Blues boss Mick McCarthy is confident that there will be a reaction from his players when they face Huddersfield at Portman Road this afternoon having fallen to a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Blackburn in the last game prior to the international break.
"I think we always get a reaction,” said McCarthy, whose side defeated Leeds 1-0 away following their previous league defeat, the 5-1 thrashing at Reading.
"I don’t want to have my back against a wall, I’d prefer to have had five wins on the bounce in the run-up to this one and be full of confidence.
"But I never worry that it’s going to affect them for that long because they are very resilient, very professional and they care.
"They care about the club, they care about their own performances and they care about each other. That’s why we get good responses from them.”
Despite the larger squad meaning that several senior players are often not in the matchday 18 let alone the team, he says there are no sulkers at the club.
"I haven’t got any of them,” he added. "I’ve seen a bit of disappointment sometimes when players haven’t played but in reality there are no sulkers.
"That does no good. If you’re sat on the bench you have to come on and perform, score the winner or block something.
"I go back to Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who was never a particular favourite of mine, but he came on in a game against Bolton and he blocked one at point blank with his chest and we won that game.
"He came on against Burnley, dropped in, picked it up and he put Carlos Edwards through, he crossed and we scored. And that was him coming on as a sub.
"So, while I was never a great fan of his, that’s when I respected him, when he came on and did that. And it’s the same for everybody else - if you’re a sub be ready to play, to come on and contribute, come on and score the winner.”
He added: "It’s happened with the strikers. Sometimes the two strikers are on, they do the hard yards for 75 minutes and it’s happened in every game, when I change the strikers the subs have come on and had chances.
"That’s when you’ve got to be at your best, you’ve got to be at your most clinical. You get that chance. If it’s Murph, if he has to come on, if it’s Didz, if it’s Freddie, if it’s Brett, Ainsley, if it’s a defender who has to come on, there’s no point in coming on and having a sulk-up and causing you problems.”
He says performances in training play a big role when he selects his sides: "At times I’ve spoken to players and they’ve said ‘How do I get in the team?’ and I’ve said ‘You keep training the way you’re training’."
"I think some don’t believe that it works but it does. If I see somebody who’s at it and really putting it in and desperate to be in the team as opposed to somebody who has got a bit of a sulk-on because he’s not in the team, he’s got a damn sight more chance of getting in, I can tell you.
"And there are times that I’ve picked it on that, without a doubt. I’ve had something in my mind, I’ve thought ‘Maybe I’ll leave it’ and then a couple of them have changed my mind.”
He says there’s great team spirit amongst the players: "There always has been and I don’t see any reason that that should change because they care about each other, they care about the club.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy has a lot of time for his Huddersfield counterpart Chris Powell: "He is a good manager and he does come across well. He’s a very personable guy. He’s one of the guys who I don’t think anybody has a bad word to say about.
"He always comes in win, lose or draw, has the chat and is very open and honest about the game.
"There are some where you wonder whether you’ve watched the same game, but Chris and his staff are like me and TC, we go in and we’re brutally honest about how the game went.
"I like him, but I don’t like him so much that I want to give him anything, that’s for sure.”