| McKenna…. 22:24 - Apr 5 with 3976 views | Wallingford_Boy |
Get ready for down votes!
Is he the man?
I’d say he’s come up short this season.
Harsh? Maybe..
At least one thing, he won’t be going to any Prem club this summer! |  |
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| McKenna…. on 11:23 - Apr 6 with 601 views | BarcaBlue |
| McKenna…. on 08:44 - Apr 6 by ArnieM |
Whilst our PL survival was always on serious foubt even before the season kicked off. I do feel Mckenna has shown a lack of tactical awareness. Yesterday a prime example. Opposition manager changes his team's tactics and as usual Mckenna fails to respond. Changing the whole frontline on 80mins ( tired legs for fresh legs) is not a demonstration of CHANGING your tactical approach. He always does this action no matter is going on, on the pitch. What it does demonstrate is either he isn't learning the tactical side of the game (which i find hard to accept given his undoubted abilities), or he's not willing to change his tactics. Which I've said before, appear to be set in stone atm.
Would a more experienced manager have utilised this squad differently, or better? I have no idea, but looking bavk over the season and various games yoh can't but help wonder, what if.
We go again next season. But it won't be the walk in the park some are already predicting, we lack physical presence in the squad and are top heavy in lightweight number 10's,with a weak midfield. Another busy summer beckons. |
What tactical changes did Pereira make at half time and how do you know McKenna didn't (even though there's no evidence they worked)?
I agree about the midfield, and what Wolves had there and the players that they brought off the bench shows the gulf in quality in just the team one place above us. Broadhead having such an anonymous match and the Townsend injury didn't help either.
I still haven't seen these posts that next season will be a walk in the park people keep referring to. Who has actually said that? |  | | |
| McKenna…. on 11:27 - Apr 6 with 591 views | GavTWTD |
I think our failure this season is largely down to recruitment which I think is mainly down to the criteria set by Gamechanger. Totally understand why it was done this way but we needed more experience. |  |
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| McKenna…. on 11:36 - Apr 6 with 546 views | Blue_Heath |
| McKenna…. on 11:27 - Apr 6 by GavTWTD |
I think our failure this season is largely down to recruitment which I think is mainly down to the criteria set by Gamechanger. Totally understand why it was done this way but we needed more experience. |
I'd say that is the biggest reason yes, too many players not enough quality although where would we be without Delap? |  | | |
| McKenna…. on 11:46 - Apr 6 with 528 views | WolfieAtTheBack |
| McKenna…. on 08:03 - Apr 6 by cressi |
Nobody are untouchable including McKenna yes he has built up a lot of credit and fully deserves to start the season, but if a Xmas we aren't around the top 6 he will be under pressure. Also he needs to say early on his staying we don't want last yrs carry on.
There will be lots of personal changes. |
Losing the manager, back room team and playing staff is one we want to avoid at all costs if we want to go back up at the first try.
Hopefully KM will stay, but, look at Kompany it is hard to know what clubs will be in for him. Maybe managing in Europe is a good move for KM professionally. | | | |
| McKenna…. on 11:47 - Apr 6 with 531 views | pointofblue |
| McKenna…. on 11:27 - Apr 6 by GavTWTD |
I think our failure this season is largely down to recruitment which I think is mainly down to the criteria set by Gamechanger. Totally understand why it was done this way but we needed more experience. |
I still don't like the set up of Ashton being chairman and CEO. Gamechanger need to bring in someone different to replace O'Leary and have oversight. Recruitment has been a mess since promotion to the Premier League with Delap, O'Shea and (although we've barely seen him) Townsend the only permanent signings who have shown their worth.
Saying that, as highlighted above, I think other managers - those experienced in the Premier League - would have done a better job than McKenna this year. He has been stubborn with making his favoured formation work when it clear it's behind our downfall, and has been far too slow in making in-match changes. Would we have survived if he had been more proactive? I doubt it, as the gap is too big. But we would be closer to Wolves and have a degree of respectability.
