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McCarthy: Season May Have Taken Toll on Backline
Monday, 16th Mar 2015 06:00

Boss Mick McCarthy admits that the long Championship season may have taken its toll on his regular backline. Town’s previously solid defence - skipper Luke Chambers, Tommy Smith, Christophe Berra and Tyrone Mings - has kept only one clean sheet since the turn of the year and has made a number of costly errors, most recently during the 4-1 defeat at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

The Blues have taken only 14 points from their last 13 games and have dropped to seventh with nine matches left to play - a point from the play-offs and eight from the top two - having been second as recently as mid-January.

McCarthy, who conceded that Town now have little chance of winning automatic promotion, was particularly disappointed that Boro’s two first-half goals came from corners having been otherwise pleased with his team’s performance before the break.

“It’s extremely frustrating because the lads have been excellent,” McCarthy said afterwards.

“Maybe the fact that Chambo, Christophe, Tommy and Ty have played all the games just about, maybe it’s taken its toll.

“I don’t know. I can’t say I’m looking to pin blame on anybody anyway, but they’ve been excellent, our guys.

“It’s not like us, it is frustrating and it is damaging, of course. It’s damaging our prospects of getting in the play-offs even. But we’ve got to recover from this and we’ve got Bolton on Tuesday.”

There have been calls amongst fans for changes to the defence with some keen on a return to the back four the Town boss utilised during September and October with Jonny Parr at right-back and Chambers moving into his preferred central role alongside Berra.

“If I wanted to change it where are all the defenders coming from?” McCarthy responded when quizzed on his continued selection of his current back four. “I’ve got the defenders that I have.

“Jonathan Parr set the goal up for us. I thought he was great today. I think he has been, playing further forward [in midfield].

“It’s always the same, everybody can pick the team for me when we we’re getting beaten.

“When we had that team playing and we were winning [people were saying], ’It’s a great team, it’s a great back four’.

"And I don’t hold the back four totally responsible for the goals and everything that’s happened.”

Meanwhile, keeper Dean Gerken, knocked unconscious at the Riverside as Town conceded Boro's first goal, travelled back to Suffolk on Saturday evening having been given the OK to do so after being taken to hospital and undergoing scans.

Town’s U21s are in action against Nottingham Forest at Playford Road this afternoon (KO 1pm). With the first-team facing Bolton at home on Tuesday evening, few if any senior players are likely to be involved.


Photo: Action Images



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Ely_Blue added 06:06 - Mar 16
Expect the same back 4 for tomorrow night then!
9

Akaroablue added 06:21 - Mar 16
It obviously takes a dinosaur a long time to change direction!
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Cakeman added 06:25 - Mar 16
"If I wanted to change it where are all the defenders coming from?"....... How about Matt Clarke for one?
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blue7579 added 06:30 - Mar 16
Maybe mm shouldn't have got Varney and wood in, and got 2 defenders in, if he's not pleased with his options, or used Hewitt and Clarke who he has said is ready if anything happens to centre backs, also no one has been totally happy with back 4 when we were scrapeing through victories.
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Len_Brennan added 06:41 - Mar 16
I'm a big fan of Mick & think he has done an amazing job, given the circumstances. I also think some of the comments & criticism he has received on here have been ridiculous & downright ignorant. However, he is wrong on this one. It's not just over the last few games where we've lost that people have been calling for the change at the back, it's been going back to early January when it started gathering momentum; before we had dropped a lot of unnecessary points.
Myself & a small number of others called for the Parr, Chambers switch with Tommy dropping out back before he did it the first time, due to our concers about the balance of the side & the fear of a good left winger doing real damage, so I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon here. Funnily enough I remember getting a lot of minuses & negative comments myself then, as to how I could suggest dropping Tommy, one of our own.
The answer is there Mick, you have the players to effect the change needed. Jonny Parr may be a left full back primarily, but he's a full back & that's what we needed. If he can play on the right wing, surely you are accepting his right sided credentials. Chambo is a good defender, but he's a centre half, and a right - sided one at that. He's done his best at right full, but he's been exploited too often. It's got to be Parr, Chambers, Berra, Mings on Tuesday; & Mings has to up his performance too.
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Bob7881 added 06:45 - Mar 16
What u Saying MM i dont understand too many games in a season now? I feel so much better we lost 4-1 but we played well in the first half thanks for your uplifting words.
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Jimmy86 added 07:04 - Mar 16
Mick has done a great job with what he's had at his disposal, but he certainly has a stubborn streak and has previously admitted the more fans ask for something, change of system or personnel, for example, the less likely he is going to do it. He then makes a point of doing what he wants and not what people ask for purely on principle. This stubborn streak is good when backing players, but then again only particular players, if they make a fee mistakes, but could be harmful in the long run. In my eyes I'd have liked to have seen more of hewitt, but for some reason Mick doesn't rate him. He is in a similar situation to Mings in my opinion. A raw, young defender, who is still learning the game, who is possibly better going forward then defensively and is versatile, as was demonstrated when he play right midfield at the start of the season. Mick is happy to go with Mings, in his first full season at this level, but with Hewitt he drops him and then loans him out after a few games. Hewitt is a proper right back and whilst Chambo is good defensively he is a make shift right back as he readily admits. You can't say hewitt has done that much wrong to be honest, hope he makes it at town
14

