Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy has dropped a heavy hint that he will make sweeping changes to his starting XI following Saturday’s limp 1-0 defeat to rivals Norwich City in the East Anglian derby at Portman Road.

The Blues gifted the Canaries their winner – a mix-up between keeper Dean Gerken and Cole Skuse the latest in a string of sloppy goals conceded.

And once again a workmanlike and one-dimensional side’s attacking limitations were laid bare as their regional rivals, by no means fully firing, kept the bragging rights.

Having started the campaign with a 2-1 home win over Fulham, McCarthy’s men have now gone out of the Capital One Cup at League One side Crawley, lost at Reading, drawn at Birmingham and suffered a painful loss to their Norfolk neighbours.

After a similar start this time last year – one win, three league defeats and a League Cup exit – McCarthy dropped four players and the Blues went on to lose just three of their next 20 matches.

Asked if he was considering the same sort of action ahead of this Saturday’s trip to Derby (5-1 winners against Fulham at the weekend), the Town boss said: “I’ll see in the week. Can a change be as good as a rest? Of course, yeah, yeah. Like I say, I’ll have a look in the week. It’s not like I’ve got a 30-man squad to rotate though is it?”

In actual fact, with Cameron Stewart and Stephen Hunt sidelined, Anthony Wordsworth, Paul Taylor and Jack Marriott out on loan, Frank Nouble transfer-listed and Conor Sammon unlikely to be allowed to play against his parent club, the Town first team squad effectively numbers just 17 heading into the weekend.

Bartosz Bialkowski could come in for keeper Dean Gerken, just as the latter replaced Scott Loach last season, while Kevin Bru, Alex Henshall and Alex Henshall are options to promote to the starting XI at Pride Park.

Reinforcements are undoubtedly required and, having cleared the decks, McCarthy appears to have a young Premier League loanee or two lined up for after the international break in little under a fortnight’s time.

“We’ll not be going out and making any major signings,” said the Blues boss. “If we have to use the loan window then that’s what we’ll do. You find that the Premier League clubs wait until after the first few games, then the international break comes.

“I think some have been keeping their younger players, who are excess to their squad who they would normally have loaned out by now, under their own wings because the World Cup has pushed things back.

“You might find there will be a few more available soon that we can take if we need to.”