Boss Mick McCarthy believes new loan signing Jonny Williams is the man to add a greater threat to his Town side. The 20-year-old Wales international, who joined for a month from Crystal Palace on Thursday, looks set to make his Town debut in today’s home game against Birmingham.
"I’m delighted to have got Jonny, he’s a very exciting young, talented player,” McCarthy said. "He’s got bundles to offer, loads of energy and he’s a threat, that’s what he’ll be, a constant threat when he’s playing. He can open defences up.
"He plays anywhere, narrow on the left, in behind one or two, he’s a clever footballer, an intelligent footballer.”
He’s a player who has been on the Town boss’s radar for a while: "I saw him playing all last season and he was terrific in the Palace team that got promoted. Then he got injured towards the end of the season.
"I watched him against us in the U21s there and I watched him against Bristol City and I saw him again on Monday night. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to watch him.”
The Blues’ midfield has scored only six goals between them this season, Paul Anderson netting three (although his goal against Millwall was probably an own goal), and Luke Hyam, Carlos Edwards and Jay Tabb one each, and McCarthy says he wants more from that area of his team.
"We could do with some goals from the middle of the park,” he admitted. "We’ve scored lots of goals this year, far more than last year but it would be great if he could add to the ones that we’ve already got.
"We’ve lost David McGoldrick, our top scorer, so we need to get them from elsewhere, and I’m hoping Jonny can contribute.
"I’m hoping he’ll help us win more games and with the bit of style and bit of flair that he has, of course, he excites people. And it does get bums on seats and it gets people off seats when they should be sitting down watching.”
With Williams having signed a new Eagles contract until the summer of 2018 only last month, McCarthy says the move won’t be long-term: "His future’s not here. He’s a Palace player. He’s a very talented lad. He’s not been playing so Tony Pulis has been very gracious to let me have him for a month.
"But it really is until the end of the season. But there’s a recall [after a month]. We would always put a recall in our players’ loans, especially where Palace are.
"They might need him back but if he comes in and gets seven games with us and helps us and gets us back in the top six, that’s why I’ve taken him.”
McCarthy believes that it’s important for a side to establish a solid base upon which the likes of Williams can add sexier football.
"I think the stubborn comes first, personally,” he said. "I think the hard to beat, the professional, the organised, the stubborn, the belligerent, that comes first, that’s in my team’s make up, then you play your sexy football if you can.
"It’s interesting, isn’t it? Swansea have been the sexiest team but now they’d love a bit of stubbornness and belligerence and clean sheets.
"So, I think that has to come first, then you play off a base and if you’ve got somebody like Jonny Williams or Hunty, when he’s played wide left, or David McGoldrick to provide the entertainment and the sexy football.
"But they’re all expected to do the organised and hard work bit. And if you don’t, you’ll get beaten, I’m afraid. You’ll lose games if you’re not organised, don’t defend properly or aren’t organised at corner kicks.
"That’s what I’m saying when I’m talking about being stubborn and belligerent and organised. You’ve got to have it. Nobody complains about Mourinho doing it and winning championships all over the world!"
He admits that the last home game, the 0-0 draw with Blackpool, wasn’t pretty watch but warns: "It wasn’t, but see how many season tickets we’ll sell if we play sexy football in League One!”
McCarthy says he was impressed with striker Paul Taylor’s performance in Monday’s 2-1 U21 defeat to Palace, in which new signing Williams scored.
"I thought he responded well, I thought he played well,” the Town boss said. "He worked hard and he contributed to the game.”
Having watched that game on Monday, McCarthy made the short trip to watch Colchester United lose 1-0 at home to Sheffield United on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, the Town boss admits that last week’s opponents Leicester are better than the Blues by some distance at present and expects the Foxes not only to get promoted but to hold their own in the Premier League next season: "It’s a big gap.
"If Leicester get promoted I don’t think they’ll have to touch that team, not too much anyway.
"I think they’ve got a Premier League team. I look at the ones in the bottom half and I think they would compete with them comfortably.”
He says Town won’t be looking to bridge that gap by spending a lot of money: "We’re not going to have big investment, that’s not happened, that’s not going to be the case, we’re within the Financial Fair Play rules.
"It’s with shrewd scouting, bargaining and getting the best out of people, which is what I do and which we seem to be pretty good at, to be honest. Hopefully, we can get in that top six, who knows then? We’ll see. And after that, we’ll see.”