Injuries May Advance Town’s Youth Prospects

As is often the case when the new season starts, we seem to have more than our fair share of injuries.

Already out are Teddy Bishop, Emyr Huws, Tom Adeyemi and of course Andre Dozzell and there are others fighting to be fit for our next match in the Championship in two days time.

According to manager Mick McCarthy, Webster won’t be back until after the first international break so it will be the start of September before we are likely to see him involved again and as for poor Andre, we of course won’t see him at all.

Normally this would be a good reason to be concerned but although the squad is smaller than last term, the quality is far improved and much more adaptable I think.

This means that manager Mick McCarthy can juggle things around a bit and he has versatility in a number of key positions and this is especially the case at the back, where a number of players can occupy the wing back or central defensive positions.

Injuries can play havoc with performances but judging by the way Town played on Tuesday night, when there were seven changes to the side that defeated Birmingham City at Portman Road, this does not always spell disaster. In terms of the display, few would argue that the Blues in the main, still gelled very well.

The advent of Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam merely goes to show that if you give youth a chance they might just surprise you! Our manager argued however that he was not surprised at all by their performances on Tuesday night and has always been willing to draft in young players, if he felt they were up to the task.

In fairness to McCarthy, he was not afraid to draft Luke Hyam and Teddy Bishop into his team and we witnessed last season the arrival of Myles Kenlock and Josh Emmanuel on the scene!

Jordan Spence and Cole Skuse should be fit for the trip to Barnsley and so too Tommy Smith and Joe Garner, according to the manager at his weekly press conference this afternoon. Luke Hyam is also back in training and may be on bench warming duties.

This might mean that the wonderfully gifted Flynn Downes may have to bide his time on the bench as well; along with Nydam and Woolfenden but cometh the hour cometh the man and these days our young bloods are knocking much more heavily on the first team door!

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich