Town boss Mick McCarthy says it’s unfair to judge his fringe players on their performances as part of the much-changed side which was defeated 2-1 at Portsmouth in Tuesday's FA Cup third round replay.

McCarthy admitted that he was annoyed after the defeat at Fratton Park: “Yes, I was angry, I don’t like being beaten at all. I tell you what I was angry about, I think our players that played, and some of the younger ones, are better than how we actually played.

“We were playing against an opposition who are a good team and you’ve got to give them credit, but I just think we are better than that, the lads beneath the first team.

“But it also highlighted to me how important that first team is, to keep them right and to have them fit and to have them at 100 per cent. Well, are you ever 100 per cent during a season? I’m not sure.

“But to be rested and ready to go against a Birmingham team who didn’t have a game on Tuesday because we’ve got a real chance of being in that top six and I’ve really got to give us the best chance of staying in that top six.”

He says it wouldn’t be right for fans to write players off purely on the basis of their performances at Fratton Park.

“[That would be] unfair,” he said. “I’d cite Josh Emmanuel for that at Brentford. When he was playing there and he’d got Chambo alongside him and Tommy Smith and Jonas, and all right he had [another youngster] Ainsley in front of him, but nevertheless a very capable player, it’s a different ball game to having a lot of them in together.”

He added: “The lads that have always been around, the likes of Tabby, Luke Hyam, Brett and Ainsley, we know they can all play, they’ve all played in the team.

“I kind of feel a little bit for the young ‘uns because when Josh came into the team at Brentford with 10 other first team players, he was fine. And that would be the case with all of them.

“I’d take the rap for that, maybe there were too many changes for them to impress and to be pushing for the first team. The first team squad’s good.”

While he says he felt it was a missed opportunity for some of them to press a claim for more regular involvement, he’s not going to be giving them a hard time.

“Individually I’m not going to be giving out too much to them because when I made those changes, those collective changes, maybe there were too many,” he conceded.

“Maybe I have a bit more faith in them than they have in themselves, some of them.

"But we made mistakes. The two goals were awful defending. To give a penalty away and the second was just a cross into the box. That doesn’t normally happen.

“Although they had a good start I thought the game was fairly even. They’d had a bit better of the first 30 minutes but the goal changed it, the penalty was awful.”

McCarthy was far from the only manager to rest many of his senior players in the FA Cup and he says that that’s likely to be the situation in the competition for the foreseeable future.

“Maybe that’s going to be the case and I don’t particularly like it, I’d like to be able to just play my strongest team for 46 games and all the cup games, but they’d all be injured because it’s a helluva season,” he said.

“I tell you what I wouldn’t want to be, I wouldn’t want to be 15th without a chance of going up and maybe just making sure we stay up and then having a good cup run.

“Yes, there’s the glory of it and I love the FA Cup, I used to go to all the games when I was a kid.

“I was in a semi-final with Sunderland. Yes, I’d love to be in a final, yes, I’d love to win it, but we’ve got a real opportunity of getting promoted and we’ve got to do our level best to be in that top six to give us that chance.”

Photo: Action Images

Len_Brennan added 06:25 - Jan 22 Almost seems as though Mick was reading a lot of the comments on here with that softening of his assessment on the lads who were thrown together for the Portsmouth game & then thrown to the wolves in his post-match interview. Heat of the moment comments I guess. This is certainly a fairer assessment.
6

brendenward35 added 07:25 - Jan 22 Think mick needs rocket up his backside. How can he honestly believe a team who hardly plays together can beat s well organised and plays together every week? Guys living in cuckoo land everyone else could see he never went to Portsmouth to win others the first team would have played. Same thing every year and I feel sorry for the fans who pay good money to watch the mixed up team he plays. Like someone else said might as well have stayed at home and let mark Kennedy manage the team that night.

2

TheSelkirk added 08:11 - Jan 22 It wouldn't be right for the fans to write off the fringe players ??? Really??? It was you that did that in your post match comments Mick - not us !
11

essex57 added 08:17 - Jan 22 Brenda ward I think that's what he's just admitted give the man credit for some humility, would like to take issue with one point the first team have conceded plenty of goals from poorly defended crosses. Let's get 3 points Saturday and move on.
7

mickeyjb added 08:17 - Jan 22 Oh and Pompey are not all that, if they were they would be 5 points clear at the top of division 4. I live down there and they are inconsistent. We made them look good I'm afraid.
2

alfromcol added 09:08 - Jan 22 MM seems to be facing both ways at the same time - again!
4

rfretwell added 09:25 - Jan 22 Forget the cups guys, Town will never do anything in them under Mick. Its effin depressing
3

cats_whiskers added 09:38 - Jan 22 McCarthy quote: "Well, are you ever 100 per cent during a season? I'm not sure." One thing is certain, and that is not all ITFC supporters go along 100% with what you say and do or the way the team plays and its constant selection either.
0

