Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
Town Face High-Flying Royals Looking for Second Win of 2017
Friday, 3rd Feb 2017 06:00

Town face third-placed Reading at Portman Road on Saturday looking for only their second win of 2017 and hoping to avoid falling to back to back defeats for the first time this season.

The Blues, who dropped to 17th following Tuesday's 3-0 defeat to Derby, but remain 10 points off the relegation zone, still haven’t recorded the same result in successive league games since drawing with Wolves and then Norwich back in August, 25 games ago, a new club record.

Boss Mick McCarthy says he’s not surprised to see Reading towards the top of the table having been impressed with the Royals when they beat Town 2-1 in a game of three penalties in September.

“Not after we played them and seen them for a bit after that,” he said. “They’ve got some good players, they’ve got a good squad.

“They’ve probably underachieved over the last few years. They’ve brought in a few good ones, Roy Beerens has come in, but they had Yann Kermorgant, Garath McCleary, Danny Williams and Chris Gunter. They’ve had good players there for a long time and I think should have done better.

“They’ve had a takeover, they’ve had a series of managers come in and Jaap Stam seems to have done particularly well with them. He’s still there and they’re up near the top.”

Does he believe the Berkshire side have a chance of breaking into the top two or does he believe Newcastle and Brighton already have the automatic promotion places sewn up?

"“Only if Newcastle play like they did on Wednesday night [during the 2-2 home draw with QPR], where that came from I’ve no idea,” he reflected.

“I thought QPR were good, they’ll end up in mid-table, no question. They’ve made a lot of signings and I think they had a lot of good players before.

“But Newcastle started like they did against us but they were very poor. Whether that’s just a one-off game, I don’t know, but I still think Brighton and Newcastle will do it.

“However, if either of them slip up, Leeds, who went to Blackburn and won on Wednesday night, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading, they’ll all be nipping at their heels.

“They’ll have to be careful and I think the weight of expectation is on Newcastle, no doubt.”

Reading midfielder John Swift had a trial with Town in November 2014 when a Chelsea player and McCarthy was impressed by the 21-year-old, who joined the Royals on a permanent basis last summer.

“He came here on trial and I liked him,” he said “I was going to take him on loan but he got injured.

“He went back and it wasn’t as severe but I didn’t dare play him or have him to train because he’d got this knee injury, so he went back and he’s done great.


“He’s a good player, John. He’s playing really well, he plays in behind two strikers and it suits him.”

Reading added highly-rated West Ham defender Reece Oxford, 18, on loan on deadline day and McCarthy says he was someone the Blues were considering as a potential replacement for skipper Luke Chambers after he was targeted by his former club Nottingham Forest.

“We were talking about it even at the last knockings, Nottingham Forest were looking at Chambo,” he said.

“But he’d gone up to Reading then anyway. So, yes, we’ve had a look at him. I think he’ll probably suit Reading the way he plays, he’s a nice footballer, he’ll certainly fit in with them.”

Town added central midfielders Toumani Diagouraga and Emyr Huws on loan during the window, do their signings mean Jonathan Douglas, 35, has no future with the Blues and will move on at the end of the season?

“Dougie’s contract is up in the summer and he’s probably the one who is slightly less liked than I am at the moment,” McCarthy added ruefully. “We’ll see, it’s a toss-up who goes first, me or him."

Having added seven players during the window, does McCarthy envisage having problems fitting them in? “We’re hardly ripping it up, so nobody can actually say ‘I should be playing, I’ve been great’. I don’t think that’s the case. Anybody who comes in has got a chance to play.”

Striker signing Kieffer Moore has made an impression off the bench twice after siging for £10,000 from Forest Green Rovers earlier in the month and McCarthy has been pleased with his performances.

“I’ve been delighted with him,” he said. “A lot of the players that they’ve been talking about have been similar to him that are coming out of the National League and League Two. I think he’ll do well for us, I’ve been pleased with him.

“He came on against Preston and he came on the other night, so he’s getting a look in. Can he start? Absolutely.”

Despite making those signings McCarthy isn’t abandoning his plan to blood some of the club’s younger players once fears of relegation have been allayed.

“If - when - we’ve got enough points and we can’t go down, because at the moment we’re looking over our shoulders, not above us, form tells us that, then it would be the case that I’d like to have a look at some of the younger ones,” he said.

The Town boss will stick with Bartosz Bialkowski in goal but may look to change things around at the back, perhaps returning to a back four.

Steven Taylor is available and the former Newcastle and Portland Timbers man may be handed his debut at centre-half alongside Christophe Berra with skipper Chambers moving to right-back. Jonas Knudsen will continue on the left.

