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McCarthy Frustrated By Failure to Score
Saturday, 21st Feb 2015 18:04

Town boss Mick McCarthy was left bemoaning his side’s failure to score having conceded a goal which he felt was preventable as Reading left Portman Road with a 1-0 win.

“We didn’t score, did we?” he said. “Jamie Mackie’s was a good strike but I don’t think we should have conceded the goal that we did, whether he should have got it as easy when he got the shot off and whether we should have done better to stop it.

“But from his point of view it’s a good goal and we’ve taken the game to them consistently all the way through and not managed to score. One of those days, I’m afraid.”

He added: “It’s a tough one this, I can’t say our lads have played badly, they’ve had a good away performance, scored a goal, sat back, defended well and we’ve not been able to break them down.

“There are maybe some things we could have done better, maybe a final pass or a finish, but it just wasn’t the day.

“Of course it’s a disappointment if you don’t score and don’t make the keeper work. Maybe we should credit their back four or their whole team, they defended well.”

McCarthy believes Reading are a better team then their current position of 13th: “You put that team of players up and they should be competing for the play-off places, that’s where they should be.

“Having conceded a goal against them it was hard. It’s parasite football and it suits them even more so when we’ve conceded and they can sit back and catch us on the break, which they did a few times.

“I thought we created enough opportunities to have scored but today we didn’t manage it.”

He says most teams in the Championship are closely matched, as today’s results illustrated: “I keep reminding everyone at press conferences, there’s not that much between us.

“It’s a reoccurring theme. We watched Leeds beat Middlesbrough beforehand - that is the Championship.

“Middlesbrough had all the chances, all the play. I’m not saying that that was the case with us but we’ve had the majority of the play but not been able to score.”

He continued: “Do you think our 11 players on the pitch are that much better than Reading’s 11 players over their careers, over their seasons. No? There’s nothing between us at all.

“They’ve got the first goal and they’ve hung onto it. Our position and points tally might be a good deal better, but in terms of the quality of the players and strength in depth of the squad, there’s nothing in it, they’ve probably got a bigger squad than we have.

“They’ve got good players. We haven’t scored. I can’t sit here and give you a million answers for it today, that is just what’s happened. They scored a goal, they’ve defended, we couldn’t score.

“It’s always a sad day when you lose, even more so at home, but it’s what you ended up with. Not today.”

McCarthy says his side suffered no new injuries while he says striker David McGoldrick is progressing having said he hopes to have him back for the Norwich game next Sunday: “It’ll be nice to have him back.”

Reading manager Steve Clarke was pleased to see his side pick up their fourth win in their last five away games in all competitions with the other a draw at Millwall.

“We’re doing OK away from home,” he said. “The home form is a little bit of a puzzle, to be honest.

“You could see today that we’ve got good quality in the group. We’ve also got character in the group and if you don’t show your character and your strength when you come to a place like this, you lose. So for us it was a big three points and a pleasing three points.”


Photo: Action Images



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bluefeast added 18:08 - Feb 21
We will win vs Birmingham and all will be well , if we don't when we play norwich on sunday we could be 7th before that game starts. COYB ,dont blow it ,have the desire to play every game like a cup final ,be proud of the shirt and really have a go.
8

ArnieM added 18:16 - Feb 21
...well Mick, thats what happens when we rely on ONE player to score the goals and today he played with a broken nose.
This coupled with the FACT that we have no flucking hope of scoring a goal from midfield with the calibre of midfielders we have in the squad.


Still, this is only a "recent issue" isnt it...............?
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yerfdog87 added 18:18 - Feb 21
Same old mick, put team on board, should be higher bla bla. Trust my signings, well no I don't Mick, boring signings who will do nought. Starting to irritate me with he's predictable comments.
3

Geoff added 18:25 - Feb 21
Need options up front Murphy not fully fit dids injured need to get a proven scorer like Benty on loan.Stop making excuses on the performance today not good enough.
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marco007 added 18:28 - Feb 21
Simple equation for away teams. Stop Murphy from scoring and we offer little or no threat.
There is just no quality i the bench to change anything. I mean a Millwall and Blackburn reject will hardly send shivers down our opponents spines!
Let's be honest, Norwich have a far better squad and will beat us easily.
Forget this season......get real, we are just not good enough :(
5

bluefeast added 18:39 - Feb 21
My next point is we are adhering to FFP. So why did we not sell Mings and McGoldrick for a combined 10 million and then complemented our team with quality players. Parr was a ready made left back , in fact in my opinion is better than mings , So 10 million to sign some of the better players that play in the championship. Mick favours 442. 442 needs balanced in order to be a unit, get chambers back sat centre half , bring in a specialist right back as he doesnt rate hewitt , a quality forward runner in centre midfield ,one that get ahead of the strikers etc etc.
1

bluefeast added 18:43 - Feb 21
Top 2 will be one of Derby Bournemouth , Middleborough Norwich. Then there is Watford brentford Wolves and us fighting for 5th and 6th. It would be very easy to finish 8th , much harder to finish 5th or 6th. With our lack of goal scoring options im starting to be concerned that we slide.
5

blaggers added 18:45 - Feb 21
Blimey yerfdog87 you didn't obviously sit through all the dross and subsequent post-match comments churned out by Jewell. 'Eh, dunno, Brenner, can't buy a win, etc'
2

