Town boss Mick McCarthy says he doesn't "give a flying one” about the Blues being bottom of the Championship table when it comes to pass completion and 16th on possession.

The Blues’ pass success rate this season is 61.8 per cent the lowest in the Championship, while their share of possession during their league games is 49.1 per cent.

“Where are we in the league?” countered the Blues boss. “I can bring you, and I’m not going to, but I could, [stats which show that in] more games we’ve won, we’ve had less possession. If we have 400 passes, I guarantee we get beaten.

“I don’t give a flying one about the possession, I really don’t, because we come up against teams and they’ve had 400-and-some passes and we’ve had 220, and you know who has had 150 between them? Their two centre-backs, the central midfielder and the full-backs, and it’s not going anywhere.

“So, great. Their two centre-backs are wonderful players, they’ve both had 75 touches each. Am I bothered? No, because our centre forward’s had about 50 and he’s scored two goals.

“So don’t bring me stats. What is it they say? There are lies, damned lies and statistics? And that’s just what they are.”

He added: “I see the stats and sometimes I think ‘How the hell have we won that game?’. Then other times I think ‘We’ve murdered them’ and we’ve been beaten, we’ve had loads of passes, loads of crosses, loads of balls into the box. If you want somebody to analyse stats, get them all in here and see what happens.”

Regarding Saturday’s 2-2 FA Cup third round draw with Portsmouth, in which the League Two side had 68 per cent of the possession to the Blues’ 32 per cent, he said: “Portsmouth murdered us with the ball on Saturday. Did we lose? No.

“At Milton Keynes we won, and by the way should have won by more, we had the better chances.

“If you’re trying to get a story on stats, you can write all you like but I don’t give a monkey’s.

“The stats I like are that we’re in sixth position, we’ve got 41 points, we won five away on the bounce and drew on Saturday. We’ve been unbeaten for a while, we’re on a good run.

“There’s always somebody who could find a negative to anything, though, which I understand but find difficult to tolerate, I have to be honest. The only stat that matters is how many points you get at the end of the season.

“And there are all different ways of playing. Portsmouth were fantastic, they’re fourth in the league, but they’re not top of the league, so there are some good teams [in their division], but if they’re playing like that every week they’ve got to win the league, because they were outstanding.”

Despite the low possession and pass completion statistics McCarthy says his team has a consistent threat from wide areas through wingers Freddie Sears and Ryan Fraser.

“And I have with Tommy Oar and Ainsley Maitland-Niles as well," he added. "We’ve been a real threat.

“I go back to it. Portsmouth were great on Saturday and they should have won the game. We’re just on the back of beating QPR with the team that’s playing, beating Brighton, drawing at Burnley.

“So we have a draw in the FA Cup with a lot of changes. Hey ho, we’ve been a real threat, us. We’ve been a constant threat.”

You can find a TWTD blog assessing Town’s low pass completion rate here.

Photo: Action Images

armchaircritic59 added 17:44 - Jan 12 I've said it before on here a few times, so here we go again. All professional footballers should be capable of passing the ball accurately (most times) over a range of distances. It's surely a required basic. Would you want someone building you a house who was poor at laying bricks?
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rinkydinkpanther added 17:51 - Jan 12 He's a mere step away from saying, "If you want entertainment go and watch a bunch of clowns."
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blueboy1981 added 17:57 - Jan 12 .......... will be interesting to see how many renew their Season Tickets next season - many diehards who put money into this Club season, after season - may just think twice. Quite frankly, after many, many years of attending Portman Road (even going back to the Wooden Stand days) - I have NEVER been so bored with what I am currently watching.
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blueboy1981 added 18:14 - Jan 12 ....... let's see if we can better 26% possession tonight - such is our low expectancy of achievement after Saturday. A few forward passes from midfield wouldn't go amiss either.
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htb added 19:04 - Jan 12 One thing for sure is you don't need any stats to know we are the worst watch in this division. You can't change the team you support but you can change the manager and I wish we would. West Ham another team who have a tradition of playing good football could not stomach another dinosaurs brand of football despite achieving ok results. They changed and don't seem to be doing too bad by trying to pass the ball and play some football

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grumpyoldman added 19:08 - Jan 12 As I said awhile ago I will not spend good money on visiting PR while MM is in charge, the style of play was poor when I made the decision and by accounts has not improved. This site continues its normal way those who believe MM is right as long as we win occasionally and those who think he is wrong whenever we draw or lose. We have one who says he is entertained as long as we get three points, so doesn't know if he has been entertained until the final whistle! Both sides of the argument insult the other side. Another person thinks if all the moaners don't like what they see they should not turn up the atmosphere would improve, the best times I have spent at PR were when there is a good crowd over 25000, not half empty under 15000. I work with a lot of Norwich supporters and cannot believe that I have stopped coming to PR even under Keane & Jewell I regularly attended but this Jurassic Park reject has forced me to suspend attendance until he has gone.

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bohslegend added 21:52 - Jan 12 Okay lets here the beeps.... Backtracking throughout.
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bohslegend added 21:53 - Jan 12 hear*
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TractorClarke added 09:31 - Jan 13 I really can not believe some fans are calling for a change of manager, to me that is baffling, although its your opinion. Supporting your team and manager seems to have changed over the years, no longer do we stick by our team through the good and bad, people leave early, if th eteam are not playing like Barcelona then they are sh*te. Its incredible the view point from some people, we are Ipswich Town, we are not the team of old, that just forms part of our illustrious history now. Can or will we get back there, i have no doubt, but please lets have some realism on here for a little bit. I said in my last post, the style of football is not great, but we are in play offs and if we get promoted i guarantee quite a few of the haters / moaners will be back to watch the like of utd etc at portman road. I love this club no matter what, and i fully support Mick in what he has and is doing with our club, we are stable, no fear of relegation but also with every chance of promotion, surely as a supporter that is the least you can ask for?!

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