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McCarthy: Wigan Will See It As a Game They Can Win Monday, 3rd Apr 2017 19:34
Blues boss Mick McCarthy says second-bottom Wigan will come to Portman Road on Tuesday night believing it’s a game they can win as they look to pull off an unlikely escape from relegation.
Saturday’s visitors Birmingham, like Town six points from the bottom three, might have been happy enough with a draw as they try to put some distance between themselves and the lower reaches of the table, but a point will be of little help to the Latics, who are seven points from safety.
“I think they need three points, they probably see it as a game they can win as well, bearing in mind how we played in the second half on Saturday, the atmosphere at the ground,” McCarthy said.
“They’ll be saying ‘Can we keep it tight, can we score a goal, they’ll turn against them’. All the usual nonsense and commentaries and cliches that are said.
“But unfortunately it’s true, that’s the case. If they come here and do that it will be a really tough evening.
“It’s up to us, it’s up to me and the players to perform, get the crowd on our side and get a good result.”
Will it suit the Blues if it is a more open game than Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Gianfranco Zola's Midlanders?
“Of course,” he said. “Wigan played well at Newcastle on Saturday. I watched that game yesterday and I just wonder whether it was a nothing to lose game at Newcastle, they weren’t expected to win going up there, certainly.
“But they played almost with gay abandon and played really well and caused Newcastle problems.
“And Newcastle sort of nicked it in the end. Matt Ritchie hit a shot, it was deflected onto the bar and it came back and he headed it in and they won 2-1.
“But I think the feeling is that they were pretty fortunate. They certainly played well on Saturday.”
McCarthy says failing to win on Saturday hasn’t really added too much further pressure, the Blues moved another point away from the danger zone, although he wants that gap increased from its current six points as soon as is possible.
“Personally I’m not comfortable with it at all,” he admitted. “But whatever position we were in, I’d want to win this game tomorrow night irrespective of where we are in the league, whether we’re near the bottom, near the top or in the middle or safe, relatively comfortable and not needing to win or lose or anything.
“It’s not really added any more pressure to me because I never come in here thinking ‘I’m not really bothered if we win tomorrow’.”
Having seen Town out of the bottom three and to safety in his first season in charge at Portman Road, McCarthy knows all too well that seemingly doomed clubs can pull unexpected results out of the bag.
“The ones who are in it are fighting for their lives and they find some form at this stage, I’ve always seen that,” he reflected. “It’s quite evident every season somebody finds a bit of form and they get a result from somewhere.
“They still might end up going down but they’ll find a result and a performance. And [Wigan] nearly did on Saturday.”
He added: “Coventry have just won the CheckatradeTrophy at Wembley and they’re going to get relegated [from League One]. That sums it up for me.
“You can never judge it, you can’t judge by form, by the teams - Crystal Palace went to Chelsea and beat them. That’s why you all work in football and report on it and all the fans come because they love it. They prefer it when they’re winning, of course. But they do love an upset.”
He says the situation the Blues are in at present is very similar to the one they found themselves in at this stage of that first season at Portman Road, 2012/13.
“It’s exactly the same,” he said. “When we drew against Millwall at Easter, all the others won and we were three points above the relegation zone and we played Leicester on the following Saturday and we beat them 1-0.
“So it’s pretty much the same, we’re just outside it at this stage. Certainly not the same as when I came, the season didn’t start like that, but at this stage it’s pretty much the same.”
Looking back to the 3-2 win at the DW Stadium in December, he said: “We started very well, we had Dozzer and Jonny Williams on the pitch.
“They equalised from a freekick. We started the second half and we looked nowhere near, so I had to change it. And I think Didzy came on and scored the winner, him and Pits were on. It ebbed and flowed, it was a strange game, but it was a welcome three points.”
Wigan’s manager that day was Warren Joyce, who had only taken over in November, but he was sacked last month with Graham Barrow now the Latics’ interim boss.
Does McCarthy feel the quick-fire dismissal was harsh on the former Manchester United reserves boss? “I’m going to say yes because I’m a manager and it wasn’t easy, the job he took on, the job he inherited.
“It was always going to be tough and I think they must know that and then I guess they think [a change can turn form around].
