Town boss Mick McCarthy says he’d take 16 repeats of last week’s performance against Reading between now and the end of the season, starting at Aston Villa on Saturday. Although the game against the Royals ended 2-2 the Blues were a significantly better prospect than they had been during the 3-0 home drubbing by Derby a few days earlier.
"I’d take another 16 of those, it would be fantastic,” admitted McCarthy. "I’m glad because that makes me feel better. I can’t honestly say I was that encouraged by some of the performances we’ve had, in fact I was discouraged by [some of them].
"We’ve had a good one and then a couple of bad ones but Saturday was a really good performance against a very good side, who we didn’t give many chances to, we stopped them playing.
"They had lots of possession but didn’t do anything with it in terms of chances and I thought we should have won the game. And - seems it’s going that way - we would have but for a 30-yard-plus shot which flies in the bottom corner and even beats Bartosz, which has been hard to do.”
Town still haven’t recorded the same result in successive league games since drawing with Wolves and then Norwich back in August, 26 games ago, a new club record.
McCarthy says Aston Villa, back in the second tier this season for the first time in 29 years, made the right choice when they made his old friend Steve Bruce their manager in October following Roberto Di Matteo’s departure.
"We go back a number of years because we’re a similar age,” the Town boss said. "We played against each other and have managed against each other quite a lot.
"I thought it was an excellent appointment after they went looking everywhere trying to get sexy options. I guess me and Brucey aren’t too sexy but we know what we’re doing and do good jobs wherever we’ve been.
"He’s had to change it around again. He inherited a big group of players, has gone in, he’s had some good results, it’s calmed down a bit and then he’s gone and got Conor Hourihane, James Bree, Henri Lansbury, Scott Hogan, Neil Taylor from Swansea.
"They're all good players but they have to settle into a team, I’m hoping that’s not going to be the case this weekend, I’m hoping he’s going to need a little bit more time to bed them all in.”
Bruce has made some bold decisions during January, among them allowing big money August signing from Fulham Ross McCormack to move out on loan to Nottingham Forest. McCarthy says he’s not been in quite the same situation in his career up to now.
"I seem to remember making big calls myself, whether I had to keep Guirane N’Daw on a loan deal,” he joked.
"I don’t know because I’ve never been in that position, I’ve never gone into a club where I’ve got a £13 million striker [McCormack] and I can replace him with a £10 million striker [Scott Hogan from Brentford], I’ve never had that.
"It’s been more like ‘We’ll let that one who is on loan out the door and we’ll bring a free transfer in’.
"So, I don’t know, I’ve no idea what I’d do. Give me the opportunity and I’ll let you know. But I’d do what I thought was right for the club, not what I thought was right for the players.”
Is McCarthy envious of the spending power that Bruce and some other Championship managers have? "No, because it’s his job, it’s not mine. I’ve managed to do as well as I can with what I have where I am, it’s at Ipswich at the moment.
"Brucey, good luck to him, he’s tried and tested in the Championship, and in the Premier League, to be quite honest.
"But he’s brought good players in, the full-back from Barnsley [Bree], Hourihane, everybody seemed to be chasing him.
"Lansbury, we all know his quality. Hogan, I’d have had him in a heartbeat, I’d have had him in the Premier League, to be quite honest. I was asked by a few and I said I would sign him if that was the case.
"He brought really good Championship players in. But they need to bed in, they need to settle in, you can’t just bring five, six, seven new ones in and expect them all just to be a team.”
Hourihane could be one of up to five Villa players making their home debuts on Saturday, the Irish midfielder having signed from Barnsley for £3 million.
McCarthy says the 26-year-old, who was with the Blues in 2010/11 without breaking into the first team before moving on to League Two Plymouth at the start of the following season, deserves praise for making it back to this level.
"We should congratulate him really because far too many just drop out,” he reflected. "He’s obviously a good pro, he’s quite clearly a good player, so good luck to him.”
McCarthy believes Villa, who are currently 14th, two places ahead of the Blues on 36 points, the same as Town, will be serious contenders for automatic promotion next season.
"Yes, without a doubt,” he insisted. "There’s just been too many changes, it happened when I left Wolves. We were fourth bottom when I left and we ended up two divisions below that two years later.
"And I think that’s been the case with changes of manager at Villa. You can’t just turn it around straight away after that.
"The amount of change which has gone on since Martin O’Neill was there and finished sixth three years in a row, which was deemed not good enough, have been bonkers. And Steve will turn it around, without any doubt.”
Despite clubs looking for younger managers in the mould of Eddie Howe or Brendan Rodgers, McCarthy believes there’s still a place in the game for experienced bosses such as himself and Bruce.
"For all the next Eddie Howe and Brendan Rodgers, and David Wagner I might add, who I think has been brilliant at Huddersfield, you see how many get the sack, all those bright, young ones, the percentage of managers that don’t get through their first year,” he said.
"It’s ridiculous, the numbers. Yes, there are those really bright ones that we all like and all respect and the clubs benefit from, but there are a lot of us senior ones who are doing all right as well.
"I hear everyone going ‘Oh, doing all right!’. Yes, we’ve been doing fine and we’ll continue to do fine because it’s experience, it’s know-how, it’s knowledge and it goes a long way in this game.”
What’s the secret of managerial longevity, McCarthy having taken on his first job at Millwall in March 1992, 25 years ago next month.
