Town Out to End Slide at Huddersfield Friday, 26th Feb 2016 06:00 The Blues travel to Huddersfield Town on Saturday looking to end a run of three successive defeats which has seen them drop to 10th in the Championship, seven points from the play-off places following Sheffield Wednesday's Friday night 0-0 draw at Hull City. Manager Mick McCarthy admits he’s concerned by his team’s recent slide. “Of course, I’d be stupid if I sat here and said I wasn’t concerned to have three defeats on the bounce,” he said. “Admittedly, they were tough games, two away and then a home game against a really good side [leaders Hull City], who I thought were excellent the other night. “For 45 minutes it was fairly even, but I knew if we conceded a goal it would be tough because they haven’t conceded many and for a while there they could have put another one past us. “I was pleased with the way we stuck at it and we could have nicked something in the end, and it would have been nicked because they’re a good side. “But of course I’m concerned. We all are. We’re all concerned and disappointed that we’re not giving our fans something to shout about but we’ll keep working at it, like always.” Reflecting on the season as a whole it has been one of ups and downs but he says he tries to remain on a level regardless of results. “I keep talking about being consistent but it’s not been that consistent,” he admitted. “We’ve had periods of consistency and then been inconsistent. “What I do try and do is to keep the same consistent mood throughout when you’re having a tough time. There have been highs and lows." He says his squad are similarly level-headed: “They’re no manic depressives, they’re not either up on the roof and then down on the floor. They’re pretty consistent characters all along. “It’s not like you need the juggling act, the pointed hat and the red nose every time you have a few defeats and we’ve always managed to come back when we’ve had disappointments. I think that shows. “It’s not loud characters being the life and soul because a lot of those people can be pretty shallow anyway, those ones that are making all the noise and all the laughs. It’s generally when we’re winning and they’re all great lads. “You just really want men around the place who continue to do their jobs properly and I think I’ve got that.” He says he feels all the same emotions during tough spells that he did earlier in his career as a manager but can now deal with them better. “I still get angry, I still get really disappointed, I still get frustrated, it pisses me off,” he continued. “But I understand those feelings now, I know what it’s doing and I can control them a little bit better than I did years and years ago, and perhaps see beyond that, that it’s always going to turn around at some stage. “I do handle it better. Something with getting older improves, there’s not a lot, but maybe that’s one advantage.” He added: “Doom and gloom will only make things worse, exacerbate a bad situation, which it is already having lost three. “We try and stay positive, as we always have done, and sometimes we have to look on the pragmatic side of what’s happened to us and the players that we’ve lost and understand that you can’t afford to lose the kind of players that we have and continue to be as good as we were. “But then others get opportunities and we’ve got to try and make ourselves better again.” Looking back over the season, injuries have prevented McCarthy from fielding what many might consider his best team. “David McGoldrick hasn’t really been fit from the start because he came back late after international duty and [his pre-season] was delayed,” he said. “Bish hasn’t played at all. Would he be in the best side? Arguably, you’d have to say so when he was in his pomp. “Skusey’s been missed and now Ryan Fraser, and we missed Ryan Fraser for quite a while. If you look the last time we lost Ryan we had a little dip because he’s such a threat. We’ve got to get back to being a threat without them.” Striker Daryl Murphy is without a goal in five games and McCarthy says he’s spoken to last season’s 27-goal Championship top scorer, who has netted eight times this term, about his recent dry spell. “I had a conversation with him this morning,” he said. “I thought we were all a little bit hurried the other night, trying to get back in the game, a little bit rushed, trying to get back in the game as soon as we possibly could and we played a little bit like that and weren’t as considered as we could have been. “And I think Murph’s a bit the same because he’s got eight goals, I think he was at 19 or something this time last year. “We’re all getting frustrated, he is as well. You’re trying to get goals out of nothing, it’s like putting the cart before the horse. “They follow from the performance and Murph’s always got his chances out of being a big handful, running in channels, being quick, sticking the ball, upsetting defenders and bringing other people into play.
