Town boss Mick McCarthy says it’s his job to manage his team over a 46-game season and his decision to rest his regular starting XI for Tuesday’s FA Cup replay at Portsmouth ensures that they are fresher for today’s crucial game away against fellow play-off challengers Birmingham, even if he can’t guarantee a positive result.

McCarthy famously made 10 changes to his Wolves team when they travelled to Old Trafford and lost 3-0 in December 2009 three days after a 1-0 win at Tottenham, a move which saw his former club fined £25,000 by the Premier League.

Similarly, he switched his entire Town side for the 3-0 Capital One Cup defeat at Manchester United in September.

“I’ve done it in the past,” McCarthy said reflecting on Tuesday’s line-up. “I still go back to the time at Wolves when I changed the team when I went to Manchester United and we’d played Spurs away and we beat them, we played Manchester United away and lost 3-0 and we beat Burnley at home [2-0].

“And to this day I still say that if somebody offers you six points from Spurs away, Man United away and Burnley at home, you’d take it.

“I had to manage that process and it was the right thing to do. It put me under helluva lot of pressure playing Burnley, I have to tell you!”

On Tuesday he says his biggest disappointment was that the team which played didn’t give a better account of themselves in front of the 796 Town supporters who made the trip to Hampshire.

“I felt more for our fans that they hadn’t seen our youngsters play better and have a better performance and give them more of a threat and a scare than we did,” he said. “That was what frustrated and annoyed me.

“Believe me, I don’t like doing that, and I’m the last person to take liberties with anybody. But I’m not going to take liberties with Birmingham either.

“And that is my job, to manage the team over 46 games and try and get the best out of them, which I think I’ve managed to do pretty well.

“I’ve got to do that physically as well as emotionally and mentally, that’s part of my job.”

He says the first-teamers would have been more than happy to play at Fratton Park had they been asked to.

“I think as a footballer I wanted to play all the time,” he added. “I definitely played in a different era, I could roll the ball back to the goalkeeper for five minutes if I wanted to and he could pick it up and I could have a breather. There was a helluva difference there.

“After a games on Tuesday and Saturday last week when I think they put in such an effort, they put in a helluva lot of effort - which they do every week, to be fair - I was asked, if they can keep going at full pace. I would say so on Saturday because they didn’t all play on Tuesday.

“And there’s another element to that as well. As much as I would have loved to have won the cup game, the worst thing that could possibly have happened to us on Tuesday night was going to extra-time and penalties and getting back here at half-past three in the morning and then me having to whip them on Friday to go up there.

“I can’t guarantee that we’re going to beat Birmingham or what we’re going to do, but I can guarantee you that we’re going to be a lot fresher, a lot fitter and a lot more able to play against a really tough Birmingham side. I believe that is my job, to manage that, that is part of it.”

McCarthy believes much has changed since his time as a player, in the days before players were rested for cup games, and believes games are more physically demanding now.

“We all played over the Christmas period,” he recalled. “We didn’t have sports scientists. There are some clubs who have sports scientists who tell them not to run them and that you’ve got to be careful with them. We work them hard, we work them hard in training.

“We did play all the time, but there weren’t six or eight balls around the pitch so that when you booted it in the stand it didn’t come back.

“You kicked it into your own fans when you were 1-0 up at the end of a game and they kept it throwing it up and down the pitch.

“Now you do that and it’s back on, there’s multi-ball at a lot of stadiums. You can’t roll it back to the keeper.

“It’s a quicker game, although it’s still the same game, fundamentally - we have to have it and put it in their net, get it off them and stop them putting it in our net.

“All those things are the same, but it is different, there’s no question. The offside rule. I could step up and it didn’t matter where he was I could play him offside if they played the ball forward.

“It didn’t matter if he was interfering with play, he could be sat on his bum injured and he was still offside.

“You could get so many more stoppages. You could throw it back to the goalkeeper, you could pass it back, run up, go back.

“Of course it annoyed all the crowd. You can’t do that now. It is far more physically demanding, definitely.”

McCarthy agrees that if Town make the top six then the criticism regarding his team selection will be forgotten.

