Town boss Paul Cook has praised new signing Sam Morsy’s character and experience and confirmed that he’ll make his debut in the Papa John’s Trophy tie against West Ham’s U21s on Tuesday, but says he’s not yet decided whether he will wear the captain’s armband at Portman Road as he did when they previously worked together at Chesterfield and Wigan.
Reflecting on the season up to now, in which the Blues have failed to record a victory, Cook said: "I don’t want to be critical on anything we’ve done in the five games because when you’re brand new, you do things that brand new teams do.
"We’ve scored some fantastic goals, at times we’ve been very pleasing on the eye and we’ve also made some ridiculous mistakes along the way.
"The reality with the lads coming in, certainly in Morsy’s case, vast experience, multiple promotions, played at a very high level, an international footballer and he’ll be a defensive rock for us.
"He’s an absolute character of a man. He’s captained all my teams that I’ve been with him at, at Chesterfield for three years, Wigan for three years, he knows what I want every day and he delivers every day.”
"Will the Egyptian international skipper the Blues? "We haven't made that decision yet. That's something that we will make over the next few weeks.
"Again, we've been sourcing players non-stop. George Edmundson has been brought in to be a leader. He's a man and he's an aggressive person by nature, he's a really good lad.
"So we've now got options for captains and different stuff. As I say, now that the window is shut, everything will take care of itself over the next few weeks. Lee Evans will captain the team tomorrow as he has done for the start of the season.”
Morsy is suspended for three League One matches due to a straight red card in his final game for Middlesbrough, a 1-1 draw with Blackburn, but can play in Tuesday’s Papa John’s Trophy tie.
Cook confirmed that the 29-year-old will make his debut against the Hammers youngsters: "Yeah, 100 per cent. We'll have a strong team out on Tuesday night. It's a competition I can’t see why we can’t do well in.
"Why can't we try and go to Wembley? What a great day out that would be. I know Portsmouth fans and Sunderland fans have travelled in great numbers.
"We've got to start winning, the biggest ingredient we're lacking at the minute is that winning mentality that only winning brings, and it's something we've got to start doing quickly.”