“And even more so now we’ve seen Leicester, I think that’s always going to produce a reaction when a manager’s struggling. Rather than give him a bit of support, it’s always going to be ‘Cut the ties, get another one in’ and hope that they have the reaction that Leicester have had.”
McCarthy, whose Town side are without a win in eight but have lost just one in 10, moved away from his 3-5-2 system for Saturday’s match, switching to a 4-4-2 diamond, but says that decision related to the way Birmingham lined up and that may not be the formation he uses against Wigan.
“That was a one-off game, horses for courses,” he added. “They had one up top and I didn’t want to have three at the back.
“I think these will pretty much have 3-5-2. You’ll get the team tomorrow and you’ll see.”
McCarthy may well return to the three-man backline he has used for most of 2017 and has options.
Skipper Luke Chambers and Christophe Berra will almost certainly start but Steven Taylor is back from his hamstring problem and could come into the reckoning, as might Tommy Smith, who was left out at the weekend having only returned from international duty with New Zealand on Friday afternoon.
Jonas Knudsen is another alternative for the back three but could continue at left wing-back with Myles Kenlock McCarthy’s other choice. Jordan Spence seems likely to keep his place on the right.
In midfield, with Cole Skuse absent due to concussion, Toumani Diagouraga may well take up the holding role with McCarthy having hinted that Jonathan Douglas may not be up to two games in four days having played little first team football prior to his surprise recall against Birmingham.
Emyr Huws will return in one of the other central roles with Grant Ward and Kevin Bru options for the other.
Tom Lawrence probably won’t be ready to start after his groin problem and so seems likely to be on the bench along with Jonny Williams, whose last first-team game was at Wigan in December.
"David McGoldrick, who has gone 15 games without a goal since scoring the late winner against the Latics at the DW Stadium, will continue up front with Dominic Samuel perhaps handed his first Blues start after impressing his manager in training and during his brief cameo as a sub on Saturday having overcome his broken toe.
Wigan go into the game short of strikers with Omar Bogle, who joined them from Grimsby in January, out with a thigh injury which could sideline him for the rest of the season.
Northern Ireland international frontman Will Grigg is out with a knee injury and could also miss the remainder of the campaign. Andy Kellett, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Donervon Daniels and Nick Powell are also long-term absentees. Tuesday’s game is being beamed back to Wigan fans at the DW Stadium.
Latics interim manager Barrow believes his side will still be in with a chance of survival if they beat the Blues.
“If we could manage to beat them, they would be absolutely still be in the mix,” he told Wigan Today. “We’re well aware Ipswich are having a rough time, the locals aren’t happy.
“If we can start the game well, it does take a very strong player to be able to come out and play in those circumstances.
“We have to test their character as much as we possibly can. If you can take the crowd out of the equation down there, you’re well on the way towards a positive result.
“I thought we managed to silence the crowd very well at Newcastle on Saturday. If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere.
“We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselve and try to take it to the last game. If we can do that, we’re more than capable of dealing with that pressure.”
He says his side will need to replicate their display at Newcastle: “We need the same sort of performance and effort as Saturday. Usually when you get the performances consistently the results will then turn.
“It’s too easy to say that if we get a good performance at Ipswich we’ll probably win the game. It doesn’t work like that — because we have to make it happen."
In December, McGoldrick netted an 88th minute winner as the Blues beat Wigan Athletic 3-2 at the DW Stadium in what was a rollercoaster game.
Brett Pitman put Town in front from the penalty spot in the seventh minute before Yanic Wildschut scored two goals either side of the break to give the Latics the lead. But Pitman’s second of the game and then sub McGoldrick’s header won the points for the Blues.
The teams last met on a snowy afternoon at Portman Road in January 2015 with the Latics on their way down to League One when the game ended in a drab 0-0 draw.
"Jay Tabb had the best chance for the Blues in the first half, while McGoldrick and sub Sears had opportunities after the break, but overall a goalless draw was a fair result.
Overall, Town have beaten the Latics four times (three in the league), have lost six times (five) and the teams have drawn once in the league and one League Cup tie.
Emyr Huws was with the Latics between the summers of 2014 and 2016, initially on loan, but made only 15 starts and one sub appearance without scoring.
