Town boss Mick McCarthy admits he’s gutted to have lost recent signing Steven Taylor for up to a month with a hamstring injury. The 31-year-old joined the Blues in January having been a free agent after leaving MLS side the Portland Timbers and had made an impressive start to his Portman Road career before limping off in the first half of Saturday’s 1-0 win at Aston Villa, his second game for the club.
"I’m more gutted for me and us actually, rather than him!” McCarthy said when asked if he was gutted for Taylor. "Because he was good, he played well.
"I’m getting sick of being gutted for all the players. Let’s be gutted for the team for once.
"I’m kidding, of course. I am really sad for him because he’s come in and he’s a really good guy around the place, a really solid fella.
"He’s a good player, he’s been a good voice around it, an experienced voice. He’s just been good for the training ground, the lads have taken to him.
"And he’s going to be out for four weeks at least. He’ll tell me three but it'll be three or four weeks.”
He says the former Newcastle United man has been good influence on the rest of the squad since joining the club.
"I hear him when he’s in the dressing room with us and on the pitch is my thing, he’s always encouraging, he’s always cajoling, he’s always using his experience to pull players around, you can hear him doing that,” McCarthy said.
"That’s a big part of it and I just think that younger players gravitate towards lads like him who when they speak they speak sense and when they play they play well. Young fellas like to have them around them. The experienced players do as well.”