Ipswich Town midfielder Massimo Luongo says the Blues are prioritising “the workout rather than the result” following their 2-1 defeat at home to 2. Bundesliga outfit Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday afternoon.
Kieran McKenna’s side were beaten in their second public pre-season friendly, which followed their 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in Austria, after goals from the visitors either side of a Marcus Harness equaliser soon after half-time – as the Town winger finished off a flowing move involving George Hirst and Conor Chaplin.
The Blues had fallen behind after five minutes when Danny Schmidt found the back of the net via a cultured finish from inside the box and Tim Roßmann sealed victory for Fortuna just before the hour mark.
"It’s probably the first proper test where tactically we don’t have to prepare as much as we do in pre-season, as we normally do, so we had figure it out out there,” said Lungo, who played 65 minutes of the friendly before he was replaced by Freddie Ladapo.
"It was good for the new lads to adjust to the pace of how we play, supporters getting a feel of what the season will be like and, it was my first 65 [minutes] today.
"Some [players] are a little bit ahead of me, some are a little bit behind me, so it’s really good to get the minutes in our legs, suffer a little bit in the game, which we did, and we’ll learn from it.”
Fortunately begin their league campaign next Sunday and Luongo was asked about playing sides who are further through their pre-season schedule.
"It’s always a bit like that,” he said. "Especially when we play foreign teams, their season starts earlier, the team in Austria were quite far ahead of us but we played two 45s, so it’s always difficult.
"I think the priority is always the workout rather than the result. It would’ve been nice to win, it was nice to beat Shakhtar in Austria, but I think we’ve got to remind ourselves where we are and the [pre-season] process.
"Just worry about our minutes, worry about getting what we need out of the game and improving.”
But while results in pre-season aren’t the main issue, the former Tottenham, Swindon, QPR and Sheffield Wednesday man admits that losing still rankles a little and the game will be assessed.
"Obviously we’re a very competitive team, so when we lose a game we’re a bit down or we want to figure out why we won the game and I think the boss is a prime example of that,” he added.
"I think we just need to remind ourselves, we’ll get in Monday morning and have a look at what we did wrong or what we need to do, just a few adjustments and it could make the game look completely different.
"Their first goal was really good, to be fair. I think that caught us by surprise. Having said that, our goal was really good. Two positive things
"Little things that we could probably do better individually and fitness-wise, I think we’ll get better, the fitter we get.”
Manager Kieran McKenna was on the sidelines treating the game as he would a Premier League fixture, which the 31-year-old says helps drive the team.
"It’s good,” he reflected. ‘I think he knows how to drive the atmosphere or the tempo of the game. As soon as they scored, you could tell the tempo went a bit flat, low block, low to mid-block and we sort of had to find a way to bring energy into the game, whether it was a tackle, the press, a shot on goal.
"And obviously we feed off the fans a little bit, they feed off us, so when the game’s a little bit stale, it can be hard to find that energy to change it, to change the type of game. I think we’ll get that a lot this year in the Premier League.
"He is a big example himself of bringing energy. He even said that at half-time, we need to change the energy of this game really quickly, whether it’s a press or a tackle or something.
"He made subs and put maybe a few more familiar boys in the team and it looked better for a little bit.”
He admits it was good to hear the Portman Road roar when Marcus Harness’s equaliser just after half-time found the net.
"That was nice, especially as it was a really nice goal,” he said. "It’s coming back to us slowly, so it’s great to be playing in a big stadium again and I can’t wait for the season to start. We’ve got three games left, so it will be exciting, but interesting, to see how far we get.”
McKenna handed a first appearance in a Town shirt to goalkeeper Aro Muric as well as Portman Road debuts to Jacob Greaves, Ben Johnson and Liam Delap.
Asked about his new teammates and how they have settled in, the Australia international said: "Brilliant, actually. I’d say we’re a pretty easy group to come into, I think we’ve got quite good lads. I think you can tell already that they understand the roles that they’ve got.
"First and foremost they need to work hard, and they have done, so that’s brilliant.
"They’re all really nice guys, so that’s a bonus, and from what I can tell they’re really good players. It’s all looking pretty good.
"I think the boss is really particular in who he brings in, really conscious of ruining that culture that he's built and he’s picked so far so good.”
Regarding central striker Delap, he added: "Liam, I remember when we played against him last year, he’s so powerful, he’s such a good runner. He left me in the dust a couple of times in the game.
"He’s powerful, his striking ability is really good, his finishing is really good. Probably off the right, up front, he’s been a bit of both last year, so I’m not sure where he’s going to play, but he looks promising.
"It’s a tough job up there, rarely do our strikers last 90 minutes and we missed Hirsty for a little bit last season and you could really feel that we lost that press and I think we’ve got two boys that can do it and they do it really fast and they do it really strong and he does leave a foot in sometimes, so it’s definitely a massive strength of ours.”
Jack Taylor, who usually vies with Luongo for the role on the left of the midfield double pivot, was on the left of the three behind Delap. Luongo says the two are far from like-for-like players despite battling for the same shirt most weeks.
"We had it all last year. We’re completely different players playing for one position, so I think tactics come so much into it,” he said.
"It’s two positions but it’s really one position. If Jack plays we know why he’s playing and I play, we know why I’m playing.
"And I’m sure the boss is looking at bringing other people in. It’s healthy competition and the culture is really good on the squad, so everyone’s fighting, but we’re all cool and we understand the job at hand and whoever plays, we’re all behind them.”
In three weeks’ time, Town will welcome Liverpool to Portman Road for their first Premier League match in 22 years - coincidentally the Reds were their final opponents at Anfield on the final day of 2001/02 - and Luongo admitted the squad cannot wait to get going.
"I think everyone is excited, I think that’s the big thing. We’re relishing the opportunity. We know the first game is massive, Liverpool at home,” he enthused.
"No one is thinking the other way, negatively, we’re all comparing to an FA Cup draw, like ‘We’ve got one of the big teams’ and you want to play the big teams and you’re excited to play the big teams.
"The first two games are massive and I think everyone’s excited, everyone wants to play, everyone wants to be involved.
"Saying that now, we’ll see in the last week when we’re analysing them, but at the moment everyone’s really looking forward to it.”