McCarthy: No Knee-Jerk Reaction Tuesday, 15th Sep 2015 06:00 Town boss Mick McCarthy says there’ll be no knee-jerk reaction or huge number of changes to the team when the Blues take on Leeds at Elland Road this evening, despite Friday’s 5-1 defeat at Reading. Asked whether his players were desperate to get back into action in the wake of Friday's heavy loss, McCarthy said: “Yes they are, and you’ve got to give them that opportunity because each and every one of them has been terrific. “We’ve been getting pats on the back for a long time, there was a bit of a knife in somebody’s hand the other night. “Those players are good players and they’ve been a good team, so there’ll not be a knee-jerk reaction and loads of changes to the team.” While Town have gone from table-toppers to the wrong end of a thrashing in the space of a couple of weeks, McCarthy says he has seen similarly contrasting form from tonight’s opponents, who he watched draw 1-1 at home to Brentford on Saturday. “The nature of the Championship is that it’s bonkers,” he said. “We watched Leeds against Derby [when they won 2-1 away] and they were outstanding and we were looking at them thinking ‘What a great performance that was!’. “I watched Reading against Brentford and Brentford could have been beaten by six or seven. And Brentford were excellent on Saturday. “When I went in at half-time the Leeds fans were saying to me ‘Nowt to worry about there Mick!’. I said that they were probably saying the same thing the previous night when they’d watched us. “It’s amazing how things change. They were probably thinking ‘Happy days, we’ve got Ipswich coming’ and then they watched their team’s first-half performance and they’re all going ‘You’ll have no problems’. “But they changed the shape in the second half and they were much more of a threat, although Brentford missed chances. Brentford should have been beaten by five or six by Reading and probably should have won the game on Saturday, the chances that they had. “It’s the nature of the league. It really does fluctuate a great deal. I think they’ve got a really good side, a good squad of players Leeds now and they seem to be settled. There’s not all that uncertainty that’s tended to be around the place. “There were 25,000 there on Saturday, a big crowd, a very partisan crowd, so under lights on a Tuesday night it’ll be interesting.” In the Leeds side this evening will be former Blues loanee Chris Wood, whose opportunities were limited during his spell at Portman Road in the second half of last season with Freddie Sears and Daryl Murphy both in top form. “He also struggled because he hadn’t been playing and he wasn’t as fit as he is now,” McCarthy recalled. “He looks back to his fitness, he looks sharper and leaner and, of course, he is a threat. “The goal he scored against Derby was an outstanding finish. If you give him chances, he’ll score, Woody. “He was a lone striker on Saturday but then they put Mirco Antenucci on and they looked a real threat.” Does he see Leeds as potential top-six contenders? “I’ve no idea, there are some good teams in this league and some good teams that have [started slowly], like Derby, who only got their first win on Saturday, but they’re still a good team. “Reading hadn’t won a home game before they slapped us five, they weren’t doing particularly well until they slapped Brentford. “There are some really good teams and it’ll be really close. Just like it was last year, I think it’ll be as tight as anything.” McCarthy has confirmed that Dean Gerken will keep his place in goal and will probably also stick with his tried and trusted defenders with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back and Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith at the heart of the defence. The Town boss could, however, look to bring in the more experienced Jonny Parr at left-back for summer signing Jonas Knudsen. In midfield, Cole Skuse seems set to keep his usual place in the centre, although McCarthy could be considering handing Giles Coke his first league start in place of ex-White Jonathan Douglas alongside the former Bristol City man. In the wide roles, the Blues manager seems unlikely to continue with two out and out wingers, so may well recall Jay Tabb on the left with Ryan Fraser perhaps switching to the right or Ainsley Maitland-Niles coming back into the team. Kevin Bru, Teddy Bishop and Tommy Oar all played for the U21s at Birmingham yesterday and are likely to return to the first-team squad for Friday’s live-on-Sky game against Birmingham at home. Up front, Daryl Murphy seems likely to start, probably alongside David McGoldrick with