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Keane: Getting Run of Games Has Been Great For Me
Monday, 2nd Mar 2020 19:11

Will Keane has already reached a personal landmark in the current campaign by making more starts for Ipswich than he managed in previous injury-plagued seasons for any of his former clubs.

Saturday’s narrow 2-1 defeat at Blackpool represented the striker’s 13th League One start and with nine substitute appearances to his credit it means he has featured in 22 of the club’s 34 league games so far.

Keane, who was on loan from Hull last season and signed a permanent deal at Portman Road last August, said: “The main objective this season as a team was to get promoted but for me it was about staying fit and getting as many starts as possible to show I was over my injuries.

“It’s been good to do that and I need to ensure I’m fit and healthy so that I’m involved in all the games through to the end of the season and see where we end up.

“Getting a run of games has been great for me. I’m enjoying it and getting fitter all the time, but I’d feel a lot better if we’d had some better results. It’s now time for us to stand up and be counted.”

Town take on Fleetwood tomorrow and leaders Coventry are the visitors on Saturday — two huge fixtures that will go a long way to determining whether Paul Lambert’s men can give their promotion challenge the kiss of life or whether their dreams will disappear in the space of four days.

Keane added: “The gaffer has said all along that he has belief in the squad but we can’t keep making the same errors and shooting ourselves in the foot. He knows that if we’re playing as we can there’s no reason why we still can’t do it.

“What do I expect from Fleetwood? It’s going to be a tough game, isn’t it? Earlier on in the season when we played them they were 4-3-3 but they have changed it of late.


“They have a lot of tricky players and they have a decent amount of power up front.

“We’re aware of the threats they pose but we’re at home and we need to think about ourselves. If we can do the right things there’s no reason why we can’t come out on top.

“They have put a good run of results together and they’ve been unlucky at times, like against Sunderland when they conceded at the death or they would have taken all three points instead of just one that day.

“They will see this as a big opportunity to progress further so we have to make sure we’re on our game and react the right way after the setback on Saturday at Blackpool.

“We’ve had meetings — manager, staff and players — and the manager always lets the lads say their piece and add their input about where we can improve.

“We’ve got senior players like Chambo and Skusey, who have been there and done it, but we all need to be leaders on the pitch. If there’s something to be said, we need to say it as long as it’s in a constructive way. It’s all about helping your team-mates and getting behind each other.

“Before we played Blackpool we were looking to get three wins on the bounce but that didn’t go too well so now it’s about getting two in the next few days.”

The Fleetwood and Coventry games are likely to come too early for Kane Vincent-Young as he works hard to improve hit fitness after a long absence through injury. Keane said: “Kane is such a good attacking player down the right side and he’s a massive threat every time he’s on the pitch.

“We’re all looking forward to his return and he’s not too far away. We know what he can do and when he’s back to his best he will lift the players as well as the fans.”

Keane featured as a lone striker at the weekend and he added: “If I’m playing up front on my own, and I’m dropping deeper and holding the ball up, we need to make sure we’ve got at least one lad threatening in behind. You don’t want to be too isolated and we’ve got the players to get up the pitch and get into scoring areas.

“The likes of Freddie and Bish both have the pace to do it and with Freddie being a striker for most of his career he has the instinct to get in the box and score.

“Bish can get at people, link the play and make things happen and Judgey is always trying to create something too.”

One of Town’s biggest problems this season has been to make their domination count, the defeat at Blackpool the latest example of how costly it can be to not take your chances and combine it with also conceding sloppy goals, a lethal mix that guarantees you are not always going to get the outcome you might deserve.

Keane continued: “In the game against Oxford we maybe didn’t have a lot of clear-cut chances in the first half but we had enough decent opportunities we could have made more of.

“When you’re on top but fail to score and then you concede it’s like a double blow. You’re gutted you’re not winning but then the opposition score and it hurts all the more.

“But it’s not a lack of self-belief, at least that’s my own personal view and I can only speak for myself. I’m still confident that if I get a chance I’ll score. As a striker you just have to keep trying to get in there and make it count.

“Of course, it’s also about trying to create things for others. When I was playing with Nors and Jacko, for example, they were such a threat in behind so maybe the onus was on me to link the play and get on the ball to try to thread balls through.

“Right now I am having a run in the team and it would be good to look back on a good ending to the season with wins and me assisting or even getting among the goals.

“But winning’s the main thing — that’s always more important than anything else and this is a huge few days for us.”