In midfield, Cole Skuse will be in one of the central roles with Diagouraga probably taking up the other having missed out against Derby in midweek.

Huws is another option, while Teddy Bishop has now played two U23s games since recovering from his ankle injury.

Grant Ward was among the Blues’ better performers on Tuesday after coming off the bench and the former Spurs man is likely to return on the right with Tom Lawrence - who is expected to be over the ankle injury which forced him off against the Rams - on the left.

Up front, McCarthy could hand Moore his first start alongside one of David McGoldrick, Freddie Sears or Brett Pitman. New loan striker Dominic Samuel isn’t available against his parent club.

If McCarthy opts to stick with a back three, Taylor is likely to be on the right of Chambers with Berra on the left with Jordan Spence the right wing-back and Knudsen on the left.

Skuse and Diagouraga are likely to be joined in central midfield by Lawrence with McCarthy picking two from McGoldrick, Moore, Pitman and Sears up front.

Reading, who also added Bournemouth’s former Norwich striker Lewis Grabban and Crystal Palace’s Jordon Mutch on loan this week, will be without Dutch midfielder Joey van den Berg due to a hamstring injury but are hopeful defender Paul McShane and striker Yann Kermorgant (both calf) will be OK to be involved.

Town have just about had the better of the Royals historically, winning 24 times (23 in the league), drawing nine (nine) and losing 23 (23).

At the Madejski Stadium in September Williams netted the game’s third penalty deep in second-half injury time to hand Reading a 2-1 victory over the Blues, Knudsen having been adjudged to have hauled down Van den Berg at a corner.

In first-half injury time Ward had been harshly penalised for handball for the game’s first spotkick and McCleary put the Royals in front, then Pitman fired home Town’s penalty five minutes after the break having been fouled by Tyler Blackett.

Last time the teams met at Portman Road in February last year, Town climbed back into the top six and extended their extraordinary record of Tuesday night home victories to 16 as an 89th minute Pitman goal saw them to a 2-1 victory over the Royals.

After a lacklustre first half Ryan Fraser put the Blues in front on 57, Reading sub McCleary equalised from the spot before Pitman’s late winner.

Reading midfielder Stephen Quinn is the younger brother of ex-Blue Alan, while Town manager McCarthy has previously confirmed that he targeted Reading striker Yann Kermorgant when he joined Bournemouth from Charlton in January 2014.

Like Swift, Dutch midfielder Van den Berg similarly spent time on trial with the Blues, in September 2006.

Saturday’s referee is Geoff Eltringham from County Durham, who has shown 83 yellow cards and four red in 27 games so far this season.

Eltringham’s last Town match was the 0-0 draw at Blackburn in October in which he booked only one home player.

Prior to that he was in charge of the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday in April 2013 when he kept his cards in his pockets throughout.

His only other Blues match was the 3-1 defeat at Leeds in January 2012 in which he red-carded on-loan Town keeper Alex McCarthy for handling outside the area thereby denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, booked Luke Hyam and one home player.

Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Emmanuel, Spence, Taylor, Berra, Digby, Skuse, Diagouraga, Huws, Douglas, Bru, Dozzell, Bishop, Ward, Rowe, Lawrence, Sears, Pitman, McGoldrick, Moore.


Photo: TWTD



Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.



Chondzoresk added 06:19 - Feb 3
Now into February and looking for second win....there is more chance of the second coming of Christ than us winning any of the upcoming matches.
Pee off Thick Mick...
6

raycrawfordswig added 07:05 - Feb 3
Same interview Good team ,Good players. .Blah Blah Blah.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
13

dirtydingusmagee added 07:07 - Feb 3
Dougie or him to leave first ! surely they could both leave in the same taxi, they are besties.Mick is not interested now ,In every interview he makes that obvious, Evans must know it ,yet he shows the same apathetic disregard for situation. I DESPARE.
11

Tractorboy1985 added 07:17 - Feb 3
Lights.. camera.. action.. roll the tape.. they've got good players.. they've got a good squad... they have under achieved... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz eat... sleep.. hoof.. REPEAT!!! You will never change will you? ME OUT IM OUT MM OUT
12

ChrisFelix added 07:32 - Feb 3
Although 10 points off the bottom, Wigan have 2 games in hand. One of those is Norwich next tuesday !
1

tractorboybig added 07:33 - Feb 3
well taylor and emmanual have to start or its a heavy defeat, we know the rest of the midfield, why bother having a striker stick another defender in/////
4

