung over Burnley to turn up for us to stand any chance of catching Brighton who depended on a hung over Leicester to turn up earlier in the month to win 4-1 and are now sitting in 6th.
I don't understand some of the criticisms of this manager and team. This league, this season, is full of examples of teams being beaten or dropping points in games that on paper they look like winning. Brighton slipped up at home to Blackpool yesterday. I don't think their manager is being slated in the same was as MM gets it. QPR have spent stupid money on a squad full of premiership players. 'Arry Redknapp was being suggested by many as a far better choice to lead Ipswich than MM - I'm not sure (given the money he has spent) that anyone could stand over that argument now.
This league is completely bonkers. It is littered with banana-skin games. We are STILL in it with two games to go. Throughout the season anonymous forum users here have slated MM's tactics, style, comments, selection etc etc, and yet we are far better off than those same critics ever thought we would get from very early in the season. I just don't understand the negativity.
4

Fatboy added 13:50 - Apr 22
If we manage two wins from our last two games, we will need the following to happen:
Brighton to get at best a win and a draw from two games;
Forest to do the same, or else win both their games with an inferior goal difference to us;
Reading to get at best 6 points from their three games, or two wins and a draw with a big turnaround in goal difference.

So still a lot to play for, especially with Forest playing Brighton on the final day.

Let's hope Burnley approach their game with us in the same way Leicester did against Brighton. I'd love to still be interested on the final day.
2

Reece87 added 15:25 - Apr 22
It really can go either way. The atmosphere us fans have created in recent games has been fantastic. As long as we stay positive until the final whistle of the final game then who knows. It's been a roller coaster season as a ITFC fan as its been great to be a part of it. Lets make as much noise as possible for the final two games and if it doesn't go our way then oh well it happens. It's been a great season for me and although some have stopped dreaming I won't.
3

dangerous30 added 16:30 - Apr 22
As long as there is improvment then we should be happy. We are a few players short at the moment but hopefully in the summer we can address it. After last year it's good too see us higher up the table and if we don't make the top 6 this year it was not about lack of effort. Proud of are team and club :-)
5


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