Central defender Josh Yorwerth (above), left-back Myles Kenlock, winger Larsen Touré and striker Brett Pitman will be handed their debuts in a much-changed Town line-up which faces Stevenage in the first round of the Capital One Cup at Portman Road on Tuesday evening (KO 7.45pm). Skipper Luke Chambers is the only player in the XI lining up against Boro who started at Brentford on Saturday.
Guinean international Touré and Pitman will also make their Blues bows having joined the club in the summer, while Giles Coke and Jonathan Douglas will be making their first starts.
Manager Mick McCarthy usually keeps his team close to his chest but on this occasion named his side at his pre-match press conference: “I’ve no reason why not. Gerks is in the goals, Chambo’s at right-back. Josh Yorwerth centre-half, Myles Kenlock [at left-back].
“Tabby, Giles Coke, Jonathan Douglas, Larsen Touré [are the midfield from left to right], David McGoldrick and Brett Pitman. Nobody can tell me that’s a weak team. That team might have to play on a Saturday in the league. That team could be picked.
“Let’s see how they do. Having had the debut of Josh Emmanuel, who I thought was outstanding on Saturday and didn’t deserve to be on a team that drew, he should have been on the winning team, I’m hopeful that Josh Yorwerth and Myles Kenlock will see that and it can inspire them to a good performance.”
Kenlock
McCarthy says Jonny Parr is likely to miss Tuesday’s game and also Saturday’s home match with Sheffield Wednesday as he continues his recovery from the thigh injury he suffered in pre-season, while Teddy Bishop is going to be out for longer with his hamstring problem.
“Jonny Parr’s been out training with Lids [fitness coach Andy Liddell], just getting his fitness and getting rehab in. He’s not joined us at all yet. We were talking about Thursday for him to train.
Touré
“And Bish, he got a tight hamstring. I try to see a silver lining in every cloud because we’ve lost one of the best young midfielders for a while, but maybe that will coincide with his shins getting a bit of treatment and he’ll feel better when he comes back, so neither of them will be fit.”
He added: “It’s trying to take the opportunity when it’s there, rather than trying to rush him back with a hamstring. We’ve got six games in 21 days from the start of the season, potentially seven if we win the game tomorrow night.
Pitman
“They will come so thick and fast that it coincides then with the two-week [international] break. He’s given himself a chance to be fit when he gets back.
“And I’d sooner he was fit for the next 40 games than be limping along and finding out that we’ve got a problem here and a problem there. Let’s see if we can get him right and he’ll be better for it.”
Kevin Bru limped off at Brentford but McCarthy says a problem picked up in training is a bigger issue: “Kevin trained today. I thought he might have done his hamstring [on Saturday] and then subsequently he has done his hamstring this morning.
“He came out and trained this morning, it was cramp on Saturday. He came out, he started great and he just pulled up in the training session.
“That’s quite sad, he’ll have a scan tomorrow, see how bad it is. Hopefully, it’s not too bad and he’ll be back quite quickly.”
Despite another central midfielder Luke Hyam also being sidelined for around three more months having undergone knee surgery, McCarthy says he’s not yet going to look to the loan market with several other options in his squad.
“Tabby can play and I think now FIFA have deemed that Adam McDonnell can play,” he said. “He could have worked in Tesco for five quid an hour but we couldn’t pay him and play him. But there are more people who have bigger problems than FIFA that I’ve got.
“The one thing he’s really good at is playing football and he was denied that opportunity. Now, thankfully, he is able to play.
“We’ll see. I’m not going to go dipping into the loan market. We’ve got Cokey, we’ve got Dougie, we’ve got Skusey, Tabby, a couple of young ‘uns if we need to have a look at them. So I won’t be chasing any players at this time.”
Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Kenlock, Yorwerth, Berra, Coke, Douglas, Touré, Tabb, McGoldrick, Pitman.