Mick McCarthy says he’ll be keeping faith with keeper Dean Gerken at Yeovil tonight, despite the 28-year-old’s error for Middlesbrough’s first goal on Saturday. The Blues boss believes it’s important that players shouldn’t constantly be in fear of losing their places and that Gerken wasn’t the only player to blame for Danny Graham’s opening goal at the Riverside.

The former Colchester United and Bristol City man has been McCarthy’s number one since August and he confirmed that he will keep his place for Town’s first ever game at Huish Park: “I have [nailed my colours to the mast] and will be doing so again tomorrow, he will be playing.

“I think he deserves it. If you start looking at a game like Saturday's, the easy thing is to go ‘I’ll change that, I’ll change that and I’ll change that’. But actually, that’s not the right thing to do.

“You’ve known me 16 months and you’ll have seen that I’m a loyal person and a consistent person who doesn’t chop and change on one bad performance.

“That’s something I learnt from my managers myself. One in particularly stuck with me when I had a bad spell. I came out of it and I was fine.

“I had a bad spell having had a fantastic spell prior to that. I played out of my skin and then I had a bad spell and he would have been justified in going, ‘Out the door’ but he didn’t because he knew I was a good player and I would come back and play well.”

He says it doesn’t help players if they feel they’re always one error away from being dropped: “It creates fear if you think that if you make one mistake today you might not play again on Saturday. Wow!

“There’s all these things going on — you have to play anyway and perform, you’re playing in front of fans, some are giving you adulation, some are giving you whatever else it might be and the ones who are giving you adulation can turn into the abusive ones very quickly.

“If they’ve got that in the back of their minds, ‘If I have a bad game today the gaffer’s going to drop me’, they’ve got no chance.”

Regarding Saturday’s goal, he says Gerken failing to hold on to Mustapha Carayol’s shot was one of a number of errors: “I don’t think we can [entirely blame] the goalkeeper.

“[Carayol] shouldn’t have got out, he shouldn’t have got inside, he shouldn’t have hit the shot and Tommy and everybody else who was there perhaps could have done better with the rebound but it didn’t happen. I’m not going to leave them all out, all the ones who were involved in it.”

McCarthy says he and assistant Terry Connor review all Town’s matches: “We do analyse the games from start to finish, from the end of the game to start of the next one. We’ve put Saturday’s to bed now.

“People play badly, people don’t play as well as they can. They don’t do it every week, we have 46 games and you’ve got to be at it every single week.

“Our lads are at it every week, in terms of the physical side, but they were better than us on Saturday. There’s got to be a bit of that sometimes, holding your hand up and saying ‘We were beaten by a better side’.

“I thought they pressed us and closed us down and stopped us playing and they did to us what we do to other teams mainly. And then they’ve got some players with really good ability.

“I don’t like losing but I’m the ultimate realist and pragmatist and sometimes you do get beaten by a better side. If they’re playing well with those players playing well, they’re a good side.”

He points out that there haven’t been too many days like that since he came to the club: “That’s why I don’t do paralysis by analysis, I accept that some days we will not play well.

“On Saturday I was asked why we didn’t play well and the answer always sounds like excuses.

“I mentioned travel, we’ve got to travel again, so if we don’t play well at Yeovil, is it because we’ve travelled for five hours on the bus? I thought they deserved it, they played well.

“And when we beat teams like that I know our opposition are asked why it happened and we’re saying it was because we were too good for them, we were all over the top of them, we played well, we passed it well, we made good crosses, we had good chances.

“And they’re going ‘And why was that?’. Were they this or were they that. Sometimes you just get done by a better team and I thought on Saturday that that was the case.”

Photo: Action Images

SouperJim added 10:11 - Mar 11 thebeat unlike you I don't think my opinion is the only one which is valid and that I can see things which others, including Mick McCarthy, can not. Mick clearly favours Tabb and Nouble for what they bring to the team when the opposition are in possession. For myself, I don't disagree for one second that they have been lack-luster at times on the ball (although I though Nouble was excellent against Birmingham), but I accept that Mick can see the bigger picture. He is a dour Yorkshireman who plays safety first football built around hard work and endeavour. He values having a good organised team and a solid platform, it is a recipe that has served him well in the past and has ensured that we are a mid-table side pushing to compete for the play-offs, rather than a destitute shadow of our former glory plying our trade in league one. If we don't push on next season and look like breaking into the top 6 then perhaps it will be time for the kind of criticism above. But right now, like it or lump it, Mick is sticking to his guns rather than pissing it all away on a gamble. I for one am behind that philosophy and would rather Mick guided us to a comfortable top 10 finish than risk our league position doing the bismark, due to a failed gamble at hollywood football which our squad is ill equipped to produce. You jump on the bandwagon of the modern football fan and clamour for overnight success, while holding up the sides of yesteryear as your template. It is a ridiculous contradiction. In short, gain a little perspective.

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thebeat added 10:15 - Mar 11 Seriously? Is this guy for real? ^
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SouperJim added 10:26 - Mar 11 theobald - I think "the ipswich way" is largely a myth perpetuated by those who wear rose-tinted specs. Yes, we have tended to favour a passing game during our more successful periods, but even our greatest sides had hatchet men, played some long balls as well as short, were dominant in the air etc. I doubt there is a fan at the club who doesn't want to see the kind of football you describe. If Mick fails to deliver something more that way in time, then absolutely we should move him on. But right now he is doing an excellent job, giving us the stability we have so desperately needed for years and is building a solid platform from which we can finally mount a realistic challenge to get out of this division. If we try to achieve too much too soon, it will likely all unravel. We've had the overnight success men and they were an abject failure. For now I am willing to forgo a little excitement for the greater good of the football club.

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honder_ITFC added 10:27 - Mar 11 Souperjim, in my opinion, you make a lot of sense. The bigger picture is far more important than a few bad results now and the possibility of not making the playoffs this season.
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theobald1985 added 10:33 - Mar 11 i dont think were clamoring for overnight success just keeping the ball on the deck and playing football to win. we dont need sides of yesteryear as a bleeding template look at swansea for gods sakes. players like gary monk were not world beaters they hardly bought there way up-what they have now have is an established football philosophy which means they punch above there weight. martinez then rodgers then laudraup and now monk all want to play good football and monk is now playing the same way and you wont get the managers job there unless you play that way. my lad is with the ipswich PDC programme and is 8 and they are teaching them to play out from the back and play attacking football and take risks-that is the future so we may as well start preparing for it now people like mick are a dying breed out of date and out of touch and out of ideas

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thebeat added 10:34 - Mar 11 SouperJim utter garbage! Im no modern day fan, my teenage years were spent following John Duncans dour long ball football up and down the country, ive seen it all as a Town fan and dont expect overnight success. But having put up with Duncans awful football i never thought id see it again, especially in 2014. This style of football was what we needed to stay up last year, fair enough, i'll always be grateful for that. But thats gone, the defence knows how to defend now, the team knows it has to work hard, but theyve known rhat for 12 months now, we should be stepping it up now and trying to add some quality football into the mix. Instead we have right backs out on loan, right backs on loan but not playing, cbs at right back, left footed cbs playing on the right, 4 centre mids playing across midfield strangling the life out of the game and then add into the equation laurel and hardy never getting dropped despite pathetic performances week after week after week cus they are his boys and he is "loyal" after all. Its just wrong, its boring, and most importantly its easy to predict and to play against, hence why our points to games ratio is down this season compared to last seasons game under Mick. Theyve worked us out, they know if they keep it on the ground and attack down our right we cant handle it. Ive said before i never expected play offs this season, we all know we arent good enough to make them, but we've been safe for a while now, this is when we should be getting the ball down, playing attacking football, giving the kids some game time, trying new things in preperation for next season but like you say Mogadon Mick is stuck in his rut, he wont do any of that cus he has no intentions of changing tactics next season and it will just be boring mid table mediocrity again, mid table i can handle after the keane and jewell years but boring mediocrity im not happy to accept, i pay to watch football not hoofball.

