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McCarthy: Town Now Not So Reliant on Lawrence
Thursday, 2nd Mar 2017 06:00

Blues boss Mick McCarthy says striker Tom Lawrence was playing “brilliantly” before his enforced two-game break and will be looking to quickly get back to that level when he returns to the Town side for Saturday’s home game against Brentford. However, McCarthy believes his side is no longer quite so reliant on the 23-year-old on-loan Leicester man.

Lawrence missed the Leeds and Norwich matches having picked up his 10th booking of the season in the Brighton game but has used his time out to get over an ankle problem which had hampered him since the 3-0 home defeat to Derby when he was subbed at half-time.

“Tom’s just had a bit of a problem with his ankle so he’s had to take care of that, but he’s trained today and he’s looked good,” McCarthy said.

“I’m sure he’s desperate to play. He was playing brilliantly, wasn’t he? He’ll want to get back to that level.”

The Town manager admits the Blues relied too much on Lawrence’s goals prior to his absence but believes his resurgent side, who went through their tough February unbeaten claiming seven points, are now far more than a one-man team.

“His goals were carrying us, there’s no doubt about that because he was the only one scoring,” he reflected.

“But Freddie Sears looks better having had a break from it, he’s come in and I think anybody playing up front with Didzy at the minute would benefit from him because he’s been excellent.”

Meanwhile, McCarthy has reiterated that midfielder Teddy Bishop has to show him he’s worth a place in his side, once the 20-year-old is over a slight injury problem which will keep him out of Saturday’s match.

“He’s just got a bit of a tight groin at the minute, so he’s not available. He may well train on Friday,” he said.

“He’s got to get in the team. I was asked about how players responded that weren’t in the team or were in the team or in the squad.

“I think they’ve all got to ask themselves, everybody that was here, I was asking myself, ‘What am I doing? How can we get results? What have I contributed to the team in terms of creating goals, scoring goals?’. This is everybody before we’ve had this turnaround.

“And Bish is one of those. Has he scored one? Has he created one? Kev Bru, Dougie had [one in the net, which would would have been brilliant, against Norwich which was disallowed]. Tom Lawrence’s goals were carrying us.

“So Bish has got to get in the team, he’s got to get back in it, and it's only him that can do that. I love him as a kid and a player, but he’s got to get in the team.”

McCarthy says another of his strikers, on-loan Reading frontman Dominic Samuel, is having to be patient while he waits to make his Blues debut.

“He’s repairing his broken toe,” the Town boss added. “That’s one of those injuries you can’t rush, it’ll be ready when it’s ready. I think he’ll be out doing some work next week.”


Photo: Action Images



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prebbs007 added 06:14 - Mar 2
You still had to mention Dougie didn't you !!! Bye !!!
2

Bluebell added 06:35 - Mar 2
I think we will still be reliant on Lawrence's goals despite what Mick says. If he had been playing against Leeds and Norwich we could have beaten them.

It will be good to have Tom playing with McGoldrick again. Two home games now which should (on paper) be a lot easier. Didzy needs goals so hopefully Saturday and Tuesday will kick start that.

COYBs
15

battyblue added 07:06 - Mar 2
Who else score regularly Knudsen no, hang on a minute Sears no,Mcgoldrick no,micks secret goal machine Douglas defiantly not,,,who else is there o no-one.
13

Spanishblueblood added 07:10 - Mar 2
Christ Mick talks some sh1te!
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BanksterDebtSlave added 07:31 - Mar 2
Prebbs..... how is MM saying that Douglas needs to look at what he has contributed in terms of assists and goals an excuse to continue your Mick out obsession ?
11

walberblue added 07:32 - Mar 2
Even with Lawrence, the team has bottom six form over the past year. How about MM gets his team to do something on the pitch instead of all this hot air and guff? Try and win a game? Beat Brentford at home? Score some goals? Attack a team. Ever tried that?
11

walberblue added 07:36 - Mar 2
How did Douglas get in the team for all those weeks when he can't run, pass, assist, score or tackle? Answers please Mick?
18

Swn98 added 07:42 - Mar 2
Banks should of been an uppie thank goodness the news site diehards don't represent the views of most Town supporters.
-4

Mark added 07:46 - Mar 2
We have to find a way of either not relying on these loan players, signing them or replacing them in the summer. I know Lawrence is out of reach, but if Hews and Diagouraga also return to their clubs (plus Williams and Samuel, not that we have seen them much) we have a huge hole in our squad - plus we still haven't replaced Murphy yet. Summer recruitment will be key and I hope McCarthy is finally able to push Evans for some proper funding to address this.
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PYBlue added 07:54 - Mar 2
Has Skuse scored or created anything Mick? No but you still pick him!
19

TimmyH added 08:23 - Mar 2
From an attacking point of view we do rely on him, McGoldrick seems to be playing better of late but hardly has goals in him like he had a few seasons back...and Sears I think has about 3 in 40 odd games.
7

BanksterDebtSlave added 08:32 - Mar 2
Prebbs....clicking the down arrow doesn't answer my question !
-3

cat added 08:36 - Mar 2
The goals have certainly dried up from our front men, is it the case they are lacking confidence or our style of play just does not create many chances???. Stats do not lie so I believe it's the latter. I was delighted by our new additions in January but disappointed at the same time, that 4 years into MM's rein we are relying on so many loanees.
1

ArnieM added 08:51 - Mar 2
Relying on too many loanees......is ***** Evans ****** fault because he's clearly not willing to give Mick enough money to buy decent, permanent players.
3

brittaniaman added 09:14 - Mar 2
Just because his mate Douglas had a disallowed goal against Norwich all those months ago McCarthy keeps harping on about it ! (he loves to bring him back in to the limelight) forget it Dino ?
I hope he does not include him in the squad for the Brentford game just because he played for them.
By the way as mentioned before me, with Lawrence playing those last two games we might have turned them in to wins ???? who knows.
6

weevil added 09:34 - Mar 2
The issue with town is that we don't have anyone in the box. We're currently in such a state of flux and transition from playing boring route 1 football to actually passing it around.

