Central defender Gareth McAuley could return to the Town line-up when the Blues travel to Sheffield United tonight still looking for their first league victory of the season. Town are definitely without skipper Alex Bruce, who injured his groin during Saturday’s defeat to Newcastle United.
McAuley trained on Sunday and was due to be involved in a light session yesterday as he recovers from the calf injury he sustained in the Nottingham Forest game. Manager Roy Keane says he is likely to return at Bramall Lane.
If the Northern Irishman makes it, Keane has various options to come in alongside him in place of Bruce, who will also miss Saturday’s trip to Barnsley.
Tommy Smith and Pim Balkestein have each featured in one of the last two games, but Keane could choose to go with experience and hints that David Wright could come into his thoughts: "Wrighty’s been doing really well in terms of the reserves, he’s got a good attitude and I’d have no problem throwing him in.”
Wright could either directly replace Bruce in the middle or alternatively come in at left-back, allowing the similarly experienced Damien Delaney to move to centre-half, a position he regularly played when at Hull City. Liam Rosenior will continue at right-back.
The Blues boss says youngster Troy Brown, who signed on a free transfer after leaving Fulham’s academy in the summer, could come into his travelling squad, perhaps alongside one or two other fringe players: "Young Troy’s doing very well in the reserves.
"He’s obviously young and inexperienced but he’s a good athlete and he’s shown a very good attitude since he’s come to the club. There might be one or two surprises in there.”
But Keane says that he would prefer not to make too many changes to his starting line-up: "We are trying to get a settled team but when you’re playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday, it’s very hard to play the same side, especially now that Alex is injured. We’ll try and keep the nucleus of the team from the weekend if at all possible.”
That may mean Keane sticks with a five-man midfield at Bramall Lane, although Alan Quinn will hope for a recall against his old club. Two of Quinn, Jack Colback and Liam Trotter will play alongside Grant Leadbitter in the centre if that’s the way Keane chooses to go, with Carlos Edwards and Jon Walters probably set for the wide roles.
If Town switch to a four-man engine room, Martin could come in on the left with Walters moving up front, probably alongside Tamás Priskin, with Quinn perhaps the favourite to partner Leadbitter in the middle of midfield.
One man unlikely to be involved is Owen Garvan, although Keane says the Irish U21 international skipper has the chance to win himself a place back in his squad: "He’s out of my plans at this moment in time, he’s a talented boy and I’ve gone down the road with certain players, but like all the other players at the club Owen has the opportunity to impress me.
"The boy’s attitude has been fine, he’s been training hard and he’s played in the reserve games.
"He’s doing OK, but we gave him the option to go and get some games under his belt [out on loan at an unnamed club] while he wasn’t in the first team and he declined that.
"But I’ve got no problem with that and he’ll no doubt play with the reserves on Wednesday and if he does well he might have a chance for the weekend. I’ve written off no player at the football club, we’re not in any position to be doing that.”
Keane says striker Connor Wickham won’t make the trip to South Yorkshire: "Connor needs a week’s training as he’s been feeling his groin for a couple of weeks now and we gave him the weekend off to rest.
"He’s not missed a training session since pre-season and you have to remember he’s a 16-year-old and he’s still growing, which is scary!”
The Blues boss has a frank assessment of his time as manager with Town so far: "Not good enough, I think results tell you that.
"I can’t fault the players. We get the information after the games - and I can see it with my own eyes anyway - they’re certainly putting the effort in but we’re coming up short in both boxes, and that’s the most important part of football.
"As much as I think we’re doing OK between the two boxes, we’re obviously conceding a lot, you saw the goals against Newcastle. Teams aren’t even working that hard to score against us, and obviously we’re not scoring enough.
"We’re conceding soft goals. From our point of view the goals we conceded the other night were through poor defending, in terms of the way we gave away the freekick for the first goal, the possession we had before it, then the second goal letting the boy come inside. "I could go through all the goals we conceded. We certainly need to defend better and not just as a back four, as a team.”
Over the weekend the Irishman joked that he might have got lucky when he was manager at Sunderland and was now being found out, however, he feels his current side would benefit from a bit of good fortune: "Maybe I did get lucky at Sunderland. I think you need a bit of luck, and I meant that more tongue in cheek. I think this team is lacking a bit of luck at the moment, I have to say.
