McCarthy: We Must Turn Improved Performances into Wins Tuesday, 3rd Nov 2015 06:00 Boss Mick McCarthy says the Blues have been more like themselves in their draws with Nottingham Forest and Cardiff but need to turn those good performances into wins. Town face third-bottom Bolton Wanderers at Portman Road this evening with their winless run having stretched to seven league games. “I think the last two have [been more like Mick McCarthy performances], against Nottingham Forest and again on Saturday against Cardiff,” said the Blues manager, whose side have drawn their last four home matches. “We’ve just got to turn them into wins. It’s our inability to win the games at home, we’ve drawn now with Cardiff, Huddersfield, Birmingham and Bristol City. That's eight points dropped that would have put us in a different position. “We’ve had chances to win those, I have to be honest. I think Saturday was a fair result, I think Cardiff are a good side.” He admits that there is pressure when a side is on a run such as Town’s, the Blues having dropped from the top of the table in August to 14th. “Of course. That’s from within, from myself, from the players, them putting pressure on themselves to be better, to win games,” he added. “None of us like the run of form we’ve been on, so we can only try and get better. But I don’t walk around feeling pressure about it. “What I don’t like is that we’re not giving the fans what they actually deserve. On Saturday I thought they were wonderful, that’s as good a support as we’ve had, especially after the form and results that we’ve had.” McCarthy says he’s not sure whether he would be getting a harder time from supporters elsewhere. “I don’t listen to it too much,” he said. “I’m talking about at the game. All the other stuff on the periphery, even more so now, social media and things, I don’t go looking for it, I don’t want to hear it, read it or listen to it because everybody has an opinion on it. “If you listen to everybody’s opinion on it, it’s like designing a horse [by committee] - you come up with the camel. “I don’t do that. My view is when we’re at the game, the people who come to watch the games are the ones I want to entertain and I want to make go home on a Saturday night happy, like we want to go home happy. “The ones that don’t come to games and write nonsense on sites and call phone-ins, I’ve no interest in them at all. “I thought on Saturday our fans would have seen a good performance. Let’s hope we see another good performance against Bolton, but a win because that’s what sends them all home happy.” But while the Portman Road crowd may be more patient than most, McCarthy is aware that like anyone else they want to see their team win. “How they vent their anger, their fury, their frustrations might be different to other places but they want to win and I certainly do, and the lads certainly do." He says it’s inevitable that there is a bit of nerviness on the terraces when results aren’t going well. “I’ve no issue with that at all, the ones who turn up and come and support us. There’s bound to be a bit of anxiety, it’s there for everybody, isn’t it? All of us, we want to get back to winning ways.” He believes his squad has done enough to deserve the backing of the fans during tough times: “The players who have been here have been good value to the club and to the fans for a really good period of time. “As I’ve said, the definition of support is holding something up when it’s not going so great or it’s starting to fall down. “And I thought they did that on Saturday, wonderfully well. And if they do that again we’ll have a better chance of winning. It’s up to us to excite the crowd and we’ll try and do that.” He added: “We need that break, but if you go back to Saturday there was lots there to build on. If you keep a clean sheet you’ve got a chance, if you’re 1-0 down after five minutes and you’re having to come back again that’s just a recipe for disaster. “We looked far more solid without putting a whole bunch of defenders in to make it look more solid. I had a really attacking team on the pitch on Saturday.” The Blues boss says Town aren’t quite at the must-win game stage but aren’t far off: “I’d not say we have to win, but we’re getting to that point, aren’t we, when you play a team that’s in the bottom three. “What I don’t want it to be is where people think we just turn up and we win because that never happens. “As we saw with Bristol City, they turned out to be a real, good powerful team, despite their lowly position. “And I’ve seen Bolton, they just played against Leeds and watching them in that game and against Preston they’ve got good Championship players, they’re no mugs. “So we’ll have to be careful that we don’t think we can just turn up and they’re going to roll over and let us win because they won’t. “We don’t want anybody thinking that, the players, I don’t think that and I don’t want the fans thinking that. “The support that we had on Saturday, if that’s replicated, maybe we can all do it together and get a win.” He says it can be tough for sides relegated from the Premier League - as Bolton were in 2012 - if they don’t bounce straight back up. “I think for players who come down it’s always the same, they don’t want to be there, they don’t think they should be there,” he continued. “Despite the fact they’ve got the club relegated they want to get out of the door as quickly as possible. “I think possibly that’s been one of the reasons why it’s been tough at Bolton. They had players on contracts and couldn’t get shot of them, but they seem to have settled down now. Despite their position, they’re not playing as badly as their position suggests.” McCarthy says he knows Trotters boss Neil Lennon and says the pressure he’s currently under won’t faze him: “I know him reasonably well, he’s a good guy, Neil, a proper football guy. “He had huge success at Celtic and you talk about pressure, managing Celtic I would imagine is far more pressurised than managing Bolton even in the position they’re in, so he’ll be well able [to deal with] it.” Does McCarthy's own background in international football with Ireland help him cope with situations such as Town’s