Honest Mick Says I Screwed Up!

Archbishop Richard Whately apparently said that ‘ honesty is the best policy; but he who is governed by that maxim is not an honest man.’

So then, were does that leave honest Mick? He admitted after another humiliating defeat at Portman Road on Saturday that he was to blame as he did not freshen things up, after playing the same team that sneaked past Blackburn Rovers in midweek.

Yet that was not the only thing he got completely wrong. He decided to play a very negative game with three holding players in midfield in Skuse, Douglas and Hyam.

There was no creativity in the centre of the park, which meant that our forwards were starved of service again.

It is all very well telling us that he got it all wrong but this is not the first time he has done this and it is not the first time either that supporters have born witness to a complete lack of invention and this time it could cost us very dearly.

Football is not rocket science but if you were to believe some of the post-match interviews from managers and coaches you could be fooled into believing it was!

The reality is that we went into this one with a very negative formation and a manager that decided to leave all his most creative midfielders either on the bench, or out of the squad.

What for example had Ben Pringle done wrong not to be included in this side and we acquire Liam Feeney but only decide to give him some game time in the second half when we are already a goal down!

There are many aspects of the Mick McCarthy management style that do not sit comfortably with Town supporters, who have over the years been spoilt on seeing entertaining football from the blues.

The most annoying bit is that there is some talent in the squad but our manager decides quite often to play them out of position in the case of Freddie Sears – or not at all, as Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Kevin Foley will sadly testify.

Mick explained forlornly after another poor home performance that his side did not play well. “We didn`t deserve to get anything out of the game after that goal though. We didn`t really create anything and it was a disappointing performance all round.’

Indeed it was and perhaps we could have tolerated it a bit more if we were creating a few chances but there was absolutely nothing to get excited about and this is after Mick had said that it was up to his players to get the crowd going.

In this respect he may he succeeded. He got the crowd going homeward early and some of them might not come back!

Frank Weston – editor of Vital Ipswich