Boss Mick McCarthy felt the Blues were the ones to blink and concede “a very poor goal” after Town’s 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United. Chris Basham headed home the winner in the 49th minute.

“I’m pretty annoyed we’ve lost the game,” McCarthy said. “I thought they started well, I thought we grew into it and it’s a very good goal from them, but it was a very poor goal for us to concede right from start to finish.

“Right from them getting out at the back, somebody running on one of ours and then getting a cross in and not defending the far post. Little mistakes all over and it ends up in the back of the net.”

He admitted his team started slowly: “I had to change the way we were playing, they were having too much of the ball and when we changed to 4-3-3 [after around half an hour] we stemmed the tide coming our way somewhat and I thought we had some chances then. It’s fine margins and we’ve blinked unfortunately and they’ve got the goal.”

Town have now lost five of their last seven in the Championship. Asked whether a run like that requires him to dig deep, McCarthy said: “I pretty much have to dig deep every week, whether it’s going good, bad or indifferent. No, I’m well able to handle that.”

The Town manager expects the Blades to be among the play-off contenders come May and doesn’t see anyone dominating the division this season.

“I don’t think there’s going to be anyone like Newcastle or Brighton, I don’t see that, I’ve said that publicly before,” he reflected.

“But I do think Sheffield United are a good side and I think they’ll be up in the top six, I don’t think they’re going to fall away.

"They’ve got momentum, they’ve got a good way of playing, they all look to be working very hard for each other, I think they’re a good team.”

The Town boss is hopeful striker Joe Garner, who missed out with a knee injury, will be fit enough to for next Sunday’s East Anglian derby against Norwich.

“I’ll see on Monday,” he said. “Hopefully there’s no swelling on Monday and he can crack on with training and he’ll be all right for Sunday but I don’t know yet.

“He’s a big loss, he’s been fantastic, he’s been a been different class for us. [We’ve not got a like-for-like replacement], they don’t come around too often.

“But I thought Waggy was different class, by the way. I thought he played really, really well. Whether he was wide or up front I thought he was excellent.”

McCarthy confirmed that David McGoldrick’s substitution in the second half was purely tactical: “He’d been away with Ireland and he’d been back since Sunday. I just thought we needed fresh legs and I thought Freddie Sears was great when he came on, he stretched them and gave us something different.

“If you keep doing the same thing and it’s not working, that’s a real definition of madness.”

The result continued Town’s early season trend of beating sides towards the bottom of the division but coming up short against teams nearer the top.

“Yes, and we end up beating all the bottom 10 teams and we finish above them all I’ll be thrilled with that,” he added with the Blues now in mid-table in 10th.

“Yes, we’ve got to get a result against one of the better sides, one of the top teams and next week would be a good starting point, wouldn’t it?

He added: “I reckon if you beat the bottom 10 teams twice around you’ve made a good start, you’ve picked something up. We’re never going to beat them all, of course we’re not, but it gives you a solid base.

“But we’ve got to start picking up points from teams above. I’m not trying to give everybody a read on where I think we’re at.

“I think we’ve had some really good performances. I don’t think that today was a bad performance, I don’t think Leeds was. I don’t think Bristol City was, we had two deflected goals.

“Nevertheless, they’re teams above us and they’ve still beaten us. We have to find a way of getting results against them.

‘We’re going to be tested in the games coming up. We’ll soon find out whether we’re going to [be up to that]."

Just as he wasn't getting carried away after the 5-2 victory over Sunderland, he says he remains similarly grounded in defeat.

“I’ve said before, despite people not particularly liking my pragmatism and my realism, I’m very self-aware of what I am and how I do and what the team is and the teams that I’ve got and how we play. But I’ll keep it to myself.”

Looking ahead to next Sunday’s derby, he added: “A great game. We’ve lost one away and then we’ve got a huge game coming up. It should be exciting for everybody. It’ll be great if we win, it’ll be bloody horrible if we lose."

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder was pleased with both his team's display and their victory.

“I’m delighted," he said. "We had to marry up a good performance with a good result because we didn’t do that last time out at Nottingham Forest, so it was important that we got our rewards for a decent, solid display.

“Especially in the first half I thought we were really good and you have to accept that when you’re in the Championship teams are going to come roaring back at you. And to keep a clean sheet with the players that they’ve got at the top of the pitch is very pleasing.”

The Blades are second but Wilder isn't getting carried away: “Just another 26 points to go and we’ll be all right!"

Is that really how he's looking at things? "It should be the expectation for the supporters, because we’ve been out of the division for six years, so to stay in the division would be good.

“We’ll set our own targets along the way. My target is always win the next game and after the Forest game it was prepare ourselves and make sure we get the maximum out of the break and go again.”

Photo: TWTD

blue75 added 06:57 - Oct 15 Only thing missing from this interview is McCarthy bleating about lack of money. I guess as United haven't spent much he thought he'd leave that one alone for a change lol.
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lightingblue added 07:55 - Oct 15 Just a thought. We've a manager who played as a defender as a player who to the best of my knowledge played internationally in major tournaments. With this in mind my natural thought process would be that the guy would take extra care in not conceding goals. How wrong am I. How many silly simple goals have we conceded in the last couple of seasons with basic defensive mistakes. How many people agree?

