Town boss Mick McCarthy believes he has a much stronger squad at his disposal than he did going into the start of last season. The Blues manager has added Danish left-back Jonas Knudsen and on-trial pair Giles Coke and Larsen Touré to his squad in the last few days.

“I had a look at the team photograph from last year the other day and the names on it and thought that it does look considerably better now,” said McCarthy, whose side finished sixth last season.

“While I’ve got 17 players, 19 with the keepers, we’re trying to get 20, maybe 22 if we can, and I can hang my hat on them all, every single one of them is a proper Championship player, so it’s a nice feeling.”

The Town boss believes his team has - aside from the first half against Utrecht - been more comfortable in possession of the ball during pre-season, although says this may in part be due to the less competitive nature of friendlies.

“It’s pre-season and I’m not so sure that all the opposition are closing down and it’s all a bit tentative,” he added.

“But all along my beef with my team, with us, is to be better with the ball, all along, because we’re pretty good without it, we can go and get it back.

“They’re such great lads at working hard and competing, my mantra always is ‘Can we be better with the ball’. And I think we’ve proved that we probably can be.”

He says new left-back Knudsen showed those same qualities when the Blues were checking him out: “We wouldn’t have signed him, he wouldn’t have come in if he hadn’t.

“What the lads had seen on the Wyscout system and what I saw - he follows people in, he tackles, he competes.

“We thought sometimes he’s a bit over-keen to do it, but I prefer that. You can get people to temper it but if they don’t do it you can never get them to do it.”

As for the young Dane’s long throws, McCarthy said: “That’s an added bonus, I think we’ve got a good defender.”

In addition to Knudsen, McCarthy has decided to sign former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Giles Coke, 29, and 31-year-old Guinean international winger or striker Larsen Touré following their trials.

McCarthy says Coke, who featured in the friendlies at Peterborough and Colchester as well as as a sub on Saturday, has settled in at the club very well.

“I knew Cokey anyway but he’s fitted in well and he’s another good person, a good bloke,” the Blues boss added.

“He’s fitted into the dressing room and the lads like him. I’ve been really pleased with him.”

The Westminster-born midfielder played youth football with QPR before moving on to Kingstonian, Mansfield, Northampton and Motherwell before joining the Owls in 2010.

While with Wednesday Coke spent time on loan at Bury, Swindon and towards the end of last season Bolton. He was released in the summer and was on trial with Blackburn prior to joining up with the Blues.

Touré, who featured briefly at Colchester and also came on as a sub against Utrecht, is a former team-mate of Kevin Bru’s with Levski Sofia.

The 31-year-old started his senior career with Lille and had spells on loan with Gueugnon and Grenoble before joining his hometown club Brest on a permanent basis in 2010.

Three years later he moved to Bulgaria and Levski where he spent a year alongside Bru before returning to France and playing with Ligue 2 Arles-Avignon last season with whom he made 21 starts and seven sub appearances, scoring five goals, while also picking up three red cards and six bookings.

The 6ft tall attacker has won six full caps with Guinea. His father, Mady Touré, also played football in France, for Brest and Orléans.

McCarthy says Touré junior is currently some way off peak condition: “He hasn’t done enough with his fitness, but I’m not worried about that. You can get players fit but at 31 you can’t turn them into good players.

“He’s fitted in with us, he’s one of my players - he works hard and he’s got good ability, definitely.”

No fan of friendlies, McCarthy says he and the squad are ready to finally get the campaign proper under way at Brentford next week.

“If I said no I’d be in serious trouble: ‘No, we could do with another two weeks of pre-season!’. No, we’re busting a gut to get going. I don’t want any more pre-season.”

Photo: Action Images

Karlosfandangal added 06:29 - Aug 3 Not sure of Coke seems to have move round a lot and I thought pretty average at Peterborough. Toure could be a problem with the red cards and bookings. Let's hope Mick has yet again got a couple of gems
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runningout added 07:04 - Aug 3 Wouldn't say squad was much better. Bang average players... Hoping amongst hope I have egg on my face
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muccletonjoe added 07:33 - Aug 3 Squad is better than last season. How much better we shall find out on saturday
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hoppy added 07:40 - Aug 3 Coke played at Colchester too, Phil. I thought he did pretty well then, seemed to have a decent touch.
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Len_Brennan added 08:04 - Aug 3 Coke and Tours have not been signed as first XI players. They both bring experience and a work ethic that Mick requires of his team. On top of that they can play & Coke has been better than a lot of us might have expected him to be & some are unwilling to accept he has been. I get the feeling that a number of posters, usually the same ones, look at which teams a new/prospective player has been with, or his age or the number of goals he might have scored in the previous season & just write him off there & then, without bothering to give him a chance, take relevant factors into account or consider what Mick is actually looking for in him. With Ham injured we need cover in the defensive or holding midfield role so Coke offers that. With all our wingers being young & very attack minded, we need someone with a bit of experience who will work hard and track back for balance; it sounds like Toure is the man for that from what Mick says. Fair enough I would think. We still need to add a right back of quality on a permanent deal mind you.

