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McCarthy: Break Comes at a Good Time - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Mick McCarthy admits that the international fortnight has come at a good time with the Blues having won just once in their last six league games and down to 12th in the Championship.

Despite the recent run of results, the Town manager will still give his players some time off.

"Yes, [it does come at a good time], but they’ll still get a break,” McCarthy said. "[People will think] that we’ll lash into them and really cane them, that’s not the case.

"We’ve potentially got Christophe Berra away, Ryan Fraser away, David McGoldrick away, Daryl Murphy away, Kevin Bru away, Tommy Oar away, Ainsley Maitland-Niles away, so that’s not going to help our cause in terms of working with the team."

Speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk, he added: "We’ll be in training, they’ll get a few days break and then when we come back on the Monday for the week building up to Huddersfield we’ll have to put a good shift in then.”

Having remained loyal to his first-choice players, he admits he is considering changes when the Terriers visit Suffolk: "I keep saying I’ve got the best squad of players I’ve had since I’ve been here, so maybe it’s time to look at a few others.”

McCarthy has no complaints about international breaks interrupting the Championship season, believing that players benefit from them with fixtures coming thick and fast.

"I think it gives players a chance to have a break and to rest up because we are only 10 games in and we’ve got all these games still to play,” he said.

"And then you get that bonkers period over Christmas and then that bonkers period over Easter, so maybe putting their legs up for three or four days will help them long term.”

Berra and Scotland face Poland at Hampden Park, Glasgow on Thursday and then take on Gibraltar in Portugal on Sunday as they complete their Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Fraser and U21s keeper Jonathan Henly are are due to meet up with the Scotland U21s for their European Championship qualifiers against France on Saturday and Iceland on the following Tuesday.

McCarthy said on Saturday that Fraser might well be forced out of those games due to the injury which forced him out of Saturday's defeat at Blackburn: "That’s a discussion that our physio’s got to have with them and I think he’s going to struggle for it.

"He got a knock before the Leeds game, he had a bad ankle and he got another knock in training the other day and had a scan. The scan’s clear but he’s just bruised bone.”

Murphy and McGoldrick’s Republic of Ireland play their final two Euro 2016 qualifiers against Germany in Dublin on Thursday and Poland in Warsaw on Sunday.

Winger Oar and Australia play a World Cup qualifier against Jordan in Amman on Thursday.

Maitland-Niles will be with the England U19 squad for their Euro 2016 qualifying group games in Skopje, Macedonia.

They face the hosts on Thursday, Finland two days later and Italy on the following Tuesday.

Bru’s Mauritius play Kenya in a two-legged World Cup qualifier at home on Wednesday and away on Sunday at the round one preliminary stage.

Defender Josh Yorwerth and keeper Michael Crowe will be with the Wales U21 squad for their Euro 2017 qualifier against Denmark in Aalborg on Friday.

Yorwerth’s loan club Crawley had a request to have Saturday’s home game against Leyton Orient postponed due to international calls denied by the Football League.

Winger Dylan Connolly will be with the Republic of Ireland U21 squad for their Euro 2017 qualifiers against Lithuania at the RSC in Waterford on Friday and Italy in Vicenza the following Tuesday.

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