McKenna will go into next season with a similar, if not more pressure, as he was under in 2022/23. You do not spend the amount of money we have to go backwards, and anything but 2nd or above in 2025/26 will be doing just that. That being said, I do think he's the man to do it but, just like the players on the pitch, he still has plenty of learning to do. | |
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| McKenna…. on 11:50 - Apr 6 with 526 views | olimar |
| McKenna…. on 11:27 - Apr 6 by GavTWTD |
I think our failure this season is largely down to recruitment which I think is mainly down to the criteria set by Gamechanger. Totally understand why it was done this way but we needed more experience. |
As Ashton has alluded to in recent interviews though, getting experience means paying out massive wages for players who a.) might need persuading to come to Ipswich so arent necessarily bought in b.) will immediately want out on relegation c.) will likely not attract any sort of decent fee when they leave.
Maybe there is a balance to have 1 or 2 in that mould and I definitely think not having an experienced forward is a miss, but when we clearly needed to bring in a large number of players, sinking money into 4-5 short term experienced players would have really limited how many other players we could bring in. And probably harms us a lot more when we go down too.
As it is, we did go big on KP and Cajuste who both came with experience of PL/CL. Plus DOS, Muric (for his faults, which we didnt know at the time) and Johnson all had PL experience too, albeit more limited.
I dont really know what else we could have done, the strategy feels right to me, the question is always about whether the players were the right ones but there will always be misses. | | | |
| McKenna…. on 11:50 - Apr 6 with 525 views | SE1blue |
| McKenna…. on 09:09 - Apr 6 by Blue_Heath |
Before I say anything else, I am not McKenna out but why the downvotes for the OP?
We all knew the likelihood was we would go down but let's be honest the manner of it is not what we expected, 1 home win all season and groundhog day every week. I am sorry but that is not good enough.
Has he come up short given his trajectory and reputation plus £150m spent? absolutely, does he deserve the chance to redeem himself? unquestionably.
He's a young manager, hopefully, he has learnt a lot from this season and will come back stronger. [Post edited 6 Apr 9:20]
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To answer your first question, I think the downvotes were aimed at the abuse dished out following downvotes.
Was actually impressed with how little toxicity (in comparison to previous matches) there was on here last night, so this one stuck out and others have been hung out to dry for less. Just makes the forum a bit tedious when people can’t handle their emotions.
Yes, yes, people are upset post-matches, we get it, but getting abusive because of downvotes on a forum is laughable. |  |
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| McKenna…. on 12:04 - Apr 6 with 498 views | olimar |
| McKenna…. on 11:47 - Apr 6 by pointofblue |
I still don't like the set up of Ashton being chairman and CEO. Gamechanger need to bring in someone different to replace O'Leary and have oversight. Recruitment has been a mess since promotion to the Premier League with Delap, O'Shea and (although we've barely seen him) Townsend the only permanent signings who have shown their worth.
Saying that, as highlighted above, I think other managers - those experienced in the Premier League - would have done a better job than McKenna this year. He has been stubborn with making his favoured formation work when it clear it's behind our downfall, and has been far too slow in making in-match changes. Would we have survived if he had been more proactive? I doubt it, as the gap is too big. But we would be closer to Wolves and have a degree of respectability.
McKenna will go into next season with a similar, if not more pressure, as he was under in 2022/23. You do not spend the amount of money we have to go backwards, and anything but 2nd or above in 2025/26 will be doing just that. That being said, I do think he's the man to do it but, just like the players on the pitch, he still has plenty of learning to do. |
Think your assessment of the recruitment needs a bit more nuance to it, personally.
We were never going to get 15 players who were all 100% successive and performed exactly as expected, no club is that successful with it.
It was always going to be a case that some would perform really well immediately, some would be fine but will likely take longer to develop into really good assets, some will be fine but no more than that and some will be failures.
I think its easy to categorise the players who fall into the first and last of those categories, but there are many that arent immediately in the last group just because they arent in the first group.
Phillips is an example- we likely paid a high wage for him and hoped he would be a game changer for us. But we dont actually know how much we are paying for him and we arent burdened by his wage/transfer fee long term either, so putting that to one side, he has at least been fine in that hes given us an extra option in midfield we badly needed and has probably been 2nd out of 4 options there. Thats not a massive success, but not a massive failure either.
