Blues boss Mick McCarthy says the weather has had a huge impact on training at Playford Road this week with the outdoor pitches covered in a blanket of snow.
McCarthy said: "It’s had a dreadful impact on it, it looks pretty on the pitches, that’s about it. Looks the same as my lawn, which is always good.
"We’ve had to train in the dome, which is a great facility but you don’t want to train in it too often. It’s a different surface and it changes your stride pattern and you end up with tightness of calves, groins, backs and hips.”
Despite these pitfalls, he says the players like it: "They enjoy the training in there because it’s a nice, flat surface and the ball gets zipped about and they all want to stay in.
"I had to bring them off yesterday because you do too much of it you end up feeling sore. We trained in there again today, but they’ll be all right, we didn’t do much, just general preparation in terms of physically what we would do for the game.”
McCarthy says home sides in particular can suffer when there is doubt about whether a game is going to take place, as there is regarding today’s match, a stadium and pitch inspection having been set for 9am.
"It’s not ideal, but the problem I think is the mental issue with the snow,” he said. "We’re down here, we know there’s a doubt about the game.
"I know Barnsley do, but they just get on the bus, set off and say ‘If we get turned around, we turn around’.
"At least they’ve set off with the intention of going to play. We’re looking at this not being sure, waiting for an inspection.
"You come in with a game head on on Friday morning and you leave at lunchtime not quite sure, so then you have to switch back — if it is on, right, game mode. If it isn’t, what do we do for training? It throws it up in the air a little bit.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy was left shaking his head by Southampton’s decision to sack Nigel Adkins and appoint former Argentinian international Mauricio Pochettino in his place: "Bonkers, completely bonkers.
"I don’t know where that’s come from. I mean he’s won back to back promotions, they’re not in the bottom three, they’ve just had a fabulous result at Chelsea.
"Southampton is one of those teams we all look at and think ‘It’s a nice club, nice people’ and for all the neutrals, it just turns you off. I think they lose the support of the neutral when they do things like that, you find it hard to even wish them well.
"I was with Nigel on Sunday night up at St George’s Park [for the League Managers’ Association's Coaches Forum], he’s a nice guy. He’s a really good fella and he’s had huge success there. I’ll probably speak to him, I generally do [when other managers get sacked].”