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McCarthy: Draw a Fair Result
Saturday, 17th Oct 2015 18:42

Town boss Mick McCarthy was pleased with his side’s second half performance during their 0-0 home draw with Huddersfield, feeling two incidents late on were crucial in a game either side could have won.

“I was pleased with the second half and it hinged on two chances and two saves,” he said.

“Didzy’s still saying the ball didn’t go out when he crossed it and Dougie got tripped and it would have been a penalty.

"I couldn’t see it so I’m relying on Didz’s opinion and if I was Didz I would say it hadn’t gone out as well, like everybody else when you’re playing.

“But the two saves, Gerks made a great save in the second half when the freekick dropped to Huws. And their keeper kept their point when the ball dropped to Didzy.”

McCarthy agreed that it was a game of two halves: “It was. I made a change at half-time and brought Didzy on.

“I feel sorry for Tommy Oar because it turns out he’s got concussion. I didn’t know that when I took him off. I knew he’d been affected by the ‘collision’. It was a nasty bang, I’ve just watched it again.”

Might the keeper have been sent off for the challenge? “I wouldn’t know what would happen today, no idea. If I can’t say anything pleasant about them I’m not going speak about them at all.”

Regarding full debutant Oar, McCarthy added: “He didn’t play well but neither would anybody else if they were concussed. He quite clearly didn’t have double vision as he would have said something to us, but it really did affect him.

“He got a right smack in the hooter. And as it turned out it quite clearly affected his performance.”

The Town boss was able to take a number of positives from the match: “A clean sheet is one. I think the reaction in the second half was another one, we played well having not played so well in the first half. But sadly we were a man down really with Tommy [Oar concussed].

“And the fact that I thought we were back to being competitive. We certainly weren’t going to allow them to play and I thought some of the players who had tough starts, like Tommy Smith, I thought he then won that battle with Ishmael Miller having had a tough start. So there are positives to take out of it and the clean sheet is certainly one.”

He says on another day the Blues might be celebrating all three points via McGoldrick’s late chance: “If you don’t do all the basic stuff, you’ll get beaten regularly.

“On a different day, last season maybe, we’d have scored that and would have eked a 1-0 out of that and that’s why we ended up in the play-offs.


“That’s just not happening for us at the moment but it will happen if we do all the other things and get back to basics and scrapping and tackling and blocking and working hard.

“That’s not to say we haven’t been working hard but perhaps not stopping the opposition as much as we should have done.

“If we get back to that then maybe those 0-0-ers will turn into 1-0-ers or 1-1s will turn into 2-1s in our favour again.”

Why does he feel the Blues have failed to maintain their early season form which saw them top the table? “Maybe the teams looking at us and the way we play is a big thing.

“I got asked in August ‘Are you going to be suffering from a hangover?’ and quite clearly we weren’t. Maybe teams thought we would be but we weren’t, we went a steamrolled teams.

“And I think others have looked at us then and thought ‘We’re going to have to be on our mettle playing against Ipswich and be at our best’.

“There are two teams in it, not only us, and I thought Blackburn did it to us two weeks ago but it’s not happened today, it’s a been a real tough Championship game and probably a fair result but either of us could have won in the last 15 minutes.”

McCarthy, who opted not to make significant changes to his team, was pleased with the reaction from his players: “I am because the reality is that it's us conceding goals that’s been our real achilles heel and we haven’t conceded one.

“And there were times Bez [Christophe Berra] and Tommy [Smith] got in a mix-up and Nahki Wells got in but he hooked it off the line. The first bit’s not great defending but the second bit’s brilliant defending.

“Jonas slipped but they got back and blocked it. Somebody else had another slip on this side, got free and Bez got in and blocked it. That’s great defending.

“With the chances that they got, they made up for, they repaired the damage and so if anything it was giving goals away that had been the problem and we defended goalkicks and corners really well today against another big side. So, I’m pleased with the lads who played.”

The Blues boss says he’s not inclined to react to chants from the crowd with fans calling for the introductions of McGoldrick in the first half and Kevin Bru in the second.

“I’ll just tell you that the more they shout probably the less chance they’re going to come on,” he added.

“I’m not being that belligerent about it but if anybody thinks that Freddie Sears and Brett Pitman aren’t good players, I think they’re a really good partnership.

