Town boss Mick McCarthy says there was nothing he could say to console centre-half Piotr Malarczyk after last week’s 2-1 FA Cup replay defeat at Portsmouth, the Pole having conceded the penalty which led to the first goal before being sent off for two bookable offences in the second half.

“I said ‘Come on Peter, let’s get on the bus and get on with it, mate’,” said McCarthy. “I remember being a player myself and there’s no consoling of that.

“But I’ve seen him this morning and he’s fine. He’s got to get on with it. There’s nothing you can really say to somebody.”

The 24-year-old joined the Blues in August from his hometown side Korona Kielce where he was the club captain and had made 131 senior appearances.

But his Town opportunities have been limited with the Portsmouth match only his third start, all of which have come in cup games, in addition to three league appearances from the bench.

McCarthy says the former Poland U19, U20 and U21 international will have found that frustrating but that he can’t have too many complaints given the form of the players in front of him.

“I think players are always frustrated at the lack of opportunities but they can only get irked by it if there’s somebody in front of them not playing particularly well,” the Blues manager said.

Malarczyk and Luke Hyam look on as former Blue Gary Roberts nets from the spot

“But if they’ve got Chambo, Tommy, Christophe and Jonas, who have been outstanding, then you’ve just got to wait your time.

“And I think it’s as plain as the nose on my face how important those four are to the team.”

McCarthy says Malarczyk will have a role to play during the remaining months of the season: “He’s one of our players like all of them.”

The other centre-half at Fratton Park was Paul Digby, who was making his second appearance for the Blues - he also started the first game against Portsmouth - having joined on loan from Barnsley until the end of the season with a view to a permanent switch.

The 20-year-old former England U19 and U20 international has played most of his football as a central midfielder but McCarthy views him as a centre-half and the Blues boss was happy enough with his performance against Pompey.

“Reasonably pleased, for a lad that’s playing on the left-hand side and he’s right-footed,” he added. “What I like about Paul Digby is that anything you ask him to do he endeavours to do it to the best of his possible ability.

“He listens and he learns and he wants to do it and I think we’ve got a chance with him, to be fair.”

Photo: Action Images

battyblue added 06:46 - Jan 26 Back four outstanding not,Digby not a centre and played total rubbish in that position,time you started speaking the truth instead of feeding us all this bull-hit don't treat us like idiots MM.
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hoppy added 06:47 - Jan 26 I don't think Mick's nose is necessarily one you'd call 'plain', but there you go...
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battyblue added 06:48 - Jan 26 Digby not a centre half🙃
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Sospiri added 07:08 - Jan 26 Err, it might be a long time Pete.
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Daz added 07:08 - Jan 26 Would be nice to see Digby in midfield first rather than defence. I think Malar will do ok long term
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Popeye added 07:10 - Jan 26 Joe Royle turned Richard Naylor from a striker to a centre half, so MM should be able to do the same with Digby!!
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Daz added 07:14 - Jan 26 “But if they've got Chambo, Tommy, Christophe and Jonas, who have been outstanding, then you've just got to wait your time. I totally agree that left bk needs to be playing week in week out as he is the long term option but disagree he has been brill. Can't help to feel its a dig about par and fans
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 07:28 - Jan 26 Feel a bit sorry for Malarczyk, although I confess I haven't seen him play. I've only heard reports, which generally seem to conclude he's "OK." He must be a bit pissed off having come to a new country and never getting any "real" game time. On another tack - we might be feeling a bit deflated at the moment, but it must be nothing to what the Derby fans are experiencing. MM has always said that money is no guarantee for success, and to a point I agree with him. Still think a couple of additions at the right time would be a big plus, however .... Nothing against Derby per se, but it would be really funny if a club that has apparently spent masses then missed out on the golden prize.

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mow_the_lawn added 07:50 - Jan 26 He was woeful against Pompey, absolutely woeful. He was probably annoyed because that was his chance to prove himself to MM and he failed to do so in dramatic fashion. Aside from conceding the penalty and getting sent off, his positional play and passing made Chambers look like a world class defender compared to him. I'd loan him out for the rest of the season to get used to the English leagues and then tart a fresh with him next year. Think Clarke will ahead of him next season anyway.

