Town boss Mick McCarthy admits he needed the performance in last week’s 2-2 home draw with Reading after the disappointing display as the Blues were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Derby at Portman Road a few days earlier.

Asked whether the tough run of games coming up - the visits to Aston Villa and Brighton, the home match with Leeds and then the East Anglian derby against Norwich at Carrow Road - are a little less daunting after the performance against the Royals rather than a repeat of the display against Derby, McCarthy said: “You might have been talking to somebody else, I don’t know.”

Quizzed on whether that was a semi-tongue-in-cheek comment, he added: “I didn’t like the Derby performance.”

Does he mean he was on the edge after the Rams game? “No, I’d have waited and seen. We’ve played really well, I just [saw] how we did on Saturday, I’ll take it game by game myself and that was a really good performance, a performance that I would be proud to put out every week.

“And I think all the others were, but that made a difference with the players that came in, having those players available and I could play them.

“I’d take that over the next 16 games, just give me that performance and we’ll be fine.”

He added: “I needed that for myself. I want to feel good about it as well, by the way. I don’t like feeling bad about how we're playing.”

McCarthy says he’ll still consider his future in the summer - “absolutely” - but says it hadn’t become a case of making that assessment after each match following the Derby defeat.

“Not really, I wanted a performance after Derby, and we got it, which is always good,” he continued. “Players respond to you, the new players come in, that’s always encouraging.”

He says the performance against the Royals is something to build on: “I’m glad because that makes me feel better. I can’t honestly say I was that encouraged by some of the performances we’ve had, in fact I was discouraged by [some of them].

“We’ve had a good one and then a couple of bad ones but Saturday was a really good performance against a very good side, who we didn’t give many chances to, we stopped them playing.

“They had lots of possession but didn’t do anything with it in terms of chances and I thought we should have won the game. And - seems it’s going that way - we would have but for a 30-yard-plus shot which flies in the bottom corner and even beats Bartosz, which has been hard to do.”

Photo: TWTD

borge added 16:16 - Feb 9 I am not a fan of MM and I am glad to hear that he was effectively considering his future after the Derby debacle, but if we performed every week like we did against Reading I would be more than happy for him to stay. My issues with him relate to his seeming inability to adapt tactics, his unwillingness to use the players at his disposal to best effect and the incredibly poor football. He showed against Reading that he may just be capable of addressing all these issues and if he can, then he could just turn things around. Maybe.

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Smithy added 16:26 - Feb 9 We all needed that performance Mick, not just you.
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bluelady added 16:37 - Feb 9 if we play like that the rest of the season you will be back to a semi hero having done so well in the transfer market on nothing.. if we don't you will be the villan having failed the transfer window! so I guess time will tell.....
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christiand added 17:00 - Feb 9 I have certainly have not been a fan of MM's probably for the last 18 months, but he is a more than reasonable man, if he is willing to learn from his mistakes I'd be happy to keep him especially as we all now know what he is up against regarding the owner , board and financial constraints. Let's see how we finish this season, we're still in a little strife, but if we finish well playing decent football, using the tactics and team selections then who knows?

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worker added 17:07 - Feb 9 worker 7 I came away last game quite contented.Wemissed skuse( he is not appreciated enough methinks ) when he went off injured but ward played better than i've seen for a long while.///What I dont understand is when oposition has a cornerwe dont have someonenr half way line to pull some of their def back.Any clearance upfield can only go to opp 'and thats when we seem vulnerable and possibly how they shipped in the equaliser.

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norfolkbluey added 17:09 - Feb 9 If we do well against Norwich and remain safe from relegation it is likely the fans will forgive MM. I think ME may get all the blame if we fall into the bottom three but I think we will survive if a performance like that against Reading can be repeated having spent ME's trouser change. Wigan proved that gems can be picked up in the lower leagues. Time will tell if we have. Where would we be without Lawrence? Basement bottom me thinks a bit like our new players! Lets hope we picked up some gems like Wigan.

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jas0999 added 17:22 - Feb 9 Encouraging performance, but changing little as far as MM is concerned. It's been poor since late 2015.
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Seasider added 17:28 - Feb 9 Not sure if you heard the hour long interview with Ian Milne, the CEO, Christiand;but I was given the distinct impression that Micks employers are very concerned by the continuing fall in attendances.Milne even said that a lot of current season ticket holders are also not attending,although they are included in the figures released It was also pretty clear that this has been conveyed to the Manager;hence the attempt,successful against Reading,to entertain the fans who went(me included). I never wanted him here in the first place because his reputation had proceeded him;and boy up until now he has lived up to that;but I support the team,not the Manager,who's appointment I cannot affect anyway;so like you I hope we continue to play like we did on Saturday. Not sure I agree about him staying on though,which once again I am powerless to influence;but again I agree that he has been under severe financial constraints from Evans,which was highlighted this week with Emr Huws subsidising his own wages! This is something

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walberblue added 18:36 - Feb 9 "Only judge me on my wins"
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brendenward35 added 20:05 - Feb 9 Got a feeling he will do as his done all season bring in his favourites and ignore what is obvious. Like everyone has said start will team who played 2nd half last week but I just cannot see him doing it.
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rollercoastertown added 20:07 - Feb 9 When I first glanced at the headline I thought it said 'I needed Reading performance after DIGBY display' , blimey I thought, bit harsh, but fair.
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blueboy1981 added 21:44 - Feb 9 .......... start using your players to their full potential then - square pegs in round holes, players sitting too deep, midfielders doing nothing other than looking for the sideways or backward pass - will NEVER be productive. WE all know that - WHY DON'T YOU ?? ......... with all your so called expertise - if it's there - show us it ... !!
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blueboy1981 added 21:45 - Feb 9 ......... the game in question - proved my point. How can ANYONE disagree with that .... ???
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kallyweed added 21:47 - Feb 9 Why is it always the same sh!t? We have an owner who should be investing. We have made money from player sales yet all our signings are bloody loanees. The issue isn't MM, it's Marcus Evans. Get Evans out and get an owner who will actually invest. I travel down from Wolverhampton at least once a month to watch my team yet the owner can't match the same passion us fans have. After the Wolves game I won't be doing that 320 mile round trip again until ME goes or coughs up.

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Kikapu added 21:57 - Feb 10 Well said, kallyweed. I was about to despair when I read another of blueboy's posts. Surely as supporters you must realise that MM martials his limited resources the best way he can. He plays players out position because he feels he has to. He doesn't play 'pretty' football because he doesn't have the players to do so. He played the long ball because he hasn't got quality players in the midfield. I bet he knew his number was up as son as Murphy handed in his transfer request days before the start of the season. You must give MM credit for doing the best he can on the budget he has. Certain supporters (without sufficient knowledge) criticise him yet we have loan players taking a pay cut to play under MM. Put the blame where it ought to go - not on the manager.

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