Boss Mick McCarthy admitted that Town were beaten by a better team after their 3-0 defeat at Leicester. Goals from Jamie Vardy, David Nugent and Chris Wood saw the league leaders to a comfortable victory.

“We were beaten by a better side, that’s for sure,” McCarthy said. “Unfortunately for me and for us we contributed to it and they don’t need any help.

“You probably know my view on the first one in terms of the final pass but we had a corner kick, we’d just had our best spell in the game. I think we’d had the best chance with Skusey at the edge of the box, I don’t think we’d had any other chances up until then.

“We went backwards rather than keeping it on top of them and we end up being negative, give it away and they scored."

Although it was Jay Tabb's backpass which played goalscorer Vardy in on goal, McCarthy wasn't too harsh on the midfielder.

“Tabby shouldn’t have been put in that position, that’s my view. We should have been putting the ball in for another cross and we should have been in their third.

“That was where we made the mistake, so I’m not pointing the finger at him, I think he’s great, I think he’s been fabulous for us, Tabby.

“I just thought we'd got into the game. Leicester are better than us, we’ve lost to a better team.

"They don’t need any assistance to win their games and I thought on the second goal again we had the ball in the final third and we lost it and it ended up in the back of our net. Disappointed.”

He said the home side showed little sign of tiredness having fought out a tough 2-2 draw at Forest on Wednesday: “If you can tell me that Vardy and Nugent were tired in the first half I’ll show my arse in Burton’s window!

“That’s all psychological babble that, that they might be tired, you just hope that that’s going to be the case.

“They’re top of the league, they’re winning it by a street, they’re all very, very good players, fit healthy young men and they can cope with it and you can cope with it when you’ve got players with the ability that they’ve got.”

McCarthy felt his team improved after the break: “I thought we played well in the second half. They were 2-0 up, there are two sides to that. They’re 2-0, do they keep going and try and get a third when they don’t need to?

“I thought we played better, I thought we had some opportunities to do better than we did but didn’t take them and we suddenly got punished by a better team.”

Quizzed about his interest in bringing Ryan Tunnicliffe back to Town on loan from Fulham, as TWTD reported yesterday, McCarthy was keeping his cards close to his chest.

“We’ll see. We’ve just lost to Leicester, it’s not the end of the world, they’ll piss [this division], they’re streets in front of the rest of us. We’ll regroup on Monday and see and get ready for Birmingham.”

Tunnicliffe was left out of the Cottagers' 18 as they drew 1-1 at West Bromwich Albion.

Leicester manager Nigel Pearson was delighted with the victory and the display: “A good result. A good all-round performance against a decent side. I’m very pleased with the outcome.”

Photo: Action Images

muccletonjoe added 18:35 - Feb 22 The one you left on the bench
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punch_bowl added 18:36 - Feb 22 beaten by a team that has spent money and don't have Frank Nouble
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Garv added 18:44 - Feb 22 Played for one point, got no points. Good job Mick. No intent whatsoever.
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essextractorboy93 added 18:46 - Feb 22 Lets move on to Birmingham, nobody really expected anything against Leicester today, they are a top side in this league, was very impressed with them when we played them at home. Any team would miss a goalscorer like McGoldrick but we can't always rely on him. Mick has done an amazing job in the time he has been here. COYB!
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jas0999 added 18:49 - Feb 22 As I said in a previous post, it's one thing being beaten by better opposition, it's quite another rolling over so easily making errors in the process. The performance wasn't good enough nor that of a team challenging for top 6. That said, we are an average team, with virtually no squad depth, so despite my expectation levels / ambition remaining high, in reality we are not as good as many teams in this league, who's managers have received more financial backing from their owners.

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SouperJim added 18:53 - Feb 22 @iamipswich - personally I find it refreshing that Mick doesn't publicly criticise his players, good man management. What he says to them behind closed doors I'm sure is another matter.
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brittaniaman added 18:58 - Feb 22 WELL if we cannot beat Barnsley and Blackpool !! How the hell are we expected to beat or draw against Leicester ????? Mind you our usual passing style of going sideways and backwards let us down badly today ?? MM get your TACTICAL book out of the cupboard and read it again and again !!!!!!!!! before the next game
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oldegold added 19:09 - Feb 22 We lost before a ball had been kicked.There was no intention to win,our soccer is deadly dull with zero initiative and we have too many average players i.e Tabb and Nouble. The last one is willing but why doesn't he recall Marriott? At least he breaths and moves and why not promote our own? If they can't get in now then they never will.Boring,bland and mediocre.Now comes the slide down the table..

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Mark added 19:11 - Feb 22 Disappointing, but predictable result. I think our objective for the rest of the season needs to be to keep in the top half, and I think we'll come 12th. As for Tunnicliffe, well, today we played three central midfielders who rarely score goals (Skuse, Tabb, Green) so do we really need another one?
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MicksZzzTactics added 19:14 - Feb 22 So what's happening to our beloved managers manners and lingo lately???... Coping real poorly and almost girly-like to the heat and criticism which naturally follows a poor streak (very much also from an pure entertainment POV!) of just 2 wins in last 12 games??? A few weeks ago Super Mick said in the post-game interview "... some people can f@@ck off!"! Today he says "...I'll show my ar@@e in Burton's window!" Well can you not wait until AFTER your pre-season prediction of a a top 6 finish becomes mathematical impossible... or even better AFTER we have thrown away enough silly points against inferior teams (meaning not the Leicesters of this league!) manly thanks to your fans-deterring and mostly negative "afraid-to-loose + always happy with ONE point" football style and tactics, to have gotten us into serious relegation troubles against all odds!, may the good Football Gods forbid :)... BEFORE Mooning your heinie in a window or anywhere else for that matter Mick! :) Your recent naughty outburst are really starting to scare my kids!