Blues keeper Bialkowski had a trial with Wigan as a teenager prior to joining Southampton, while Town fitness coach Andy Liddell was a Latics player between 1998 and 2004 and is their record league goalscorer.
Former Town defender Alex Bruce joined Wigan on loan from Hull in January but is yet to make his debut. Bruce, 32, made 123 starts and four sub appearances for Town in four years from August 2006.
Ex-Blues loanee Ryan Tunnicliffe also joined the Latics on loan in January and has made four starts and two sub appearances. The 23-year-old was with the Blues in the first half of the 2013/14 season making 24 starts and five games from the bench.
Tuesday’s referee is Andy Davies from Hampshire, who has shown 122 yellow cards and four red in 33 games so far this season.
His most recent Town match was the 2-0 defeat at Huddersfield in January in which he booked Berra, Bru, Lawrence, Douglas, Paul Digby and no home players.
Davies has only taken charge of two other Town matches, both of which ended goalless and both of which saw the opposition reduced to 10 men.
He refereed the 0-0 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion in September last year, in which he showed eight yellow cards, two of them and then a red to Seagulls midfielder Dale Stephens. Chambers, Douglas, Lawrence and Josh Emmanuel were the Town players cautioned.
Prior to that, Davies’s only other Blues game was the 0-0 home draw with Huddersfield last October when he red-carded Terriers striker James Vaughan for a second bookable offence in the final minute.
Head Line on the back of the EADT today."MM blames the supporters for poor performance at home". May I suggest Mick that if the team you put out were to perform and entertain the crowd with attacking football then just maybe the crowd would get behind the team. Remember one thing Mick,we pay very good money to watch this rubbish,so I think in all fairness we are at times entitled to voice our opinions.So please don't blame us when it is you who picks the team and decides on the tactics.!!
With Emyr Huws hopefully back , We can expect a better performance. Lawrence probably still not ready , he's a huge miss. We've had really bad luck with injuries I believe this season and could never get any kind of run going ( other than a run of draws ) Johnny Williams , Bishop , Hyam , Lawrence, Didz , Taylor all players who've had prolonged absences , definitely not been helpful to us. Still we've got to give support to whom ever pulls on the Blue shirt and get behind our team.
Somehow McCarthy over the last couple of days has managed to crank up the ill feeling to fever point! He's a PR catastrophe! How much more hatred towards him does he need to walk? At what point do the hierarchy step in and pack his bags? If I were in McCarthy's shoes I'd go hard for 3 points this evening, and if achieved , then walk! That's all we need I believe to secure Championship football next season. BUT as we all know IF we win tonight, he'll be bloody CROWING about how good he is and how we can FOXTROT OSCAR!
Well said Martin587! to all those people who blame lack of financial backing i say two words, Joe Royal, A manager who had to work under even tighter budgets, but a manager who motivated both players and supporters and believed in a style of football where you attack the opponents in an attempt to score more than them! Football has changed i hear some say, but not that much! Back in the day the team would take to the pitch to sound of ENTRANCE OF THE GLADIATORS ( clown music) . Football should be like a gladiatorial battle, was exciting back then, and no reason why it shouldnt be exciting now! feel sorry for younger supporters !
I would rather we win 1 and lose 2 going for wins and being entertained that setting up to draw every game and getting lucky draws against poor opposition.
The enforced omission of Skuse and Douglas will help no end and stop blocking up and slowing down the game . It will also hopefully stop some of the hoof ball as players will be more open to receiving the ball in the middle of the pitch and actually go forward .
