Town have confirmed that Christophe Berra and David McGoldrick are in a 23-man squad for this evening’s friendly at Cambridge United (KO 7.45pm). The duo and Daryl Murphy began pre-season training last Monday and are yet to feature in a game after being given an additional fortnight off having been on international duty until mid-June.

Speaking on Friday, manager Mick McCarthy said he was taking things more slowly with Murphy: “He’s had injuries in pre-season before and we’ll make sure he’s ready to come back, we don’t want to get him injured.”

Also missing from the party travelling to the Abbey Stadium will be Jonny Parr, who had a sore thigh when the squad was in Ireland and was rested for the trip to Germany.

Town again seem likely to start a different team in each half of tonight's game as they have in their two previous friendlies.

Cambridge's Lowestoft-born manager Richard Money expects a tougher game than the two back-to-back 60-minute friendlies his club played against Norwich last Friday, the matches ending 1-1 and 2-0 to the Canaries.

"I think it will be a bigger test than Norwich because I'd expect Ipswich are more ready to play than Norwich," he told the Cambridge News.

"The other night had a training game feel to it because of the format, but I think this will be much more of a match.

"I want the same organisation and the same determination as against Norwich, but if we can, we want to have more periods with the ball.

"We'd like some periods where we've got controlled possession and that's not easy against teams who are two or three divisions above you."

CAMBRIDGE: 650 #ITFC fans have bought advance tickets for tonight's match. Tickets are available online at http://t.co/9IN8v4PZRe until 6:30– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) July 21, 2015

CAMBRIDGE: Tickets are available this evening on the gate with no price increase - £12 adults, £8 concessions, £4 17 & Under, U5 FOC #ITFC– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) July 21, 2015

CAMBRIDGE: Tickets are available CASH ONLY on turnstiles or if paying on card from the CUFC ticket office at the stadium #ITFC– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) July 21, 2015

Photo: Action Images

JimmyJazz added 15:23 - Jul 21 So Murphy's not exactly going to start the season hitting the ground running. Seems odd to be concerned, not about any injury he has, but because he had an injury before. He was fine last summer
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ThatMuhrenCross added 15:31 - Jul 21 @JimmyJazz - I think it's got to be considered that Murphy has only recently returned to training, and had a busy summer with international football. If he's not 100% match fit yet, there's no point risking him in a meaningless friendly, only for him to pull up injured and miss the first few weeks of the season.
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JimInGreensboro added 15:52 - Jul 21 It's Didz' fragility concerns me, not as much Murph's. Hell, the lad played in a mask last year. Didz, however, reminds me of the Fiat Spider I owned years ago. Great car, on the few days it wasn't in the repair shop.
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kozmik added 16:03 - Jul 21 so... Bart, Gerks Chambers, Smith, Berra, Yorwerth, Hammond, Emmanuel, Kenlock Tabb, Skuse, Maitland-Niles, Bish, Fraser, Bru, Ambrose, Henshall, Stewart Didz, Pitman, Sears makes 21 - Ambrose and maybe a Triallist?
0

karls_dad added 16:12 - Jul 21 My question is ............they finish the season fit as a fiddle, then in just a matter of a few weeks are unfit to play a full match, so what happens on their hols then? live the life swilling beer and Big Macs? Just how can you go from one extreme to the other in such a short time? surely as proffessional footballers they understand that they have to keep fit, attending the gym/running etc etc, i don,t get it at all!

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werderbremenblue added 16:30 - Jul 21 @karls_dad You will be surprised how quickly you lose fitness when you stop from youre normal day to day activities, players will all have training programmes over the summer to keep fit but nothing will compare to the intensity if full training and games.
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JimmyJazz added 16:36 - Jul 21 But why is Murphy no more match fit than Berra and McGoldrick? As mentioned it's probably McGoldrick that needs wrapping up in cotton wool. Surely Murphy can manage 10-30 minutes at this stage of his pre-season? My point is he'll still be playing catch-up regarding fitness and game time on Aug 8th at this rate.
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Seasider added 16:40 - Jul 21 Think Murph looked a bit leggy right at end of season.Think he had a week or two before he joined up with Ireland and 3/4 weeks afterwards which is about the same as all the others. He was almost ever present last season,and considering the amount of work he put in to become the leagues leading scorer,I can understand Mick easing him in. I remember that Smithy had a close season interrupted by Internationals and as he had a lot of travelling as well,said it really took it out on him. Mick also spoke earlier in close season of a similar experience he had as a player;so lets let the Manager manage!

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topguy added 16:46 - Jul 21 I think MM knows the fitness lvls of em and if he played murp tonight and got injured for weeks you be slating him, So no matter he wouldn't win, I say get off his bk and just remember what we feel like going bk to work after holidays. As long as hes bk firing ill be happy, COYB.
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ITFC_Cairo added 17:11 - Jul 21 Anyone know if this will be broadcast on radio or anything?
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IpswichLewis added 17:22 - Jul 21 WANTED!! Does anyone have a spare ticket or know anyone who does for the Brentford Game?? I am willing to pay more than face value!! Thanks
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carsey added 17:41 - Jul 21 I'm with those who question this fitness thing. They have all had a rest and I would expect as professionals they shouldn't go overboard during the off season. Surely they could run around for half an hour in a friendly - unless Mick knows something we don't I don't buy it.
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muccletonjoe added 17:54 - Jul 21 No chance of Murphy getting injured, not much chance he will be fit either
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tractorintheloft added 18:03 - Jul 21 Just as well he signed a new deal or the rumour mill would be in a frenzy. MM knows what he's doing and it's a long season now that internationals are tagged on the end.
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topguy added 18:12 - Jul 21 Lets get a campaign going to stop our players playing for their countries, otherwise let the people in the know do their jobs without moaning, god some people can find something to moan about just have a go at anything if you love the club support it not complain.
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jas0999 added 18:15 - Jul 21 Murphy deserves a break in my opinion. Looked knacked at the end of the season and then played for Eire. Personally, the squad still looks lacking in some areas, such as the defence.
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flashblue added 18:22 - Jul 21 I suspect that Murphy's new deal will not stop him moving on this summer. A big bid will still land him.
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Cakeman added 19:01 - Jul 21 I am not too worried about Murph and Didz not being quite ready as we have Sears and Pitman who are evidently flying and could just be the two who end up doing it for us this season. With good service from the wings we could be on for some entertaining stuff. What we don't need at the moment is an injury for either of those two though.
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