I normally loathe the disruption an international break causes to the league campaign, but on this occasion I am grateful for it and I don’t think I am the only one.
In the modern game we have come to live with these enforced pauses but I am quite sure manager MicK McCarthy is thankful that he has some time to get his walking wounded back on their feet again.
It is a pity that our last match ended in defeat but it may make his players even more determined to get something from the game at Queen’s Park Rangers on Saturday afternoon.
What we do not want is back to back defeats and we all know that going to Loftus Road is never easy. Taking this on board, I am inclined to think that we would all happily take a point and follow the Mick McCarthy mantra this time around.
It was good to see Bersant Celina scoring once again for the under 23’s last Saturday and it seems as if he has knuckled down to trying to get into the Town starting line-up and not sulking.
I like him as a player and obviously so do his parent club Manchester City – although they may be a little concerned that he is not at this moment getting as much first team game time as they would have expected. He is however knocking loudly on the door now and may feature more prominently shortly.
Luke Hyam is also playing again and there are encouraging signs that a return to first team action is not too far away. We know that his tenacity is sometimes missed but we must accept that he will add very little to the creativity of our midfield.
Someone who might add both physicality and invention is Tom Adeyemi and I am looking forward to seeing him in a Town shirt soon. Once again, he is also nearing full fitness so this international break has come as a good time for him as well.
August was a very tricky month with so many fixtures and so many injuries to contend with. The fact that we won four of our first five Championship games was a remarkable achievement.
The enforced break has given the squad valuable time to regroup and refresh and we may see the benefits of this come Saturday afternoon one hopes.
Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich
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