Town boss Mick McCarthy says his team has got to get out of the bad habit of giving teams one or two-goal starts. Former Blue Jordan Rhodes netted in the 12th and 16th minutes - the first a penalty - to give Blackburn Rovers a 2-0 victory over the Blues at Ewood Park.

“It’s become a bit of a bad habit of ours giving teams a goal start or a two-goal start and it’s got to stop,” a frustrated Blues manager said.

Town’s progress under McCarthy has been based on defensive solidity but the Blues have now kept just two clean sheets in 22 games in all competitions and only four teams have conceded more than their total of 17 in the Championship this season.

He says that the defensive frailties aren't a result of the Blues now offering more going forward.

“It’s not because we’ve got more of a threat, that’s for sure,” he insisted. “It’s not only one thing, I can put my finger on a lot of things that are wrong but I can’t just give you one answer as to why we are defending the way we are.

“I’ve been at pains to try and put it right this week but we didn’t start well, and I have to say they started well.

“They played like us when we were in our pomp last season and playing well 4-4-2. They got about us, people were blocking things and stopping things and stopping us playing. And they did it better than we did.”

Town had four strikers on for the final half hour but McCarthy, admitted it was always going to be tough once the home side were two goals in front.

“They got their tails up from the start and to get two goals it was always going to be difficult to get them back,” he added.

“Just putting on attackers doesn’t always work but if you’re two down you really need to find a solution.”

Regarding Jordan Rhodes, whose two goals take his overall total against his old club to six in six matches, he said: “He was outstanding, his all-round performance.

“He messed us around, he bumped us, he nudged us, he blocked things. Don’t forget his goals because they have won the game, but his all-round performance was outstanding.”

McCarthy didn’t have too many arguments about the penalty decision: “It’s one of them. He’s not going to go down if he’s anywhere else other than in the penalty area but I don’t blame him and Larsen gave him the chance.

“I’ve no complaints about it, I’m looking at it and he shouldn’t have been allowed to get into that position and fair play to him for driving in the box, so not really.”

Ryan Fraser missed out with an injury which McCarthy says isn’t too serious: “He got a knock before the Leeds game, he had a bad ankle and he got another knock in training the other day.

"He had a scan and the scan’s clear but he’s just bruised bone, so he wasn’t fit for today."

However, McCarthy says the knock could force the on-loan AFC Bournemouth winger out of the Scotland U21 squad: “That’s a discussion that our physio’s got to have with them and I think he’s going to struggle for it.”

McCarthy confirmed that Jonas Knudsen was absent as the Dane is unwell: “He was poorly, he had diarrhoea and sickness.”

In his Ipswich Player HD interview the Town manager apologised to fans: "That was as poor as we have been in the three years I have been here and I feel sorry for our fans who watched that. That performance wasn’t good enough.”

Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer was delighted with both the result and his team’s overall display.

“I think it was probably the most complete performance since we’ve been in charge,” he enthused.

“I thought we came out of the traps ever so well, scored two goals very quickly and then continued to play some excellent stuff.

“We got to half-time and we knew the firepower that Ipswich have got and that we were going to be under the cosh in the second half and that proved to be the case, but we still created some great chances.

“But [I was pleased with] the resilience we showed and to come out of that game with a clean sheet.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, Ipswich are going to be right up there this season, especially with the attacking options Mick’s got. At one stage he had all four strikers on the field.

“It’s very, very difficult to pick out any one individual, as I say it was the most complete team performance.”

Former Blues academy scholar Rhodes was once again a thorn in his old club’s side.

“Jordan is rightly going to get the plaudits for two goals again,” Bowyer said. “The header is a fantastic header, it really is.

“And the penalty, he’s the calmest lad on the planet when it comes to taking the penalty. He’s in a very good, rich vein of form.”

