Town boss Mick McCarthy is hoping for favourable weather as the Blues go into a rare period of 10 days between Championship fixtures. Next Saturday’s home game against Reading has moved to the following Tuesday - February 2nd - as the Royals are in FA Cup fourth round action against Walsall at the Madejski Stadium.

The free week means McCarthy and his staff will have more time to work with the players on the training field, as long as the weather doesn’t throw a spanner in the works as it already has done on previous occasions this month.

“If we could get on the pitches, that would be handy,” the Blues manager said. “If they’re not frozen or flooded that would be a real help.

“[When games come Saturday-Tuesday] you just turn around and get playing. It’s unusual but nevertheless [the Reading game will] come around pretty quickly.

“We’ll have a couple of days in the week but then we’ll be back to Tuesday-Saturday again.”

When they face Reading the Blues will be looking to stretch their remarkable winning run at Portman Road on Tuesday nights to 16 games, their last Tuesday home non-victory having been the 2-0 defeat to Watford in February 2013.

Town could have another free weekend due to their scheduled opposition’s FA Cup commitments in February.

Blackburn, who are currently down to visit Portman Road on Saturday 20th February, the weekend of the fifth round, face Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium in a fourth round tie this Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

sidtheswan added 06:13 - Jan 25 Don't need training we're the best in the league at hoofball !
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bluefeast added 06:24 - Jan 25 Whats he going to coach , long throws , tommy smiths right foot , berras right foot ,skuse passing 5 metres forwards , sears how to track back , gerkin how to come off his line ? No i doubt it ,always best to just hoof the thing into opponents box ,sod the paying public , i could give a flying F about them. Oh for a modern thinking manager. The portsmouth due would do me fine.

2

Seri added 06:36 - Jan 25 Up the Town. Those who only have s***t to come up with in here should consider Carrow Rd instead. A better place for defaitists in general.
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Brazilsnuts added 06:39 - Jan 25 All this talk of "free" weekend surely just means extra games midweek near the end of the season which isn't ideal
3

atty added 06:53 - Jan 25 Don't we have a £250k artificial pitch at PR. I seem to recall that being reported at the time it was laid, like the one at Barcelona it was said. Who uses it apart from those involved community/kids projects?
6

Tufty added 07:35 - Jan 25 Does bad weather make you tired then?
2

Tufty added 07:40 - Jan 25 As least something can play a ball
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BlueysNosebag added 07:48 - Jan 25 Ooo...10 days rest this time. Only had 7 last week so should be raring to go against Reading.
12

Penguinblue added 08:02 - Jan 25 It seems pretty pointless criticising McCarthy now that he has his new contract in his pocket despite his disgraceful 'flying f***' his pathetic favouritism to players not worthy of a place and the terrible standard of hoofball. Just in case the weather doesn't stay mild he is now getting in an early excuse for any failures in training over the next 10 days. McCarthy is full of contradictions. He claims how exciting Fraser is when he runs with the ball (right there) but doesn't he get that no one else does it (other than Sears when he's not frozen out wide) because of McCarthy's pathetic reliance on kick and run/hoofball. Given that we rely on the up and under approach could I suggest Murphy shows a bit more aggression - and Skuse a bit less complacency. I won't bother mentioning the full backs.

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essexbluey added 08:09 - Jan 25 Used to love it when the first team would train at portman rd for all to see. David sheepshanks was a bit posh but that man had passion for our club and he would talk to anyone about ipswich town fc for age's. I would love it if ipswich fans could buy our club back from evans.
13

battyblue added 08:13 - Jan 25 MiCk Mc Carthy the Van Geal of the Championship you can't give the fans what they want you don't have the ability so do the right thing and do a flying one asap.
0

