Boss Mick McCarthy has paid tribute to his current squad’s consistent approach to games, citing the lack of “loose cannons” now at the club.
Since joining the club two years ago this month McCarthy has gone about building a squad of consistent players who regularly put in seven or eight out of 10 performances, rather than those who fluctuate between nines and twos, placing an importance on their character as well as their footballing ability.
"The loose cannons have been fired up the road!” he joked when asked about the reliable nature of his current squad. "It’s interesting that I’m asked that question, that that’s recognised.
"When the loose cannons are around and somebody gets a fabulous pass every now and then or a fabulous goal every now and then, they’re ones fans like and take to.
"They’re the ones whose names they shout when they’re sat behind me and, of course, they’ve even less chance of going on when they’re shouting their names than ever.
"It’s interesting that it’s recognised that the players that play all give everything every single week and there’s no ‘flash in the pans’. It’s a solid, sustainable unit that go on and play.
"And if one part is missing somebody else goes in and does it. And it’s the same in training, it’s great. It’s just a more consistent way of playing and I hope it’s recognised by everybody else.”
He believes setting high standards off the field can pay dividends on it: "Both myself and TC demand really high standards out of them.
"That’s in everything, both in terms of behaviour, time-keeping, good manners, it’s just a high standard.
"And I think if you get all that off the pitch you get it on the pitch as well, you get good guys on it."
Midfielder Luke Hyam, who misses out against Watford today having reached five bookings, is one of the players who has been a key member of McCarthy’s side for much of his time at the club.
"I left Luke out for a while and he came back with a vengeance at Wigan and he’s been back ever since,” he added.
"He’s a big part of it with his enthusiasm and his determination. Everything he does, the way he does it, he drives us on.
"But, I have to say, the lads who have come in and played whenever others have been missing have done really well.
"It’s nice to have The Bish back and Jonny Williams. I thought Tabby was great on Tuesday, as was Kevin Bru. It gives me a nice problem.”
As well as having options in midfield McCarthy has decisions to make at the back with Jonny Parr back after his groin problem.
The Blues boss hints that he might stick with the back four he has fielded in the last two games with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back and Tommy Smith at the centre of the defence with Christophe Berra.
"I like clean sheets,” he said. "All right, so we didn’t manage that on Tuesday night but I’ll have the team which I think is best.
"I know it was great, we had two flying full-backs for a while and it was working and we were ripping it up.
"Then we weren’t, we’ve gone back and we’ve been a bit more solid. So whatever needs really.”
McCarthy thought Town put in their best performance of the season as they beat Wolves 2-1 on Tuesday but says they’ve not been far off that level on previous occasions: "We’ve been close to that in a lot of games, we’ve played well this season.
"When you get the win and it’s against a team that’s above you in the league who have been playing well, it does set the bar a little bit higher.
"It was interesting because I was speaking to [U21s coach] Mark Kennedy yesterday and he said he hadn’t seen the team play this year and he said it looked like the bar has been set a lot higher this year.
"I know he saw probably our best performance on Tuesday night, but it was interesting from somebody who hasn't seen us from last season to this making that point. I thought ‘That’s nice, somebody whose opinion I respect has watched us play and has seen an improvement in it’.”