McCarthy: Fans Not the Only Ones Unhappy After Rotherham Friday, 1st Apr 2016 06:00 Boss Mick McCarthy says fans weren’t the only ones unhappy with Town’s performance during the 1-0 home defeat to Rotherham a fortnight ago, he was just as frustrated, if not more so. However, the Blues manager points out that Town, who go into tomorrow’s game at his old club Wolves eighth, four points from the play-offs, have had more good displays than bad this season. “Join the queue and get right to the back of it because I’m at the front of it, I’m unhappy as well,” he said when asked about supporters having been frustrated by the performance and quality of play against the Millers to the extent that they booed their side off and chanted 'What a load of rubbish'. Can they expect an improvement as they consider whether to renew their season tickets for 2016/17? “It borders on giving a stupid answer to a stupid question, ‘No, we’re going to continue to play like we did against Rotherham, be horrible and rubbish and not get a result’,” he added. “We’ve had some bad ones but we’ve had a lot of good games as well this season. When I started off with Ryan Fraser and Ainsley and Murph and Freddie up front we played some really good stuff. “Unfortunately it is that time when season tickets are going out, it is that time when the club are asking people to pay money to come and watch. “All I can say is that I don’t intentionally play like that, my players don’t intentionally play like that and for the next eight games we’ll be trying to play in the manner and in the fashion that we’ve played when we’ve been cheered off and when they’ve loved us. It’s up to us to get back to that.” Reflecting further on the Rotherham game and his team selection, which he admitted he got wrong after the match, he continued: “Bearing in mind we played on the Tuesday, I could have made changes, we might have been fresher, we might have had a bit more zip about us, I don’t know. “There lies the $50m question, had I changed it and we’d lost, I’d have been kicking myself up the arse again saying I shouldn’t have done it. Generally, I tend to leave things the way they are if it’s not broken. “We had an off day. And let me say, we gave a really poor goal away, but other than that it should have been 0-0 and Rotherham were no mugs, despite their lowly position. “They’ve just had some great results against Middlesbrough, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and us now. That proves that they’re no mugs. “They sat in and defended and made it hard for us, caught us on the break and they managed to defend their goal. They played well in that kind of a performance and we didn’t.” Will that performance impact upon his team selections going forwards? “Not because of the way those lads played, no. I’ve put other teams out and lads have played badly and I don’t hold it against them as I would hope they don’t hold anything against me, the players I mean. I took responsibility for it as well, as I always do, I might add.” Quizzed on whether he’d name the same side again, he responded: “I’ll pick whatever team I want. I think that answers the question.” McCarthy says that while things obviously didn’t go well against the Millers, his approach has been successful throughout his time with the Blues. “It has [generally worked and got us competing at the top end of the table] and I think that that’s a credit to the players as well who go ahead and do it every week. “And I’ve said before, we are not the best team in the league. All the players that have come in, we’ve spent about £500,000 over the last four years and I think the lads are brilliant. “I think every one of them that’s come in has bought into anything I’ve asked them to do. They are all so diligent, they’re all great in and around the building, outside in terms of whatever else they do, and on the pitch. “But we’re not the best team. But I love them for it, they’re great. And I still love them because we’ve still got a chance of getting into the play-offs.” David McGoldrick and Teddy Bishop are both set to travel to Wolverhampton ahead of tomorrow’s game but McCarthy has been unable to call on them and loanee Ryan Fraser, all three amongst the more creative players in his squad, for much of the season. “They’ve not been fit. We could have gone out against Rotherham with all those flair players and got done 2-0 or 3-0, who knows. “I took the view with Rotherham, and I said to TC, that if was 0-0 after 50 minutes it wouldn’t bother me at all, 60 minutes, because I thought we’d got the players on to get something out of it. It should have gone to half-time 0-0. “But I knew what to expect and I didn’t think for one minute that we’d have loads of room and space to play in in their half, which turned out to be the case. Unfortunately, we just gave a goal away, which was awful.” Has he been on the end of any direct criticism from fans while out and about locally since the Rotherham match? “I was at our golf day on Wednesday and I think most people reflected on [what we’ve done rather than being negative]. “One person passed comment, thinking he was funny and I ignored him. It was either that or give him a slap and I thought he was a bit to old to do that to. Says me at 57, I should know better! “I think most of the other people were pleased at what myself and the players have brought to the club and how well we’d done rather than being negative. Maybe I didn’t bump into the right people to get some negative feedback. “But if they feel any worse than I do, then I’m sorry because they’re feeling pretty lousy about it.” McCarthy is confident that Town have what it takes to get back into the top six during the remaining eight games of the campaign. “If I sat here and said no there’d be nobody buying a season ticket and nobody would come and watch us at Wolves or come and see us again, would they?” he continued. “You’ve known me now for four years and I’ve never once backed down from a challenge, whether we were at the bottom of the league or trying to get in the play-offs. “We’re still scrapping away, we still believe we can get in it and we’ll make sure we’ll do anything possible to try and get there." Despite having had the likes of Fraser and returning pair McGoldrick and Bishop out for long spells this season, he still believes his team ought to be higher in the table than they are at present. “I think we’re better than what we are and I think we should be in the top six. I’m disappointed.” He added: “We’ve eight games to try and get in the play-offs. I think with everybody right we should be there. “I’m saying that with a few odds that probably are against us in terms of the teams that are above us and in and around us. There are a few who have gone out and invested a right few quid in trying to do it. There are a few a lot further beneath us, by the way, who have done that as well. “And so at the end of the season I’ll sit down and reflect on whether it was a good season or not and see who goes up, see if it’s us, if it’s somebody else. We’ve just got eight games to play.” Meanwhile, he says new loan winger Liam Feeney is settling in well having made a bright debut as a sub in the Rotherham match. “I think anybody who had gone on and added a bit of zip and a bit of invention and a bit of creativity in the game against Rotherham, [the fans would] have taken to anybody in that game because it had been so dull and boring and horrible up to that point. “But I thought he was excellent, I was really pleased with him. I’m delighted with him, he seems to have settled in, but all the players do, none of the players have any problem settling in.” Elsewhere, he says he hopes Polish central defender Piotr Malarczyk gets some games under his belt during his loan spell at Southend for the remainder of the season. “I hope it’s a good move, I watched their game [against Sheffield United] last night and he didn’t play but I’m hoping he’ll get some football. It’ll be good for him and good for us. He has to go and play somewhere.”
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