Photo: Action Images

KiwiTractor added 01:55 - Oct 4 give*
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sidtheswan added 07:33 - Oct 4 MM needs to turn it around and quickly . The answer starts at the back and with 2 players out of position and a average goalkeeper things need to change . The midfield with 2 defensive central midfielders and 2 attacking wingers also doesn't work . Finally the fact that we have 4 good attackers who for some reason look out of sorts needs to be sorted . The big pole whose name I've forgotten how to spell needs to be given a chance as does Oar . Everyone knows Bart is our best goalkeeper and needs to be re-instated. MM needs to stop being stubborn change things for our next game . If he doesn't more and more of us will be asking for a change . He has done fantastic since taking over but things are now going backwards and fed up listening to same old excuses from him !

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warktheline added 07:34 - Oct 4 @essex57, you've down marked my previous post and of course all are entitled to their opinion, but I would be very interested for you to post what you failed to agree with! Looking forward to your perspective on current trends!
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sidtheswan added 07:37 - Oct 4 Forgot to mention ME where's the money from Mings and Creswell gone ?
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oioihardy added 08:38 - Oct 4 Look what happened to wolves sacked him and the club went down hill ! Don't wish a good thing away just yet!
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Langdon_Blue added 08:38 - Oct 4 Those calling for Chambers at Centre Half...were you at the recent Brighton game, did you see him play there?
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Kesgraveblue57 added 08:45 - Oct 4 The problem of the back four has been there all season and part of last season for the first time I am going to criticise MM The central One of those must be dropped The strange thing is either will do because both are in adequate if you're looking for promotion you now have some really quality young and hungry send a backs bring them in one at a time The status quo will not do each year the championship gets quicker better quality better coaches and you have to react to that MM a very loyal man to his players is making the simple mistakes

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GoldieBlue added 09:39 - Oct 4 Sack MM????!!!!!! 5 poor games and the last 3 years of solid progress is forgotten. Some of our fans are truly mental, but they do make me laugh.
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gino88 added 09:40 - Oct 4 "Bad habits must stop". Couldn't agree more MM. The problem is the bad habit is playing dean gerken, luke chambers out of position and two left footed centre backs in the same team!!!! When are you going to get it into your head that Luke chambers is rubbish!! Why can't you see that Tommy smith doesn't have a right foot? Why can't you see gerken has the authority of a rubbish maths teacher! If anyone on here can defend my points above I welcome it because you are obviously under the MM hypnosis. MM has done well since joining the club but he has reached his end point in my opinion. To spend 3 years at a club and still not have players who can pass a ball between them is not good enough. He does not know his best team, we can all speculate who should play. The only thing he sees as a certainty is his favoured goalkeeper and defence, which most of us rightly disagree with. How many more errors will it take before he realises this back line will get us nowhere near the playoffs. Why did he let yorwerth go to Crawley??? Stick him in next to Berra and allow him to thrive at a good level rather than the cruddy league 2. HOW can he possibly believe the skuse-Douglas partnership is worth persisting with? He has Kevin bru available and yet he prefers dads army!!! I sometimes wish managers would have a read on fans forums, his backroom staff obviously don't dare question his decisions. He needs a wake up call after the international break because by the time he approaches his anniversary month he could be a manager under severe pressure and he only has himself to blame!

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LordMamu added 09:49 - Oct 4 We finished the game with 4 strikers on the pitch ? That just shows all the tactical acumen of a 7 year old playing FIFA 15. This reminds me of when MM played Hyam and Skuse together all the time and wondered why we weren't creating chances and finally changed it ages after everyone else had changed it....can't play both Douglas and Skuse and can't play Chambers at right back. Sort it out Mick.

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Warkys_Tash added 10:01 - Oct 4 Bit early & silly to call for McCarthys head. However, agree with most of Gino's points. MM needs to get out of the habit of players players who are our of position & out of form. Sort it now Mick, before the autos disappear out of sight. Blackburn were the worst team seen at PR last season & mugged us off with a point. We may as well have not got off the bus yesterday, shameful, woeful, inept. LIVID.

