McCarthy: A Big Win
Tuesday, 28th Nov 2017 23:02 Boss Mick McCarthy hailed the Blues’ 1-0 victory at Derby County as a “big win” and a “very pleasing performance” as both he and the club continued their remarkable records at Pride Park.
Town are unbeaten in 10 on Rams’ turf stretching back 11 years almost to the day, winning their last three 1-0, while McCarthy has never been defeated at Pride Park, his last loss on Derby territory having come with Millwall at the Baseball Ground back in March 1995.
“It was a big win,” the Blues boss. “I thought it was a really, good, disciplined, fighting, well-organised, stoic performance.
“I thought we were a threat in the first half, they’ve had how many passes and all the ball but it’s what you’re allowed to do with it, not what you do with it and I thought we nullified them for the most part and when they did get through we’ve had some really good last ditch tackles and Bart made a great save.
“It was a brilliant save. If there’s been a better keeper in the league for the last two seasons I haven’t seen him, certainly at keeping the ball out of his net, at stopping shots he’d fantastic.
“It was a very pleasing performance, it almost makes up for Sheffield Wednesday.”
Regarding the clean sheet, he added: “I said to the lads coming off, ‘What’s all that? A clean sheet?’ to the defenders. It wasn’t only the defenders, of course. They all worked very, very hard to ensure it didn’t go in the net.”
McCarthy was pleased to see one of Martyn Waghorn’s excellent set pieces lead to Callum Connolly’s goal, his first for the club: “We spoke about a bit of movement in the box and it’s nice when it works.”
The Town boss admitted he knew he had a good record at Derby even if he wasn’t aware of the specifics.
“I knew I’d got a pretty good one,” he added. “They should have employed me here a long time ago because my record here is better than it is at Portman Road! If it goes back that far, I should have been.
“I knew I had a good record here, we almost won promotion here, we ended up being six points clear with two games to go when I was at Wolves.
“How the hell we beat them that day was beyond me. I know how we beat them today, but that was just one of those performances.
“I wasn’t completely unaware but I don’t keep those kind of records, but I knew I’d had a decent run here.”
Quizzed on why he put on Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam in the second half rather than the more experienced Teddy Bishop, McCarthy responded: “I’m smiling because you said Teddy Bishop and all his experience. I think he’s 21 and he hasn’t played for two years, but I get what you’re saying.
“I was talking to TC and I was thinking Bish might give us something going forward, you can control the game.
“But it wasn’t that, it was a day for scurrying around and making tackles and Tristan and certainly Flynn are pretty good at that. That was what was required and that’s why they went on instead of Bish.”
Asked whether he felt it was a deserved win, he said: “It’s interesting, if it was a team in the Champions League which had gone away and played and scored and sat in and been disciplined, people would be waxing lyrical about it.
“We’ve done it and I guess it’s ‘Boring Mick’, it’s not quite as good as if somebody else did that.”
Does he believe defending is an underrated aspect of the game? “Winning’s never underrated, is it? However it’s achieved. It wasn’t lucky. We might have given the ball away at the end a couple of times and it could have gone another way.
“But you could say we were unlucky against Sheffield Wednesday, so maybe we got a little turn for the better tonight.
“It was a good performance by us and nobody can knock that. We frustrated the hell out of them, to be fair.”
Did he feel his team might have had a penalty when Waghorn was brought down in the second half? “They might have done as well. You know, my auntie and all that. But they weren’t [penalties].
“I think the referee - and they might disagree - was strong because you can give one when the home crowd is up and then we look at it afterwards and we all go, ‘It’s never a penalty’ and we’ve lost the game and it doesn’t matter then. So fair play to him, he stayed strong.”
The Blues are now three points off the top six, does McCarthy believe his side can get back into the play-off places? “If we can play like that, not like that every week, but if we can keep clean sheets, we’ve always got a threat in terms of goals.
“So maybe. But last Wednesday I’m chewing and Saturday having played particularly well in the first half and then lost 2-0, it doesn’t look like we’ve got any chance of being in the top six, so I’m not suddenly going to start waxing lyrical about us. We’ll just keep trying to pick up points and seeing where we end up.”
McCarthy says he’s hopeful Joe Garner will be fit to face his old club Nottingham Forest at the weekend having missed out tonight.
“He’s got a sore foot and we’ll see tomorrow,” the Blues boss continued. “We’re hopeful for Saturday.”
Town will be without both skipper Luke Chambers, a former Forest skipper, and Flynn Downes as they picked up their fifth bookings of the season.
Derby boss Gary Rowett felt his team might have got something from the match but that Town defended resolutely having taken the lead.
“I think that’s what’s going to happen sometimes," he reflected. "I think in the first five minutes, it was a little bit of a poor start from us in some ways, we’ve just got to start a little bit brighter, certainly defensively, and I felt we gave them one or two opportunities, particularly down their right, to put balls into the box or to get out down that side.
“We could have cleared our lines a couple of times for the goal and it ended up going out for a corner.