"I reckon being good at it! Because if you’re s*** at it you don’t last very long, do you?” he laughed.
"Quite clearly if you’re not very good at it you don’t last very long or even if you’re unlucky or you have a chairman with an itchy trigger finger or somebody that just likes giving managers jobs and sacking them. You tell me. I know what my feelings are.”
Is he one to pick up the phone to younger managers to lend them the benefit of his experience?
"Sometimes if I know them,” he added. "But I don’t feel it’s my place to be doing that. I know Alex Ferguson did, I got a nice note from him when I got the job at Millwall.
"I’d have to be careful if I send it by post because they might not be in the job by the time it gets there!”
McCarthy will stick with Bartosz Bialkowski in goal while the Blues boss may well also continue with the 3-5-2 system he utilised against the Royals with Villa having switched to the same formation for last week’s 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest.
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That would see Josh Emmanuel start ahead of Jordan Spence at right wing-back with Jonas Knudsen at left wing-back with Myles Kenlock perhaps being viewed as not yet ready to start having only just recovered from his calf injury. The 20-year-old is expected to travel, however, and could be on the bench.
Steven Taylor will be at the centre of the back three with skipper Luke Chambers to his right and Christophe Berra to his left.
Town’s backline are without a clean sheet in 14 matches in all competitions and McCarthy says they’re desperate to record one: "We all are.”
In midfield, Cole Skuse will start as one of the central three if he is over the achilles injury he suffered against the Royals with Grant Ward, his replacement from the bench last week, Kevin Bru, Teddy Bishop and Andre Dozzell all potential contenders to come into the midfield alongside Emyr Huws and Toumani Diagouraga if the Bristolian misses out.
Up front, top scorer Tom Lawrence will again be partnered by David McGoldrick, while Brett Pitman, Freddie Sears, Kieffer Moore and new loanee Dominic Samuel, available for selection for the first time having been ineligible against his parent club last week, all vying for places on the bench.
Villa will be without England U21 international Jack Grealish, who was sent off against Forest last week.
New signing Neil Taylor is OK having been ill for the visit to the City Ground and could make his debut, but midfielder Mile Jedinak (groin) and striker Gabby Agbonlahor (hamstring) are still out. Keeper Jed Steer (achilles) and Ritchie De Laet (knee) are both long-term injury absentees.
Historically, Town have won 18 games (14 in the league) between the sides, 14 (12) have ended in draws and Villa have won 23 (19).
Villa are currently without a win in their last seven in all competitions, losing their last two, but are still to be beaten at Villa Park this season.
In September at Portman Road, Sears struck the post and Leon Best and Skuse both had the ball cleared off the line in a frantic final few minutes but Town had to be content with a 0-0 draw against Villa.
Until the closing stages it had been a close game of few chances but in the end the Blues were unlucky not to claim all three points.
The teams last met at Villa Park at the third round stage of the FA Cup in January 2012 when second-half goals from former Blue Darren Bent and Andreas Weimann saw Villa come from behind to beat Town 2-1.
McCarthy’s men had gone in 1-0 ahead at the break via Eric Lichaj’s own goal and might have been further in front before the home side’s comeback.
The most recent league game between the teams at Villa Park was back in the Premier League in December 2001 when two Juan Pablo Angel goals gave the home side a 2-1 win after Finidi George had put Town ahead with a low drive from 25 yards.
No current Blues player has been with Aston Villa, although U18s coach Alan Lee was a youth player at Villa Park.
Hourihane, who followed his former Town boss Roy Keane to Portman Road in the summer of 2010, is the only Villa player to have been with the Blues.
The Corkman was an unused sub for the Town first team on four occasions in 2010/11 but failed to make it on to the pitch.
He signed a new six-month deal in the summer of 2011 but joined Plymouth after a trial late in pre-season with new manager Paul Jewell not seeing him as being close to breaking into his first team.
Villa have put together a guide for away fans which can be downloaded here. There will be no alcohol on sale to fans in Block P of the upper tier of the Doug Ellis Stand, mainly due to the size of the concourse, but alcohol will be available in the lower tier.
Useful matchday information, including details of away pubs, can be found via the West Midlands Police on Twitter here: @WMPVillaFC.
The match is Villa’s designated Football v Homophobia (FvH) game. FvH, which is an international campaign to tackle homophobia and prejudice against LGB&T people in football, takes place every year in February.
Saturday’s referee is Tim Robinson from West Sussex, who has shown 125 yellow cards and eight red in 27 games so far this season.
Robinson’s most recent Town match was the 1-0 victory over Preston at Portman Road in August, in which he booked Skuse and one visiting player.
Prior to that he was in charge of the 1-0 win at Derby on the final day of last season in which he booked skipper Chambers and Adam McDonnell and two Rams.
Before that he took control of the 2-1 home victory over Reading in February last year in which he booked Berra and two visiting players.
Robinson’s only other competitive Town game was the 2-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough in December 2015 in which he again yellow-carded Berra and two visitors.
Before that he refereed the pre-season friendly at Crawley in the summer of 2013 in which he awarded the Blues a penalty, which was converted by McGoldrick in a 2-1 victory.
Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Kenlock, Emmanuel, Spence, Taylor, Berra, Digby, Skuse, Diagouraga, Huws, Douglas, Bru, Dozzell, Bishop, Ward, Lawrence, Sears, Pitman, McGoldrick, Moore, Samuel.