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McCarthy: Out of Bottom Three But Job Still Tough - Ipswich Town News

Tuesday’s 3-1 home victory over Nottingham Forest saw the Blues climb out of the bottom three, but manager Mick McCarthy has warned that Town are far from out of the woods and warns against complacency.

While life at Portman Road isn’t quite as fraught as it was when he took over at the start of the month, he says there’s a long way to go: "It’s a lot easier this morning that it was four weeks ago because we’re out of the bottom three, we’ve got 10 points from the games and we look a little bit healthier.

"When I saw the job I knew it was going to be a tough job and it still remains that way. We’re not safe.

"We’ve got a few points and everything looks OK at the moment, but it can change easily, especially if you start to think it’s all OK.”

He says it takes time to get to know your players when you’re a new manager coming into a club: "They’re not all the same, they’re all different, they’re all human beings.

"I’ll probably read some of them quicker than others, some of them will impress me quicker than others, some of them will depress me quicker than others.

"I’m dealing with people and it doesn’t just click overnight. I would say that I think they would recognise me now as the boss, as the gaffer in the place, and that takes a while, you don’t just instantly get that.

"What’s nice is that performances have gradually got better. I don’t need to feel that, I witnessed that on Tuesday night, everybody saw that. That’s the best we’ve played since I’ve been here.”

In addition to the result, McCarthy was also delighted with the way his team performed on Tuesday: "The win particularly pleased me. But over and above that, also the manner in which we played. I think we played at a high intensity, we stopped a really good team playing.

"I don’t think Sean O’Driscoll even attempted to say that they didn’t play well, I think he recognised that we performed well and stopped them playing.

"And then, having been pegged back, to go on and win it 3-1, is really pleasing.”

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