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sereneblue added 19:31 - Feb 22 While McCarthy is in charge of Ipswich and the football he wants to play, are club is going no where.
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marco007 added 19:34 - Feb 22 Never mind the free scoring Tunnicliffe may be heading back! Tabb, Nouble, Murphy, Green OMG!! We have nothing to play for so surely we can try and be be a bit more positive or dare I say it entertaining :(
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Cheshire_Blue added 19:38 - Feb 22 The usual claptrap from the same tired old moaners. MM has worked wonders on a limited budget and if we are poor there are 15 or so other championship teams who are poorer. A top 10 finish will be progress so how about credit where credit is due and SUPPORT your team or don't bother to turn up.
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Bluetone added 19:40 - Feb 22 MM has his favourite few players who can do no (little) wrong then there are the others who never get a fair crack of the whip. Time to do something risky and give some of the others a chance go on I dare you. And what the hell has Loach done wrong? Clean sheet and a decent game last week and dropped this, some reward that McCarthy, favourites again?
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Tractamatt added 19:54 - Feb 22 The next 2-3 games will be key to seeing what the intent of our management is. If they get any loans in if they change the obvious selections to not be beaten rather than pick a team to win.
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TimmyH added 20:17 - Feb 22 'I think he's great, I think he's been fabulous for us, Tabby' - I'm struggling with that, really!?! what other players does he think has been 'fabulous' for us? Nouble? Green? a bit exasperated when I read such comments.
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battyblue added 20:30 - Feb 22 Crap team selection crap tactics week after week Taylor did more in the Fifteen minutes he got on the pitch than Nouble and Murphy put together for sixty five odd minutes if he does not start the next game the only reason is Mick dont like him and would prefer to play his pets even if they are crap week in week out they. Cresswell is a shadow of his earlier seasons performances he doesn't get forward much anymore obviously on mm instruction i am fed up watching this tripe.

11

Steelmonkey added 20:31 - Feb 22 Today's result was always going to be a Leicester win. I don't think even with a fit McGoldrick in the side would the result have been any different, the reasons being that the side need new faces in midfield. We are nowhere near strong enough in this department to compete week in and week out with a lot of other Championship sides. We need players who can concentrate for a full 90+ mins, and are 100% fit, as MM said we didn't to give them any help. How many times this year have we done this, just silly mistakes. This season is not about being the finished article, MM hasn't been given the backing for that. There is only a certain amount a manager can do when with limited funds, it doesn't matter how good a manager is, you cannot expect to be able to assemble a whole squad of players for free. If we put faith in players who are not fully fit, why not try putting faith in fully fit youngsters when we know the result before the first whistle blows. Purely my opinion, but I don't have to pick the team and try to please thousands of fans every week.

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Marcus added 20:36 - Feb 22 I accept Tabb is a hard working player but we've got two hard working central midfielders, we need a bit more life from the wide players. They should be bombing down the wings and creating problems. Hunt and even Edwards can do that and they're not exactly the youngest players we have. I agree that dropping Loach was unnecessarily harsh after he had a good game. As supporters we get a glazed and polished version of what happens at the club and on the training field, however I suspect some of the players (Loach and Taylor more than anyone) haven't done as well on the training pitch or impressed MM and have fallen out of favour.

3

TOWNNNNNN added 20:36 - Feb 22 Mick McCarthy is the best... If he can't do it, no one can wahayyy...hahaha Some of you need to get a grip and remember how much better we are with mick,,
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brittaniaman added 21:24 - Feb 22 MM also why do you leave your subs so late ???you can surely see that the team were getting nowhere !!! Half time would have been a good time for a change ??? But it is your way or no way !!! 15mins. for Taylor was no time at all today, he did not even use his first wind ????
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Jewels added 21:31 - Feb 22 MM quoted post match that "Nouble had a good game and Taylor was OK"!! I am sure that even he doesn't believe in what he is saying. I like MM but I think he is making a BIG mistake not playing Taylor. We don't know the real reason MM dosn't play Taylor, perhaps it is cause he is lazy in training or an arse off the pitch - who knows? But all things said and done he should still play him as he is a million times better than Nouble at the moment, he can sell Taylor for more money in the summer if the played him from now until the end of the season - I just don't get it. It is wrong and everyone know, even MM if he was truthful.

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Blaine96 added 21:40 - Feb 22 Today we were simply not good enough, of course it is going to be extremely difficult to get anything against Leicester at the minute but Mick should know by his experience in this league that no matter what game you approach you go into in believing you can get something from it, however today he seemed to have sent his team there to just do all they can to grind out a draw, Mick if you really did have top 6 in mind why are you not using the tactics you used at Wolves and Sunderland. Now we dust ourselves down and turn all attentions to the Birmingham game and im sure Mick will be looking to change things up

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Letchworth_Blue added 21:41 - Feb 22 Sorry, im sick and fckin tired of the likes of Tabb and Nouble being called 'fabulous' or 'different class' by Mick. They are shyte and others need to be given a chance ahead of them. We were mainly awful today, no creativity, no skill, no flair, no ideas. SEB and Tayls were marginally better when they came know but too late by then. Wake up!!!!!!!
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muccletonjoe added 21:52 - Feb 22 I will have to get a pair of rose tinted glasses.
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