What I would say is that if Emmanuel , Kenlock , Bishop and Dozzell cannot get in a side that has only won 2 games since Christmas and is full of loan players they should think about moving on if MM stays as what he says about playing young players and what he does are like the majority of stuff that comes out of his mouth absolute b$llo&ks
My verdict: Hoof Town 2 - Wigan Athletic 3 ... with say mayhaps the lively Omar Bogle netting a Hattrick? :-) ... which if you ask MM subsequently then immediately will be put down in the historical annals of ITFC as a defeat being : "ALL THE DAFT FANS FAULT!" .... since I have a well-founded suspicion that various "anti" remarks (etc. etc.) will once again be voiced around many sections of Portman Road tonight! lol
But now on to my main and more serious business here for this lovely Tuesday: Ehmmm dearest TWTD crew why exactly is it that since Saturday's awe-inspiring game we the esteemed :-) readers & members of TWTD haven't haven't been found ehmmm "privileged"/"qualified" to see such imho very critical & crucial statements & stories (or even editorials) similar to those then found circulating elsewhere, none more so than the likes of these 2:
1) 'The verdict: Mick McCarthy's relationship with Ipswich Town fans looks beyond repair now'
Wherein you find some immensely spot on -- and also objectively undebunkable!!! -- passages (apparently representing said media's very own official opinion) like this:
"You can't please all of the people all of the time, but you can at least attempt to keep the majority behind you **when** mutiny is brewing.
How easy it would have been to keep everyone on his side. Play a few more of the kids now and again, set up his teams to be positive and dynamic from the start and, whatever the results, all criticism surrounding the club treading water would then have been aimed solely at owner Marcus Evans.
Picking veteran midfielder Jonathan Douglas was not a wise move. McCarthy must have been savvy enough to know many would interpret it as some kind of two-fingered gesture just days after his call for unity."
2) 'Mick McCarthy rejects claims that he sets up for stalemates'
Wherein the delightful MM is quoted making imho the easily most outrageously DELUDED (read: 200% knowingly false) statement -- among all the undebatable alarmingly vast amount of well-documented knowingly false ones he has previously made during these excruciating 4+ years -- OR if he in theory quite miraculously somehow somewhere can find himself a judge that will rule this them not to be DELUDED (and thus to some effect: Libel!), then alternatively the remarkable self-satisfied man known as The Dino McCarthy MUST then simply be suffering from such a ultra severe case of 'Living In Denial', as it is known within the field of Clinical Psychiatry, that it's severity must be some sort of UK record! Period! Ohhh and the mind-boggling statement I'm referring to is of course this:
“I've never **once** set off to just try to not get beat. I've always set up to try and win the game, whatever you or anybody else thinks about performances."
WTF ???!!! ???!!! ???!!! ???!!!
I'm beyond speechless ...so I think I will just quote the 'venerable' John McEnroe from his famous 1981 Wimbledon 1st round 'meltdown' with umpire Edward James: "YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!"
Now since I'm obviously being overly critical of TWTD in this here rant, I'm nevertheless Man enough to be willing to sincerely apologies to the TWTD crew, in this here isolated instance mind you!, IF the above quite sensational although actually in some form reiterated MM statement (or any type of scoop-like story covering it and btw also covering it's ramifications i.e. of him not only being viewed upon as a remotely trustworthy & sincere person but obviously if a consensus can be reached that he is NOT!, then also covering him being in anyway remotely suitable to possibly be our manager for the next season too and perhaps even all the way to 2020 if his option is invoked!) has indeed appeared anywhere here on TWTD news pages the last few days ... but personally I haven't been able to spot it!!! ---- And if I'm right, ehmmm why is that I wonder? :-)
Almost in the starkest of contrast, you can however find an seemingly "exclusive" :-) to TWTD unmistakably indirect pro-MM (and pro of MM's very latest dispositions & views, starting Mr. Douglas included!) by now fairly 'old'/'outdebated' story like: "McCarthy: Players irked by Douglas abuse" ... which I haven't been able to locate anywhere else, in the form of being a single standalone article that is, among the typical local media covering ITFC?! Hmmmm once again, although to a clearly lesser degree than just above, I find myself wondering why.... :-)