“Yes, I know, but if we don’t they’ll look back on the FA Cup and we did this and we did that,” he said. “That’s the job, getting more decisions right than wrong.”

He added: “Nothing guarantees you a result but I’ve a fair bit of experience in knowing how to manage the team and knowing how to get the best out of them.

“Let’s hope it works and we’ll be sat here and talking about it and there’ll be all sorts of other discussions going on.”

Photo: Action Images

trncbluearmy added 06:10 - Jan 23 That`s modern football for you and it stinks, but it`s not Super Micks fault that he quite correctly has to manage his squad TO have a chance of the obscene wealth the prem dangles as the ultimate prize. The game as a spectacle will eventually die in the UK, but that does not matter because the millions in the far east will pay fortunes to watch teams on Sky that they have no link to. Glad I`m old and will not see the ultimate dimise of the Beautiful Game. In the meantime COYB

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muccletonjoe added 06:45 - Jan 23 I think a positive today was always going to be unlikely and playing the first team Tuesday night would not have made one jot of difference
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Kikapu added 06:56 - Jan 23 Talk about spinning plates. It's a nightmare of a job if you don't have the full compliment of skills, drive, stamina and big dollop of luck. I seem to remember a manager or two who have had a good cup run but ended up on the dole as a result of poor league performance.
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BrianTablet added 07:36 - Jan 23 I think most people accept that you can't guarantee a result. The manager's job is to ensure the tactics are correct, the personnel are good enough, morale is high and the team effort level is at maximum. The cups can be great for motivation, but clearly MM has no interest. After losing to Manchester United, we didn't win for six games. Let's see what happens today...

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Penguinblue added 08:00 - Jan 23 Absolute rubbish. :Poor lambs possibly having to play twice in a week. Anyone here have to go to work twice or more in a week? Poor excuses from a poor manager.
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BlueKush added 08:25 - Jan 23 Football before the backpass rule was rubbish!
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stormypetrel added 08:29 - Jan 23 As other contributors have posted there are clubs outside of the Premiership that have had the day to remember and then spent subsequent years languishing in lower leagues and struggling financially, with a turnover of playing staff and management.....the romanticism of the FA Cup has been eroded but not as popular witch burners would have of MM, but by the evolvement of the football in the UK through satellite TV monies, gambling regulations and football rule changes....football is a business that is unforgiving....people seem to forget that there are many people employed by ITFC or rely on incomes derived from services to ITFC....failure of the club sees these people loose their jobs....that is ultimately what MM is contributing to...a successful legacy on a sound business footing contributing to the local community and economy.....a business not a charity suffused with a romanticism of a bygone era....

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peteswindon added 08:36 - Jan 23 Penguinblue, shows how well you know the game as you think the players only go to work on match day. Of course they never go in for training,Fitness and tactics do they. MM explains it all for the idiots but still they cant understand, I have said it many times try tuning into reality FM
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Keaneish added 08:38 - Jan 23 There are minimum of 48 games in a season, not 46. Your job as a manager is to manage the team for 48 games. Disagree entirely with this policy. Why don;t they fine clubs any more for devaluing the competition?
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footyblue added 08:41 - Jan 23 its just a shame we don't actually seem some decent football in the process only 2 decent games at home this season says it all
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trulyblue added 08:47 - Jan 23 This debate has been running since Tuesday and I'm still at a huge loss as to understand why some people on here continue to moan about the squad selection. The only goal that Mm and Tc should focus on is promotion and should use whatever means necessary to achieve that goal, if that means changing the entire starting X1 for a cup game to potentially give the first team a chance of performing 5% better against Birmingham then the decision is fully justified. The argument that it is unfair to those supporters (including me) who travelled down to Portsmouth is a load of garbage. Every supporter in that away section knew the probable situation before deciding to attend that game, it has been the same for every away f.a. cup game during McCarthy's tenure. Stop trying to justify yourself to the idiotic minority who speak loudest Mick, the majority know that the right decision was made and are right behind yours and Tc's actions..... Excellent news about the new contacts, keep up the good work.

