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McCarthy: More Pressure on Me After Cup Changes Friday, 22nd Jan 2016 14:00
Town boss Mick McCarthy admits there’s greater pressure on him ahead of Saturday’s game against Birmingham at St Andrew’s after he switched all his starting XI for Tuesday’s 2-1 FA Cup third round replay defeat at Portsmouth. The seventh-placed Blues go into the match one place and two points above the Midlanders.
“It puts more pressure on me, I don’t know about the players, they’re under less pressure,” he said.
“They’ve not played this week, they’ve trained, the ones that could train. The ones that have needed a rest through injury have had it, so it’s me who I think gets the pressure for changing the team, not them.
“They’ve got no say in that whatsoever, they played Tuesday against Leeds and won and had a really tough game last Saturday against Preston and we earned ourselves a draw with a really tough performance coming back from behind again.
“So they’re ready to go, it’s me that gets the cosh, not them, and I’m delighted because it doesn’t affect me.”
Birmingham boss Gary Rowett and his staff have just been handed new one-year rolling contracts, having made a significant impact since taking over at St Andrew’s in October 2014 when the Midlanders, with whom he was a defender between 1998 and 2000, were in the Championship's relegation zone.
They ended last season 10th and have continued that progress this season with last week’s 3-0 win at Derby perhaps their standout result of this campaign so far.
“Thoroughly deserved, good for him,” McCarthy said when told of Rowett’s new deal. “He’s been brilliant. I really only met him for the first time at a hotel when we were playing Fulham and he was down in London as they hadn’t got a game. I liked him instantly.
“I think I’m giving him a compliment, his teams are like mine and he’s very similar in terms of him being pragmatic about the way they play - play when they can, don’t get beaten, be hard to beat, be tough and organised.
“I think first and foremost they make it hard for you to play against them and then they’ve got that smattering of players like we all try and get that can make a difference.
“And with Jacques Maghoma and Jon Toral, Clayton Donaldson’s a really big player for them, they’ve got threats.
“They’ve also got threats from freekicks and corners. I know Stephen Gleeson [from Wolves], he puts good deliveries in. They’re a lot like us, I think.
“I think he demands from them and he seems to get the best out of them. I’ve the utmost respect for him.”
The Town boss says Birmingham are a club back on the up after a difficult period like a lot of sides in the Championship.
“That’s a cap that fits a lot of us,” he reflected. “They’re coming back because Gary Rowett has been that stabilising, consistent influence, I think.
“They seem to have entrusted it with him and I think they can see that it’s in good hands.
“And if they’re rewarding him with a new contract, then he’s earned that. That’s why they’re doing well.”
McCarthy says there’s currently a mini-league on the cusp of the play-off zone involving Brighton in fifth, then Sheffield Wednesday, Town and Birmingham. But he says other sides below that are also pushing towards the top six.
“I wouldn’t discount the advances of Cardiff, of Wolves,” he warned. “Who knows over 19 games what can be achieved because we’ve seen what’s happened before.
“Teams will have good spells and bad spells. But there is a mini-league that we’re in and it’s going to be a helluva tough scrap to get in the top six.”
Town are currently undefeated in seven away from home in the league - two draws sandwiching that club record-equalling five-game winning run - but McCarthy says his team aren’t the only ones in good form on the road.
“Birmingham had a wonderful win at Derby last week and one of the reports I’ve got says they’re a really good away team,” he continued. “They can soak up pressure and they’ve got threats on the break.
B'HAM (A): Current #ITFC sales for tomorrow's match stand at 1,737. Tickets are available on away turnstiles tomorrow, CASH ONLY.– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) January 22, 2016
“Well, that’ll be interesting if it ends up that we have to play like that as well. We don’t set up to play that way but we’re comfortable if we have to and we’ve got our own threats, Freddie, Ryan, Murph, Kevin Bru and Dougie from midfield.
“So, similarly, I think we’re a good side [away from home], which is an improvement. In league games we’ve had five wins and a draw out of the last six and I think Birmingham will be conscious of our threats.”
McCarthy celebrated a 1-0 win in his first game in charge of Town at Birmingham in November 2012 and he says it’s a ground he enjoys visiting.
“St Andrew’s is a good stadium, I like it,” he said. “I like going there, the atmosphere is generally good because it’s hostile. You’re playing away from home and they support their team. I like that.”
At Portman Road in September the sides battled out a hard-fought 1-1 draw and McCarthy admits that he wouldn't be too disappointed with the same result again.
“I won’t be that unhappy if it’s the same up there, to be honest with you," he added.
"We’ll be going there to try and win, but a point away from home is always a precious one.”
The Town boss will revert back to his regular league side with Cole Skuse (hamstring), Luke Chambers (calf) and Christophe Berra (shoulder) all over problems suffered in the Preston match.
Dean Gerken will return in goal with McCarthy having confirmed his usual backline of skipper Chambers at right-back, Jonas Knudsen at left-back and Berra and Tommy Smith at the heart of the defence.
Skuse is again likely to be partnered in the deeper lying central midfield roles by Jonathan Douglas with Kevin Bru ahead of them.
Ryan Fraser will be on the left and Freddie Sears on the right with Daryl Murphy the central striker.
Kevin Foley will be in the Town 18 for the first time if his international clearance has come through but Piotr Malarczyk is suspended for one game having been red-carded at Portsmouth.
Birmingham, unbeaten in their last four in the league, winning three, are likely to utilise a similar 4-2-3-1 system and will probably be unchanged from the Derby victory.
Jacques Maghoma (illness) and Maikel Kieftenbeld (hip) have missed training this week but are expected to be fine.
Defender Neal Eardley is a long-term absentee having damaged knee ligaments while winger David Cotterill has missed the last two games with a hamstring problem.
Another winger Koby Arthur has returned to training after a thigh problem but is not yet ready to return to match action.
Historically, Town have had the better record in fixtures between the sides, winning 34 times (31 in the league), drawing 15 (15) and losing 27 (21).
In September at Portman Road, Brett Pitman netted a 32nd minute equaliser from the penalty spot as the sides drew 1-1, David Cotterill having put the visitors in front 10 minutes earlier.
Last time at St Andrew’s, in August 2014, Christophe Berra netted two goals, 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, Clayton Donaldson put Birmingham back in front before the Scottish international’s late, late leveller.
Later that season at Portman Road, in February last year, Freddie Sears scored twice and Tyrone Mings and Kevin Bru once each as the Blues won 4-2.
Mings headed in his first senior goal in the 24th minute, Sears made it 2-0 four minutes after the break, before David Davis pulled one back on 57.
Sears netted his second on 64, Davis grabbed another for the visitors on 79 before Bru sealed it in injury time with his first goal for Town.
No player in either squad has represented the opposition, although Birmingham defender Michael Morrison hails from Haverhill.
Saturday’s referee is Michael Bull from Essex, who has shown 25 yellow cards and three red in 10 games so far this season.
Bull’s only previous Town match was the 2-2 draw at AFC Bournemouth last season in which he booked Tyrone Mings, Luke Hyam and Christophe Berra as well as two home players. It will be his first Birmingham match.
Penguinblue "I will be supporting our team at Brum tomorrow despite the frustration of this 'manager' " Wow, thanks on behalf of Ipswich Town fans around the world. Because we were worried you would start supporting some other team. I'm pleasantly surprised.
guenthcev: Are you familiar with Monty Python's The Life of Brian? Course you are. Your argument is very like the "but what have the Romans ever done for us" debate.
So, apart from saving us from certain relegation, and apart from bringing genuine quality players in for no money, and apart from bringing us up the table to challenge for the play offs last season and apart from season on season our position improving in the league, what exactly has Mick McCarthy ever done for Ipswich?
Homer our footballing tradition goes much further back than the 80s.You conveniently forget the late 50s and certainly the early 60s when back to back titles were secured playing great football and scoring hat fulls of goals. We have been known as a footballing club over a long period of time. Unfortunately what we are witnessing now from MM and his troops is alien to town fans who care about how the game should be played.
....am beginning to really despair about the so called supporters who continue to dismiss the FA cup,......and therefore justify the MM ME approach to it ......no one cares where Bournemouth and Watford ended their FA cup run due to the league they are now in!!!!!!,,,,absolutely ridiculous comment when comparing to us as for the last 6 years we have said concentrate on the league and it's done us no good.......can anyone remember the league position we finished in 1978 ??....No (6th from bottom) but anyone remember what happened that year.....no Ipswich supporter won't know what happened....and still have not stopped talking about it !!!!..and the years after winning that trophy ...oh yes ,..hardly out of the top 3 ..UEFA cup winners .....success breeds success ....we should go out with the mentality to win all the competitions we enter ......and oh yes ..respect the supporters and the hard earned money they spend on following the team ....it's usually free to watch the reserves .,we had to pay £18 for the priveledge on Tuesday ....most of the "get over it" tribe weren't there on Tuesday but probably were there in the semi finals of the capital cup when we played Arsenal telling the fan board how wonderful it was that we had reached the semis of the cup....a competition that we took seriously that year and look what happened ....support town in every game , give us a team to shout for ....or risk loosing us ...many have already gone COYB
Cornishblu - if you read my post properly I actually said it's sad but true that Managers no longer view the FA Cup as important enough compared to league position. Not just our Manager but most of them in the top two tiers. I used to love watching Ipswich in the FA Cup but don't waste my time or money on it anymore because like you say we field reserves. If you honestly arrived in Portsmouth expecting anything different then I do feel sorry for you, but I'm afraid it was completely obvious to almost everyone that the team would be changed, based on every other cup tie and the approach to the first game versus Portsmouth. In future I'd suggest you save your hard earned money for League games.
Langdon_blue...I did read your post properly ...you accept that managers including our own don't care about the FA cup....well shame on you ...clearly you miss the point of mine...the FA cup gave our team one of its greatest..,and still talked about ..moments in its history ...whether we win loose or draw on Saturday we are out of the cup and once again have missed out on still being part of what makes football so special because of a two finger salute to the cup from our manager ...something you accept ....we go to games to see our team compete and hopefully win ....we don't pick and choose based on the opposition or in the knowledge that MM is going to put out a weakened side....his stated point in doing this is to protect the team for Saturday ...if we don't win that his point registers no relevance and we are no longer on the cup....ill still be there Saturday ...will you ??
Cornishblu - Yes, I will be there tomorrow, whatever relevance that has to your point?!?. I'm currently with friends in Wolverhampton. I accept the reasoning behind why Managers prioritise the league. The huge changes in the game since the 70's mainly financially mean that a cup run reward is tiny compared to the chance of playing in the Premiership. Premiership Managers priorities are staying in the Prem or qualifying for Europe rather than the FA Cup and so on. I wish it was different but it isn't, I don't feel shame for understanding the situation nor do I feel shame it not spending out money to watch a reserve side to play in it. You mention the 'glory' of the cup run including a Semi Final with Arsenal...that hardly bred success did it. A caretaker manager took charge of that game as the Manager that got us there was sacked and rightfully too. Of course it is held with pride that Ipswich won the cup in '78, I suspect that Liverpool are proud of their history in that cup too, but did you see the team they put out that were lucky to get a replay, do you understand why Klopp picked that team? It's not shameful if you do.
@fatcatevans - I'm not forgetting the history at all - as I stated, I didn't know how long a fan penguin has been, therefore I went back to the early eighties, a mere 30 odd years ago.
I cannot comment on the football back in the sixties as I didn't witness that, or the 50's but I most certainly watched the 70's onwards - and throughout the majority of the 70's were were a direct team.
So, we have a period in the 50's and 60's where we played some good football, the 70's less so, early to mid 80's we did - but from there on in - it's been mixed to say the least.
The notion of us being a 'footballing' Club is a misnomer as I have stated.