Freddie Sears a doubt with a tight hamstring. The Town boss has said the former Colchester United man won’t be risked if there are any concerns over his fitness. Leeds have an injury doubt over midfielder Alex Mowatt, while Tommaso Bianchi is sidelined having undergone knee surgery. New signing Jordan Botaka played the full 90 minutes for the Leeds U21s yesterday so won’t be involved against the Blues. Rob Kelly, assistant to manager Uwe Rosler, is expecting a backlash after Town’s back-to-back defeats to Brighton and Reading. “They’re a wounded animal, absolutely,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “They were fantastic last year, in the play-offs, and I’d expect them to be around there again. "Any team of Mick’s is going to be there. I watched the game on Friday and it wasn’t a normal team that Mick would put out, as in how they played. But that can happen. It can happen to anybody at any stage in the Championship. “They’ll be wanting to put that right, I’m sure. I know one or two of their players and they’ll be dangerous, dangerous opponents. All Mick’s teams are highly motivated. But we’ll be ready.” Historically, Leeds have the superior record in the fixture, winning 30 (29 in the league) clashes between the teams. Town have been victorious on 25 (20) occasions and 20 (17) games have ended in draws. The Blues last won at Elland Road 10 years ago, in September 2005, when two goals from Sam Parkin saw them to a 2-0 victory. Leeds are unbeaten in the Championship but are yet to win at home this season - their victory at Derby is their only three-point haul so far during 2015/16, all their other league games have been draws - with their most recent success at Elland Road coincidentally their 2-1 defeat of Town in March. All the goals came in seven second-half minutes and Daryl Murphy had a late penalty saved. Alex Mowatt put Leeds ahead on 71, Freddie Sears equalised three minutes later, then Billy Sharp put the Whites back in front on 77, prior to Leeds keeper Marco Silvestri saving Murphy’s spotkick. In December last year at Portman Road, Murphy scored twice and David McGoldrick (pen) and Christophe Berra once each as Town came from behind to thrash the Whites 4-1. The visitors went ahead via Mirco Antenucci in the fourth minute but Murphy struck back on 12, then McGoldrick netted Town’s first spot-kick of the season on 26. Murphy added his second just before the break and Berra added the fourth three minutes into the second half. Town midfielder Jonathan Douglas was with the Whites between 2005 and 2009, initially on loan from Blackburn, and made 151 starts and 15 sub appearances, scoring 11 goals. Blues winger Cameron Stewart, who is on loan at Doncaster, made nine starts and two sub appearances for Leeds during a loan spell there during the second half of 2013/14. The move was expected to be made permanent the following summer but the Whites pulled out of the deal and the 24-year-old subsequently joined Town. Luke Varney - who is set to re-sign for the Blues once he is over his achilles injury - was at Elland Road between 2012 and 2014, scoring eight goals in 42 starts and eight substitute appearances. Blues assistant manager Terry Connor was with his hometown club between 1979 and 1983, scoring 22 goals in 108 games. Leeds striker Chris Wood spent two months on loan with the Blues last season, failing to find the net in three starts and five sub appearances. He joined the Whites - against whom he made his Town debut at Elland Road in March - from Leicester in the summer. Tonight’s referee is James Adcock from Nottinghamshire, who has shown 13 yellow cards and no red in six games so far this season. Adcock’s last Town match was the 1-1 home draw with Blackburn in October last year in which Rovers one-time Leeds defender Matt Kilgallon was red-carded for a second bookable offence and Cole Skuse and former Blue Ryan Tunnicliffe were both also cautioned. Prior to that he took control of the 2-0 loss at Wigan in September 2013 in which he booked Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra. Coincidentally, in March 2013, Adcock’s first Town game was the 3-0 home victory over Leeds in which defender Tom Lees was red-carded for a wild challenge on Jay Tabb midway through the first half. Three other Whites, Luke Chambers and Aaron Cresswell were also yellow-carded during that match. Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Parr, Knudsen, Emmanuel, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Skuse, Douglas, Coke, Tabb, Maitland-Niles, Fraser, Touré, Murphy, McGoldrick, Sears, Pitman.
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