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essex57 added 10:12 - Oct 4 To answer your query walktheline the only reason i post on here is because i like winding you fantasy managers up im not qualified to comment on MM and Tc decisions but have faith in them and will support them until the directors decide differently i cant think of any other manager that could do much better with the resources hes got. I do agree that sometimes he makes some strange selections but dont agree its through stubborness he sees the players day after day training and picks the team in his opinion best suited to the days opposition . Perhaps we all had our expectations raised after last season getting to the play offs. As you seem to pay so much attention to my posts you might recall that ive previously stated we should of got rid of Murph as i think he couldnt repeat the success of last season and hes 32 Finaly i think Diddz is over rated and too injury prone. By having such a large squad i think weve gone back to the Magilton days of not knowing what your best 1st team is as i stated at the man u game those 11that started could easily win a championship game.

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TimmyH added 10:21 - Oct 4 The 'Bad Habit' breakdown: 2012/13: P 32 GA 35 1.09% 2013/14: P 46 GA 53 1.15% 2014/15: P 48 GA 57 1.19% 2015/16: P 10 GA 17 1.7% Micks defensive record is slowly getting worse the longer he's been here, still find it amazing how he sorted our defense out as quickly as he did when he first came here (remember in the first few games we shipped 5 & 6 against Palace and Leicester) but then we became fairly solid at the back. So that's certainly no progress defensively a couple of years on!

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warktheline added 11:33 - Oct 4 @essex57, what qualifications are required to pass comment on the day to day running of your football club? You contradict yourself, are 'directors' qualified to make such judgments? As for winding up, you couldn't wind up a yoyo! The remainder of your post is your perspective of our club, well done !
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warktheline added 11:39 - Oct 4 Cheers TimmyH, don't shoot the messenger!!!
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essex57 added 11:41 - Oct 4 Re the directors they might not be qualified as in coaching badges etc but i think by virtue of the money they pump in over years they will make at sometime a decision of whats best to protect their investment
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warktheline added 12:12 - Oct 4 @essex57, what about the fan pumping money into the club over the last fifty years? Not educated enough to make assessments?
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yorksblue added 13:07 - Oct 4 Solid progress. Where?
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essex57 added 15:31 - Oct 4 We have a choice!!!
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armchaircritic59 added 16:40 - Oct 4 How about this for a revolutionary idea, and one there isn't a cat in hells chance of MM employing. Assuming all our players are fit, try the following formation. It's a 3-1-4-2. 1.Bart 2.Emmanuel 3.Smith 4.Knudssen 5.Skuse (defensive midfielder-protecting back three) 6.Maitland Niles (wide midfielder-winger) 7.Bru (creative midfielder-with some defensive duties) 8.Bishop (creative midfielder) 9.Fraser (wide midfielder-winger) 10.Mcgoldrick 11.Sears Very forward thinking, will put pressure on the defence to perform, but worth a try? What do you think? I don't mind being laughed at,lol!

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yorksblue added 18:28 - Oct 4 Hoddle please
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warktheline added 18:39 - Oct 4 @armchair, I can appreciate the positivity in your selection but your back 3 would send me to a very dark room for a very long time!!! I would imagine that may please some on forum!
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Ipswich58 added 18:44 - Oct 4 Spoke to someone close to Steve Morgan owner of Wolves recently. He said Morgan wanted McCarthy out before they were promoted because he knew he wasn't up to it and would be relegated. MM is out of his depth and a relic from a bygone era. It will end in tears as I've said before
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yorksblue added 19:20 - Oct 4 Brendan's available
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dirtydingusmagee added 20:12 - Oct 4 i can see its leading up to'' Mc Carthy out '' soon, just wonder what donkey these people will be wanting in from the meadow of failures to take us further along the road . We were in deep sh;t Mick came in,he turned that around and we have progressed since, Give him some credit and time to get things sorted ,we have a relatively new squad this season,apart from a couple they all look capable of doing a better job,I reckon it will get sorted and we will finish in the mix [ no not at the bottom ] Come on lads get behind the team and lets help Mick get the best out of them . COYB

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