Blues boss Mick McCarthy believes there is plenty more to come from striker Frank Nouble and that the 22-year-old will get better the more he plays games. The former Chelsea, West Ham and Wolves man netted his second goal of the season in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over Blackburn.
McCarthy says that Nouble will benefit from time on the pitch: "A bit like Jack Marriott going out [on loan to Woking] to play, you improve by playing games. You can be coached and you can work on the training ground, but you need to get in the team.
"He’s not had as many minutes as he’d like, but he’s improved every time he’s come on. I don’t think he had a good first half but in the second half I thought he was excellent.
"He’s doing all right Frank, and he’s chipping in with his goals as well. And that’s important for him, for his self-confidence.”
He says that Nouble will develop as he gets more experience: "There’s more to come from him as he gets older, more mature and understands the role.
"When I was at the end of my career I remember playing against Niall Quinn, big, gangly Quinny, and bashing him about and roughing him up.
"Then I played against him two years later and wondered what had happened in that two years, it was the other way around! You learn how to use your physique.
"[Burnley's] Sam Vokes is another example. I signed him at Wolves when he was 18. He was built like a man and we trained him like a man, expected men’s performances from him and he didn’t quite do it.
"[A few] years on, he’s now 24, he’s a proper bloke, he knows how to use his body, he’s physically tough, he’s scoring his goals and he’s fulfilling his potential. I’m hoping that’s what’s going to happen with Frank.”
Nouble’s tireless chasing during Tuesday’s second half which led to his goal saw comparisons drawn with former Blue Shefki Kuqi and his all-action, non-stop approach to the game.
McCarthy wants to see more of that: "Good, I’m glad. I saw Gordon Strachan on the Europa League recently and he was talking about a player and he said he had this theory that if he wasn’t playing particularly well he used to run around and used to get cheap claps and people appreciated it.
"Well, that’s demanded that, that stuff. If he’s doing that he’s doing all right and he’ll get goals because of it as he’s a big handful. If he doesn’t do it, he doesn’t play.”