“And I think at the moment we’re all just a little bit rushed, all trying to get the goal, get the final pass, make the cross which will change something. Maybe we’ll just have to relax a little bit, Murph included.” McCarthy says he’s been impressed with what he’s seen of Huddersfield’s recent performances. “I’m about to watch them, I’ve only seen bits of them,” he added. “I was talking to Karl Robinson from the MK Dons on Wednesday night, I was at Derby watching the Blackburn game. “He said they’d been watching them because they played them and it was one of their poorest performances against MK Dons [which ended 1-1], Sparky [U21s coach Mark Kennedy] was there. Over the last four games they’ve played really well. “They’ve got Jamie Paterson, who came from Forest and has been playing in behind the strikers. He had a real purple patch for one season a while back and scored [13 goals for Walsall]. “Jonathan Hogg in the centre of midfield, then there’s Philip Billing who came through the academy, who got sent off against the MK Dons. He’s been doing very well. "They’ve got Joe Lolley, who they signed from Kidderminster, who is now starting to play well. “They’ve got good players, no doubt about that, and it’s never an easy place to go and play.” The Town boss has never been one to sniff at an away point and wouldn’t be too disappointed with a draw at the John Smith’s Stadium, even if he’ll be targeting a win. “We certainly don’t want to get beaten again because that would be extremely disappointing, that would be four on the bounce and I don’t want that to happen. “In terms of stopping that rot, I’d take a point but we’re going there to try and win because, where we are now in the league, if we’re going to get back in the top six it’s three points we want to get from games.” Bartosz Bialkowski is set to continue in goal with the regular back four of skipper Luke Chambers and Jonas Knudsen the full-backs and Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith the central defenders. In central midfield, Jonathan Douglas again seems likely to be partnered by Luke Hyam, who is expected to be fit despite having suffered a hamstring problem against Hull. If McCarthy opts to match Huddersfield’s 4-2-3-1 system then he could bring Kevin Bru back into the team for 10-goal top scorer Brett Pitman between the deeper midfield pair and Daryl Murphy with Ben Pringle on the left and Freddie Sears on the right. The Terriers will be without Billing, whose appeal against his red card in the MK Dons match was unsuccessful. In Billing's absence head coach David Wagner says he knows who he will play in the centre of his midfield. "Ipswich are very physical, direct and typically English in the style they play, so it is a good decision and solution to have our two best fighters in the team; our two real Terriers, Jonathan Hogg and Dean Whitehead," he told the official Huddersfield website. “I think tomorrow we will be aggressive enough. If we can show our physical side, then we will have a chance. With the ball we will be able to create moments to score, but our first target is to be aggressive. “Tomorrow it's important that we show our identity, our Terriers identity. That is the most important thing in our performance. "Everybody know Ipswich has lost five of the last six games, but that doesn't make our challenge easier tomorrow. We have to be totally focused.” MIdfielder Joe Lolley is a doubt with a calf problem, while Emyr Huws (ankle) and winger Sean Scannell (knee) are long-term injury absentees. Historically, Town have won 21 games between the sides (including the only cup tie), the Terriers 12, with nine ending in draws. Huddersfield are currently unbeaten in three games, winning two and drawing one, following a run of four successive defeats in all competitions. At Portman Road in October, Town recorded their third successive home draw after their game against the Terriers ended goalless. McGoldrick came closest to breaking the deadlock for the Blues in stoppage time, forcing a superb instinctive save from Terriers keeper Jed Steer, while Nahki Wells had the best chance for the visitors - who had sub James Vaughan red-carded in injury time - in the first half when Christophe Berra hooked his effort off the line. In April last year, Town’s play-off aspirations suffered a significant blow as they were beaten 2-1 by Huddersfield at the John Smith’s Stadium. Wells and Vaughan gave the Terriers a two-goal half-time lead and despite Luke Varney netting three minutes after the break the Blues were unable to get back on terms. Blues academy coach Alan Lee was with the West Yorkshiremen until the summer of 2013 before returning to Town. Huddersfield striker Wells - the Terriers' top scorer this season with 14 goals, four in his last five games - spent time on trial at Portman Road as a teenager. He did enough to be asked to stay on for a longer spell but the homesick youngster opted to go back to Bermuda and the Dandy Town Hornets before later making his return to English football with Carlisle and then Bradford before joining the Terriers in January 2014. Saturday’s referee is Darren Bond from Lancashire, who has shown 74 yellow cards and two red in 25 games so far this season. Bond’s most recent Town match was the dramatic last-gasp 1-0 victory at Charlton in November 2014 in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout. Two months earlier he took control of the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday when he booked only two home players, while his only other match involving the Blues was the 2-2 draw at Barnsley in February of the same year in which he again showed no cards. Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Foley, Kenlock, Berra, Smith, Digby, Hyam, Douglas, Tabb, Bru, Pringle, Maitland-Niles, Touré, Sears, Pitman, Murphy, Varney.
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