McCarthy: Four Strikers Can All Link Up Thursday, 10th Aug 2017 18:46 Town boss Mick McCarthy believes he could pair any combination of his four frontline strikers, Martyn Waghorn having joined Joe Garner, David McGoldrick and Freddie Sears in his squad this week following his move from Rangers. “Yes, don’t worry about that,” McCarthy said when asked if they could all operate alongside one another at today's pre-match press conference, which was shown live on TWTV. “I think they’re all intelligent enough football-wise that they can go on and play. Certainly Waggy showed his versatility when he took Tristan Nydam’s spot [at Luton when he made his debut from the bench] and he played very well there.” He added: “They’re different sorts, they’ve got mobility with them, we’ve got ones who can drop in and play. “They can run in behind, certainly, and there’s a bit of physicality now as well with Joe and with Waggy. There’s a bit of everything in them and let’s hope we see it on a regular basis.” Having dubbed Garner a striker of the old school earlier in the week, how would he describe Waghorn? “Five foot 10, a very powerful, North-Easterner. I was going to say Geordie but I have to be careful because he could be a Mackem, I’m never quite sure. “I don’t know yet because I haven’t had him in the building that long. He came in on Monday morning, I thought he was very good on Tuesday night when he went on and played where Tristan had been, just in behind the front two. “He’s trained today but I haven’t had a chance to get to know him, but he seems a really good personality, but I’m delighted we’ve got him.” Mission accomplished in terms of getting the types of frontmen he was after? “I feel we’ve got good strikers. I didn’t see it as a mission, to be honest, just doing the job and trying to get players in if we sell players or lose players or that naturally go.  “And I think we’ve done well, I think we’ve done really well with Joe, certainly. He’s already proving to be a hit with everybody, with me, which is most important for him, all the players, the fans. “I know Waggy anyway, he’s played against me often enough and I’ve seen him play often enough to know what I’m getting. But just in the short time I’ve known him and he’s been under the roof, I’m delighted with him. I thought he played well on Tuesday.  “And the other two have been good strikers for us here for years, Freddie and Didz. I’m happy. It doesn’t matter if it’s mission accomplished. Unless somebody comes in and takes somebody away from me, then that’ll be done now.” McCarthy is pleased to have options in most areas of the field: “Wouldn’t it be nice when I’ve got games Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday if I could play two strikers and if I wanted to leave the other two out and put them in on the Tuesday or the Saturday I could? “And likewise with wing-backs. I think it’s important that those positions have got competition and that they could easily, if they dropped their standards, be taken over by somebody else. “I think we’ve got that really in pretty much most positions. If they’re all fit, of course. You can’t do anything if they’re injured, but I think Dominic Iorfa’s come in and nailed that right wing-back spot but if he didn’t [play well] then Jordan Spence would be all over it, for sure. And likewise with Jonas Knudsen and Myles Kenlock [on the left].  “We’ve got plenty of midfield players - in the physio’s room at the moment - but we’ve got plenty of them and the four strikers, I think any team looking at us will think we’ve got four good strikers.” McCarthy won’t be surprised if there are players knocking on his door due to their lack of involvement as the season progresses. “There’s always somebody doing that,” he added. “But that’s a positive sign - if they’re knocking on my door, they’re wanting to play.  “They’re not daft either. If somebody’s in the team and he’s just knocked four goals in in the last two games and the other fella’s put three in or set them all up, there’s nobody knocking on my door saying ‘I should be in’. “They might be in looking for a bit of an arm around them and me telling them they might get a game some time, but that’s management. You’ve got to manage those disappointments, expectations. You’re managing personalities, not robots.”
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