"I think looking at myself, it is not good enough at the moment. Like my team I am doing my best, and that's all I can do, keep on trying and trying to improve.
"I keep looking at myself and the staff and I don't think there is any magic wand here. I think we just have to keep persevering, keep working hard with the players, defend better, we know that, and keep trying.
"Since I have been in football, I have always brought something to the football clubs I have been with, but at this moment I have not brought anything to Ipswich. I am doing my best, that's all I can do and if that's not good enough, so be it.”
Keane says he hasn’t spoken to any managers at other clubs for advice and instead has relied on his backroom team, which he says he has no plans to change: "I have got good staff I can trust. Do I change all my staff? I changed one or two people at Sunderland and the people I brought in ended up not being the most trustworthy people, so I'm quite happy with the staff I have got.
"We are all working hard together. I keep saying it, but we know there is frustration building, we sense that with the supporters.
"I live in the real world, the bottom line is that if results don't improve, I'm sure there will be changes, that's football. I am not frightened by that.”
Keane doesn’t blame fans for becoming frustrated at the present situation and says it’s nothing new for him: "I have been booed before, by my own supporters in Ireland when a reporter did a piece that I should be booed because I didn't really want to play for my country, and they booed me in one of the games.
"I wouldn't say you get used to it but it's part and parcel of the game. If I was a supporter of Ipswich, looking at our results at the moment, I think I would be booing me. You know it's not good enough, but as I said we are doing our best, we have to keep persevering and keep trying.
"We have made lots of changes and what we haven't been able to build up since we came back from pre-season is that momentum with a couple of victories.
"The longer you go to without a victory the harder it is. We go to Sheffield United and it is another tough game for us and we will do our best and that's all we can do.
"They’re a strong team, they came very close to getting promoted last year. It’s a big test for us, but I have to say I’m looking forward to the game.”
The Blades will be without striker Jamie Ward, who tore a hamstring in the recent derby victory over Sheffield Wednesday. Winger Keith Treacy, on loan from Blackburn, picked a knee injury during Saturday's defeat at Swansea.
Defender Gary Naysmith is a long-term absentee with a cruciate knee ligament injury, while keeper Paddy Kenny is banned for nine months after failing a drugs test.
Midfielders Lee Williamson and Gary Speed, who is also on the coaching staff at Bramall Lane, are out with back injuries and full-back Derek Geary has been out of action for a year with a knee problem.
Like Keane, Blades boss Kevin Blackwell is also unhappy with his side’s defending, with eight goals having been conceded in the last three games: "It has been a long time since we have let in goals like we have recently, and we need to get back to the meanness that we have become renowned for.
"The players know that we have had a reputation for being strong and resilient over the last 18 months so I don't really have to tell them.
"At the end of last season I knew that we needed to score more goals, and that we needed wide men to supply more chances, so I went out and got them.
"But picking a team to win games is about striking a balance and maybe it has made us more vulnerable, so I might have to look at it again.
"I have a good ratio of winning games at United and I don't want that to be affected, for the team's sake, the fans’ and my own."
Blackwell’s side are currently sixth in the Championship with a home record of won two and drawn two so far this season, however, they lost 2-1 at Swansea on Saturday and prior to the recent 3-2 home win over local rivals Sheffield Wednesday, lost 3-2 at Coventry City.
The game sees Sheffield United unveil a new big screen to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the Blades playing football at Bramall Lane.
Town have had the better of the Blades over the years, winning 21 times (20), drawing 23 (20) and losing 18 (16) of the meetings between the sides.
Alan Quinn, whose brother Stephen is a regular in the Blades side, and Jon Stead have previously been Sheffield United players, while Lee Martin spent time on loan at Bramall Lane in 2008.
No current Sheffield United player has been a member of the Town squad, although midfielder Ryan France spent time on trial with the Blues in 2003 when an Alfreton Town player.
Tuesday’s referee is Eddie Ilderton from Tyne and Wear, who has shown 15 yellow cards and no red in eight games so far this season. Ilderton’s most recent Town game was the 2-2 draw at Preston in April 2008 when he kept his cards in his pocket throughout the game.
Probable squad: R Wright, Lee-Barrett, Rosenior, Delaney, McAuley, D Wright, Smith, Balkestein, Brown, Leadbitter, Quinn, Trotter, Colback, Healy, Upson, Walters, Edwards, Martin, Peters, Priskin, Couñago, Stead.