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hoppy added 08:13 - Aug 3 Good points there Len_Brennan, I think similarly to when we signed Noel Hunt and Luke Varney, people moaned a bit, but they did a good job for what Mick had brought them in for. Most worrying from your post though - I hadn't realised Phil was injured... Who's going to replace him?
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RegencyBlue added 08:15 - Aug 3 Get in a decent right back and I'd go with that!
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GeorgeITFC24 added 08:15 - Aug 3 Have contracts actually been signed by these two yet?
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tractordownsouth added 08:17 - Aug 3 Running out, our squad is much better than a year ago. We now have Sears, Pitman and Bishop Then we had Taylor, Nouble and Wordsworth
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Pilgrimblue added 08:18 - Aug 3 It probably is, just. But the real task for MM is to find his best team from the 19. From where i was at Colchester Coke looked good and Pitman added some pace. Didn't see much of Toure though. Jonas could be a star following in Cressie's and Ming's footsteps
3

MeenoITFC added 08:27 - Aug 3 Maitland-Niles will turn out to be a star for us. We have a slightly different squad as last with wingers coming in to the 11. IMO the mings sale has been recovered and personally could be better. His long throw-ins could be pivotal to us.
6

jpring89 added 08:33 - Aug 3 Definatley stronger upfront and now on the wings were going to be up there again this season confident this will be our year just want the season to start now
2

Stato added 08:34 - Aug 3 Of course squad is better as a whole load of last years players are now playing league 1 football. Kundsen looks like the only permanent signing who will make the starting eleven when all are fit and that assumes he doesn't get kept out by Parr with Chambers still at RB. Pitman isn't in starting 11. The 2 wingers are loans. Squad is better but the first 11 is virtually the same.

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flashblue added 08:41 - Aug 3 Ohhhhh, Cokey, Cokey, Cokey....🎸🎷🎤
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PhilTWTD added 08:45 - Aug 3 Hoppy You're right, Colchester not Cambridge as I put. Amended.
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theipswichman added 08:50 - Aug 3 It's definitely a better squad, however I'm not sure if it a much better first 11, all depends on how AMN and Fraser are IMO.
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bluefeast added 08:55 - Aug 3 Every game is a cup final in this league. Fine lines separate success and a nightmare. We need to retain that monster level of hard work without the ball , then when we have it pressure the opposition. Is it a championship winning squad. Absolutely not its far to small and injuries ,booking ,fatigue will cause us the issue. If MM can bring in 3 more quality signings , then we are in with a chance. A solid 1st 11 to 13 is what we have ,but the depth is weak. Example and i am sorry to say this ,Tabb should be nowhere near the match day squad.

1

Surco72 added 08:58 - Aug 3 Back up to the first team looks stronger which will help over long season but the weaknesses to our first eleven from last season are still the same average keeper options , no right back . Stronger loans when the premiership starts ?
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SamWhiteUK added 08:59 - Aug 3 19 Players is awfully low when a matchday squad is 18...
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Michael11 added 09:13 - Aug 3 I don't know if we can compare our squad to last years properly for a couple of weeks yet. On paper, players like Pitman and Fraser should definitely improve our squad, Maitland-Niles is unproven but has a lot of potential. We haven't added any real competition or cover on the wings for them either. We don't know how good Knudsen is yet compared to Mings. I still think we'll play Chambers at right back this year which concerns me. I expect 2 or 3 Premier League loans to come in over the next few weeks.

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BlueTich added 09:27 - Aug 3 Two more bargain basement duds. You pay peanuts......
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WeWereZombies added 09:48 - Aug 3 and the birds feed at your table whilst the neighbours scratch their heads and wonder why their gardens are unvisited?
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Currie10 added 09:50 - Aug 3 " runningout added 07:04 - Aug 3 Wouldn't say squad was much better. Bang average players... Hoping amongst hope I have egg on my face " I assume you cannot remember Banj / Nouble............ Did we have Sears / Pitman at the start of last season? Were Bishop/ Bru ready to go from day 1 ? I think it's safe to say Fraser/ Niles are significant upgrades on Tabb/ Anderson out wide........ Dear god we have some absolute melts as " fans "

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Bluetone added 09:53 - Aug 3 “I had a look at the team photograph from last year the other day and the names on it and thought that it does look considerably better now,” said McCarthy, whose side finished sixth last season. OK but the squad still needs a decent RB and a better goalkeeper it is also too small for a genuine promotion push. It also begs the question have other potential contenders improved more?

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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 09:55 - Aug 3 BlueTich - are you serious? McGoldrick, Berra, Scuse and others all free. Chopra, JET, Priskin all cost millions. I know which I would rather have.
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