Town boss Mick McCarthy believes his squad is more advanced than it was at this point in pre-season a year ago with the youngsters now on the fringes of the first-team squad capable of providing back-up to his senior players. The Blues continue their preparations for 2015/16 this evening when they face League Two Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium (KO 7.45pm).
Speaking after Friday’s 4-3 friendly defeat at Fortuna Düsseldorf, McCarthy said that there’s greater strength in the depth than there was at this time last year: "We’ve got Josh Yorwerth, Josh Emmanuel and Myles Kenlock playing in the back four with Kyle Hammond, who are all very inexperienced. Matt Clarke as well, while we’ve got Christophe Berra missing and Jonny Parr missing.
"They’re just going to be back-up those lads but I think they might be adequate back-up for a game or two.
"[In midfield] Adam McDonnell, Dylan Connolly, Alex Henshall, I had Cameron Stewart playing tonight, Ryan Fraser, Kundai Benyu, all very inexperienced lads, but playing with experienced players.
"I think that if I turned up here in three weeks’ time with Christophe Berra, Jonny Parr, Murph and Didz and everybody playing, then it would be a different ball game. I like the way the lads are progressing, I think we’ll have some back-up with them.”
He added: "We had a great season last season but I think we’re looking better this time than we were last, so we’ve got to do it all over again.
"I think the younger lads found it hard [at Fortuna]. The older lads, Chambo, Tommy, Tabby, Brett Pitman, all those lads [were OK].
"The younger ones, having only had one game, that was tough for them. It’s a really good mix, I think it’s a good blend between the two.”
McCarthy said on Friday that he expects Berra and David McGoldrick to be involved in this evening’s game after being given two additional weeks off having been involved in international football until mid-June, along with Daryl Murphy.
The trio returned to training last Monday and didn't travel to Ireland for the training camp at Carton House or to Germany.
The Town boss says last season’s 27-goal top scorer will be given a little longer: "He’s had injuries in pre-season before and we’ll make sure he’s ready to come back, we don’t want to get him injured.”
Cambridge's Lowestoft-born manager Richard Money expects a tougher game than the two back-to-back 60-minute friendlies his club played against Norwich last Friday, the matches ending 1-1 and 2-0 to the Canaries.
"I think it will be a bigger test than Norwich because I'd expect Ipswich are more ready to play than Norwich," he told the Cambridge News.
"The other night had a training game feel to it because of the format, but I think this will be much more of a match.
"I want the same organisation and the same determination as against Norwich, but if we can, we want to have more periods with the ball.
"We'd like some periods where we've got controlled possession and that's not easy against teams who are two or three divisions above you."
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