KiwiTractor added 07:10 - Mar 16
Come on Mick, seriously?
3

smithy0981 added 07:11 - Mar 16
Jimmy86 - At last someone who speaks sense instead of just slagging MM off. He has done an amazing job with no money and we are still in the play off mix! Results ain't been great at all lately and he does need to change the defence! Parr, Chambo, Berra, Mings, simple! And Mings does need to up his game big time he took too long messing g around on the ball sat and smith had a nightmare! I am confident we will win tomorrow but there has to be changes!
6

KiwiTractor added 07:14 - Mar 16
Here's a suggestion - play a fullback at fullback, play our best/form central defenders and heaven forbid, play a winger or 2 wide in midfield....
15

Kieron_FJ added 07:16 - Mar 16
Perhaps if you played our best centre back in the middle, rather than right back and jonny parr their instead and dropped smith for a while, we may not have this problem!
8

bluefeast added 07:21 - Mar 16
The back 4 has been a problem all season , not just recently ,he continues playing a centre half at right back etc etc etc. His options are obvious ,yet he sticks to the same issues.
3

BrettenhamBlue added 07:22 - Mar 16
Parr and Clarke would both fit in fine at the back but they are rarely given a chance.
If this really was an issue, why didn't we sign a solid cb in Jan? Instead we have 6 strikers.

Don't misunderstand me, MM and TC have done a great job, but our squad is so wafer-thin that it has no chance of challenging for a top 6 spot. We saw this problem in August, and so many posters said we needed a few more players. We need at least 5 new players (not emergency loans) to make a solid challenge for promotion. IF we make 6th place, we are going to get slaughtered in the play-offs as our squad is simply exhausted.
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Mark added 07:22 - Mar 16
As others have written, Parr would have been the ideal choice to bring in to rest defenders. He can play at either full back to rest Chambers or Mings, or Chambers could move into the centre to rest Smith or Berra.

If Parr is needed in midfield it underlines how weak our midfield is. We have signed a string of wingers, but none of them ever seem to get a look-in for whatever reason. Sadly, I think our lack of quality in midfield will cost us promotion this season. That's a real shame as we came so close and for a time looked like we would do it. If only we had been able to strengthen in the January transfer window.
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Dissboyitfc added 07:28 - Mar 16
Len and Jimmy, well said both of you. The thing is i believe that mm is so stubborn, he is aware of what most people believe, chambers is no full back, same as his predecessor Carlos Edwards. the balance in that defence is wrong. Hewitt is a proper right back and chambers is a proper right sided central defender. Mick made us hard to beat, we could almost stomach the archaic hoofball whilst winning or drawing ( nearly stomach it anyway)but playing hoofball and getting thumped is really going to upset some ( i am one ) when MM refuses to put square pegs in square holes. You do have right backs so use them.
14

warktheline added 07:33 - Mar 16
If they give out awards on here for best post without doubt Len Brennan would win 'most sense'. Spot on again Len!
3