Johnson was signed for free as a versatile defensive option with some PL experience. Hes had some good games, hes had some average games, hes started probably more than hes been a sub now, hes been fine, not a massive success not a massive failure.
Palmer has been a success given the fee and expectation.
Szmodics has been good, not a massive success but definitely offered enough to be deemed a good signing.
Greaves has been good in patches, suffered with an injury, but hasnt been terrible by any stretch and definitely cant be deemed a failure.
Philogene hasnt offered much yet, but its clearly a bit early to decide that a player of his potential has been a failure.
Ogbene has been injured. | | | |
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| McKenna…. on 12:10 - Apr 6 with 486 views | pointofblue |
| McKenna…. on 12:04 - Apr 6 by olimar |
Think your assessment of the recruitment needs a bit more nuance to it, personally.
We were never going to get 15 players who were all 100% successive and performed exactly as expected, no club is that successful with it.
It was always going to be a case that some would perform really well immediately, some would be fine but will likely take longer to develop into really good assets, some will be fine but no more than that and some will be failures.
I think its easy to categorise the players who fall into the first and last of those categories, but there are many that arent immediately in the last group just because they arent in the first group.
Phillips is an example- we likely paid a high wage for him and hoped he would be a game changer for us. But we dont actually know how much we are paying for him and we arent burdened by his wage/transfer fee long term either, so putting that to one side, he has at least been fine in that hes given us an extra option in midfield we badly needed and has probably been 2nd out of 4 options there. Thats not a massive success, but not a massive failure either.
Johnson was signed for free as a versatile defensive option with some PL experience. Hes had some good games, hes had some average games, hes started probably more than hes been a sub now, hes been fine, not a massive success not a massive failure.
Palmer has been a success given the fee and expectation.
Szmodics has been good, not a massive success but definitely offered enough to be deemed a good signing.
Greaves has been good in patches, suffered with an injury, but hasnt been terrible by any stretch and definitely cant be deemed a failure.
Philogene hasnt offered much yet, but its clearly a bit early to decide that a player of his potential has been a failure.
Ogbene has been injured. |
In terms of injuries, you're right - Greaves, Ogbene and Szmodics may have offered more had they not been limited by them, and Greaves has looked a shadow of himself on his return. And agree with Palmer. At £2.5m, that's the cost of an average Championship player in reality. I imagine Johnson is on a healthy wage and has flattered to deceive, specially at right back. Philogene, so far, has been a dreadful signing - the worst thing being he was hardly fulfilling a need at the time. Perhaps he'll prove his worth next season.
I deliberately used "permanently" so as not to include Phillips, Cajuste or Enciso.
I still think we need someone to have oversight over Ashton, however. This summer is one of the most important windows in recent history - we have to get it right. | |
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| McKenna…. on 12:11 - Apr 6 with 486 views | chicoazul |
It probably would be time for a change. Managers have a shelf life. Relegation will be a failure. I’d like to see us stick with him but I could understand if they pulled the trigger, or indeed if he quit. |  |
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| McKenna…. on 12:35 - Apr 6 with 452 views | Herbivore |
| McKenna…. on 11:27 - Apr 6 by GavTWTD |
I think our failure this season is largely down to recruitment which I think is mainly down to the criteria set by Gamechanger. Totally understand why it was done this way but we needed more experience. |
I think it's mainly down to 17 other sides being much better than us. If we'd had a perfect summer window in the confines of PSR rules we still wouldn't have come close to bridging that gap, imo. That's not to say we couldn't have done some things better and there are lessons to be learnt, but the main thing this season has shown is that the Prem is now a closed shop unless you get lucky and one team implodes and leaves it too late to make a change. |  |
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| McKenna…. on 12:46 - Apr 6 with 415 views | WinchBlue |
| McKenna…. on 12:35 - Apr 6 by Herbivore |
I think it's mainly down to 17 other sides being much better than us. If we'd had a perfect summer window in the confines of PSR rules we still wouldn't have come close to bridging that gap, imo. That's not to say we couldn't have done some things better and there are lessons to be learnt, but the main thing this season has shown is that the Prem is now a closed shop unless you get lucky and one team implodes and leaves it too late to make a change. |
Exactly right… |  | | |
| McKenna…. on 14:06 - Apr 6 with 357 views | berkstractorboy |
Hindsights wonderful. Before the season I would have said he was the man as did nothing before that to suggest he wasn't. Players signed or stayed because he was here, who knows if players like Delap would have come otherwise. Omari wouldn't.