Langdon_Blue added 08:14 - Jan 25 Wow, the daggers are out for the team this morning. And that's after 11 points from the last 6 league games...I know we'd all rather 18 points but we also know that's Roy of the Rovers stuff don't we?
13

prebsa added 08:24 - Jan 25 Don't need pitches to practice hoofball just some space in the air and we are fine. Why do we need to train anyway, we cant get any better than what we have therefore we are the best therefore we are first..... oh wait no we are not.
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vanmunt added 09:05 - Jan 25 Is MM hoping its not raining as he doesn't want to get his face wet looking at the ball as they practice hoofing it as hard as they can.
2

tractorshark added 09:26 - Jan 25 Look forward to seeing you all at Portman Road for the Reading match. Oh, sorry, I forgot, you only turn up for a playoff semi-final. The club is going in an upwards direction yet people want to risk that for change and a gamble on instant success. Who's going to do better on limited resources? Who are we going to attract? Come up with realistic names. Every time I hear one, they're either unproven like Karl Robinson or beyond our means. I keep saying it, there's a new breed of football fan, spawned from the likes of Chelsea where managers come and go if they have the audacity just to win one cup in a season. Problem is they have a slightly bigger budget than us. We are a 'proper' football club, an old-school throwback to a time when prawn sandwiches and corporate suits didn't ruin our game. And, as such, you have to take the rough with the smooth. If you can't handle that, then you should never have signed up to support Ipswich Town.

18

caught-in-limbo added 09:36 - Jan 25 The time it took to say "If we could get on the pitches, that would be handy. If they're not frozen or flooded that would be a real help" was probably about 5 or 6 seconds during a press conference lasting several minutes. TWTD makes a headline out of it and people start to flap. Everybody put your knives away until FA Cup-tired Reading win their first away game since September on Tuesday night next week. Until then, enjoy the fact your lawn is too wet or frozen to cut.

5

pitseablue added 09:37 - Jan 25 Well said tractorshark. There are some on hear who just talk crap. !!!
4

irish_tractor added 09:57 - Jan 25 Ah crap I have flights booked to come over to the Blackburn game on the 20th
1

Penguinblue added 09:57 - Jan 25 MM decided to forfeit the FA Cup (took him 2 attempts), gave his favourites a week off who returned the favour with the Birmingham display - albeit according to his 'coaching' methods. He could have predicted (lets face it he doesn't have much to think about team selection taken care of, tactics, kick it hard and high, or transfer policy - there's no one better than we have, so he might have realised that Reading would take their cup game seriously, hence our next fixture postponed and his chums would get another 10 days off.

0

Smithy added 10:04 - Jan 25 Anyone who watched the Leeds game will know we can play decent football and that's where the frustration is for me. What a lot of people seem to forget is what he inherited, not only was the team struggling but the whole club was a mess. We have players who care for the club which is great testament to Mick, I think he should use these 10 days to get some new recruits in, but they need to have that desire and quality.

6

muccletonjoe added 10:08 - Jan 25 Imo mm was totally wrong with the team he put out last week against pompey. Having said that, it was a big ask to get even a point on Saturday. Their are worse managers to have in charge of your club and maybe we will see a couple of new arrivals this week
3

brendenward35 added 10:56 - Jan 25 sky sports news " PRATLEY WANTED Ipswich Town are ready to step up long-standing interest in Bolton captain Darren Pratley in the next few days, according to the Bolton News. Wanderers are in financial turmoil and manager Neil Lennon has been told he must trim his wage bill before the end of the January window. “It has gone a little quiet but I'd be surprised if my phone doesn't start ringing next week,” Lennon said."

2

Kesgraveblue57 added 11:24 - Jan 25 No that's what I call planning McCarthys masterstroke you can achieve a 10 day break by losing matches
4

Lightningboy added 12:10 - Jan 25 Not having a game for 10 days highlights even more the mockery of throwing the cup match last week. We should be looking forward to a fantastic cup tie this weekend against premier league opposition cos we could bloody well do with the practice. By McCarthy's strange mindset regarding the amount of football our players are capable of playing,a 10 day rest should see us flattening Reading at home next week,eh Mick?

9

Bluetone added 12:41 - Jan 25 We are forgetting that a ten day break gives the likes of Murphy the chance to strengthen those all important neck muscles.
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