Steve70 added 09:55 - Jan 22 Start bedding the young lads in !!
2

jas0999 added 10:04 - Jan 22 They are not good enough. End of story. I would have expected better against a League 2 side. Some of them look league two players at best. I suspect this is just softening the blow that yet again Evans won't be investing. Thus, we have to make do with the cheap options like Coke and Toure.
0

Jimmy86 added 10:05 - Jan 22 Did it tell you we could still possibly do with a couple of quality additions to remain challenging for a top 6 position?? The league is crazy, because we dropped 2 places when we drew with Preston and dropped out of the top 6. Wednesday are Def going for it and strengthening, we are standing still, yet again. It really is a worry if he deems the fringe players not quite up to it and to keep the first team fit, that is a risky strategy. For me Bart should still come back in goal, but it won't happen. Gerken proved against Preston, yet again, just how indecisive he is, with regards to commanding his area.

4

Bluetone added 10:20 - Jan 22 @jas0999 You need eleven players in a team BUT eleven players chucked together do not make a team just eleven individuals struggling to do their best. Poor, poor selection by McCarthy.
8

runningout added 10:57 - Jan 22 Saturday brings its own pressure now.. Only a win will do, and if not, the FA cup exit will be even more of a sickener
0

ollie_smith2001 added 11:20 - Jan 22 Yes, the FA Cup has been an unhappy competition for the fans for a while. But would we ever win it? Highly, highly unlikely. However, resting players (And more importantly them not getting injured) is so valuable to our aspirations of promotion. What if Freddie, Ryan Fraser, Cole or Chambo had broken their leg on Tuesday night? It would be MM's fault. Give the man some credit. This was to ensure the prospects of the club and to prioritise the league. Give me that every day over a cup run

-1

BrettenhamBlue added 11:25 - Jan 22 No mention of Coke and with good reason. His 20 minute performance was the worst I have ever seen in a Town shirt. Completely outclassed in the centre and didn't have a clue when moved to defence. I've watched Ipswich for over 20 years and never seen a player like him. Poor mans Reggie Lambe. Is MM deliberately playing him so Evans gets the hint that investment is sorely needed? Most of the others played ok but we were up against League 2 opposition. This was 300,000 thrown away. We should have put out a few of our first team. We have pride in the FA cup and that was not acceptable. When was the last time we even had a decent run in the cup? Cambridge Utd made over 1million last season in their mini run. We need that kind of money and urgently.

4

foot_kick_ball_goal added 12:17 - Jan 22 I agree with MM 100% here. What he has done in regards to the cup is the most sensible thing he could do. The fact of the matter is that we currently stand a very very good chance of making the top 6. But that being said, so do the teams around us, and despite the history of ITFC and the fans believing that we have the quality to be promoted, no team has a god given right to go up. It seems that everyone seems to have forgotten that our club went broke. Skint. No money; and in a game where money speaks volumes we are very very fortunate that we haven't found ourselves any further down the English leagues. Under the current management the future is finally looking bright, we are eroding our debt and getting some excellent results in the process. If we get promoted this season we get a big cash payment. If we don't get carried away with the payout and over invest in new expensive players and/or boost wages to an unsustainable level and/or do any expensive building work the club may finally come out of the hole that it has been in for so long. I will take that over a cup run, that we most likely won't end up winning, any day of the week. Plus, if we do get relegated after going up, we also get a great big parachute payment. So that's always a bonus. Imagine how great it would be if we went up, got relegated and then went up again.

0

TimmyH added 13:07 - Jan 22 Jesus! now Mick thinks Portsmouth is good side! - why is it unfair Mick? you put the fringe players out to dry by playing them with like minded players it would have been fairer to judge them if you had put a few fringe players with starting 11 players but you didn't do that.
0

muccletonjoe added 13:12 - Jan 22 Fairly obvious that we have 14 or 15 players capable of playing regular first team football, whether that is enough to see us in the top 6 is very debatable
1

essextractorboy93 added 14:30 - Jan 22 Everything Mick is doing at the club is to maximize our chances of promotion and I don't blame him for making changes to the team. He stated days before the match that certain players would be rested and that younger players would be given a chance to impress. Mick would have been criticized either way, if he has selected first team players and got a couple of injuries there would have been criticism. Look at what happened last year in the replay against Southampton, Hyam picked up an injury that kept him out for months and our form dipped for the next month or two. He isn't the only manager to be doing this though and I agree its a shame that the FA Cup has lost some of its magic, but its been coming for years with the huge amounts of money in the Premier League. I do understand the disappointment though.

0

Penguinblue added 17:45 - Jan 22 Poor management. Just stick to one story. Straight talking you are not. You may as well keep with your first set of excuses. The owner doesn't care anyway.
-1

tractorkent added 18:50 - Jan 22 Please pay your hardworking fans some respect in terms of a cup run.we spend thousands following the team and would love a god cup run
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls