Town boss Mick McCarthy has dismissed criticism of his side's style of football, believing that there is “more than one way to skin a cat”.
Some opposition managers and fans have claimed Town are direct or play long ball football during the season, while today’s opponents Bournemouth have been widely praised for their fluent passing football.
"Generally the ones we’ve beaten!” McCarthy said when quizzed about the criticism of his team.
"I think Bournemouth deserve the plaudits for the way they’ve played and they are an excellent team. They are the best team in the league.
"But there is more than one way to skin a cat and I think it should be appreciated and respected whatever way you do it.
"If you’re getting beaten week in, week out that’s when it’s wrong. I’m not really bothered, I don’t get too fussed by it.”
He added: "There are all sorts of ways of playing football. We had that recently with Sam Allardyce and Louis Van Gaal, talking about who played the long ball game.
"I think if you hit a long pass it’s one of the most beautiful things in the game, hitting a long pass to somebody.
"As I said, it’s usually the managers that we’ve beaten who usually bleat about it. We went to Watford and we had more of the ball than they did and had a really good performance and there was no suggestion of us playing the long ball game.”
He believe teams need to vary their approach: "I think if you’re a one-trick pony, no matter what that trick is, you’ll get found out eventually.
"So you have to have a variation in your game and I think the best teams have. And we’re one of the best teams in the league.”