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McCarthy: Plenty of Candidates for Manager's Choice Award
Wednesday, 11th May 2016 09:29

Freddie Sears was the winner of the John Kerridge Memorial Trophy, the manager’s choice award, at the club’s End of Season Dinner last week, but boss Mick McCarthy says there were plenty of candidates for him to consider.

“The manager’s choice it’s picking the best player or most consistent player and there are a whole lot of attributes which go into that," McCarthy said.

“One of them I think is how you play on a consistent basis, but he’s also very selfless, he’s gone and played centre-forward, he’s played behind the frontman, he’s played on the right or the left.

“He could have been moved in a game but he has never once whinged or complained, he’s got on with it, played equally well in every position.

“It may have hindered him in terms of the goals he’s scored, although he still had chances, and he’s just gone on and done it.

“That for a team, those kinds of people are just invaluable. I think he deserves it for that and he’s also had a very good season, he’s played just about every minute of every game as well.”

He added: “There were a lot of players who were in the frame. People will say to me, ‘Who’s your best player?’. Kids always ask that.

“And I say that that doesn’t work with me, it’s who is the most effective player. Then there are a lot of other things, picking a manager’s choice for the season.

“There were a few in there, which is good. Brett Pitman, his ratio of coming on and scoring goals is particularly good.

“You could pick any of the back four, you could pick Bartosz because Bart got all the other awards. He was in the team, he was out of the team [after the sad loss of his father], he got back in the team, he’s been brilliant.

“Him and Gerks, neither of them have complained, they’ve been two really good keepers.

“I’m fortunate on that score, I’ve got quite a lot of players that I could put up as candidates for the manager’s choice for the player of the year.”

Photos: Reuters/ITFC


Photo: Action Images



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Mr_Evans added 09:36 - May 11
"You could pick any of the back four"

No MM, only 'you' would pick any of the back four. Everyman and his dog knows our back four have been our biggest liability.
Chambers is not a RB, and a bang average CB
Smith is an average CB, and being played on his wrong foot.
Berra has been poor this season. Arguably one our better players.
Knudsen has improved throughout the season, jury still out.
5

hoppy added 09:44 - May 11
Surprised it didn't go to Jonathan Douglas...
4

MattinLondon added 10:16 - May 11
To be fair to MM he's hardly going to say ‘only Sears came close to winning this. The defence has been awful full of schoolboy errors and as for the midfield…'

At the end of the day he gave it to the only player who could really complete with Bart for the award.
7

blueblood66 added 10:16 - May 11
Well deserved Freddie.
12

DerbyBlue76 added 10:20 - May 11
The key criteria for the award from MM seems to be those that do what they are told and do not complain
5

Guthrum added 10:38 - May 11
Mr Evans - '...our back four have been our biggest liability ...'

But that's not actually true. Town's biggest issue this season, particularly in the latter part, has been their inability to score. Nil-nil draws, games we lost by one goal we perhaps oughtn't to have, matches we struggled to nick by a single goal to nil. Maybe 8-10 points we didn't collect due to not being able to get the ball into the net.
8

BrettenhamBlue added 10:43 - May 11
So many points saved by Bart this season ; Outstanding goalkeeper.
12

cats_whiskers added 11:12 - May 11
More of McCarthy's daily dribble
Rather than play somebody in a system where it maximises their ability,
McCarthy would rather opt for the negative / nulling effect and secure a point
where stifling the opposition is the main option whether that is home or away.

Going for the outright win just isn't in McCarthy's genetics, his way is to play it safe and maybe an odd chance will come our way.

7

iaintaylorx added 11:15 - May 11
I don't get fans who call Smith as 'bang average' and things. I wouldn't go as far as he has been 'outstanding' this season, purely as our defence have leaked far too many goals, but he has still had a bloomin' good season!!
14

midastouch added 11:33 - May 11
I'd be sorry to see Tommy Smith go. He's not flawless but he's still well worth holding on to. He does give it his all, nobody can deny that. I'm not convinced Digby can step into his shoes just yet, but granted, it's too early to judge Digby as not seen much of the lad.
8

MattinLondon added 11:59 - May 11
When you take a look at the goals against column for the championship you quickly realise just how below-average our defence is compared to other teams in the top-half.

I'm not saying that our defence is poor but more a problem that we play with too many defensive midfielders. We invite danger onto us by not carrying enough of a threat ourselves.
8

jas0999 added 11:59 - May 11
Sears is a good choice, but there were few candidates this year. No real stand outs other than Bart, but Mick could hardly pick him after insisting on playing 'Gerks' despite him being average and nowhere near as good as Bart. BB saved us from many hammerings and on occasions assisted in picking up three undeserved points with countless excellent saves.
6

mikeybloo88 added 12:04 - May 11
I thought Mick had pipped our back four to the award for biggest liability?
0

PortmanTerrorist added 12:31 - May 11
Tommy Smith is our best defender and is played out of position - to have had the season he has had when the rest of the back 4 have been so suspect for so much of the time is all credit to him and so he makes up the 3rd player, and there only 3 really, that come out of this season with any credit. Bart, Freddie and Tommy.

PS: Well done to Knuds for sticking at it and improving; hopefully kick on next season. SHAME MM DID NOT TRUST ANY OF OUR OWN WITH THAT AMOUNT OF SUB-STANDARD GAME TIME AT START OF SEASON !
3

TractorCam added 13:03 - May 11
Another mention of Gerks when talking about Bart!
3

Bert added 13:21 - May 11
Strange set of random comments. MM bothers to explain his thinking which is what should be expected from someone who clearly knows how to manage players. It's a team game so players will be asked to switch. Quite simple to understand really.
6

nhabo added 13:39 - May 11
I agree with MM that the back four have been excellent in the circumstances. They've had a tough season because the six players picked in front of them did not score enough goals. Goals alleviate pressure. 16 teams scored more goals than us this season and we still finished 7th.
1

Seasider added 14:13 - May 11
++Cats whiskers,maybe your right as ITFC under MM have never won by 4 clear goals,unless you include win over Middlesbrough,when Mick was ill and TC was in charge of team.
In fact they have hardly ever won by 3 clear goals,and not that often by 2,as its usually nicking it by the odd goal,hence the poor goal difference.
However they have lost by this margin four times 6.0 to Leicester,5.0 to Palace;soon after Mick took over and 5-1 to Reading earlier this season,plus the odd 3-0 defeat.
I criticised McCarthy for picking Freddie initially,when everybody else went for Bart;but in hindsight he was right.Notice he did not go for anybody in back four or midfield,even though some of his so called favorites are in there.
Much talk about Tommy' s contract;not sure of details or whether he has been offered one which has been turned down.No doubt Phil will know;but I feel if one can be given to Hyam,then surely Smithy is entitled to be considered,as feel he is equally as good as Chambers or Berra both of whom I believe have signed.
1

Fatcatevans added 22:41 - May 11
I agree with Tractor Cam. Has MM ever not mentioned Gerkin when praising Bart. It seems to be his default position almost as if to explain why he picked Gerks when everyone else knew that Bart should have been number 1. Let it go Mick. We know you screwed up.
-1

phillo added 09:20 - May 12
Odd comment about Bart being in the frame because "he won all the others" ...... not because he deserves it.
Quite frankly its this type of thing/comment that so exasperates supporters .....
0

dirtydingusmagee added 09:22 - May 12
Reckon thats well deserved ,shame MM has not exploited his full potential. Obviously Bart is deserving of recognition, he has spared Town from some thumpings since regaining his spot .
0


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