“You know what, the ones that came on had the chance to be the hero today, didn’t they? Maybe on another night it might be Brett and Freddie that come on to be the hero. Dougie headed one over the crossbar and it’ll be Dougie’s turn.

“It’s the same everywhere I’ve played since I’ve been a kid. There are always a couple who get it in the ear hole and they have favourites, and that won’t change.

“If Didz’s ball didn’t go out we’d have had a penalty and that was Dougie in the box. I thought he was great.

“So when it’s going badly I’m not really the flavour of the month and the players who are playing aren’t flavour of the month. We’ve just got to change their taste buds again, haven’t we?”

McCarthy felt his back four repaid his faith by recording the Blues’ third clean sheet of the season: “I think you’ll find that over the course of my career I’ve known who the best players are and who the best defenders are and who the best frontmen are and have a pretty good idea of what I’m doing.

“It might not always look like that sometimes when the results go the wrong way, but everybody has a different team in their head, everybody. When it’s going badly the knee-jerk reaction is ‘Let’s change it all’.

“Then, of course, when you do that if that goes to mush you have to change it again. And if that goes to mush you’ve got to change it again.

“The back four that played there, apart from Jonas Knudsen - who was excellent I must add, apart from his slip, and he was playing against one of the better wingers in the league - were fantastic last year. They’ve not become bad players.”

McCarthy was also pleased with Daryl Murphy’s performance from the bench and also with his other subs, David McGoldrick and Larsen Touré: “I pleased with the response from the subs who went on. I was delighted with them all.”

Huddersfield manager Chris Powell agreed with McCarthy that a draw was a fair result: “I think so, on the balance of play.

“We started off very well, we thought there would be a response from Ipswich’s last performance but we more than matched that.

“At half-time I said to the players that I thought we should be a goal or two up because we had very good situations which, especially away from home, you would like.

“But Ipswich made a positive change at half-time bringing David McGoldrick on, so we knew we would have to be quite resolute in our defending, which is something we had spoken about all week because we hadn’t had a clean sheet all year. It was about time we got one and we knew we’d have to earn it today and I think we did.”

Regarding James Vaughan’s late red card, he added: “It’s put a bit of a dark cloud on what’s been quite a decent day, a decent performance.

“He’s let himself down because he’s worked very hard to get back and he was close to possibly starting. I thought I’d bring him on for 20 minutes to see where he’s at.

“You manage the game, there were two or three minutes to go, it’s our ball. He shouldn’t even get involved.”


Photo: Action Images



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muccletonjoe added 18:46 - Oct 17
No one is listening anymore mick
19

jas0999 added 18:50 - Oct 17
Clutching at straws Mick. Looking for a penalty? Really? Ball looked out to me and the finishing in any event was shocking. We created virtually nothing. I find it remarkable he was pleased with any of it. Same excuses. Micks stubbornness and pig headedness is now a real problem. Costing the club. Team selection woeful and probably the only person in the country who refuses to see that Skuse/Douglas are so defensive and possibly the worst pairing in league football. If Mick won't change, I have no idea where we go from here. Abysmal today. Abysmal.
33

cartman1972 added 18:50 - Oct 17
Yawn
7

mickeyjb added 18:51 - Oct 17
Is it wrong to flick down all the drivel above to see what the fans are saying, particularly the ones that went. What the hell has happened to this team?
24

vanmunt added 18:56 - Oct 17
The more the fans shout the less chance the player has of coming on, don't worry Mick you won't be hearing me shout I am done with spending my wages on that sh*t until there are changes. Sick of hoof ball, sick of square pegs in round holes, sick of the midfield Dynamo pairing and getting sick of your rhetoric. What a pig headed stubborn a**hole.
30

htb added 19:02 - Oct 17
I think we could all see this result coming when we saw pig headed Micks team selection. For him to say the more they shout the less chance they will come on! Unbelievable Yorkshire arrogance. So you do allow the crowd to influence your decisions but only in a negative way! Well done. A MM team is only ever possibly acceptable when it is winning as the only one constant in his teams they are dire to watch. Totally peed off with the last 10+ years of watching Ipswich. Time for this dinosaur to go and for us to get back to the core values of this football club trying to play good passing football on the grass. I would like to see Gus Poyet and Mauricio Tarring. Do not see it happening as have no confidence ME has a clue of Ipswich traditions. However please MM go and no more dour hoof ball northerners
14

brittaniaman added 19:02 - Oct 17
I am glad you are satisfied AT HOME WITH A POINT THEN MICK ????????

