Mick McCarthy admits that he’s not yet sure where returning loan striker Paul Taylor will fit into his side. The 26-year-old was brought back from his spell at Peterborough on Wednesday and is likely to be amongst the subs for this evening’s live Sky game against Barnsley at Portman Road.
McCarthy says that with Taylor having been out with a foot injury for 11 months, he’s not seen as much of him as he would like: "I think he can play both sides, he can certainly play in a three, but we play 4-4-2.
"I think other people have seen more of him than I have, where was he bought to play? Was it centre forward or was it in wide areas? I think he’s played in them both.
"I don’t really have the answer for that until I see him in my team, not in the U21s, not for Peterborough, but playing in my team.
"He gets a start or he gets on and plays up front or has to go on and play in a wide position. He did that for Peterborough and he did it well the day I watched him.”
He says Taylor’s more unpredictable than his other strikers: "I think the other players that we’ve got are maybe a little bit more structured. He can be a bit of a maverick with some of the things he does, there’s no question about that.
"You might ask him to do what you think is playing off our shape and that might not happen and he’ll just beat two or three and then just smack it in the top corner.
"You’ll be saying, lay it off and he’ll turn and whizz it in the top corner. That helps as well. If he does that, that’ll be fine.”
Is there a place for that type of player in his team? "It’s risk and reward, isn’t it? If you get the reward for it through goals, through setting up goals, through winning, then the risk is worth it. If you don’t, it goes the other way and the risk isn’t worth it. That’s the same with every player.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy continues to enthuse about six-goal top scorer David McGoldrick: "He’s got quality, goals, no doubt about that. He’s got a good personality, but it’s his quality. He’s a top, top player.
"The month before last he won the Player of the Month and deserved it. And I think he showed his quality with his strike last week.
"He hit the target with his first shot which was blocked and volleyed it straight back and scored the equaliser.
"And he was just about running on empty, he was knackered at the end of that game. For him to hit a strike of such quality just shows how a good a player he is.”