“You have to say it was a fantastic delivery, when a ball is whipped in that quickly it only needs a glance, the pace is already on the ball. I think that’s one of Waghorn’s strengths.
“And I think we’ve got to do our jobs defensively much better, but Connolly I think it was got across the front and should be marked. I don’t know who was marking him but he should be marked.
“I’m all for goal-line technology but I think tonight I would have preferred it without because I’m not sure that would have been given because it was so quick and you couldn’t tell where it was, it didn’t look like it had gone over.
“But the right thing happened in the end because of it so it probably shows it’s a good thing although it’s worked against us today.
“And what you saw then was a side basically sitting in and defending for 85 minutes. And they can, they’re 1-0 up away from home and they did that quite well.
“We had chances, we had opportunities. The goalkeeper’s made a couple of very, very good saves, one in particular from Tom Huddlestone which got a deflection and he’s diving and he actually had to change the course of his dive. It was a fantastic save.
“Whereas on Saturday all our finishes went in and all our finishes were great quality, sometimes you get an evening where you have chances and the finishing isn’t quite as good.
“But I couldn’t fault our effort, I couldn’t fault our determination to keep going. I think it was just one of those games where it was a case of ‘Can Ipswich see it out?’.
"At the end the keeper’s taking an age and that’s what you do away from home, that’s how you win games sometimes, it hasn’t got to be pretty all the time."
Rowett felt his team had two decent claims for spot-kicks in the second half: “I thought we had two very good penalty shouts. I didn’t think Tom’s was a penalty in the first half but we had two others, George Thorne’s for me was a definite penalty. I’m not complaining about it, just as an observation.
“Also I thought Matej Vydra got pushed towards the end when he ends up diving in and just doesn’t quite get on the end of it, I thought Jordan Spence just gave him a nudge.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes, we’ve been given some recently. I’m certainly not using that as an excuse or complaining.
“Disappointed we couldn’t find that little bit of quality you need on nights like this. Of course, you get the equaliser and then you go and put them under an awful lot of pressure, but it just wasn’t to be.”
Photo: TWTD
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Rensham added 09:41 - Nov 29
Big win for Big Mick |  | |
Popeadrian64 added 10:05 - Nov 29
...can we not just enjoy the season, support the team and after all that , then we can see what will happen in the summer. This divide between the fans is such a distraction for everyone. On a day when we should all have a spring in our steps after a good solid result we are side tracked by the same repetitive negativity... |  | |
Bluetone added 10:15 - Nov 29
Well done McCarthy your aimed for away result, grab a goal and ride out the onslaught; worked this time for you well done. | | |
TractorClarke added 11:54 - Nov 29
Popeadrian64 i completely see where you are coming from, and you make a good point however how many seasons have people done this, with hope that this year may be the one especially as we have brought in some very good players for this league.
It does not help when Mick has a pop at the fans at every opportunity, dont get me wrong some chants etc should not be voiced and it can get to you, only human after all but he can not take criticism.
The last few press conferences he has been very snappy and down right rude to some people asking the normal journalistic type questions. He will never see anything he does as wrong, he is always right and will not be questioned, and when he is he snaps back and sometimes has even just ended the interview and walked out. Mick needs to realise that he is not always right and the fans are the life blood of the club, we are the ones that keep the club going as without fans the club does not exist, at least not for very long. Fans are entitled to have an opinion, this is sometimes not done in the right way but we pay good money to be entertained and see us do well.
I just dont see that we have the required ambition and readiness to do what is required to finally get promoted, we play not to lose for the most part and make ourselves hard to beat, which is fine and is a step in the right direction, it is not the end though and we should improve from that and use the attacking ability that we have. | | |
Rensham added 12:04 - Nov 29
Tractor, so we should sack MM one point off top six and get your favourite Tony Pulis in??? | | |
TractorClarke added 13:36 - Nov 29
Rensham at no point have i said i want to sack Mick right here right now, i am saying i dont believe he is the right man for the job and is negative, whether i wanted him gone now or not its irrelevant he is here until at least the end of the season possibly longer.
I have also not said anything about Tony Pulis, god forbid anyone has an opinion that does not match your own. A comments section if for voicing opinions about ITFC, and my opinion is that the righ man is not in charge, i appreciate what he has done for us previously at certain points but overall not for me, and i dont think im alone in that.