So if we all shout out and say that the back 5 and the 2 central midfielders are BRILLIANT THEN, you will probably change them around then Mick ???????? Because us fans WE KNOW NOTHING.
22

carlo88 added 19:06 - Oct 17
Yeah we can all moan easily but we won't get a better manager, and deep down we all know it.
-16

hucks216 added 19:08 - Oct 17
I can't understand why we still have Knudsen using his long throw into the box. In all the games I have seen it has yet to lead to anything other than a comfortable clearance from the oppositions defence. It should be another bow to our string and yet it is our players who seem to struggle with coping with it so why bother doing the same thing over and over and over again?!
9

prebbs007 added 19:08 - Oct 17
IDIOT !!!
1

hucks216 added 19:09 - Oct 17
*Or string to our bow rather!
2

battyblue added 19:10 - Oct 17
IF iF iF but for but for if you where not manager we would have probably won today fed up hearing you sprouting ,and why shouldn't the fans chant that is what we are entitled to do we pay to watch the best team available and thats not happening thanks to your arrogance.
18

backintheday added 19:12 - Oct 17
GET LOST MICK!!!!!

Maybe if you would have listened to us fans in the first place you wouldn't be in this situation. But then again we are just fans what do we know?
12

unknown100 added 19:15 - Oct 17
Time to go mate
12

battyblue added 19:19 - Oct 17
I believe we are the first team not to score against them this season Mick another record on the minus side to put in your book.Could we play to cones in midfield on Tuesday we may get a deflection and it could set one of our strikers up got to be better than Skuse or Fantastic Dougie.
15

MattinLondon added 19:20 - Oct 17
Higgenbottoms long throws were like bullets in the box. Ours are lethargic and slow... sums up the team.
6

Garv added 19:21 - Oct 17
It's all just words Mick, just babble. Sorry. I'm out.
9

GeorgeITFC24 added 19:23 - Oct 17
'I'll just tell you that the more they shout probably the less chance they're going to come on'. Now that seems very childish to me...
17

carlo88 added 19:25 - Oct 17
You lot really are a bunch of nutters, can't take probably the first poor run in two years.

If you're old enough cast your mind back to 1977 when they were screaming for Bobby's head after a really poor start.
-19

superblue70 added 19:28 - Oct 17
I used to be a big McCarthy fan but man how I've changed what incredible arrogance, stupidity ,and blindness time for change me thinks
12

Mark added 19:28 - Oct 17
Very poor again today, especially in midfield. Skuse did okay, but his partnership with Douglas just isn't working and the midfield are not providing service for the strikers. Given that, it's odd to have Bru as an unused sub.

Clean sheet yes, but first half Smith was all over the place. I am also worried that Knudsen only seems to go so far forward then stops, again not providing service to the strikers in the way Cresswell and Mings used to.

With away trips to Hull and Forest next, it's hard to feel optimistic.
10

Hegansheroes added 19:29 - Oct 17
There is only one post here or on the match report page that shows any modicum of support for the dinosaur. I think he really only has a few games to turn it around because attendances will drop like a stone & those who go will be baying for his head. Long overdue in my opinion
12

Norwichbeater added 19:31 - Oct 17
Glad Mick is happy. I have spent all week travelling around the country working took my kids today to watch absolute shxt. Good god save me from this appalling footy. He must make way now for someone who can give us some kind of hope. We are the laughing stock of football. How come Small Norwich keep finding managers that make the difference?
12

Currie10 added 19:33 - Oct 17
" GET LOST MICK!!!!! "

WOW. Okay, lets pretend Mick had never been hired and we'd be midtable on League 1 shall we? Absolutely embarrassing some of the abuse he gets by some.

This website never fails to amaze me.

People STILL seem to think after any bad performance/ defeat/ draw Mick is going to come out and slate players. He's not going too, he's far too clever for that.

We don't have a divine right to beat anyone. Bring on the Hull.
-15

superblue70 added 19:33 - Oct 17
Carlo88
To mention sir Bobby and McCarthy in same sentence hang your head in shame one a legend around the world the other an idiot
13


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