Boss Mick McCarthy says the Blues need to stick together as they look to end a run which has seen them win just once in their last eight league games. On Saturday, Town visit Nottingham Forest, another side currently going through a difficult spell.
McCarthy believes it’s vital for players to show character during the tough times: "That’s got to be evident every week but it certainly is now.
"When things are going against you and people are on the turn, they’re turning on me, they’re turning on players, what you can’t afford to do is turn on each other.
"You need to stick together and keep playing. We’re far from the position we were in three years ago and the club is in a different position now.
"We’ve just got to keep going and be confident that we can turn it around, and I don’t doubt that for one minute.”
McCarthy believes it can take just one win to kick-start a revival: "Of course, and look across the league. Forest are similar to us, they’ve had a stutter. I see Wolves have lost two on the bounce having had a good run and Brentford won two on the bounce.
"It’s the ones that get the consistency, of course, the likes of Derby - but then they’ve spent a few quid so they’re entitled to have a consistent run - it’s those ones that’ll be up near the top.
"I saw an interview with Grant Leadbitter from Middlesbrough having lost [1-0 at Cardiff] the other night and he was distraught. It happens. It’s turning it around, so three points from somewhere would make a huge difference.”
Town are currently 11th, five points off former skipper Leadbitter’s Boro in the final play-off place and already eight behind second-placed Birmingham City and 12 from surprise leaders Brighton.
Asked whether the gap to the top two is already becoming difficult to bridge despite the season still having 34 games remaining, he said: "It could get a whole lot bigger, it could get a lot shorter as well. It’s up to us to try and cut the gap.
"There are some good sides up there and Hull showed what a good side they are the other night.
"I look across the whole league and I think Birmingham came here, they’re doing really well, they look like a good side. Huddersfield look like a good side, Bristol City, who were propping the league up, look like a good side.
"There are no mugs in the league and we’ve just got to do our damnedest to get back to winning ways.”
The Blues haven’t scored for three games and McCarthy admits that given his strike force goals weren’t something he anticipated being a problem.
"It is a surprise,” he said. "It’s not something that we’ve stopped working at, we continue to work at that and we’ve got players with really good ability in the final third.
"I can’t do anything about the ones that have gone. We’ll keep working towards the Forest game and hopefully we can test their keeper far more.”
Having switched to a 4-3-3 formation at the KC Stadium in midweek, McCarthy isn’t ruling out utilising that system rather than his more usual 4-4-2 again in the future.
"Possibly, we’ll have a look at Forest and see what they’re doing,” he added. "It did work well, I would take that first 35 minutes at Hull in every away game we ever play in, but we let our guard down.
"I have to say it was a good goal by them and the one that really cost us was the second just before half-time.”
The East Midlanders, who are subject to a Financial Fair Play embargo, have also been enduring a tough spell of late, although they were close to winning at home to Burnley in midweek until the Clarets grabbed a 90th minute equaliser to make it 1-1, 15 minutes after Henri Lansbury’s red card had reduced Forest to 10 men.
Dougie Freedman’s side are 16th, three points behind the Blues and have gone five games without a win. Their only home victory this season came against Rotherham in August.
"I keep hearing about their embargo and other things but we all have injuries, we all have problems, we all have our difficulties,” McCarthy said.
"It’s for all of us just to get on with it and to try and make the most of what we’ve got. That’s something I’ve learnt over the years.”
He admits neither team is likely to be high in confidence going into the match: "We’ll find out, won’t we? We’ll go up there to try and win, there’s no question about that.
"But if there are two teams who have just been suffering a little bit then hardly any of us will be brimming with confidence in terms of playing.
"But it’s incredible how that can change so quickly - you get a goal early on maybe. We played well on Tuesday for 35 minutes, we were fine and had we got the goal, who knows our confidence might have been brimming this week.
"But we didn’t, it was Hull that got it. So we’ll go and try and do the same again, try and play well and this time score.”
Town almost claimed their first win at the City Ground since the 1999/00 promotion season last October but the Blues conceded a late Michail Antonio goal and the match ended 2-2.
"It was, and from a restart, from a corner kick which we’re usually better at defending than that, that’s for sure.
"I think they’ve got their problems in terms of injuries, they’re having a difficult time. But somebody will be interviewing Dougie Freedman and saying ‘A win from anywhere would be good and Ipswich are struggling, they’ll be coming here on Saturday…’. It’s a big game for both of us.”
Former Blues loanee Jonny Williams could make his first start for Forest against Town with McCarthy well aware of the danger the Crystal Palace man presents.