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essex57 added 07:58 - Jan 26 If I was Mccarthy I would only give the obligatory after match interview then leave it to a press officer or ceo to feed any info to the press if he said black was black the conspiritory theorists on here would say it's white unbelievable .
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braveblue added 08:00 - Jan 26 Chambers and Knudsen outstanding. Sums up what a load of rubbish these comments are. No respect for fans at all.
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Surco72 added 08:01 - Jan 26 And if he said black was white you and a number of others would just agree with him Essex !!
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prebsa added 08:06 - Jan 26 essex57 your posts become more pathetic every time there is a story on this site!
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footyblue added 08:11 - Jan 26 he'll probably be off soon as I feel a lot of players will becuase no matter how good you play when you come in you don't keep your place, there is no competition for places at Town to many older players not having any pressure on them no matter how badly they play
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Keaneish added 08:12 - Jan 26 Other than Fraser and Sears in patches, has anyone been outstanding this season? Has anybody throughout the side formed really solid partnerships given the time they've had to gel? I feel like there is a massive gap between the first 11 and the second string, not only in ability but also in attitude too. With Parr and Oar leaving in the same week for the same reasons, the signs of discontent are evident and given some performances from the first eleven i'd argue there's clear complacency in that side. Need that cash injection to freshen things up a little.

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BlueNomad added 08:26 - Jan 26 Well the back four so many of you like to slag off have got us competing for the play-offs again!!!!!
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parkinshair added 08:27 - Jan 26 Can't say his impressed me so far. Like Coke he looks way short of championship standard. Digby hasn't looked great but a lot is being asked of him so it would be unfair to criticize. Toure is never fit and Oar has jumped ship. McCarthy's transfer dealings seem to have been more miss than hit this season.
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algarvefan added 08:28 - Jan 26 A certain ex goalkeeper of ours said it all recently. Some of the older players don't want promotion as they would lose their place in the team if we went up and then have to find a new club. We have too many older players and need to be building for the future with younger players given a chance at least and a time to bed in. I wonder what some are being told when they come to Ipswich, or what they are finding when they get there, to make them want to leave, in Oars case, very quickly? I'm suspecting that all is not well.

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Surco72 added 08:56 - Jan 26 Pragmatic are you serious ? We have scored the same amount as the top teams but conceded as many as the bottom teams . It is certainly not the defence that has got us near the playoffs and with a better keeper and defence we would be higher . How many times this season have we said our strikers cost us games by missing a hatful ? How many times has Gerken , Chambers , Smith or Knudsen cost us points by poor defending ? Get real

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prebsa added 09:10 - Jan 26 Surco72 spot on, 10 less goals and I suspect we would be in the 50s for points. Our defending this season has been poor, our inability to deal with set pieces and our panic when the we cant clear the ball nearly always costs us a goal.
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essexboy added 09:13 - Jan 26 With an owner who is intent on keeping his purse closed MM has done a great job.ME,I doubt will never spend big so we must just get used to it.We still have a great chance of getting into the play off's,there is still a long way to go as yet.
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muccletonjoe added 10:09 - Jan 26 Defence has cost us on occasions this season. He is still playing the best 4 defenders we have
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dugoutdave added 10:19 - Jan 26 Essexboy - I don't think we will ever get to the bottom of the lack of signings. Blaming ME is easy but in reality it could well be MM sticking with his belief that we have the best squad and we don't need anyone else. My own thoughts are that since MM and TC have signed extensions to stay, it would be unlikely they would do that if they didn't think there was money in the coffers for improvements if required.

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caught-in-limbo added 10:21 - Jan 26 Another Pole axed?
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Michael11 added 10:23 - Jan 26 How has our back 4 been so brilliant? By far our weakest area this season. Chambers and Knudsen are suck easy targets for opponents to pick out. Malarczyk looks like a waste of 8 grand and I'd rather have Jonny Parr with 1 leg than Digby!
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