McCarthy Considering Changes Tuesday, 24th Feb 2015 06:00 Town manager Mick McCarthy is weighing up whether to make changes to his side for this evening’s home game against Birmingham with tough matches coming thick and fast over the next couple of weeks. The Blues, beaten 1-0 at home by Reading on Saturday, face Norwich in the East Anglian derby at Carrow Road on Sunday, then travel to Leeds on the following Wednesday, before Brentford visit Portman Road the next Saturday. “I’m always thinking about [whether to make changes],” McCarthy said. “I’ve got a squad of 18 for the 14 games which are left so there’s always that conundrum of whether to do it or not. We’ve got Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday. It’s a fairly hectic schedule.” The Town boss’s options are limited by injuries to David McGoldrick (thigh), Darren Ambrose (hamstring), Stephen Hunt (hamstring), Noel Hunt (knee) and Luke Hyam (knee) but he still seems likely to freshen things up for the 15th-placed Midlanders’ visit. Bartosz Bialkowski seems set to keep his place in goal but the Blues manager may be tempted into a reshuffle at the back. He could return to the back four he favoured briefly in the autumn with Jonny Parr coming in at right-back with skipper Luke Chambers moving to the centre of the defence alongside Christophe Berra with Tommy Smith dropping out and Tyrone Mings at left-back. Alternatively, he could bring Parr back in on the left with Mings dropping to the bench. In midfield, McCarthy is unlikely to leave out Cole Skuse but could consider bringing Teddy Bishop back into the centre and recalling Paul Anderson on the right. Jay Tabb seems set to continue on the left. Up front, Daryl Murphy is again likely to partner Freddie Sears. Recent recruits Luke Varney and Richard Chaplow will be on the bench. Leicester’s Anthony Knockaert won't be signed before this evening, he's currently in France, but may well join before the end of the week. McCarthy says he’s fully focused on the Birmingham game with his thoughts yet to turn to Sunday’s derby at Norwich: “We’re playing Birmingham, that’s the important one for us. And that’s how it will remain until we’ve played it.” The Blues boss says his Birmingham opposite number Gary Rowett has done very impressively since taking over at St Andrew’s in October. “He’s done a great job,” McCarthy said. “They were bottom when he took over, or certainly in the bottom three, and they’d just lost 8-0 to Bournemouth, albeit they were down to 10 men and they’re not the team to be down to 10 men against. “It’s a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Birmingham and I think he’s done it by being solid, they’ve worked hard. “They’ve got a good unit together, a bit like when I took over here. First of all, stop goals going in. If you do that you’ve got a chance. “And then they changed it a bit against Brighton [when they lost 4-3] on Saturday, they went 4-4-2 and got a couple of goals back. We’ll wait and see what their team is. “I always feel that the result will be determined by how we play, not how anybody else plays.” He says Rowett has a decent array of attacking options at his disposal: “Lloyd Dyer, Demarai Gray, Clayton Donaldson, Wes Thomas, that’s a really good front four, that is. “Whether they play that way or not, I don’t know. Lee Novak came on and played and scored at Brighton. “I think they’ve got really capable front players and that was the case when we played them up there when we drew 2-2.” He added: “They’ve a bit of pace in the side with Donaldson and Thomas up top. It’s not like you look at them and can say they haven’t got good Championship players because they have. We’ve another hard game in store for us.” Birmingham boss Rowett is hoping that key midfielder David Davis - who played under Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor at Wolves - will be back from the knee injury which saw him miss the Brighton game. “We will leave Davo until tomorrow,” Rowett told the Birmingham Mail. “He has made good progress and done a bit of light training today so we are hopeful he will be fit. “Neal Eardley is available again after his loan [at Leyton Orient] expired at the weekend. It’s just a case of which bodies can get through another tough away with a long journey and that’s something we will assess.” Midfielder Koby Arthur has been ruled out with a thigh strain, while centre-half Michael Morrison, who was born in Bury St Edmunds, is out with an ankle problem. Another central defender, Gavin Gunning, and striker Matt Green both remain sidelined with knee injuries. Historically, Town have had the better of Birmingham, winning 33 times (30 in the league), drawing 14 (14) and losing 27 (21). The Midlanders have drawn five and lost two of their last seven league matches. In August at St Andrew’s, Christophe Berra netted twice, the second deep into injury time, as Town grabbed a 2-2 draw having twice been behind. David Edgar put the home side in front on the half hour, Berra equalised for the Blues five minutes after the break, Donaldson put Birmingham back in front before the Scottish international’s late, late leveller. Last time the sides met at Portman Road in March 2014, Daryl Murphy’s ninth goal of the season saw Town to a 1-0 victory. The Blues might have added to their lead in the second half with Paul Taylor twice coming close with curling efforts from just outside the area. Midfielder Darren Ambrose is the only current Town player to have been with Birmingham, spending an unhappy two-year spell at St Andrew's before being released last summer having made only six starts and four sub appearances, scoring once. Town are warning fans who travel home via the A14 that road closures could lead to congestion after the match. Tonight’s referee is Select Group official Lee Probert from Wiltshire, who has shown 26 yellow cards and two red in eight games so far this season. Probert, who refereed last season’s FA Cup final, last took control of the Blues in the 2-0 East Anglian derby defeat at Carrow Road back in December 2008. Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers, Parr, Mings, Berra, Smith, Clarke, Skuse, Bru, Bishop, Chaplow, Tabb, Anderson, Connolly, Stewart, Murphy, Sears, Varney.
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