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SouperJim added 11:00 - Mar 11 We don't currently have the players to produce what you're asking for or fix the problems that exist in our side, nor the resources to go and get them. Mick has brought Williams in, by all accounts he can play a bit and I'm sure he'll play tonight. We've recently released a batch of youngsters who are not good enough, so there are little signs that we have any kids to throw in without throwing them to the wolves. We are where we are and it doesn't change the fact that Mick has brought in some very good players at this level for very little, but you can't expect him to build a complete team in one season. I'm confident that if you give him some time he will continue to improve us. I can remember his previous sides with pace on the wings and power upfront. You say you don't expect overnight success, yet you're critical of us not being the finished article at the end of year one for Mick McCarthy. The two don't add up I'm afraid.

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BillBlue added 11:01 - Mar 11 This problem is not just Loach/Gerken. The inconsistency in approach re being dropped/played applies to favourites/non-favourites and in itself that is the only consistent.
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Beattiesballbag added 11:08 - Mar 11 superjim, thebeat is right the ship was steadied last season and the close season didn't bring us any improvement just brought us more problems by signing another cb to push another cb out to rb plus everything else he mentioned is spot on. It's not promotion people expect but as the ship was steadied last season how about trying to put other teams on the back foot instead of looking to stop the other team from playing how ever poor they are! You can wait for next season to improve, but it won't, because as you stated his formula has served him well. Unfortunately most other teams have finally discovered that you cam get footballers to work hard & close down the other team when you haven't got the ball & try to score goals from open play when you have it.

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spanishblue added 11:12 - Mar 11 Well as mick is the boss and tc tells him who's training well we must believe him on an extremely low budget we are on the edge of the playoffs so he's doing something right surely you can't play pretty football without the players to do it I,ll bet you he's trying to find them go mick an tc if he keeps us in the top ten that's a miracle well done to him
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SouperJim added 11:27 - Mar 11 Mr ballbag, criticise Mick for playing Chambers out of position if you like, but don't criticise him for bringing in Berra. He is one of the best defenders in the division. I accept your opinion, I just feel you're asking for a little too much too soon. If we get to this time next year and we're no better off then I might agree with you and hope for our own Martinez like theobald describes. But for me it's far too soon to make that judgement right now and you can't ignore the good work Mick has done here. Where there is life there is hope and even this season isn't quite over for us yet.

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thebeat added 12:31 - Mar 11 So SouperJim you think we dont have the players to play normal attacking football? So the fact we hace 3 very capable wingers in the squad in Anderson, Edwards and Hunt and he'd rather play Green and Tabb, central midfielders by trade ahead of them doesnt seem wrong to you? What are wingers for if not attacking? Has their whole career been a sham? And why play Hyam and Skuse all the time? Why not try a Williams with Skuse or a Wordsworth? (when fit obviously) Skuse mops up lovely in front of the back four, he doesnt need a clone next to him, like i said we arent goin up we arent goin down, try and play some football, you never know it might work, as for Berra its catch 22 for me, he is a great defender but the pairing last year was top notch, its a shame 3 dont go into 2 but he needs to pick his best 2 and get on with it, Chambers should never have played at right back, but its Micks one rule for one, one for another again, he wasnt prepared to let Hewitt develop in the first team but hes trying to allow Nouble to do just that. Playing the top teams i can understand shutting up shop but we've played some crap teams at PR this season and the team sheet has not reflected that, its like we are setting up to play world beaters every week, thats not football, its just survival tactics

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Alwaysablue added 12:40 - Mar 11 Gerken, the man who can do no wrong
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JWM added 12:59 - Mar 11 You make some excellent points SouperJim and I agree that there is a total lack of objectivity on here, We haven't played the mythical "Ipswich Way" since the 2000/01 season and you're right about all the moaning during the BFJ era about "Long Ball"! Never mind mate you cant please some people and even if we had Pep Guardiola in charge they would still be finding something to moan about!