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ChrisFelix added 09:20 - Oct 15 Although Chambers is a goal waiting to be given away he is better with either Smith or Webster along side him. Spence needs to play. Also Skuse is fine with other skillfull midfielders along him. But with our 2 best players sitting in the stands he is lost
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martin587 added 09:32 - Oct 15 IF we had a quality midfield player with vision to create a telling through ball we have the strikers to score a hatful of goals. We have a top class keeper and in smith and Webster two good solid defenders,and a good crop of youngsters capable of holding there own and the team is very capable of challenging for a top six place. Team selection does concern me when we can thrash Sunderland one week then the next game team changes and tactics reverse once again. Another worrying thing is the amount of injuries we seem to incure in training.This appears to be a serious problem considering we have a small squad. The Manager seriously needs to decide what his best defence is as there is one or two players now way off the mark.He should not have favourites. The squad is good apart from a quality midfielder. We MUST win next Sunday so MM set out the right team.🤔

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Swn98 added 10:12 - Oct 15 martin587 agree the writing was on the wall when Dozzell got injured our one realy top class creative midfielder. It still doesnt matter what team he picks if they cant defend a corner that must be four games weve lost caused by poor basic defending from set pieces.
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Rensham added 10:34 - Oct 15 they were 1-0 down before the sending off and looked clueless. be a little positive if you really want to beat the rubbish up the road. or are you a secret supporter? ITFC2 Norwich 0
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TimmyH added 10:47 - Oct 15 oh the old one about you must be a budgie supporter (if in disagreement always use that). Interesting how you've come out of the closet making an argument for Mick all of a suddern and must say I can't remember you from other seasons, we've seen a rash of them this season and then disappear.
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Rensham added 10:54 - Oct 15 sorry, is it a moaners only site?
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muccletonjoe added 13:27 - Oct 15 Ignore the comments about mick. If we had won they wouldnt be there. So its not rwally mm they are having a go at but the fact that they cant handle losing. We will win next week and suddenly everything will be rosy again. Sad but its the wat some peoples minds work.
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blue75 added 13:49 - Oct 15 Sorry muccletonjoe my comments about McCarthy haven't changed since he was Sunderland manager. Hos football was the same then as is now he just hasn't had the luck he's had before:
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TimmyH added 15:20 - Oct 15 you should be sorry...
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therein61 added 17:01 - Oct 15 Give the usual excuses a rest mick(5 years of it now) just go away and take your premiership class(liability) number 8 with you
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Seasider added 17:50 - Oct 15 Joe Garner and Waghorn are different class says Mick,not sure how this should be taken as I recall our esteemed manager said the same about Tabby,Dougie,Skusey and Chambo. Waghorn was good yesterday playing in his rightful position,only because Joe was injured though.Then of course we have the two fixtures in Chambers and Skues,both in my opinion are past their sell by date.Somebody must have doubted Chambers by delaying his contract extension. Then you have Cole Skues.How many times have we been over run in midfield,where Mccarthy's favourite is a fixture. It shows McCarthy's mindset when Webster said that the lads thought we deserved a 0-0,and McCarthy went on about losing the goal.Yes it was bad;but had we attacked for all the game instead of a quarter of it,and Didsy not been subbed;who knows we might .have scored ? The Dino also says above that the 3 games we lost against Leeds,Bristol City and even against United were good performances by his team. He also says that he will be thrilled if we finish above the bottom ten teams,now is that the limit of the ambition of this man who considers himself pragmatic,realistic and self aware.I hope not. He has now been here nearly five years,Jim Magilton was sacked in half that time because Evans said he did not think Magic had the wherewithal to obtain promotion. When Jim was sacked we were 8th,at present Ipswich Town are 10th in the Championship! Has Marcus lost his ambition along with his long serving Manager?I hope not as it is not very encouraging for us long standing supporters!

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ronnyd added 18:52 - Oct 15 When McCarthy was appointed i said to my son that he would keep us up, but, you wouldn,t like the style of football you were likely to have to endure. Nothing since then has made me change my mind.
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Daleyitfc added 19:35 - Oct 15 Different Class = Not good enough for this class
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dusty added 21:44 - Oct 15 The outcome of the game against Norwich on Sunday, in my opinion, is of massive importance. For a start, bragging rights are up for grabs, and any supporter of both teams who has suffered the after effects of being on the losing side will fully understand. I hope that at some stage during the forthcoming week, this permeates through to McCarthy. He goes into this match, mainly on a losing run. If this continues on Sunday then the backlash, which has already started to gain momentum, once again, will be enormous. His ability to manage the team effectively is constantly under the microscope. For once he needs to shift the mantra of 'I know best' and be a little more open and humble. Success in football terms is based solely on results, and as many other managers have found out recently, failings lead to them being quickly shown the exit door. I only hope, for once, for myself and other long suffering supporters, I am wrong, and that a proper dawn will arise.

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TimmyH added 23:11 - Oct 15 Totally true @seasider - Evans has lost his ambition without a doubt, he only put money in this summer so we could avoid relegation and without the new additions that was quite a possibility. Nearly 5 years for Mick here and let's face it he takes each season as it comes and there doesn't at all seem to be a 5 point plan as the board suggests. Waiting for the statutory down mark from Dyedblue - can't wait until he actually makes a post.

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Razor added 10:52 - Oct 16 The defence should be OK now with most people now fit (though terrible goal on Saturday to give away, free header for their guy) iy is the midfield creativity that is clearly the problem. Where is HUWS---what is the story here!?
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rugbytomc added 11:46 - Oct 16 He doesn't know his best team or best formation. 4+ years into his tenure, that's something I would have liked to have seen sorted. I would like us to decide on a formation and style of play and impose it and gradually improve. Chopping and changing doesn't help anyone and breeds erratic results, which is what we've had particularly the last 2 seasons. How many sides that are successful (whatever league or division) change their formations throughout the season? The only "top" side i can think of is Arsenal and by their relative standards, they're not doing so well.

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