I think maybe if you have a question or you would like a sensible debate about my opinion then you can ask, otherwise please dont put words in my mouth, i am entitled to have an opinion. | | |
Rensham added 13:44 - Nov 29
I almost agree with you. I think for or against MM we need to get behind ITFC and the team for the rest of the season. Whatever success we can achieve as a united club will bear results in the manager and players we can get next season. If MM gets us top six or even promoted we need to consider extending his contract along with other options. If you don't like MM there is plenty to get behind the team for this season. a good squad some goals and some youngsters coming thru. no-one gets everything they want at a football club. I mention Pulis as there isn't an obvious replacement and that's the sort of path ME is likely to go down. don't cut off your nose to spite your face Tractor. | | |
geminimustang added 16:59 - Nov 29
A lot of the players are at ITFC because of MM.he signed them,he coaches them,he picks them and the vast majority speak highly of him.Long may that continue.I hope he stays longer,ME invests a little more in the next couple of transfer windows and if in a couple of years time,it hasn't worked out,everybody shakes hands and moves on.With a budget of two pennies and a coat button,MM,TC & ME have earned my respect.More,i respect other differing views on this forum.What i can't stand is the constant berating of MM just because it's easy to find fault.Constructive criticism all day long.Slagging off for the sake of it?No thanks. | | |
SpiritOfJohn added 17:12 - Nov 29
Great win last night Mick, but the only time Ipswich Town fans have 'waxed lyrical' over a 1-0 win was in 1978. |  | |
RRanger added 18:26 - Nov 29
All I want to say is that for all MM's supposed defensive mindset he has not ,unlike our two prewvious managers, thrown money away, and as far as I know he has operated under an agreed tight rein from our OWNER. Since he has been here(MM) we have bought Bart, Webster, Knudsen, Spence,Ward, and this season, probably the two best pound for pound players in the Championship in Garner and Waghorn. In addition he has got in season long loans, Lawrence and Celina, not forgetting Maitland Niles. As far as fees are concerned they have combined, probably cost no more than the £5 million that Lawrence was supposedly offered at. To my mind I cannot think of another manager who could have offered better value to an owner who had previously watched two managers spend upwards of £30 million only to see us nearly propping up the table. Yes, I don't particularly enjoy MM's defensive pragmatic mindset but I do give him credit for us being where we are for very little money and also for the fact that he is obviously trying to make the team more attacking. He has also been pretty good bringing in home grown players: Bishop, Downes, Nydam. Of course , like all managers he has his favourites and blind spots but all in all I think he will go down , when the dust has settled, as one of the better managers this club has had since Sir Bobby. | | |
Cheshire_Blue added 18:59 - Nov 29
What a pleasant change to see some sensible comments on here ! | | |
Dissboyitfc added 07:12 - Nov 30
pranger... one of the better managers? I dont agree with that! not better than Lyall Burley Royle Magilton... could be argued better than Keane and Jewell but thats about it!
I wont remember him with any fondness or his reign as a great period in ITFC history! |  | |
Gazelle added 09:09 - Nov 30
Delighted with the win but looking at the stats and the video we could easily have lost that 1-4 | | |
TractorClarke added 09:48 - Nov 30
I agree that Mick has brought these players in and i commend him for that, for the most part good business for what i consider to be mostly decent players at this level, i do not fault that at all. However to go along with this though if you are playing negative tactics and wanting everyone to be a defender first (I realise this comment is over egging it a bit) then you nullify at least a little bit the attacking talent we have in the squad.
We mostly hoof the ball down the field wanting a run on or for an attacker to bring it down hold it up and put a player through, what i see from this more often than not is that we hoof it, the opposition get it and we are attacked making us defend and then rinse and repeat, again i realise this is a little over egged.
I guess the point im trying to make is that we could have ronaldo or messi in the team but it will not help us if we are launching the ball down the field most of the time or not allowing them to be the flair attack minded players with a bit of freedom that they are currently and why they score and assist so many goals. I am not comparing any of our players to Messi or Ronaldo by the way.
I am not trying to bash on Mick for the sake of it, i really am not and the fact he has not had that much money is not his fault and he has brought in some good players. But can we honestly say we have progressed? He saves us from what looked like relegation, we then do well push on and get play offs, we then get in a situation where we are struggling and although i dont think relegation was on the cards it looked bleak. We now find ourselves close to play off places almost half way through the season, again this is great but there is no consistency, no one thought we would beat Derby, we dropped points the two games previous, and i understand this league is tough any team can win against any other, but if we do well one game that does not seem to follow through to the next.
As well as giving Mick credit for what he is doing on a shoe string, Joe Royle did the exact same thing, but we also had more consistency and looked confident in what we were doing with beating teams with our attack.
All i want is for Mick to loosen the reigns a bit, be a bit more confident that we can play the ball on the ground and attack, have a bit more flair, but he has never been that manager and never will be and that is why i do not think he is the right man, but again he can prove me wrong and i would be more than happy with that.
ME is its own story if he really wants to get out of this division then it is about time that he allowed funds to do so, considering the money given to Keane, he only has himself to blame for that. | | |
dirtydingusmagee added 16:05 - Nov 30
RRanger I agree to a point, he has certainly brought in some good players on limited budget, that cant be denied, however, he does not get the best from the players in my opinion . Team selection &tactics have been a worrying trademark ,He seems too stubborn, and cant change. He did what he was brought in to do, save us from relegation, for that we should all be grateful, BUT we have not progressed in his time, he will get this season to do something now , but he has lost a lot of the fans and anything short of success will not win them back. He should move on or be moved on at the end of the season , my opinion . |  | |
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