ZurichBlue added 18:58 - Feb 21
We will finish 8th. We've been punching above our weight and have done so well to at least be competitive and in with a shout. But sadly we lack quality, we are unbalanced with too many round pegs in square holes and we failed to strengthen in the transfer window. All very disappointing but at least we're at the right end of the table and MM has given us some hope this season - frustrating though some of his team selections are!
1

essextractorboy93 added 19:08 - Feb 21
No point for a knee jerk reaction after this defeat. We are doing well, there are no easy games in this league, especially at this point in the season when every team is fighting for something. Regroup for Tuesday night, no point feeling sorry for ourselves.
1

battyblue added 19:09 - Feb 21
its not the mid fields fault we have quality there they are playing to MM instructions they are to defend not attack in mm eyes and when the ball is flying over their heads most of the time there is not much they can to about , also mick puts players out of position to accommodate his pets ,we have always played our best football at 433 so he sticks with 442 wont be watching this cr-p on Tuesday its so frustrating its unreal..................can anyone see us beating them up the road then.Parr is one of the most consistent in the squad always plays well but he is on the bench almost every game with under-performers picked every game .....
2

Sergio added 19:11 - Feb 21
we huffed and puffed but we are not good enough! been to three home games this year and not seen a goal! I am half glass full type of guy but we will be in the championship next year!
3

Michael11 added 19:30 - Feb 21
I'm not going to moan and groan as there's still plenty to play for. However, I do wish McCarthy would stop bigging up teams up we don't beat as being 'better than their current league position'. They're obviously not else they wouldn't be there! He called Rotherham (stuffed 5-0 at Wolves) and Wigan (0-3 against Charlton) good teams and they're clearly not. We're having a great year and I'm delighted, but I just don't think we have enough to be a top 2 team. We really need to add more quality to even secure a play off spot now. Our over reliance on Murphy is embarrassing and our midfielders' goal record (or lack of them) is a disgrace!
6

Garv added 19:32 - Feb 21
Thought Reading played well and certainly out battled us and played us at our own game. But we were awful, a step up from Wigan for sure, but not good enough for a top six team.
5

manualthetisfanclub added 19:40 - Feb 21
Chambo to smith,smith to Berra,berra to mings,mings back to Berra,berra to smith,smith then to Bart next its hoof up the field hoping murphy wins it to a runner who hopefully score! If murphy doesn't score himself!Blimey it's so predictable.Up to Xmas it was working,afterwards teams snuffing it out,breaking away with pace to score. I'm not being negative here,just think we've been punching well above their weight to get where we are with the squad we've got. I think we've missed a massive trick in January to really back the gaffer with couple of QUALITY signings but all we get are journeyman,no disrespect. Surely ME could have gambled a bit,if it doesn't work so what,better to try then not. You can't tell me boro and Derby have given a toss about ffp,they've gambled a bit.At the rate it's going be lucky to get 6th. I fear for the derby game,by then we may be behind them after blowing 10 point lead over them! Not negative just a realist.
11

SickParrot added 19:42 - Feb 21
Just not good enough quality to get promoted. I can understand why ME might be reluctant to spend more money, given that previous managers have wasted his money, but you cannot get into the premier league on the cheap. We over achieved in the first half of the season and had a genuine chance to get promoted, if we added some more quality to the squad, but the failure to spend money to bring in the quality required for the final push will be decisive . Excusing this by hiding behind the financial fair play rules is a smoke screen, given that the any penalties for breaking the rules are outweighed by the financial rewards of promotion to the premiership.

I can only conclude that MM, in a stubborn and misguided determination to prove that it is possible to get into the premier league without spending money, has failed to make ME aware that he is unlikely to have a better opportunity to get into the premier league.

6

Steelmonkey added 19:54 - Feb 21
I've just deleted two paragraphs of what I really wanted to say as it sounded more negative than todays display.
0

blueboy1981 added 19:54 - Feb 21
....... people continuously knock ME for not strengthening the squad in January - but wait, how do you know that MM has asked for anyone / anything other than what he has acquired anyway ??