Swn98 added 07:40 - Feb 3
I wrote a post after tues game saying and stating my reasons that MM time was up, having read the above it shows what a sad state we are in when a manager talks about who's hated more and who will be out of the door first our great club from owner down to fans is I'm Affraid in terminal decline.
28

Plums added 07:53 - Feb 3
Sounds as though Mick's given up. Hope the players can pull us through and those below us don't put a run together.
4

SheptonMalletBlue added 08:04 - Feb 3
Boring repetitive crap from the Dinosaur! I'm utterly sick of this man.
9

dirtydingusmagee added 08:14 - Feb 3
Swn98, its not a mistake i marked you up, you now see that the situation is serious,and i DO agree with you.Evans will not invest ,the manager cant manage, the fans are unhappy and deserting ,the club is in serious decline,this is not a blip,this is turning into a catastrophe and the people running this once proud club are to blame.
13

blue75 added 08:45 - Feb 3
Mick you made the rod for Dougie's back he's not that bad a player you've just made him play too defensive. Glad you signed a rb will Jordan and Josh take turns sitting on the bench while Chambers is forced to play outta position again leading to more criticism which he doesn't need.
8

H1960 added 08:48 - Feb 3
Same old sh1t every week being spouted by McCarthy I am bored beyond beleif
10

Dissboyitfc added 08:54 - Feb 3
Awful state of affairs.

Slightly off subject here, did anyone else hear Terry Butcher talking on talk sport? He was saying that although the football isnt great and its painful to watch ( words to that effect ) that he urged fans to carry on going and supporting the team. I can tell you now he wouldnt put up with whats going neither as a player or if he was manager, so why ask the fans to put up with it.

Its very upsetting to watch this happening.
11

Dissboyitfc added 09:00 - Feb 3
We are setting new records under MM, unwanted records!

I am losing the passion, like many more i guess. Club needs new direction to save the club and reignite the passion amongst us fans. All very well asking for patience, we have been patient and there have been far to many false dawns.
9

shakytown added 09:02 - Feb 3
Top side are Reading. Will be thereabouts will Reading. We need to hold them so Douggie ( different class is Douggie ) is just the man I need. Them proper blokes will see us right. 6-0 Reading.
0

cat added 09:12 - Feb 3
If chambers reverts to RB it will beggar believe. I hope this won't be the case, with Knudsen as the other full back and Berra in the middle I am not confident we can get anything out of this game.
11

martin587 added 09:17 - Feb 3
What a comment to make"It's either him or me out of the club first"That just about sums this once great club up.
Talk about a confidence booster.Just go now MM,things cannot get any worse.!!
15

norfolk1 added 09:22 - Feb 3
Sad to say this but I hope Reading give us a real thumping.
-11

dirtydingusmagee added 09:28 - Feb 3
Martin ,in any other club [that cared] he would've been pulled in and given at very least a bloody good b#llocking or his marching orders, but Evans dosnt give a sh#t.Its not even the first time he said something like that.Its a disgraceful attitude by both Evans and McCarthy. Sir Alan Sugar would have pointed the finger at both and they'd be gone.
5

prebsa added 09:29 - Feb 3
Same crap good team good players. Hopefully him and Douglas can leave together that would be nice. He really doesn't care anymore it's obvious from what he says and how he answers questions. Whoever takes over really does have a big mess to sort out! Evans needs to go to if that person wants to sort it out properly!

Mick out
6

TR11BLU added 09:29 - Feb 3
You, Berra and Douglas should all get in the taxi....NOW
0

martin587 added 09:35 - Feb 3
This club is a total shambles.If I had made comments like that at work I would have been several dissaplinned or SACKED.
What the Hell is going on here.Mr.Evans,CEO,get a grip.
5

martin587 added 09:36 - Feb 3
Should have read severally!
0

goat_man added 10:05 - Feb 3
You just keep on bigging up those oppositions Mick and making sure you remind your own players how cheap and rubbish they are in comparison.
It's no wonder we look terrified every week.
7

MattinLondon added 10:09 - Feb 3
I don't actually think Douglas deserves all the abuse that he gets - primarily he was much more of an attacking midfielder than how he is played here. He gets in good positions but his legs have almost gone and he can't get back as quick as what he would have done when at Brentford. And his passing ability does not make up for this but he can only play how he is told to by MM.

To me Skuse is as much as a problem as Douglas.



10


You need to login in order to post your comments

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls

About Us Contact Us Terms & Conditions Privacy Cookies Advertising
© TWTD 1995-2024