Langdon_blue....the point of asking whether you were going to the game was to see whether you adhered to your own recommendations ......and I guess the fact that Liverpool fielded their top summer signing a £32million pound striker is lost on you ...at least Klopp fielded a team that could win that game ....not one supporter I spoke to one Tuesday felt that MM did that esp through his choice of player on the bench ....so we continue round and round in circles.....lets pick and choose the games we want to win regardless of the cost to the supporter or the damage it does to competitions and football history it's a philosophy that clearly has worked for us.....oh hang on a minute!! (Sing loudly tomorrow I can then pick you out of the crowd!! ) COYB
Homer you need to check your facts. less good football in the 70s you say. that would be the decadewhen we attained European football for 6 seasons, won the FA Cup and another cup semi final
11 changes for the Man Utd game, 11 changes for the Portsmouth match, both were cases of a blatant disrespect for the fans who paid good money, and took time off work to support THEIR team, as well as those that didn't travel.
Both were huge disappointments, and yet there are still those who try to defend this, on the basis that it's all about making the Premier League. A league where we will suddenly sell out PR, as all the twice a year fans will pay more money to watch the Town lose more often, but won't come now, when we are likely to win more often. Bonkers!
You can argue about styles of play till cows come home, the burning question is, will 'McCarthy's way' eventually lead this club to the promise land? Is there more to come or has it flatlined?
Cornishblu - I said the Liverpool team that was lucky to get a replay, so Klopp didn't pick a team he knew would win because they drew at Exeter. Last season we lost McGoldrick and Hyam to injuries in the FA Cup, maybe if they didn't pick up those injuries against Southampton we might have had that bit more quality that would have got us promotion. Maybe McCarthy is thinking along those lines. If Fraser and Sears got injured playing Tuesday night I suspect they'd be plenty of criticism for risking them in cup games. Fortunately we'll never know.
How can anyone suggest that a draw at Birmingham would be a bad result?? Of course I'd love us to win but Birmingham are a decent side in good form. I wish people would be realistic about where this club are at, we are not an automatic promotion team, we do not have the budget or players to be an automatic promotion side. If we can stay in the scrap for the playoffs we are doing well and if we make the playoffs who knows? enjoy it stop all the moaning and get behind the club!!
I'm sure you have heard of the Texas Sharp-Shooter. That's exactly what you've done. It's easy to take a chunk from someone's post and ignore the context or content of the rest of it.
The 3 greatest moments for me as a supporter of Ipswich Town were winning the 1st Division (Premiership) under Sir Alf Ramsey. At last winning a FA Cup semi-final against WBA at Highbury Stadium and then the FA Cup at Wembley under Sir Bobby Robson. Winning the Playoff Final at Wembley under George Burley to get promotion to The Premiership. Of all of these, the stand out was to finally get to Wembley for The FA Cup Final. Times have changed for Premiership/Championship teams, all chasing the Murdoch £££s, perhaps a place in The Champions League qualifiers could be granted to Cup Winners and bring back the prestige that this famous competition deserves?
Harlingblue - totally agree with you that something must change to bring back the prestige of the cup. As Cornishblu states Liverpool fielded a player they signed for £32M amongst the reserves in their cup game. They can afford that due to playing in the premier league. I can't think of an Ipswich player that we have spent more than £100k on...that gap of funds is massive and yet we were only 2 games from getting there via the play offs last Summer, and are in the mix for that chance again.
Pressure is when your on long term sick without pay and a morgatge too pay and young kids to feed. Managing a small minded club with a total lack of ambition and fools who think you are some kind of messiah thats a walk in the park.
News just in .......I have just sign an extended deal not to have a season until 2018 !
I will continue to pick and choose my home and away games, as to watch a whole season of Micks football at £25-35 a seat (I know lower if I had season ticket) I would be so depressed.......takes me in some cases 2 -3 weeks to get over style we currently play, but every now and then I do see a good game !.........I will always support my Ipswich town but at the same time need to look after my state of mind and health..... here is looking to buying a season ticket 2018-2019 !
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