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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.
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.
I think the comment about him or douglas was aimed at a select few of our supporters who, you can see from the remarks above -fell for it hook line and sinker. Dear oh dear
Whatever happened to the never say die attitude we had, especially when in the 2nd leg of the play offs 2000 when Big Jim scored with seconds to go (watching the Bolton supporters doing the conger in the stands just before was a treat!!!) Do we have enough time for the new players to 'bed in' before we are staring down the barrel of relegation I don't know. I am trying to be positive but sadly I just can't see any hope at the moment. Its ok for Dino Mick. When HE decides to go, we may already be planning trips to league 1 opposition. Why couldn't we have got Jordan Rhodes on loan? Surely he would have fancied the challenge back at Ipswich, or have we now got so bad that even once loved players don't want to come back. Please please give me some hope for the rest of the season.
DissBoy, dont you and some of the other haters on here get it? The reason Butcher & Dyer have said what they have, is because if fans boo & protest before we are mathematically safe we will likely be relegated. We can't win away so our only hope is our home form to salvage our Championship status.
I dont like what is going on and I don't think McCarthy should keep bleating on about going in the summer and being hated. But he & other ex-players are correct, we need to get behind the team from now until safe.
If PR is Toxic or a library of negativity then we will be easy picking for away teams.
Warkys Tash - agree. I've given up reading/listening to MM (not that I've ever paid much attention to his clumsy PR-speak) and have witnessed some truly pathetic performances lately - but if we don't support them at PR, they will implode. The root cause of the problem is an owner who shows no sign of being interested - just goes through the motions - and this spreads down to the manager and eventually the team. Will be there again tomorrow -more in hope than expectation...
When you children or deluded people see Taylor play if the guy remains fit he will single-handed saved the town from relegation, then remember it was Mick McCarthy who got him to come here.Evans out the sooner the better.
Agree Mick's needle is well and truly stuck, he should be concentrating on what we have to do to beat Reading rather than continually telling how good the opposition is and lets face it at the beginning of the season we all would have been bamboozled by Reading being good. The amount they've spent shows you don't need loads of cash to do well.
By the way on a side note why are quite a few people now marking swn98 up on his posts...he's been pro Mick for ages to the point of being ridiculed and now he's changed 'tack' - so other than the debacle of the no-league cup exit and being beaten by Derby with consummate ease what's changed?... so all those posts you have marked down for some time (mine and quite a few others) you must now believe you have been incorrect to do so?
I can't make up my mind whether our football at the moment or most of the completely unconstructive comments on this site are more boring. I'm on my way over to Tractor-boys.com where the comments usually go a little bit deeper than "MM/ME out" Most of them do seem to attend the games and although they are very unhappy with our performances this season and are looking for a change of Manager, the vitriol and bile doesn't get quite as unpleasantly personal as on here.
Why this obsession on who marks who up or down? in the end it,s just someones opinion so lets get on and support our team until safety is achieved. COYB.
McCarthy's "nobody loves me everybodt hates me going down the garden to eat worms" is wearing a bit thin now his friday self justification chats are merely annoyingly repetitive.
I was a McCarthy supporter up until the last couple of weeks but now the bloke just trots out he same old pre match rubbish. He cannot pick a team now to save his life and I fear he may go 5 at the back again which will be just ridiculous as Berra and Knudsen cannot play that system. It has to be 4-4-2 tomorrow surely. Very sad times at our Club and after doing such a good job when MM arrived his reputation is fast being destroyed at least at Ipswich Town F.C. although the pattern here was much similar at Wolves and Sunderland except he did not get us promotion. I fear anther defeat tomorrow and if so the alarm bells will really be ringing. Agree with others we need to get behind the team just to try keep us up and then start afresh. I am not sure at the moment the way things are we are going to survive. All the teams below us play better football than we do but just home we can scrape over the line and start afresh next season.
It's completely obvious that Chambers is a far better CB than he is a RB so why move him back there. Would rather have Spence or Emmanuel at RB, their natural position. Would consider either dropping Berra if going 4 at the back and partnering Chambers with Taylor in the middle, or go 3 at the back again which doesn't suit Berra at all.
