Town boss Mick McCarthy has confirmed that skipper Luke Chambers will be out of action for up to a month with the ankle injury he suffered at Millwall on Tuesday, while Teddy Bishop is facing another lengthy spell out having undergone groin surgery.
The Blues, who also have Tommy Smith and Adam Webster sidelined, have been unable to secure a replacement centre-half for Chambers in time for tomorrow’s home game against Brentford.
"A real injury blow that one,” McCarthy admitted at his lunchtime press conference, which was shown live on TWTV.
"He rocked his ankle in the first half, it was remarkable that he played on and got through 90-odd minutes.
"He is tough, 46 games, every minute of every game last year. I thought he was coming off at the time because he was lying still but just banging his hand on the ground, he was hurt.
"And it looks like it’s going to be the guts of a month he’ll be out, until after the international break.
"But I guess the good thing is that we’ve got an international break coming. I know we’ve got three games, but it could be worse, it could be the start of the month when we’ve got six games. I’m hoping he’s going to be all right after the break.”
The Town boss says his captain is a big loss: "He’s been excellent in the games, but it’s his personality as much as anything. I’ll still have him in the dressing room, he’ll be there, but unfortunately he can’t do anything on the pitch.
"I’ve just remarked that to the players this morning, whatever we’ll miss about his ability, we’ll miss him, we’ll miss his voice and somebody’s got to step up and be a voice in the back four and organise and when it’s going a little bit pear-shaped be an organiser, be a cajoler, an encourager because he’s done all of that and he’s been brilliant.
"So, for all of that, the other side is that he can’t play, we can’t do owt about it so let’s look on the positive that we’ve got players who are playing well and can come in.”
The Blues boss, who is yet to decide on his captain for tomorrow’s match, says it’s too early to consider Luke Woolfenden for his first start, the youngster having made his debut as a sub at Luton in the Carabao Cup.
"He’s not going to be a pick for me if everybody else is fit,” he said. "He needs to play in some U23s games or even go out on loan somewhere, starting and playing.
"I think there are a lot of them who can come in and do a job on an ad hoc basis - we need it to work, do it. But staying in the team, I wouldn’t think that would be the case.
"That’s been the case with Josh Emmanuel and Myles Kenlock, lads who are far more experienced than he is.
"I’d love to see him come in but I don’t see any team in the league with an 18-year-old centre-half playing.”
Bishop has missed most of the last two seasons due to a variety of injuries and is now facing what the club are referring to as an "extended period” out having gone under the surgeon’s knife.
"Teddy's going to be out for a while," McCarthy added. "He's had an operation on a sportsman's hernia in his groin, so it isn't good news.”
Had my opp, no one knows the frustration I've been through but hopefully all sorted now and I can get back to my best! #itfc pic.twitter.com/4AkasYSXQA
— Ted bishop (@ted10bishop) August 18, 2017
More positively, Flynn Downes will be back in the squad for the Bees' visit having missed the 4-3 win at the Den having suffered a calf knock in the 2-1 victory at Barnsley last Saturday.
"He was injured, he took a knock but had it been a cup final he probably would have wanted to play,” the Blues boss added.
"He missed out but I couldn’t keep playing him anyway, put him in the team and just play every game at 18 years of age.
"The amount of minutes he’d played and everything else just accumulates. He had taken a nasty kick on his calf and the problem is if he goes and plays in that one and gets kicked again he might miss two or three weeks. And I was OK, I’d got Wardy who could play [in central midfield] and I thought he was excellent.”
Bersant Celina and Dean Gerken also missed the visit to Millwall as they were unwell but the pair have recovered.
"Both trained today, they were both fine. Gerks wasn’t too bad, but they’re both all right, they’ve both trained,” McCarthy said.
Looking further ahead, the Blues manager says one of his longer-term absentees could return for the Carabao Cup match at Crystal Palace on Tuesday.
"Tom Adeyemi, no chance, Emyr Huws, yes, and Luke Hyam is playing in the U23s at Burnley on Monday.
"He wants that, he’s been out for a long time. He doesn’t want to be involved in a Carabao Cup tie that is going to be far more intense.
"Go to Burnley, get your 75 minutes, he’ll probably do 90 minutes in the next game a week on Tuesday and then he’s fit to play, I would say.”
Regarding Adeyemi, who missed the whole of pre-season having been badly hit by the virus which affected a number of players, McCarthy says a subsequent injury has also hampered the summer signing.
"He did come back and because he’d been out, he’s desperate to get back, he worked over-hard and he hurt his calf muscle,” the Town manager added.
"He’s not been out for the last three weeks with the virus, it’s been pretty much his calf strain on the back of the virus, which must have taken a lot out of him as he was on his back for three weeks, I think.”
The Blues boss confirmed that midfielder Andre Dozzell’s hour-and-a-half operation on his torn cruciate knee ligament on Tuesday went well.
"He’s fine, he’s here today, you might have seen him walking out with his dad, the two Dozzers were here,” McCarthy continued.
"He’s out for nine months, for the season. The operation went well and he’ll get the best of treatment, they’re the surgeons that do all the footballers, they’re fantastic.”
Reflecting on the current injury and illness situation - 10 players missed Tuesday’s match - he says he's never previously known a period like it, certainly not at the start of a campaign.
"I’ve never known a season like it on two counts," he said. "I don’t think I’ve ever won four on the bounce either. I’m not going to bemoan the injuries, I’ll just rejoice in the four wins!”