current position? “Yes, it does, and I think just getting older and getting a bit more perspective on life in general rather than just football [does as well]. “Certainly when you’re younger it just seems to be a real narrow tunnel and you’re wondering how the heck you’re going to get out of it and you can’t ever see yourselves getting out of it sometimes. “But I know we will, I know it’ll turn around, I know that we’ve got good players and I think it’s easy to understand a bit more having been through it for so long. “Lenny up at Celtic he was expected to win. I remember playing there and you go to Hearts, you go to Hibs and we were expected to win because Rangers will go there and win and if we don’t we weren’t going to win the league and that was the pressure. “And Neil will have had that for three or four years. He had great success. He’ll be working hard to turn it around and will be looking at us thinking we’re having a tough time - come here, get the fans quiet, if they can keep hold of the ball, if they can score it’ll cause a real problem and they’ve got good Championship players, they’re no mugs.” Having celebrated the third anniversary of his time in charge of the Blues on Sunday. McCarthy was in no mood for looking back on his successes with Town, preferring to concentrate on getting results back on track: “That’s all by the by at the moment, we need to start winning games again.” Dean Gerken will continue in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back and Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra at the heart of the defence. McCarthy faces a decision on whether to recall Jonas Knudsen at left-back, the Dane having recovered from his hamstring injury or sticking with Jonny Parr. The Blues boss could opt to make a switch in midfield with Town in action again away at Rotherham on Saturday, however, having been pleased with the performance against Cardiff may well continue with the trio of Cole Skuse, Kevin Bru and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Brett Pitman will be hoping to come into the side for one of Daryl Murphy, David McGoldrick or Freddie Sears who have been the front three for the last two matches. For Bolton, midfielders Jay Spearing and Liam Feeney face fitness tests having picked up knocks in the 0-0 draw at Preston on Saturday. Mark Davies, who played for Blues boss McCarthy at Wolves, could be back from an achilles problem and full-back Dean Moxey may return from a toe injury. Striker Zach Clough (shoulder) and on-loan Arsenal winger Wellington Silva (hamstring) are long-term absentees. Historically, the Blues just have the edge, having won 17 times (15 in the league), Bolton 13 (nine) and with nine (eight) games between the teams ending in draws. Town are unbeaten in their last six games against the Trotters. Bolton are without a win in eight games, have won just once this season and have scored only 11 times. Last time at Portman Road in April, Jay Tabb scored the only goal as Town defeated Wanderers 1-0. After an open first half in which the visitors had the better chances, the midfielder won it with 11 minutes left, volleying a half-cleared Daryl Murphy cross into the ground and past Trotters keeper Ben Amos. Reflecting on that game McCarthy said: “They played really well that day, they had the little Portuguese fella [Rochinha] playing in the middle of the park who dominated the game for a good periods of it in the first half and probably should have scored but didn’t. "Once we got our act together we managed to keep a clean sheet and nicked one.” In December last year, Town dropped to fourth as the teams drew 0-0 at the Macron Stadium. After an evenly balanced first half in which the home side had the better opportunities, the Blues were on top for much of the second period with Tabb twice going close to breaking the deadlock. Former Blue Liam Trotter is currently on Bolton’s books but as Town know all too well from their recent visit to the City Ground, the midfielder is on loan at Nottingham Forest. Trotters midfielder or right-back Lawrie Wilson had a trial at Portman Road in 2006 while a Charlton player. He joined Bolton after ending his second spell with the Addicks in the summer. Recently-signed Bolton striker Shola Ameobi came close to joining the Blues from Newcastle in the summer of 2008 but the deal broke down after he failed a medical due to a hamstring problem. Prior to kick-off there will be a minute's silence as tonight's match is Town's closest home game to Remembrance Sunday. This evening’s referee is Darren Deadman from Cambridgeshire, who has shown 32 yellow cards and one red in 11 matches so far this season. Deadman’s last two games at Portman Road have been friendlies, the 1-1 draw with FC Utrecht in August, in which he awarded the Blues a late penalty, and the 0-0 stalemate with West Ham in July 2014. Town are unbeaten in competitive games when Deadman is in charge. His most recent Blues Championship match was the 2-1 home victory over Yeovil in September 2013 in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout. Prior to that, he took control of the 1-0 home victory over Leicester in March 2013, the 1-0 win at Portsmouth in February 2012, the 3-1 defeat of Brighton at Portman Road in October 2011 and the 0-0 draw at Leeds in March of the same year. He also officiated in the 0-0 draw at Plymouth in January 2009, the September 2008 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace and the 2-1 home win against Burnley in February 2006. Deadman was also the man in charge of the abandoned friendly at Colchester in July 2011, which ended prematurely with the score 0-0 after U’s midfielder Andy Bond suffered a facial injury in a collision with his keeper Mark Cousins. Town’s only defeats with the civil servant in charge were pre-season friendly losses to Mick McCarthy's Wolves (2-1) in July 2011 and at Stevenage Borough (3-0) in July 2008. Town squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Parr, Emmanuel, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Coke, Tabb, Maitland-Niles, Touré, Oar, Sears, Pitman, Murphy, McGoldrick.
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