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Lawrence Walking Suspension Tightrope Ahead of East Anglian Derby
Saturday, 11th Feb 2017 06:00

Blues top scorer Tom Lawrence goes into today’s game at Aston Villa walking a suspension tightrope, the 23-year-old having amassed nine bookings so far this season with a 10th before the second Sunday in March cut-off leading to a two-match ban.

However, his manager Mick McCarthy says the Wales international shouldn’t change his approach at Villa Park this afternoon as he seeks to avoid a caution which would see him Tuesday's match at Brighton and next week’s home game against Leeds, who were keen to sign the on-loan Leicester man in January,

A booking in either of those two games would, more significantly for fans, see him miss the East Anglian derby at Carrow Road the following Sunday.

“He’s been the player he is because he’s done what he does and plays how he does,” McCarthy said. “He plays on the edge, he's feisty, he’s tough. He’s a proper player, Tom.

“I had it myself playing. I think I probably played the game slightly differently to Tom and I went 10 or 15 games and didn’t get that other booking which was going to get me suspended.

“You can’t do anything if you go in for a tackle and the referee sees it [as a yellow card], but you don’t trip anybody up, you don’t pull anybody’s shirt and you don’t argue with the referee, they’re the ones that are just bonkers.

“Getting booked for lipping would be ridiculous at this stage. They’re the ones you can avoid yourself.

“When you’re tackling, sometimes somebody might have a pull at you and then you kick out, that’s self-discipline, that’s managing yourself.

“But you can’t affect it if the referee sees an honest challenge and he books you for it.”

For many of the Town squad today’s game will be their first visit to Villa Park, one of English football’s famous venues but McCarthy says his players need to treat it just like any other match, something he believes they failed to do in similar circumstances earlier in the campaign.

“It’s only special if you get something out of the game, [not] if you turn up at these lovely grounds and get slapped, you want something out of the game.

“We’re professionals and get paid for this game, it’s not about going around enjoying playing on nice surfaces and nice pitches. I can say that now because I’ve finished, ‘I’ve played at some lovely places, I enjoyed a nice career’.

“I don’t want players doing that, when we went to Newcastle I could sense that and we got slapped.”


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SitfcB added 07:02 - Feb 11
Er, Phil, if he was to get booked today he'll miss Brighton and Leeds. So let's hope he gets booked today!
4

blues1 added 07:04 - Feb 11
Phil. Wouldnt he miss Brighton and Leeds rather than Leeds Norwich with it being an automautomatic suspension?
0

KiwiBlue2 added 07:50 - Feb 11
I think that the major risk for him is retaliation given that he gets a lot of niggle from opposition trying to put him off his game. Hopefully he can stay cool and get his retaliation by scoring.... coyb
4

jas0999 added 07:59 - Feb 11
Lawrence has essentially been carrying us. Without him it doesn't even bear thinking about where we might be. We can I'll afford to lose him for any game.
4

PhilTWTD added 08:21 - Feb 11
SitfcB/blues1

Yes, not sure what I was on about. Amended.
4

martin587 added 09:39 - Feb 11
Now on the road to Villa Park.I see Warburton has been sacked at Glasgow Rangers,he would be the ideal boss here.Just anthought.🤔
2

Cheshire_Blue added 10:30 - Feb 11
Warburton was sacked because he was not up to the job. Why would we want him?
0

Granthamblue62 added 11:10 - Feb 11
Very interesting that a key figure, and a regular in the side has today 'liked' two of my recent comments on the official ITFC FB page - "no passion, no ambition, no direction" and "Evans/puppet/dinosaur out". Are we to believe the 'spin' and bs coming from the dressing room? Radical changes required top to bottom to breathe new life into our dying club.
2

martin587 added 11:26 - Feb 11
Cheshire Blue,
I think you will find he was sacked because Rangers were not pleased with the rumour he spoke to Forest.!!
4

carsey added 13:45 - Feb 11
Warburton is just the sort of manager l would like to see here. Proper football.
2


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