MY BOTTOMLINE: GRRRR! I'M THUS SOOO INCREASINGLY SICK & TIRED OF TWTD'S NOWADAYS TOO FREQUENT BLATANTLY OBVIOUS BIAS, AND ALSO TOO FREQUENT BIASED CHERRY-PICKING AMONG PREDOMINANTLY WHICH OFTEN POTENTIALLY VERY EXTREME OR VERY FAN-DISRESPECTING MM QUOTES PLUS OTHER OCCASIONAL JOURNALISTIC SCOOP-LIKE STORIES OR QUOTES SURROUNDING ITFC THEN TO BE FOUND CIRCULATING ELSEWHERE LOCALLY (OFTEN SEEN APPEARING IN EADT/IDS) NOT TO BRING HERE?! ... OR BRING HERE .... AND IN THE CASE OF THE LATTER SOMETIMES I.E. ESPECIALLY WHEN SAID MM STATEMENTS OR STORIES JUST HAPPENS TO "COINCIDE" WITH TWTD'S OWN RATHER POORLY DISGUISED VIEWS THEN "CURIOUSLY" SUDDENLY THEY TEND TO BE DIVIDED UP IN SEVERAL STORIES HERE ON TWTD (SEE RECENT EXAMPLE WITH "MOTM" DOUGLAS BELOW, BUT EARLIER THIS DEPRESSING SEASON THE BEST EXAMPLE WAS PROBABLY THE BIG CHAMBO NEW YEAR INTERVIEW 'DISSECTED 'HERE INTO NO LESS THAN A HANDFUL OR MORE SEPARATE ARTICLES???!!! IMHO CLEARLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF GIVING IT, IT'S POV, AND THE UNDERLYING MESSAGE WITHIN IT EXTRA EXPOSURE! .... THAT IMHO IT NOT ONLY MAKES TWTD APPEAR LIKE AN INCREASINGLY MORE AND MORE HIGHLY ##SUBJECTIVE## MEDIA ON HOT ITFC MATTERS DURING THESE VERY VERY TROUBLING TIMES, BUT ALSO SIMPLY BORDERS ON -- AND SOMETIMES BEYOND -- OUTRIGHT "A@S KISSING" OF ITFC AND PARTICULARLY CERTAIN VERY WELL-KNOWN ÃœBER SENSITIVE INDIVIDUALS AT ITFC!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS: Expulse me if you like/must lol, but let it be known that I write this post for a dual purpose, meaning not only basically making others TWTD members who mostly stick to just the TWTD news pages here aware of the aforementioned 2 drastical different-from-those-appearing-here circulalting ITFC stories but certainly also for the purpose of this post imho also being a decent piece, albeit an fairly angry delivered piece, of 'Constructive Criticism' .... although I'm sure that at the very least the likes of my mostly silent "good chap" & "ally" @BillyBaxterwasthebest will see it differently. :-) lol
I have been concerned about the same thing MicksZzztactics. My guess is that the TWTD team are trying to keep things positive, which given the plight we are in may be a good manoeuvre on their part. We need a bit of positivity given the situation we find ourselves in.
surco72: think Missing Skuglas will also force a different style of play. I'd like to see a team with Emanuel at RB and Spence at RW (he's there all the time anyways). It'd give great attacking options down the right. Can't believe MM is making Spence sweat on a contract either. It's obvious that he will easily get a contract at another Championship Club now. Rumour that West Ham have been eyeing him too.
Guentchev: agree, it's got 0-0 written all over it. Shame that MIck never plays for a win. He'll shut up shop and hope to scramble a counter goal from the few chances we get.
Blue tone: he has got his excuses already made "we couldn't beat Wigan because of the crowd". Laughable really.
Warktheline: agree, any other manager would have gone a long time ago. His relationship with fans is 10 out of 10 for poisonous. Like another poster said, maybe he'll stick Coke in the team to really bump up the anti.
Blackcat: they can hang their heads in shame once we've escaped the drop.
Still no sign of Emmanuel whats he done to upset M.M. was it something to do with the trip to Cardiff and the refusal to get off the coach as rumour has it!!!!!!! Any news out there?????????????
Good post and fair points MzzT. A couple of posters were questioning on here a couple of months ago about the lightweight and easy to answer questions put to MM, saying that they were not being direct enough and not getting to the points that really matter. The tone has changed a wee bit since then and the questions are a tad more direct, but the answers are usually" MM would not further comment on this". Interesting clicking on your links though, there's never been such direct or interesting points put on here, certainly not anything which is of a negative standing. I am now questioning what this site is all about???, afterall it's meant to be an independent site. If they are on good terms with MM and come into daily contact, trying to look at it from a rational point of view you can see the awkwardness involved here, but surely we want to know what's really going on and not having to trawl through other sites for different and more honest versions, and not the filtered and watered down versions which we appear to be receiving on here.
