Town boss Mick McCarthy was pleased to see two of his midfielders get on the scoresheet during Saturday's 2-2 draw at Brentford, having targeted more goals from midfield this season. Kevin Bru opened his account for the season just before the break and Ryan Fraser netted a debut goal five minutes after the restart.
Last season the Blues managed only 12 goals from midfield - Jay Tabb and Paul Anderson two, and Bru, Teddy Bishop, Richard Chaplow, Jonny Williams, Cole Skuse, Luke Hyam, Darren Ambrose and Jonny Parr (who also scored one when at full-back) grabbing one each - during the whole of the season.
"Kevin’s injured now but Ryan Fraser scored as well,” McCarthy said. "We’ve been trying to get goals from the midfield for a long, long time.
"It’s been quite obvious to everybody. We’ve had some really industrious, really good guys playing in wide areas but who didn’t perhaps get the goals or create the chances.
"I think we’ve got the opposite this time. Ryan and Ainsley [Maitland-Niles] are similarly both prepared to work hard but are a real threat.
"Larsen Touré as well, I’m hoping he’s going to be the same. He’ll play against Stevenage and we’ll see with him as well.”
McCarthy believes the two wingers who started at Brentford, on loan from Bournemouth and Arsenal for the season respectively, give his side a greater threat on the counter-attack, along with some of his strikers.
"The two wide lads do but the front guys as well,” he continued. "I thought Freddie Sears was outstanding on Saturday. Not to demean Murph’s performance but I thought Freddie was outstanding.
"He’s a bit further forward in his prep than Murph is, he had two or three weeks extra at the end of last season playing and then didn’t come back for two weeks.
"But they are a real threat because of the pace, and certainly Ryan and Ainsley are very quick as well.”
The Town boss said he didn’t spend too long deciding which of his four frontmen would start at Griffin Park.
"It wasn’t a decision I was really worried about because Freddie finished the season on fire and so did Murphy, he scored 27 goals.
"It was a partnership where neither of them have done anything wrong to not be playing.
"It’s a bit like Gerks and Bart as well. They start afresh, you’re picking from the start, but in reality you’re not because Bart was in goal [last season] and didn’t deserve to be left out, and neither did Freddie or Murph.
"And the way that Brentford play, holding a higher line, we knew that the pace that those two have running behind them would cause them problems.”
He says Gerken, who starts tonight against Stevenage, understood his decision to start Bartosz Bialkowski ahead of him at Brentford: "Yes, he did. He knows I’m a loyal guy, I don’t flit and pick and choose and am frivolous with my decisions.
"I am loyal to people, sometimes when others are clamouring for changes. But I think I learnt that from other managers who were loyal to me when I’d been a very, very good player for them.
"You have a couple of bad games and everybody, and I’m sorry to say but it’s the media, start clamouring for change. But I had managers who stuck with me and it worked.
"And I’d like to think that if there are things I learned from managers that’s one of them because you get your rewards when you’re loyal to people.
"And, of course, when the other one gets in, he knows I’m going to be loyal to him. If he plays well, I’m not just going to leave him out.”