Boss Kieran McKenna says he and his staff are looking at whether Jens Cajuste can play three games in eight days, while Kalvin Phillips and Ben Johnson will again be assessed ahead of Sunday’s home game against AFC Bournemouth.

McKenna has lost George Hirst, Axel Tuanzebe and Chiedozie Ogbene to long-term injuries, all of whom have been big losses.

“Three of our most physical profiles, so important players for the level that we’re competing at,” McKenna said.

“There are a couple who are managing injuries but they were managing them to come into the squad on Tuesday night and we’re in a similar position going into this one.

“We’re still trying to manage through those and make the right decisions to get the best team that we can out on the pitch for any given game, but also not take any unnecessary risks with the fact that we have got a busy schedule coming up.”

McKenna, who added that there were no new injuries from Tuesday, confirmed that Phillips and Johnson, previously out with a rolled ankle and a minor muscular injury, are those players.

“Yes, both still not 100 per cent, both were in the squad the other night but still not probably at 100 per cent, so still working their way towards that,” he said.

Regarding Cajuste, who has impressed in central midfield in Phillips’s absence, and whether the Swedish international, who had played little football prior to the recent spell and has been managing a knee problem, he said: “That’s a question that we’re looking at at the moment. I think it would be an undue risk to play three 90s in eight days.

“We’re still building up his fitness, he’s still managing a prior issue that he had and we’re trying to find the careful balance of getting him on the pitch where he’s doing some good things and helping us, but not pushing too far where there would be a risk that we could lose him for a long period of time.

“We’re trying to find that balance at the moment and we’ll have to find that going into Sunday.”

Photo: TWTD

IP9 added 14:48 - Dec 6 I would put Mass in ahead of Taylor.
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timbousa added 15:00 - Dec 6 5 Reasons to be Cheerful ahead of Bournemouth. 1) Estimating that 32/33 pts is enough to stay up, Ipswich are only 2.9 points off the scoring rate needed (0.85). That's reflected in the league table. A win on Sunday and almost back on track. Back to back wins? Mic dropped. 2) Aside from Man City and West Ham (looks weird now), Ipswich have been competitive in the other 12 games. The 2 defeats sucked but it was 1-0, 1-0. No wild swings like Southampton and Wolves routinely suffer, such as this week. 3) If Leicester lose Vardy for any length of time, they are done for. Then again, same for Ipswich and Delap, I guess. 4) Bournemouth played a tough game on Thursday. Two days less rest for an away trip. 5) Most Important. Two years ago, Ipswich were playing Fleetwood and Peterborough. Allons Y!

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Monkey_Blue added 15:17 - Dec 6 Taylor has impressed when coming off the bench and increases our threat from outside the box and is more mobile, but Mass and Morsy have worked as a partnership for two years… I’d be just inclined to give taylor the nod but it’s swings and roundabouts… I can see the upside on either. Also McKenna has been known to throw a few lines out to keep the opposition guessing, so I wouldn’t rule out Cajuste being in the starting line up come Sunday.

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carlo88 added 15:41 - Dec 6 I thought Bournemouth's result was good for us, hard fought, emotionally draining win hopefully with not long to prepare until Sunday. We should be taking advantage.
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ArnieM added 15:45 - Dec 6 Oh goody, yet more injuries to deal with. You couldn’t make this up coukd you. Any chance a review of our training approach might be needed??
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TimmyH added 15:46 - Dec 6 Monkey_Blue states 'Taylor has impressed coming off the bench'!?! - really? if so I haven't noticed it, it's been a weak part of our matchdays and that is subs not making much difference (unlike in the Championship). Mark me down all you want but it's true.
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Edmundo added 16:07 - Dec 6 We have chucked all our Premiership experience on the pitch for the 1st 70 minutes. It's not likely we'll have even more on the subs bench. Our strength from last season has become our weakness unfortunately. Hopefully we just go for it on January and if we ger deducted 3 points next season so be it: at least we stayed up...?
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Gforce added 16:08 - Dec 6 Cajuste will play for an hour and be replaced by Phillips.
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Linkboy13 added 16:23 - Dec 6 The intensity and physicality of the Premier league is teiling on our squad. It's like watching a middle weight boxer against heavy weights most of our squad are quite lightweight . Tuanzebe who is so crucial to our fortunes is one of the few players who can compete against the heavy weights of the Premier league is always going to be injury prone due to a long standing back problem. Hirst who is very talented but so fragile for the Premier league. When we think about buying players not only must they be good enough but are they physically up to it. There are some players that are small but get away with it because they have pace and are technically good such as Hutchinson. Smzodic's who is a good goal scorer but struggles with his allround game works hard but creates very little lacking pace and physicality at Premier level which is the reason McKenna leaves him out a lot. Im afraid the new players we brought in are not much better than the ones we've already got with the exception of Delap.

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billlm added 16:31 - Dec 6 Paper thin squad not good enough, Need to get to the end of Jan and hopefully push and not to much defeatism evolves in the squad , there's hope
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Eeyore added 20:42 - Dec 6 Lucky Morsy not suspended and seemingly never needs rest! If Phillips and Cajuste not 100% then should be a bigger role for Taylor and Luongo. Perhaps Morsy will have three partners? 30 minutes each? Taylor tends to give the ball away and Luongo is more careful with it. But Luongo can’t be fit enough to do more than 30mins. So for me Taylor starts. If it’s going badly, Luongo on at 30minutes. If that goes badly, Phillips comes on at 60 mins. I suspect Morsy has a say in the decision.

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grow_our_own added 08:37 - Dec 7 Cajuste was probably our best player on Tuesday and was withdrawn after 66 minutes. He's the natural successor to Luongo in being a creative box-to-box midfielder IMO. That missed tackle vs Man Utd aside, he's easily been the best in our next-to-Morsy position this season. I hope he isn't being scapegoated for what was mainly a poor performance by our attacking four vs Palace.

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terryf added 10:46 - Dec 7 You don't get much for your money these days. 10 mill for an average player. Begs the question would we have been better off bringing in say 6 players of better quality but more expensive. No guarantees but surely the standard would be higher and easier to integrate a smaller number within the rest of the squad! The jury's out on Muric , Clarke, Phillips and Ogbene (before his injury) for me and hopefully Greaves, Johnson, Szmodics and O'Shea will continue to improve as the season progresses. I know it's hard to get recruitment right all the time but it does ask a question of the Recruitment Team when the only shining lights so far this season are Cajuste, Delap and Hutchinson.

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