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JaySwitch added 19:28 - Mar 2
Less talk, more goals!!
6

JaySwitch added 19:30 - Mar 2
PLEASE!!!

ITID
1

brittaniaman added 19:42 - Mar 2
I see Will you must have WON the short straw to be nominated as the speaker today ??
3

marco5113 added 19:43 - Mar 2
good for you to be fit again for sure but not good for our goals for total.

a little less conversation a little more scoring, unless you intend blowing the ball over the line.

the old saying sums ipswich up nowadays which is ' ALL MOUTH NO ACTION'
1

ThaiBlue added 19:51 - Mar 2
Aint been great 4 us supporters.
2

Carberry added 20:45 - Mar 2
Fleetwood, 'it's going to be a tough game'. What has it come to, we are no longer a big club PR Paul. You are managing in division 3 and you aren't good enough.
4

ChateauWines added 21:10 - Mar 2
Whst exactly have Chambers and Skuse actually "been there and done it" ?
6

dukey44 added 22:10 - Mar 2
Hahaha just realised its first time Keane has spoken... Tosh as rest of them.. Puppet on a string...?
1

ArnieM added 01:48 - Mar 3
Oh, well that's alright then Will. YOUVE had a good run of games . Bully for f lucking you!
-1

Saxonblue74 added 06:19 - Mar 3
These Q&A sessions are as much a part of being a professional footballer as the game itself. It's all good for us fans when we're winning games and these guys are heroes but they still have to do it when we're losing! Without it sites like this don't exist. Yes, we're all frustrated at results but let's give the guys a break. When media duties call they have to speak, in truth I'm sure they'd rather not have to!
5

raycrawfordswig added 06:41 - Mar 3
Your job is to score goals not talk 8ollocks it's a shame you are not that good.
0

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 06:51 - Mar 3
Not one to lead the line - just not a ball winner - but maybe a sidekick to a burly centre forward (Simpson?)
0

PortmanTerrorist added 07:11 - Mar 3
Really think there have been too many players around the first team worried more about their existence and 'personal milestones' than about the Club. Keane seems a decent guy and a decent footballer but ne is no instinctive striker..... but that's apparently ok, even in a team struggling to score?!
1

Dissboyitfc added 07:25 - Mar 3
“We've got senior players like Chambo and Skusey, who have been there and done it" done what exactly? Have either of them got teams promoted? Look at their positioning for the Blackpool second goal! Dont want either of these in the team.

Good to see Kean back and fit, but for me, he is the personification of itfc, plays well at times but doesnt score enough goals!
2

juniorblue added 07:48 - Mar 3
I actually feel a bit sorry for Keane. To be this deluded sums up what is wrong at the club. Obviously it is good to see him fit and getting games, and he seems like a decent person. But, to have a 'striker' with such a poor goal ratio proves the lack of ambition and casual attitude that has taken over.
1

multiplescoregasms added 10:12 - Mar 3

Keane: Getting Run of Games Has Been Great For Me

Not so great for the supporters though Will. Sorry mate.

0

OliveR16 added 10:44 - Mar 3
I suppose that even in a mortuary there's someone whose feeling great.
0

JimmyP45 added 12:41 - Mar 3
I think Conor Sammon looked more deadly in front of goal than this guy did. Keane never looks like he wants to shoot.
0

JewellintheTown added 12:41 - Mar 3
Almost all of the players that's given an interview lately seems to come across as not feeling the remotest bit guilty at being rubbish. Whats up with them?
They all seem to talk about "the team" as if they aren't in any way part of the problem.
0

Dockerblue added 16:15 - Mar 3
Chambers and Skuse have been there and done it! Haha, two of the poorest players ever to represent Town, one can,t score and the other seems unable to stop anyone else from scoring! The sooner gone the better, we want winners here, these two have never won anything. If the younger players use these two as role models we are in trouble
2

Bluearmy_81 added 16:20 - Mar 3
Pity it's not been great for us...
1

RobsonWark added 21:07 - Mar 3
Of course t is for you Will Keane - You get your match bonus!
NOT GREAT FOR US FANS THOUGH!!
0

dannyrr added 22:33 - Mar 3
Not so good for us to see you get more game time. You can't win a ball in the air - you can't hold the ball up and you have no physicality and get pushed off the ball constantly. You offer us nothing. Hopefully you get no more game time
0

Skip73 added 22:41 - Mar 3
It might be good for you Will but as you are probably the worst player to ever pull an Ipswich shirt on, not so good for anybody else.
0


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