Ipswich Town supporters may want to see Paul Taylor in the starting line-up at Championship table-toppers Leicester tomorrow, but manager Mick McCarthy insists the striker has not been good enough this season.

Sixteen-goal top scorer David McGoldrick is set to miss the rest of the season after suffering knee ligament damage in last Saturday’s goalless home draw with Blackpool and McCarthy says he will look within his squad for a replacement rather than looking for a loan signing.

In an online EADT poll yesterday, most Blues fans (37%) said they wanted to see Taylor partner Daryl Murphy at The King Power Stadium, while Sylvan Ebanks-Blake was a close second (31%).

It looks like it will be Frank Nouble who will be selected though after McCarthy revealed that Ebanks-Blake is not ready to start a match following his latest return from injury and added that Taylor not been as good as his peers.

“We’ve just lost our best striker so there’s an opportunity there for everybody,” said McCarthy. “Paul Taylor has got talent, there’s no doubt about that. He’s got to be better than the others though, that’s my view.

“I tell the players, it’s a bit of a secret this, but I don’t pick the worst ones – in my mind.

“Others might have a different view, but I don’t pick the worst ones. I try and pick who I think are the better ones.

“Yes, we have done a lot of work with him (Taylor). He came back from a long-term injury eight months into my tenure as manager so I’ve only seen him for seven months really. I think the injury (broken foot) took a lot out of him, he’s fully fit now, but I just think the others have been better than him.

“He’s in the squad tomorrow. I’ve only got 18 outfield players.”

Taylor – who previous boss Paul Jewell paid £1.5m to sign from Peterborough in August 2012 – has started just two games for Town this season. He recently stayed at home to play in an Under-21 game while the rest of the first team squad travelled to Portugal for some warm weather training and was then sent home from Barnsley just hours before kick-off as he was suffering from toothache.