Blues boss Mick McCarthy says Town need to play better against Barnsley if today’s game at Portman Road goes ahead than they did in their home games against fellow strugglers Bristol City and Peterborough, both of which ended in 1-1 draws.
McCarthy said: "Our worst performances were against Bristol City and Peterborough. But we can’t change that, we’re playing against Barnsley, who are beneath us [in 23rd] and there will be people turning up expecting us to win.
"But it doesn’t always work like that, a bit like at Cardiff last weekend, a bit like Bolton, a bit like Wolves when we went there.
"The league’s on its head, the league’s completely bonkers, I haven’t got a clue how to work it out, except to just get enough points to keep us up.
"If it’s a point against Barnsley, it’s a point against Barnsley, and if it’s three points next week at Bristol City or wherever we get them [I’ll take them]. We prepare to play well against Barnsley, but it might not happen.”
Questioned whether he’ll be looking to add more creativity to his side before the transfer window closes on January 31st, McCarthy said: "It’s funny isn’t it? We drew 0-0 at Cardiff and suddenly I need some creativity and bullets for the lads up front!
"I thought we created some. I think we’re playing well, I think the team looks solid and you can sometimes lose that bit of solidity, get a bit of creativity and you get slapped by a couple of goals.
"Or [we can] keep what we’ve got because I’ve been here for 15 games and [before that] we were shipping goals, we didn’t look solid.
"That’s my team, that’s the way I am, that’s how we play and I think we’ve created enough chances in most of the games that we can score goals. And that was the case at Cardiff, we could have nicked it in the end.
"I think we had the better chances in open play, they had a lot of freekicks and corners. I’m happy with the team, I’m still looking to add, and we can get better [by doing that].
"I think the players already here have got better through playing, through a bit of confidence, a bit of belief, through getting some points, getting some wins. And I still think there’s more to come from them. I’m delighted with the way things are going so far.”
The Blues boss has been pleased with the spirit shown by players coming off the bench, recently citing the substitute performances of Michael Chopra and Daryl Murphy and last week debutant Frank Nouble’s late cameo at Cardiff.
"Without that you can’t really have a successful team because the team that plays week in, week out needs that back-up from players who, when they come off the bench, they come off it to make a difference, whether it’s to save a point, get the points, kill a game, win a game or whatever the circumstances might be,” he said.
"They go on and affect the game positively, not negatively, they’re not going on and being a chump and having a long face and showing everybody their displeasure at being on the bench.
"You should come on and you show everybody that you’re trying to make a difference, then you’ll get another opportunity with me. If you do the former, you’ve got no chance.”
The 53-year-old says no one particularly made a case for inclusion in his first team during Monday’s 2-1 U21s victory at Charlton: "We actually got mullered for the first 25 minutes, they actually played well, Charlton.
"What was nice was that it showed that there’s a bit of toughness in the team. They stuck at it and then Patrick Kisnorbo scored from a header from a corner kick.
"Jay Emmanuel-Thomas scored the second but it would have been difficult not to having been set up by Frank, he just rolled it into his path and it was a sidefoot into the net.
"It was just all right, it was OK, Nobody’s knocked me out, they all did what they had to do. Neither trialist, [Moldovan international defender Petru Racu and Banbury United winger Kynan Isaac], is staying. They’ve both gone back.”