Last 2 seasons the vast majority of in-play goals were long balls from the back or midfield, with Murphy being the target man and laying it off to someone or taking it himself and scoring. Neither Sears, McGoldrick or Lawrence are target men, they all like the ball at their feet - which is great! The problem is, none of them are poachers or actual "strikers"

Watching the Norwich game we had fantastic passages of play. Passing around fluidly and it was great to watch. When we started to put pressure on their defence there was no-one in the box, because Sears likes going out wide, and McGoldrick likes to drop deep.

This is why Lawrence is propping us up at the moment, because he has that little bit of extra class and quality and can score from long distance, but super goals like that should be the exception, not the rule. We need the goals from 5 yards too (and I'm not talking about set pieces)

That being said, I am looking forward to seeing Sears McGoldrick and Lawrence all back in action, let the tika taka commence!
6

midastouch added 09:36 - Mar 2
Did we sign Samuel on loan with a broken toe already or did it happen with us? If not the latter then surely that was a daft move! And if he already had the broken toe it didn't stop him scoring 3 goals for the U23s against Watford. Our team is crying out for pace. DmG shows lovely touches and has made a couple of lovely assists, but the goals have totally dried up. He prob won't even make double figures this season. It was nice to see Sears get back on the score sheet against Leeds but at Norwich he was virtually anonymous. I would like to see Rowe and Samuel given a chance in the first team as we need some goals from somewhere or other. Without Lawrence the most you can reasonably expect from the rest of them is 1 so it makes it hard. Our lack of goals has worried me all season. If we could get more pace in the team it should cause the opposition more problems and hopefully generate more chances. Our midfield is woeful in the goals department. Even a defensive midfielder like Skuse should be looking to contribute a conservative figure like 4 or 5 goals a season but unfortunately he couldn't even manage that in 5 seasons! I remember Tommy Miller used to chip in with some key goals during his best spell with us, and of course captain marvellous Matty Holland too. And none us will forget Magilton's hatrick against Bolton. But the likes of Skuse, Bru and Douglas seem so short of goals. Douglas to be fair did get goals for Brentford and was given a more attacking role there. I think he could of done the same for us had we of signed him a season or 2 earlier but now I'm afraid his legs have gone. I would know all about that as I'm just the wrong side of 40 and I went for a six a side game a couple of years back and the exact same happened to me. I just couldn't get around like I used to. It was horrible, I have never played another game since as I found it frustrating not being able to get about anything like I used to! I think Douglas knows deep down his legs are gone and is just hanging in for a final pay day. He can't help it. In fact it must be even more frustrating for him than it is us for us. But to have a player like Douglas who can barely run around the pitch for 1 half (let alone 2!) even in contention for a first team place and have a player like Monty Patterson out on loan just defies logic! If you are good enough to score an international goal against the USA (they are no mugs now!) then surely you are good enough to be on the bench in the Championship ahead of a player that is well past his sell by date. Mick's team selections have long been a puzzle to me. Sometimes he surprises me and he puts out a team largely I agree with, but more often than not he picks certain players where I would argue there are far better and more promising alternatives. But hey he's the manager and I'm just an armchair fan so what do I know. However, I did win the FA Cup on Championship Manager 2 long ago in my little fantasy world lol! I spent so much time on Championship Manager back then that my girlfriend at the time dumped me, mission accomplished! She had to learn that winning the FA Cup for Ipswich was far more important to me than winning back her affections. In that Ipswich team I had David Ginola, Alan Shearer and Brian Laudrup, imagine that! A team like that was well worth losing a s**g over! :-)
8

midastouch added 09:49 - Mar 2
1

Surco72 added 10:24 - Mar 2
"Bishop has he scored , has he created" ... well you have only started him 6 times and in those games we scored 10 goals nearly a third of what we have scored all season
But yet you selected Douglas and Skuse to start 47 times between them with no goals ? and you keep going on about a disallowed goal at Norwich ... how desperate are you MM to prove yourself right .
Maybe at present Bishop is struggling to get in ahead of Lawrence and Huws but he certainly is the future of the club unlike those two players and should have started more games when we were not scoring , creating or winning any games .
And Sears is not looking better because he has had a rest , he is looking better because he is playing up front and not left midfield !!
12

Lightningboy added 10:48 - Mar 2
Not so reliant on Lawrence???!

Pffft..in your dreams Mick..don't forget it's still only 1 win out of 9 games..I dread to think where we'd be without Tom's contribution this season.
12

Kesgraveblue57 added 10:52 - Mar 2
Most of the comments about haven't got the point Mick McCarthy is playing mind games with Lawrence,which is brilliant from a very good manager Lawrence now has to be on his A game all the while
0

Garv added 10:52 - Mar 2
Sears was poor against Norwich so it will be good to have TL back. He hope he felt a bit of a pleb getting himself booked and missing two big games.
4

Kesgraveblue57 added 10:53 - Mar 2
Sorry about instead off about
0

cat added 10:55 - Mar 2
ArnieM - there was money made available in the last transfer window, to the tune of a couple of million APPARIENTLY!!.
2

Walk_the_Wark added 12:28 - Mar 2
Sorry Mick. I am not fickle enough for a few draws to change my opinion. Hopefully we are safe now so go on your way
5


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