Boss Kieran McKenna admits that the Blues not having a single shot on target at Sheffield Wednesday last weekend isn’t a stat he wants to see repeated too often, but felt his side got into dangerous areas on a number of occasions against the Owls.

Reflecting on last week’s 1-0 defeat to the Owls, McKenna said his view of the match hasn’t changed too much

“Similar feelings after watching the game back to what I felt at the time and what I said after the game,” he said.

“I thought it’s clear that we had some good elements to our game away from home against a team who has the best home record in the league.

“We definitely took the ball well on a very difficult pitch, we built up well and our play in the first two-thirds of the pitch was good.

“But it’s also clear that we didn’t create as many clear-cut chances as we would want.

“In terms of not having any shots on target, obviously that is not a stat that we want to happen very often.

“On the other hand, I thought on numerous occasions we got into really dangerous areas and we were probably a yard off having a tap-in or a clear chance.

“We had eight shots blocked in the game, a couple of them really good opportunities.

“Obviously there was Sone Aluko’s chance at the end that the centre-half blocks from maybe nine yards out in the face of the goal.

“If that goes in, we’re probably looking back and saying, ‘All in all, a good point and a good away performance’.

“It’s obviously not a stat we’re going to see very often hopefully, but it’s not something that I think is very relevant. As I say, for us, it’s more about the areas that we get into - did we have penetration, did we get around and behind their defence?

“I thought we did that on quite a few occasions, not as many times as we would want, but on quite a few occasions.

“We just weren’t quite able to get the last pass right, the timing or the movement and we didn’t quite get the bounce of the ball in their penalty box either, to be honest.”

Macauley Bonne started as a lone striker with Bersant Celina and Conor Chaplin behind him. Might the Blues have presented more of a threat if they’d started with two out-and-out strikers?

“In terms of formations,” McKenna continued. “For me, whether it’s one striker, two strikers or three strikers, which we’ve looked like on numbers of occasions, it’s about getting people in the right areas, having a threat behind the defence, about having bodies in the box whenever we get around the side, and there were times on Saturday when that could have been better for sure.

“I thought there were times when we did get good penetration and worked the ball well, got around the side of the defence when we didn’t have as many bodies in the box as what we would want.

“I don’t think that’s necessarily a formation thing, that’s improving individuals, improving personnel, working on our movements and our patterns as a team to make sure that we have bodies high up the pitch and that we have bodies arriving in goalscoring areas.

“That’s something we’ve looked at, something that we’ve worked on this week and something that we will hopefully see an improvement on on Saturday.”

Photo: TWTD

VanDusen added 17:43 - Feb 3 Compared to other times that stat HAS been repeated it didn't actually feel like it had occurred on Saturday. We weren't at our best obviously, but as he says we did get in decent areas quite a few times with some decent play. Let's hope we put it right with six points over the next few days and see if we can put it to bed at Stadium MK with our amazing travelling support...

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Cloddyseedbed added 18:15 - Feb 3 Every team now recognise that they have to stop burns at all costs. We need a similar threat on the left to supply crosses into the box. Please play 2 up front, players love it and us fans love it. Nobody likes playing against the 'Bash' brothers. Aluko also needs to be in the team, he gets stuck in and makes things happen. I'm not impressed by the contribution of Celina if he starts games either. A luxury in a team for one glory goal or pass every few games.

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Bert added 18:35 - Feb 3 For me, we just do not get in the box enough and we never capitalise on corners. Improve on that and we will get more goals. That said, our Manager is a thinker and I have no doubts that he will find a way to get players in the right positions whatever the formation.
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chepstowblue added 19:01 - Feb 3 What I couldn't understand was that for the last half an hour of a game that we were losing 1-0, we seemed solely intent on boosting our possession stats and p*ssing about with it just inside our own half. Get it forward, mix it up a bit, run the channels. Not since England bored the rest of Europe into submission last summer have I seen such an ineffectual performance with such meaningless passing. It comes to something when a mate who's a Sheff Wed season ticket holder labelled us the worse team they've seen there this season ! We cannot afford another inept showing from a supposedly confident team !

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blueboy1981 added 21:15 - Feb 3 Chepstowblue - I echo that, I spoke Saturday night to Wednesday supporters and they laughed at how easy their win actually was, they hoped for a win but none of them expected it. In fact they couldn't remember and easier one, that could so easily have been 3 or 4-0 !!! 100% improvement required on that dismal, and quite pathetic showing - and it WAS !!!
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Norwichbeater added 22:25 - Feb 3 Yep please don't let us go down the same route of one up front loads of possession no shots on target and talking rubbish about good performances when they aren't. Sends shivers up spine. But good record so far when playing to our strengths! A bit concerned about Saturday game as don't think it will be a walk n the park. However win next 2 games in MK game will be properly set up for a good day out. We will start to see managers ideals from now on.

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churchmans added 00:15 - Feb 4 Im sorry boss! But not having a shot on goal is concerning! You cant beat teams in leauge 1 by playing slow missed time controlled passes on the pitch! As for improving Sorry boss but only money will buy you improvement in the form of qaulity strikers
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churchmans added 00:17 - Feb 4 We will smash gillingham but struggle against oxford, Rotherham,wigan with our blunt attack atm!
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Barty added 07:51 - Feb 4 Not having a single shot on target in 90 minutes is frankly appalling for a team looking to push for the play-offs
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BlueySwede added 08:20 - Feb 4 Sometimes the whole team is pushed back too far, too much playing about in our own half. It is even more evident without Morsy. Move up the field 10-20 metres and we will be more of a threat. The question is If we have the players to do it.
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Radlett_blue added 09:44 - Feb 4 Indeed, watching the game on live TV, the Wednesday commentators referred several times to Town's "pointless passing" in their own half at a time when we needed to be chasing the game. While I don't want us to go full-on long ball, we sometimes need to take more risks. The other feature was the reluctance of Town players to get the ball into the box quickly when in a promising position & the tendency to take an extra touch & look for another pointless pass. This, of course, may be down to having insufficient players in the box & I don't know if the answer is 2 up top or getting the forward players to be a little braver.

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PortmanTerrorist added 10:20 - Feb 4 Key players missing, new players being thrown in, and you lose some cohesion which shows in final third where you need the instincts of where your team mates are going to be; add that to a a strong team who know their game (esp at home) and 1-0 was not a shocking result....though it could have been much worse. A week on training pitch and we should have enough for tomorrow, but won't be as easy as people seem to think, and by MK we should be able to put something like our 1st choice 11 out on the pitch and am fascinated to see what that looks like now. Make no mistake, this season is still on. COYB !

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runningout added 10:50 - Feb 4 Not guaranteed to Smash (as some say) any team, including those at bottom of league. When we get act together and create plenty of chances with sense and runners. We won't be found wanting against any team, in any league
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