McCarthy: We've Got to Be Together Thursday, 30th Mar 2017 19:37 Boss Mick McCarthy hopes fans will put their frustrations to one side and get behind the Blues when they face Birmingham City in the first of two vital home games as Town look to put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone. Second-bottom Wigan Athletic are at Portman Road on Tuesday. The 3-1 defeat at Cardiff a fortnight ago saw the Blues slip to 17th in the Championship, five points from the drop zone with only eight games left to play. Both McCarthy and owner Marcus Evans have been under fire from fans for much of the season with further ill will generated when the club announced their season ticket prices for the 2017/18 campaign a fortnight ago. “I don’t need any more ill feeling but I don’t think that’s directed at me,” McCarthy said when asked about the recent ticket-price furore. “I can’t get the blame for that, surely. I don’t mind taking the blame some things! “There is a time when all the side issues have to be put to the side and I know people will read this and say ‘It’s all right for you, you’re getting paid’. “And I do know that but I’m still the manager of the club and for the best part of the time I’ve done a really good job. And [us and] the players we’re all going to go out and we’ve got to be together. “And the last thing we need is after 20 minutes if it’s not going [well] and somebody makes a bad pass and are a whole load of groans and we encourage Birmingham. “We don’t want to encourage them at all. We want to discourage them right from the very start. Us with the way we play and from our supporters with the way they’re supporting.” The match brings back memories of McCarthy’s first game as Town boss back in November 2012 when the Blues were bottom of the division, five points from safety having taken only seven points from their first 13 games. The Blues manager believes Saturday’s game is even bigger than that match, which Town won 1-0 via a DJ Campbell goal: “It is because the one in 2012 has got no bearing on anything that’ll happen in the future. “That was a really good game for me and a good game for the club because it gave us a bit of a push and it started a bit of momentum, although we got slapped in the next game. But we hadn’t been winning too many. I’d settle for the same result, that’s for sure.” Following the defeat at Cardiff McCarthy and his players had some time off, which the Blues boss was a much-needed break. “It would have been nice if I’d have felt better. I went away full of cold and felt lousy,” he said. “But I wasn’t in here, I wasn’t giving out orders, I wasn’t listening to things, I wasn’t all-consumed by it, just 90 per cent consumed by it. At least 10 per cent of my head got a rest.” Like McCarthy, Birmingham boss Gianfranco Zola has been under fire from fans with the Midlanders having won just two of their 19 games since he took over from Gary Rowett in December a day after a 2-1 win against the Blues at St Andrew’s. While McCarthy will be looking to heap further woe on the Italian, he says it was a difficult position to inherit in the circumstances. “There are times to take a job, aren’t there? If I ever end up out of work again I’m going to accept a job if it’s a good job whatever the circumstances. “I’m not going to go looking for it, I’m never going to go nipping somebody’s ear while there’s a manager in charge, I’ve never done that and I never would. “And I’m not suggesting Gianfranco did. But Gary had just beaten us, they were playing great, they were talking about the play-offs and so for whatever reasons Gary went, Gianfranco got it and that was difficult. “You really want a team where if it’s going badly you can turn it around. But if all the players and all the crowd love the manager who has just been sacked it doesn’t help, that’s for sure.” McCarthy says Birmingham, who are one place behind Town on goal difference, aren't the same side under Zola as they were under Rowett. “Certainly a different style of playing,” he added. “Gary was doing great, everybody saw it as a strange decision but, let me tell you, they’ve had a tough time, but they’ve had some good results and some good performances, notably the one on TV at Wolves which was a big pressure game for them and they beat Wolves [away 2-1] and played very, very well. “They had a point against Cardiff [when they drew 1-1] three weeks ago, so they’re a threat, no doubt about it.” McCarthy believes claiming six points from back-to-back wins against Birmingham and then the Latics ought to see the Blues, who are currently on 45 points, to safety. “I would hope that would be the case,” he said. “Since the first season we stayed up when I think it was Peterborough went down with 54 points, I seem to recall they went to Crystal Palace and lost and Barnsley won and just stayed up [with 55]. “I can’t see it being that much, so it would be nice if we get our couple of wins and then we’ll see. But it depends on all the other results. “I remember at that time when we won a game we always came off and thought ‘That’s a great result’ and we looked and everybody else had won. But we can only take care of our results. If we get two wins it’ll be a big step forward.”