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thebeat added 13:16 - Mar 11 Some people must lead really boring lives if they enjoy watching us on a Saturday afternoon. Sheldon and Leonard are living in Suffolk these days.
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SouperJim added 13:16 - Mar 11 thebeat if you're going to put words in my mouth to try and justify your position, please at least explain what constitutes "normal attacking football". Are you suggesting there is no attacking side to our game, as that would be a ridiculous statement and the fact that we sit just 4 points off the play-offs proves otherwise. As I believe I already said, we clearly don't have the squad to play the way Leicester do for example, so Mick is sticking to what we're good at, hard work and a more conservative brand of football which gives us a better chance of picking up points. Yes I'd rather we played better football than we do and that some of the issues that you point out were fixed, but as frustrating as it may be we are not yet in a position to do so. You can rant and rave, jump up and down and go in circles making the same point in slightly different ways, but it won't change the fact that like it or not what is required right now is a little patience.

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JWM added 13:22 - Mar 11 Only some Ipswich fans can possibly expect a team that scrapped survival from relegation one season to be playing Barcelonaesque football the next without a penny being spent on real quality players! LOL I think the word that best describes them is Deluded!
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thebeat added 13:25 - Mar 11 Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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thebeat added 13:27 - Mar 11 As boring as Mick
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WickedBlue added 14:52 - Mar 11 Loach puts in a MOM performance and gets dropped Gerkin at fault for first goal and puts in a below average performance and keeps his place. Don't tell me McCarthy doesn't play favourites!
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WickedBlue added 15:07 - Mar 11 I've the fact if McCarthy gets criticized on here they we are all armchair managers yet if you look at the criticism it is more about saying one thing doing another. He's the Manager he picks what team he wants but at least have the guts just to say it. Just say I will pick who I want to play while I am manger if this club and not give us all the BS about players playing and performing for their places. We see it's all crap you're suppose to be a straight talking manager that's whet we were told so stop with the BS and talk straight. We know know Loach will never get a fair shake under you Neither will Taylor or anyone else you don't fancy. You favourites on the other hand will get all the opportunities you can give them. Just be man enough to say so!

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theobald1985 added 15:10 - Mar 11 SouperJim the problem is patience is not going to lead mick to play on the deck in a more expansive way and he is out of touch with the modern game we may as well get rid now. to be fair at least you seem to ultimately want us to play better football unlike JWM who seems to love this way under mick -i wonder who he would want if mick left? graham taylor maybe or john beck. i really dont believe that the players cant play proper football pass and move out from the back and although he has not had loads of cash he has been able to bring in a number of players of his choosing ones like ebanks blake berra and hunt who have played PL footie and mcgoldrick who is a decent player. if he had not have gotten rid of jet we could have played ebanks blake up top with a fluid 3 behind of taylor mcgoldrick and jet and really got at teams.

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JWM added 15:32 - Mar 11 The thing is Theobald I dont want Mick to leave as he is doing a great job here thank you very much.
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thebeat added 15:56 - Mar 11 Some people obviously enjoy taking a break from their stamp collecting club and chess nights to go to Portman Road, i suppose it breaks up the boredom.........oh..................
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Superblue95 added 16:07 - Mar 11 People on here are absolutely mental!!! What do they expect from this Ipswich team? I agree our style of football isnt great but we havent got the players to play fluid passing attacking football. The simple facts are that we should be at the bottom of the league as our players are no better than the ones at Barnsley Charlton Doncaster and dare i say it yeovil. We signed 3 players from a wolves side that had a double relegation, 3 players from a bristol city side who might do the same thing, a player who couldnt get in an abysmal reading side last year and more recently loanees who couldnt get near the first teams of sides below us in the league. We play rubbish football because we have rubbish players but it is effective in keeping us in the middle to upper reaches of this division. Unfortunately until Marcus Evans starts splashing the cash again we will not improve no matter who the manager is

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