Town boss Mick McCarthy has said he’s considering making changes to his team for Wednesday’s visit to Leeds United. The Blues boss remains without the injured Teddy Bishop, Noel and Stephen Hunt, Darren Ambrose, David McGoldrick and Luke Hyam.
"I don’t think Sunday, then Wednesday at Elland Road and getting back at 2am on Thursday morning and then playing on Saturday against Brentford is conducive to having the same 10 outfield players playing and having to do that shift,” McCarthy said.
"I’ve got a good squad, but it’s not the biggest, and I’m considering making changes for it.”
He says midfielder Bishop should be back for Saturday’s home game against Brentford having hurt his ankle in training towards the end of last week.
"We’re hoping he’ll be OK for Saturday,” the Blues manager added. "That was a shame for him and for all of us because he’s a good player. He just blocked a shot and it opened his ankle up. Hopefully Saturday.”
Noel Hunt is expected to miss the regular season with the medial knee ligament injury he sustained at Fulham, while Stephen Hunt and Darren Ambrose have hamstring problems.
Luke Hyam has a knee injury and David McGoldrick remains on the sidelines with his thigh problem.
"None of them are fit,” McCarthy continued. "Noel’s obviously on crutches, Stephen’s getting back, Darren’s not fit. Didzy’s not fit and Luke Hyam’s not fit.”
He says he privately always expected McGoldrick to out for several weeks: "I’ll be honest, I knew it was going to be longer than I said at the start of it because I was trying to get strikers in on loan, so it would have been bonkers of me to announce to the world that I’ve got a striker that might be out for five or six weeks.
"You’ll have to forgive me for telling a small, white porky-pie there, but that’s the way it is, that’s the business.
"Didzy is probably looking at the Middlesbrough game, he’s hoping to get back training quick but whether we can get enough training into him to have him involved, who knows. It might be after the international break.”
McCarthy confirmed that 17-year-old midfielder Kundai Benyu, who was on the bench at Norwich, will again travel with the squad.
Leeds will be without midfielder Rodolph Austin, due to a thigh strain. Central defender Giuseppe Bellusci is back from a ban, while striker Steve Morison could return having been out with a groin injury. However, midfielders Granddi Ngoyi (thigh) and Tommaso Bianchi (knee) are again expected to miss out.
Meanwhile, former Town coach and skipper Tony Mowbray has been appointed the new manager of League One Coventry City, signing a deal until the end of the season.