Stato added 07:34 - Mar 16
Spot on Mark. The issues are in midfield and this argument about who to play at right back deflects away from the fact that we are lacking quality in midfield.
2

Blue_75 added 07:34 - Mar 16
Just about every Town fan you talk to says the same thing - drop Smith and play a balanced back 4 of Mings, Berra, Chambers, Parr.

I think most would also agree to having nothing against Tommy Smith, it's just a case of picking our strongest back 4!
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warktheline added 07:38 - Mar 16
Parr has been the odd one out nearly all season, now it appears we couldn't do without him in midfield, let alone full back! The boy should have already played 30 odd games at full back this season, baffled to why management hadn't seen his input to team!
10

bluefeast added 07:45 - Mar 16
Lens comments are not in anyway profound ,they are simply obvious.The difference with Lens comments as opposed to others is he is looking for credit ,ie i and my group of critics pointed out the imbalance before Mick changed it ,ie Lens main point is he is better than MM. The whole defence was a mistake back in August , yet not addressed in any way at all. That is terrible management
1

MicksZzzTactics added 07:47 - Mar 16
Hmmm .... very nice and shrewd observations there Guru Mick .... as usual! :-) LOL
What can I possibly say to this latest MM semi-drivel slash beating-around-the-bush that either myself or countless others haven't posted before already? Thus If I am to merely repeat myself, might as well reprint my little favorite Albert "E=mc2" Einstein quote again (as at least some among the more objective non-rosytinted fans here seem to like it -:) )

"Insanity = Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results!"

PS: For the more nitpicking crowd here :-) this wonderful and awesome Mick McCarthy fitting quote have actually also been loosely "attributed to" Ben Franklin and Mark Twain, mostly since there doesn't exist any solid evidence that Einstein actually saidwrote this and included in his "Letters to Solovine: 1906-1955". However an earlier version of the quote came from author Rita Mae Brown's novel "Sudden Death, published by Bantam in 1983.
4

Jimmy86 added 07:55 - Mar 16
If he must include Smith, who is only having a stinker because he is playing out of position and hasn't become a bad player overnight, then why don't we play 3 5 2!!! We have the players to do it, with Parr and Mings as wing backs. Tommy can then play on the left side of the 3, as he did for NZ in the 2010 world cup!! You can still utilise Mings and parr in forward areas and play Tommy to his strength, left sided!!
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Elizabeth added 08:02 - Mar 16
Play the correct formation and there wouldn't be a problem !! We had more success with Chambers in the centre.
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phillo added 08:04 - Mar 16
So lets sum up .....everyone on here says essentially the same - Parr right back, Chambo back in the centre - yet some (bluefeast) still manage to try & pick a fight !!!!! Odd ..... we are meant to all support the same team ! ...... & yes, yes I am all for different views, constructive argument etc etc ...... but please stop the bickering & critiscism of other fellow supporters. The argument " I'm entitled to my opinion" works both ways!
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bluesince84 added 08:10 - Mar 16
Guys you can all suggest the correct line up until 2024. Instead of speculation let me tell you what will happen tomorrow . 442 ( obv to do anything else is sac religious ) smith at centre with unbalanced back line . Tabb will start ( obv again ) parr had a good game on sat so he's def out ( should deed poll his name from parr to tabb then he can have all the terrible games he wants with 1 or 2 half game exceptions, and he would become undroppable ) at 60 mins varney will come on due to his recent goal form........ Oh wait. 80 mins wood will come on for his goal threat...... Oh wait ... Oh and bish off . His punishment for keeping the ball on the ground . Done
8


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