I am sure that ME would not interfere, with his limited 'product' knowledge, and sign player's that MM had not been interested in, or indeed asked for.

All too easy to blame ME - and protect MM.

MM is NOT even making best use of what he has available - i.e playing player's out of position when not necessary, etc;
3

ArnieM added 19:59 - Feb 21
Manual...fan club. Your observations match mine, but the reason the back four play footie amongst themselves is because no one from midfield is dropping short to pick the ball up from defence. Strangely enough that used to Hyam's role!
5

prebbs007 added 20:14 - Feb 21
One of those days ??? Are you having a giggle MM ???? It was dreadful. We were dreadful. We are dreadful. Massively over achieved. Dross players who have exceeded expectations. Big opportunity to bring in quality in January and while Derby get Bent, Ince and Lingaard we get dross dross and more dross. We will not be in top 6 and will be embarrassed by the scumm£rs next Sunday !!!!
Such a wasted chance ME & MM but we are inside FFP do that's fine then !!!! What a joke !!!!
6

jas0999 added 20:15 - Feb 21
The problem is we only had two available strikers going into this week ... Despite having ample time to strengthen in January. So, in our wisdom, we decided to bring in a striker on loan ... But not any striker ... One who doesn't score goals. Not only that, said striker now needs a 'break' in the loan as otherwise won't be available for potential play off final. Yet in Jan we could have signed players on half season deals. I said at the time it was disgraceful and stand by that. The lack of ambition is unreal. Look at Derby's January signings. We are now relying on journeymen.

Worse, the lack of goals in midfield has not been addressed by Mick. Poor. Tabb summed up the quality n midfield today when his 'shot' from six yards went for a throw in. Sunday league.
6

Mark added 20:21 - Feb 21
I suppose the reason Mick bigs up other teams is to make the point that ITFC has been assembled from a bunch of free transfers, mainly rejected by other clubs, as that is all the finances he has been given allow him to bring in. Aside from our high league position, looking at the players and where they came from there is no reason to think we should beat Reading, Wigan etc. I suppose that's what Mick is saying.

We look well short of promotion at the moment, to say the least. The full backs especially today were dreadful, but most of them were poor.
1

blueherts added 20:22 - Feb 21
Just back
Why Smith keeps place not sure
Cham and Berra with Parr in
I thought Mings poor today
First 15 we were decent with Sears and Murphy linking and bringing others in
Couldn't see how goal came about as at other end in lower SAF but seeing it again we gave him far too much time
Why no Connolly on bench
We are predictable esp after the goal
Shame as I think a fully fit 3 of dids sears and murph would be decent
So, we need some spark in second half and he brings on Anderson - he has been poor this year since Start of jan
Stewart has pace - go with him
As has been said, and I a big fan of what MM has done for us very little, but after they scored today we didn't offer any creativity
If we had width and got behind then, which we could the way they set up it would have caused problems
But everytime Mings had chance to take on defender on outside he just stopped, reminded me of Lee Martin for one horrible moment
We will play worst and win and play better and lose
Today we really had chance with Bmouth and boro losing
Worried about budgies so we must win on tues and if Dids is back on sun with murph sears bish and unleash Connolly I would feel better.
Just tighten up at the back and drop smith and give Mings a talking to
Big month coming up!
4

blueherts added 20:22 - Feb 21
Just back
Why Smith keeps place not sure
Cham and Berra with Parr in
I thought Mings poor today
First 15 we were decent with Sears and Murphy linking and bringing others in
Couldn't see how goal came about as at other end in lower SAF but seeing it again we gave him far too much time
Why no Connolly on bench
We are predictable esp after the goal
Shame as I think a fully fit 3 of dids sears and murph would be decent
So, we need some spark in second half and he brings on Anderson - he has been poor this year since Start of jan
Stewart has pace - go with him
As has been said, and I a big fan of what MM has done for us very little, but after they scored today we didn't offer any creativity
If we had width and got behind then, which we could the way they set up it would have caused problems
But everytime Mings had chance to take on defender on outside he just stopped, reminded me of Lee Martin for one horrible moment
We will play worst and win and play better and lose
Today we really had chance with Bmouth and boro losing
Worried about budgies so we must win on tues and if Dids is back on sun with murph sears bish and unleash Connolly I would feel better.
Just tighten up at the back and drop smith and give Mings a talking to
Big month coming up!
1

manualthetisfanclub added 20:31 - Feb 21
ArnieM agreed to a point,100% about midfield not dropping in to pick up the ball,skuse do that alL day long,but needs to have somebody in there to take the game by the scruff of the neck,some one to probe,attack with meaning,not hopeful punts over the top.Not sure about hyam,can't fault work ethic but his distribution not great.
0


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