While six points and Town’s first back-to-back victories of the season will be McCarthy’s target, the Blues boss says his side’s approach can’t be too gung-ho from the off. “I would think that Gianfranco would expect us to try and go and set a high tempo and a good pace to get us going, first and foremost, and get the crowd going along with us,” he said. “But there’s got to be an element of us looking to keep the backdoor shut because the last thing you want to do is to be pressing, pressing, pressing and you find yourself one down being caught on the break.” He admits that Saturday’s game will have a significant impact on the atmosphere at Tuesday’s match: “Yes, of course, but there’s no point talking about anything else except Saturday because we won’t know what the mood is until we’ve played and seen what the result is.” Town have usually lined up in a 3-5-2 system since the turn of the year but having gone unbeaten through their tough February fixtures performances were less impressive during March, although the Cardiff loss was Town’s first defeat in nine. However, the Blues have only won one in their last 13 in all competitions and a switch of system could be on the cards, although McCarthy gave little away at Thursday's press conference. “You’ll see us on Saturday,” he said. “It’s served us well, to be quite honest, but we’ll see what Saturday brings.”
Bartosz Bialkowski will certainly be starting in goal, while the Blues boss may well stick with a back three - with Birmingham having operated in a similar system recently - with skipper Luke Chambers probably on the right, Christophe Berra in the centre and either Tommy Smith, who isn’t back from international duty with New Zealand until Friday afternoon, his flight having been delayed, or Jonas Knudsen on the left. January signing Steven Taylor is now back in training and is another option. Myles Kenlock or Knudsen will be in the left wing-back role with Jordan Spence likely to continue on the right. In midfield, Emyr Huws is back in training after his hamstring problem and could return to the starting line-up with Cole Skuse in his usual holding role. Toumani Diagaouraga, Grant Ward and Kevin Bru are options for the other role with Teddy Bishop over his groin problem but unlikely to start. Up front, David McGoldrick is fit after the knee injury which forced him to miss the Republic of Ireland’s game against Wales and is likely to start, probably alongside Brett Pitman. Tom Lawrence has not yet joined in full training after the groin problem which saw him miss the Ireland-Wales match, although the on-loan Leicester man, Town’s 11-goal top scorer, was back running in Thursday training. Jonny Williams and Dominic Samuel are both fit again and are likely to be among the subs. Birmingham have no new injury concerns with striker Clayton Donaldson having recently returned to action following the achilles injury he sustained in the game against Town at St Andrew’s in December. Defender Michael Morrison remains sidelined following groin surgery, but fellow centre-half Krystian Bielik is back after an achilles injury. Reflecting on the match at his pre-match press conference, Zola said: "It will be tough for them as well, they are in the same position, we cannot make mistakes but they cannot make mistakes either. "It is an even game for many reasons, we will see who is going to be fitter and more focused." Historically, Town have had the better record in fixtures between the sides, winning 34 times (31 in the league), drawing 15 (15) and losing 29 (23). At St Andrew’s in December, Adam Webster’s first goal for Town wasn’t enough to prevent the Blues from falling to a 2-1 defeat to Birmingham. Clayton Donaldson put the home side in front from the penalty spot in the 41st minute, Michael Morrison made it 2-0 eight minutes after the break before Webster headed his goal as the Blues attempted to stage a comeback in which Christophe Berra had what would have been a late equaliser harshly ruled out. Last time at Portman Road in September 2015, Brett Pitman netted a 32nd minute equaliser from the penalty spot as the sides drew 1-1, David Cotterill having put the visitors in front 10 minutes earlier. Blues loanee Emyr Huws had a spell on loan with Birmingham while a Manchester City player during the second half of 2013/14 making 17 starts and scoring two goals. No visitors player has featured for the Blues but defender Michael Morrison hails from Haverhill. Saturday’s referee is Andy Madley from West Yorkshire who has shown 122 yellow cards and six red in 36 games so far this season. Madley’s most recent Town match was the 3-0 home defeat to Derby in January in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout. Prior to that he took control of the 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday in November last year when he booked Cole Skuse and Grant Ward and one home player. Before that he was in charge of the 1-0 defeat at Cardiff in March last year in which he again issued no cards. He also refereed the 2-1 home victory over Wolves in November 2014 in which he booked Luke Chambers, Luke Hyam and Kevin Bru as well as two visiting players. In 2013/14 he officiated in the 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest and the 2-0 victory over Reading at Portman Road. The season prior to that he refereed his first Blues game, the 2-1 home defeat to Derby County, which turned out to be Paul Jewell’s last match as manager of Town. Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Kenlock, Emmanuel, Spence, Berra, T Smith, Taylor, Digby, Skuse, Huws, Diagouraga, Douglas, Bru, Bishop, Williams, Ward, Rowe, McGoldrick, Lawrence, Sears,Pitman, Samuel, Moore.
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