I am so angry today I had to register on the site and put down how I feel, because supporting Ipswich Town football club at the moment is depressing and not a pleasurable experience. I have been a town fan since I was 5 (much to the disappoint of my entire family who are either West Ham or Orient) I'm now nearly 50 so I feel I can write this with some knowledge of our great club, a season ticket holder for over 20 years, been through it all glory days was at the FA Cup final aged 10 with my dad (West Ham fan wasn't happy), UEFA cup final both legs home and away, been all over Europe watching my beloved town, never will forget play off final against Barnsley one of my best football days ever. Seen it nearly every big moment in towns history, being a town fan meant something to me, a family club run by a proper family in the Cobbolds with a fantastic man at the helm in Sheepshanks a PROPER football man, Two England managers!!! (how many clubs can say that?) Bobby Robson and his team were was my hero's as a kid and Ipswich Town were my life home and away every week. Fast forward today Marcus Evans Roy Keane Paul Jewell Mick McCarthy I am getting depressed just tying their names This the first and probably last time ill post on here, I really do enjoy the banter between you all, but it shows we are all different and we all have different opinions, no one is right no one is wrong so if I get marked up or down I don't really mind. Just wanted to make two points. 1.Marcus Evans…If you have truly lost your appetite for Ipswich Town and you have lost interest in getting at least competitive in the championship then thank you for saving us financially but please for the good of our club sell up and go and let someone who IS passionate about us take over (please take Milne with you he is a disgrace to the Town name) 2.Mick…You did an amazing job at the beginning but remember saying to my friends it will all end in tears, your brand of football (as at Wolves) is negative and old hat, watching town last season and this has truly been the worst level of football I have seen at my club, it's not all your fault no backing from Evans I get that, but you know and I know in the summer you will be gone, where does that leave us (possible in league 1). 3.Players…Footballers get accused of being money grabbers, mercenaries, and journey men, some of you are trying, some of you I think do care about my club, some of you are being played out of position or are being asked to do a job you can't do, again I get that I don't expect you to be world beaters, but what I do expect is 100% effort and commitment every week regardless of how good or bad its going, hardly any of you are putting in a shift, so how about looking in the mirror and stand up and be counted, or you will be in league one next year on reduced wages, and most of you will be shipped out, what I am seeing in at the moment you are going to struggle in league 1 as football is played not hoof ball.
Do I think this will make any difference do I think the owner, manager, players give a toss what I have written, probably not, you know what it's made me feel better! Also, so the club knows, my 8-year-old son has recently got into football in a big way I have brought him to 4 or 5 games and he hasn't enjoyed it all, (so that's two of us), taking him to Southend at home on Saturday where there is a much better atmosphere and a bit more kid friendly, another town fan lost because of an ill run club
Midas touch just read the link bookmakers make their profit by favourites getting beat let's hope this is the case tomorrow. ronnyd couldn't agree more don't know why so many people worry about the arrows I certainly don't last time I looked I had 945 minuses.
Mick will stick with Bartosz in goal but says he may go back to a back 4 defensive system with Taylor at CB alongside Berra and Chambers moved back to RB!! (We have 2 ACTUAL RB's!!)
And that Dino is just one of the many reasons I cancelled my season ticket on Tuesday night! Enough is enough, no investment and boring football has reached boiling point for me! Once you and Evans are out I may return!
Cannot believe reading the team news epic RC is even thinking of including Chambers light back just do it just so his love child christophe Berra can play. Does the dinosaur learn absolutely nothing in the game against Reading at the majeski beerens absolutely ripped Chambers a new one
We can rule a defeat out. Don't usually have the same result twice. Win seems unlikely unless Reading have a huge off day. Draw it is. We will play for one I suspect. 1-1.
Mick you have targeted so many players that decided they wouldnt play for you ,you summed it up yourself by saying young Reece Oxford another target for Town is a good footballer and will suit Reading why YES they play the game on grass you plonker.As you said I hope it is you and your mate Dougie gone together the sooner the better..
I'm sure you're all going to shoot me down but you all need to get off Micks back he's got an owner with no ambition for the club and no money in a big spending league. You lot need to be careful what you wish for - I don't give much for our chances of staying up if he leaves
bluesman All I wish for is football to be played the way it should and that dosent cost a penny its not about money to pass a bloody ball on the grass.McCarthys thinking on football wont change with money believe me.Enjoy the game tomorrow in hope rather that expectation mate..
The pessimist in me says another humping! Hope I'm wrong, but it's an uncomfortable omen when all the visiting teams at PR are relishing their prospects!!
Warkys-tash...dont you get it? re-read my post, nowhere do i mention in that post about protesting or booing never have condoned booing of players. Butcher was saying people should continue to go along and pay good money and support the team. Can you imagine how Butcher would be in the dressing room if he was a part of that team? He would be fuming as he was after Lincoln Debacle.When are supporters supposed to moan?
We can go along like mice pay our money and continue to be ripped off or be like me i choose to stay away not paying any more money into supporting that rubbish. the club has not been listening, milne only the other day was saying stand by Mick.
No he has to go now and i think a new man starting will refresh the place and team which in turn will increase our chances of safety.
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