"He’s a fabulous player, he’s not started for them but maybe the injuries and the suspensions that they’ve got will force him into the team,” he said.
"I’m not sure I’d be delighted with that, in fact I wouldn’t be because we all know the damage he can do. But it’ll be nice to see him, he’s great lad, he did really well for us.”
McCarthy says Williams was still not fully fit from the thigh injury he suffered when with the Blues last season when he was assembling his squad in the summer.
"He was still injured and we’d put our squad together. Of course I’d always consider Jonny but once I’d got the squad together there wasn’t room for him anyway, sadly.
"He played against Andorra for Wales, he’s not been playing for Forest but they’ve got a few injuries so he might play on Saturday, that would worry me.”
McCarthy looks set to stick with Dean Gerken in goal with Jonas Knudsen at left-back. Christophe Berra is a doubt with a hip problem sustained at Hull on Tuesday and if the Scotland international misses out then the Blues boss may be forced into a reshuffle at the back.
Skipper Luke Chambers could move into the centre from the right alongside Tommy Smith with either Jonny Parr or Josh Emmanuel at right-back, while Piotr Malarczyk is an alternative option to come in at the centre of the defence.
In central midfield, Cole Skuse will return if fit having missed the game at Hull with an ankle problem. McCarthy may feel that three games in a week is too much for 32-year-old Jonathan Douglas with Kevin Bru likely to start if either of this season’s two regular starters miss out.
On the left, the Town boss could give a second league start to Tommy Oar, who is back in training following the concussion he suffered in the Huddersfield match. Ainsley Maitland-Niles could be on the right, although another option might be to start Freddie Sears out wide.
That would allow David McGoldrick - who is expected to be fit after missing out in midweek with a groin problem - to partner Daryl Murphy, who netted twice in last season’s corresponding fixture.
Forest failed in a bid to sign former Blues midfielder Liam Trotter on loan from Bolton this week, although some reports claim that the deal could still go through [EDIT: the deal eventually went through on Saturday morning in time for Trotter to face his old club].
Skipper Lansbury starts his suspension following his red card in midweek, while defender Matt Mills serves the final game his ban for a dismissal in the home defeat to Hull.
Midfielder Ben Osborn is a doubt with a groin problem, while defender Michael Mancienne (knee), midfielders Chris Cohen (knee), Andy Reid (groin), Robert Tesche (foot) and Kyle Ebecilio (hamstring), and strikers Britt Assombalonga (knee) and Matty Fryatt (achilles) are all currently sidelined.
Blues captain Chambers joined Town on a Bosman free transfer after departing the City Ground in the summer of 2012, while striker McGoldrick signed on loan from Forest in January 2013 before putting pen to paper on a permanent deal the following summer.
Williams has so far made two sub appearances since joining Forest on loan from Palace. The Wales international had three stints on loan with the Blues in the last two seasons in which he scored two goals in 15 starts and five sub appearances.
Historically, Forest very much have the upper hand, winning 34 of the games between the two sides (31 in the league), 17 (16) ending in draws and Town winning 20 (19).
Town’s last win at the City Ground was back in December 1999 when Matt Holland netted in a 1-0 victory.
The Tricky Trees are without a win in five and have won just once at home this season, a 2-1 victory over Rotherham in August.
The teams last met at Portman Road in April in last season’s penultimate Championship match when Sears netted a deflected 83rd minute goal to see his side to a 2-1 win.
FOREST: We have just been informed by @Official_NFFC there will be no away ticket sales on the day. Buy in advance for this one. #ITFC– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) October 19, 2015
Murphy put the Blues, who moved up to fifth as a result of the win, in front with his 25th goal of the season on 22 but Berra’s 53rd minute own goal handed the visitors a lifeline before Sears’s late winner.
In October at the City Ground, Antonio’s injury time goal prevented the Blues from claiming the three points as the teams played out an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Murphy had twice put the Blues in front with Tesche having grabbed the home side’s first equaliser.
Saturday’s referee is Paul Tierney from Lancashire, who has shown 41 yellow cards and one red in 12 games so far this season.
Tierney’s most recent Town match was the 2-0 derby defeat to Norwich in March in which he booked Skuse, Tyrone Mings and two Canaries.
Prior to that he was in charge of the 3-1 home defeat to Barnsley in November 2010 and the after-extra-time 1-0 Carling Cup win at Crewe three months earlier.
Town squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Parr, Emmanuel, Knudsen, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Coke, McDonnell, Maitland-Niles, Touré, Sears, Pitman, Murphy, McGoldrick.