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GoldieBlue added 08:47 - Jan 23 He really has put the pressure on himself for this game. Didn't have quite the issue that everyone else did with the pompey team selection. However only a good performance and 3 points will do today against a good Birmingham side. If he pulls that off all will be forgotten by the majority of town fans.
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Kikapu added 08:52 - Jan 23 Stormypetrel makes some valuable points. Don't forget the club is loosing 8mil a year. Sure Evans could right off loses against tax elsewhere, but he could just as easily choose another 'worthy cause' to support. They'd be grateful for the dosh.
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Bob7881 added 08:59 - Jan 23 Interview is like yer football boring boring boring. keep it up MM you are doing a great job pleaseing yer owner without ambition. I think you have been outstanding at converting a lot of ITFC supporters into believing that hoof ball is the way forward. You must turn up to work everyday and think life couldnt get any better you must be living the dream, extremely well paid and no pressure doing a fantastic job keeping ITFC in the 2nd row of English football.

1

stormypetrel added 09:28 - Jan 23 Bob7881...you put £5 million a year into the club with little chance of return, then I may give your uncharitable views of Marcus Evans some credence .....until such point I would suggest you actively read up on what ME does do for ITFC, then you will be able to formulate an opinion worthy of debate....simple fact/thought for you.....ITFC were sixth in the league ranking of what they pay players in the Championship 2014/2015...who do you think underwrites that?....gate receipts???...lack of ambition....you insult the club.

5

ForrestsFingers added 09:30 - Jan 23 Cast your mind back to our last significant cup run. Carling Cup Semi Finals - Bottom of the Championship I know what I'd rather see!!!!
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yorksblue added 09:32 - Jan 23 Sorry, all you younguns and blinkered, and notwithstanding the 'modern game' (whatever that is), but have a look at 1981, see what competitions we competed in, what progress we made in them all, the crowd numbers who turned up and how many players we used. Current policy seems to be, let's mug as many fans off as we can by doing as little as we can, and there'll always be clowns that are happy with it, so **** the rest.

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hairbear added 09:45 - Jan 23 Yorksblue, '81 indeed a great season but its well documented that the amount of games we played cost us the treble that year. Just a thought but if we hadn't got to the FA cup semi we might have won the league aswell?
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carsey added 09:51 - Jan 23 It would have been good to have tried to win the first game at home with more of a first choice selection where there was no danger of extra time and penalties. I could understand the idea for the away replay a bit more but McCarthy doesn't care for the cup competitions and that will never change. Regarding players fitness and the game is general - it's a well known fact that the ball doesn't get tired so if you keep it and make the opposition chase around after it they will be knackered before you are. Keep whacking it up the pitch and it will keep coming back. Change of tactics is required.

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yorksblue added 10:00 - Jan 23 Hairbear- Fair comment, but we had decent reserve players in those days, playing in a decent, competitive reserve league. Why can't Sky's billions be reinvested into bringing them back, rather than wasted on endless screened games?
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carlo88 added 10:11 - Jan 23 @Hairbair Yes I agree if we hadn't of reached the FA Cup semi and UEFA final I don't doubt we would have won the league. Villa weren't that special and not as good as us.
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Cheshire_Blue added 10:36 - Jan 23 The Cup competitions have become an irrelevance. It is time we got back to fining teams who do not put out a full strength team to restore some pride to the competitions otherwise they might as well be discontinued.
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Guthrum added 10:44 - Jan 23 People talk about 1978, 1981, but ignore the fact that then we were a high-riding, top-division team, with access to the best players in the land. We weren't going to get to the 4th or 5th round and then be steamrollered by one of the big boys having a vastly superior squad, because we were one ourselves. Major upsets in the Cup are only remarkable because they happen so rarely.

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yorksblue added 11:14 - Jan 23 Now, we're a high riding top Championship team, getting steamrollered out of the FA Cup by a team 2 leagues below us, and with greater ambition.
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christiand added 11:59 - Jan 23 Though there is sympathy for MM, if we lose today with another inept performance there will be a lot on here demanding answers. I still don't think we are strong enough collectively and have the quality to finish in the top 6, resting players won't change these issues.
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