Tonight is a match we HAVE to win. Blackburn are away at Reading and this is chance to put 9 points between ourselves and the bottom three. If MM wants to take a point at every other game after tonight that's fine. Just get the win tonight
The team should be Bart Spence chambers berra kenlock Diagouraga Huws Williams Lawrence Pitman Rowe
We gave Rotherham their solitary away point of the season so far. Our home record is poor, Wigan's away record is good. The ground will only be about 40% full with a depressed atmosphere.
As usual I get fully well what you saying , but unfortunately this time around I still partly beg to differ I'm afraid (we can't agree on EVERYTHING now can't we? lol), but ohhh we can obviously agree that practically no one in their right frame of mind (thus exclude MM, ME & IM lol) would disagree with you that we (as super starved, on so many many fronts, foolishly romantic ITFC fans) "need a bit of positivity" .... and then some! .... HOWEVER matey having said that, where I hail from ANY journalist / reporter / independent media outlet/ or whatever similar's 1st and foremost job or "call" if you like is to be: Neutral, Non-Selective (i.e. non "cherry picking"), daring if required (if some parts of a sensitive story or "the WHOLE story" deemed of crucial "interest to the public" can be substantiated or is just otherwise regarded as being fairly factual without any need reciting of tons of sources etc.) and thus last but not least as close 10 100% as OBJECTIVE as possible!!!!!!!!! .... and TWTD particular anno 2016 + 2017 can in nooooo bloody way claim to be just even close to that! Period.
PS: Just to give you (and others even) an perhaps most extreme example of my unwavering and imho sound & noble stand on this subject of reporting: If I say happened to be have been someway swayed, bend or rather forcefully "molded" into being an unconditional, über gullible almost'Redneck-like' US Republican prototype voter living 'Over There' (and aye I've lived and worked in North America on several occasions, so I known 1st hand fully darn well whom I' am referring to here! lol) I would personally still NEVER EVER succumb to watch an outlet like say 'Faux News' (or 'Fox' as it's more commonly known around the globe :-) or listening to the tons of very similar to 'Fox' ultra biased Talk Show radio shows soooo unfathomable popular throughout predominantly he entire US Midwest & US South ..... not even just to get some much needed photo-shopped-like "POSITIVITY" coming my way in darkened times, strictly to make me temporarily 'feel a little better' from it .... since they are inherently the very extreme & direct opposite, and contains absolutely none of the values or journalistic virtues, I just briefly outlined above .... and since I "just happen" to ALSO be what someone in principal refers to as an hyper 'intellectual' :-) well I would then basically get nothing but ultra biased and "baldly" coverage or 1-dimensional expressed views, all exclusively consensual views , of even the most vital domestic and local events .... I.E. in other words I would simply be listing to a pretty submissive & unscrupulous "PIPER playing exclusively to only MY favorite kind of tune"! .... and thus never ever become none the wiser or horizon-broadened as an obvious result from it would I now??? lol Bbut then again I guess that even a sizable lot among the Zzzilly susceptible Republicans living mainly along the more "higher educated" nad more interlectual-minded US coastlines rather surprisingly have seen through this?! WOW! as the average or median age of particular the 'Faux News' network for many a years aye even even in glorious 'Year of Trump' 2016 .... is/was an astounding 68, sixtyeigth, years old!!!!!!!! lmao
But each to his and hers own as they say.... :-)
@cat (the once-upon-a-time wannabe Paul Cooper:-) lol
As you wrote: "....surely we want to know what's REALLY going on and not having to trawl through other sites for different and more honest versions, and not the FILTERED and watered down versions which we appear to be receiving on here." .... Exactly matey!!! & and thus very well & concisely put!
@MicksZzzTactics, your post remains thus freedom of speech! Unlike a social media site I've been frequenting, speaking out there is certainly frowned upon!😂
Here we go again .... He uses 'given the atmosphere in the ground' as another dig at the fans. It's NOT OUR FAULT that he sets up the team to defend the Nil at home.
GO MICK - regardless of tonight"s result.
Btw - the ticket office is forwarding customer comments associated with season ticket cancellations. For those that want to get it off your chest, please be polite but firm in airing your disapproval. ;)
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