He could have been better this season of course but so could many other managers and they paid the price. And before you say it has swapping managers helped Southampton, Leicester, Utd, West Ham? He will have learnt a lot but he has often been let down by the players making mistakes. Yes he picks the team but we have a limited squad and injuries have hurt us.
Is he the man for next season, 100% for all the reasons other posters have said.
Humour me, who are you replacing him with next season? | | | |
| McKenna…. on 14:26 - Apr 6 with 324 views | BlueNomad |
| McKenna…. on 14:06 - Apr 6 by berkstractorboy |
Hindsights wonderful. Before the season I would have said he was the man as did nothing before that to suggest he wasn't. Players signed or stayed because he was here, who knows if players like Delap would have come otherwise. Omari wouldn't.
He could have been better this season of course but so could many other managers and they paid the price. And before you say it has swapping managers helped Southampton, Leicester, Utd, West Ham? He will have learnt a lot but he has often been let down by the players making mistakes. Yes he picks the team but we have a limited squad and injuries have hurt us.
Is he the man for next season, 100% for all the reasons other posters have said.
Humour me, who are you replacing him with next season? |
Spot on! |  | | |
| McKenna…. on 14:32 - Apr 6 with 320 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
Our fans have well and truly lost their minds.
A newly promoted team gets relegated and all of a sudden the manager may not be the right man. It is so stupid it makes my brain hurt. |  |
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| McKenna…. on 14:40 - Apr 6 with 315 views | HighgateBlue |
| McKenna…. on 11:47 - Apr 6 by pointofblue |
I still don't like the set up of Ashton being chairman and CEO. Gamechanger need to bring in someone different to replace O'Leary and have oversight. Recruitment has been a mess since promotion to the Premier League with Delap, O'Shea and (although we've barely seen him) Townsend the only permanent signings who have shown their worth.
Saying that, as highlighted above, I think other managers - those experienced in the Premier League - would have done a better job than McKenna this year. He has been stubborn with making his favoured formation work when it clear it's behind our downfall, and has been far too slow in making in-match changes. Would we have survived if he had been more proactive? I doubt it, as the gap is too big. But we would be closer to Wolves and have a degree of respectability.
McKenna will go into next season with a similar, if not more pressure, as he was under in 2022/23. You do not spend the amount of money we have to go backwards, and anything but 2nd or above in 2025/26 will be doing just that. That being said, I do think he's the man to do it but, just like the players on the pitch, he still has plenty of learning to do. |
I'm not going to criticise McKenna, despite the disappointments of this season. He's made mistakes, but that just means he's not perfect.
I totally totally agree on Ashton being Chairman and CEO. I think that's a pretty worrying decision in principle. It may not result in any problems, but I really think the point of a Chair is obvious - to provide wisdom and benevolent scrutiny of what the CEO and his team is doing. O'Leary was such a calm and wise presence. I'm not saying his departure has necessarily had a tangible effect on the pitch, but Ashton marking his own homework is a bad idea, and it's quite worrying that he should want to.
This is a governance and sort of 'constitutional' issue. As I say, I don't blame our poor season on this point in the slightest, I just think checks and balances are a good thing. |  | | |
| McKenna…. on 14:40 - Apr 6 with 315 views | peterleeblue |
He is on his journey, our journey. The Journey probably now enters its most critical phase.
We have stuck together well as a club through a tough season.
The plan is clear and obvious as a club we are so fortunate.
We basically recruited poorly in midfield.
Probably the first mistep this ownership have made.
For sure both Mckenna, Ashton and gamechanger deserve our support. |  | | |
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