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McKenna: We Just Want to Try to Win Every Game
Thursday, 7th Apr 2022 17:17

Town boss Kieran McKenna says he has no specific targets in the final five matches other than aiming to win each game, starting with Saturday's visit to Shrewsbury.

The Blues’ hopes of making the play-offs were all but ended by Cambridge’s 1-0 win at Portman Road last week with McKenna’s ninth-placed side now eight points from the top six with only those five matches, including games against high-flyers Wigan and Rotherham over Easter, still to play.

Quizzed on whether he has any specific objectives during the remaining fixtures, if he is aiming to hit a particular target points-wise, McKenna said: “Not really. To be honest, we haven’t worked along those lines all along in terms of points totals. We want to try and win every game.

“We’ve got Shrewsbury, who are a team who are on a very good home run, especially in terms of their defensive organisation, they’ve been in good form.

“And then we’ve got two of the top teams in the division, the teams in first and third place, so we know that’s going to be a massive challenge, a great opportunity for us to see where we’re at as a team and two games in really quick succession that we can look forward to.

“Our focus is certainly on the games ahead. We have some really good games to look forward to but we’ve got to make sure we start the run well at Shrewsbury and have a good response from last weekend and a good performance, and set ourselves up well for the rest of the season.”

Reflecting further on the Shrews, McKenna says their organisation at the back has particularly caught his eye with the Steve Cotterill’s side having kept six clean sheets in their last eight matches.

“Especially since Christmas, I think their clean sheet record has been up there with anyone’s in the league, including ours,” he said.

“And I think even in terms of expected goals conceded they're really in a good position in the league table.

“That doesn't come by accident. It usually comes by organisation and work on the training pitch. And there's obviously been some good work done there with Steve and his staff, so credit to them for that.”

He added: “They've been excellent. I’ve watched a lot of their games over the last two months and I've been really impressed, especially the defensive organisation.

“They're right up there in terms of clean sheets and the number of goals they've conceded, but also the lack of chances that teams have had against them. And they've also been very competitive against some of the best teams in the league.


“Probably last weekend, the game against MK [when they lost 2-0] was the first game they've had in quite a while where I thought they were probably outplayed a little bit and I thought MK put in a really, really good performance.

“But other than that, I think every game I've seen Shrewsbury play over the last period they have been really strong, really competitive, really well organised and deservedly getting some good results.

“So credit to them, there's obviously some good work going on on the training pitch and it's going to be a big challenge for us to go and break them down at their home pitch which not many teams have been able to do.”

Despite the play-off push realistically being over, McKenna says it’s not the time to start blooding younger players at Montgomery Waters Meadow.

“I think our priority very much at the moment is getting the best team together to play in truth. We have to look to win the game and then look to win a game after that,” he said.

“At the moment our 100 per cent focus is on the next game and putting out the team that we think is going to be most competitive and give us the best chance to go and win a game against Shrewsbury.

“We always have an eye on the longer term and continue to work and develop the players over the long term, but at the moment it has to be all eyes and all focus towards the game on Saturday.”

McKenna has said a number of his players have been unwell this week, although fortunately not suffering with Covid, and won’t make decisions on his team and squad until after Friday training.

Assuming everyone is OK to travel McKenna would ideally stick with Christian Walton in goal and a back three of Janoi Donacien, Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess, with Wes Burns and Dominic Thompson the wing-backs.

Skipper Sam Morsy will be in the centre of the midfield with Tyreeq Bakinson probably returning to the XI for Tom Carroll.

In attack, McKenna will again hope to pick two from Bersant Celina, Sone Aluko and Conor Chaplin as number 10s, while Macauley Bonne could come back into the side as the central striker for James Norwood.

Defender Ethan Ebanks-Landell is a doubt for the visitors with a knee problem which has been hampering him in recent games.

Shrewsbury are currently 16th in the table, 16 points behind the Blues and 11 away from the relegation zone. At home this season, they have won nine, drawn five and lost six.

Prior to the Shrews’ 2-0 defeat away to the MK Dons last weekend, they had won three on the trot, including a 5-0 home win against Morecambe and a 3-0 surprise success at Rotherham.

Historically, the Blues have had much the better of matches between the two sides, winning 16 games (12 in the league), losing three (one) and drawing nine (seven).

Town are unbeaten against the Shrews in 11 games stretching back to an old Second Division match at Gay Meadow in January 1987 when Bobby Ferguson’s side were defeated 2-1.

At Portman Road in October, Bonne was the hero as Town recorded back-to-back wins for the first time under Paul Cook by beating Shrewsbury 2-1.

Chaplin gave the Blues the lead in the 23rd minute, but Shaun Whalley levelled for Shrewsbury on 28.

However, 10 minutes in the second half Bonne flicked home his ninth goal of the season from a Lee Evans corner to seal a deserved three points.

In May, Town’s final away game of 2020/21 at Montgomery Waters Meadow - a fixture which had been postponed an hour before its scheduled start due to a frozen pitch in February - ended in their ninth 0-0 draw of the season.

Clear-cut chances were rare at both ends with Troy Parrott forcing home keeper Harry Burgoyne into a couple of saves and the Irishman and Norwood both shot over for the Blues, while sub Dan Udoh looped a header onto the top of the Town cross-bar at the other.

Former Blues loan centre-half Matthew Pennington joined Shrewsbury on loan from Everton in January last year, a switch which was made permanent in the summer.

Pennington, 27, made 31 starts and scored one goal while with the Blues during the 2018/19 campaign.

Saturday’s referee is Darren Handley from Lancashire, who has shown 54 yellow cards and four red in 13 matches this season. Handley will be taking charge of his first Town match.

Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess, Baggott, Burns, Vincent-Young, Thompson, Penney, Morsy, El Mizouni, Carroll, Bakinson, Celina, Aluko, Chaplin, Bonne, Norwood, Pigott, Simpson.


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happybeingblue added 18:11 - Apr 7
need to score more goals only 22 in 19 games since macca arrived, cooky had 20 league games and scored 36 goals, we will not progress until we score a lot more than this, we failed to bag v cambridge and wycombe hit them for 4, possession stats dont win you games,free kicks corners we never score either, or rarely look like scoring. no width in the final third on the left hand side does not help either no crosses coming in from that area.
3

Stato added 18:50 - Apr 7
It looks to me as though lack of goals 100% down to switch to a back 5. And then we playing 2 defensive midfielders so that is 8 players with defensive duties. From remaining 3 all our number 9s have failed to catch fire which just leaves the 2 number 10s of which Aluko has only scored in 2 league games all season and hasn't produced even one assist in the league. These are facts. A bit hard for some fans to accept but that doesn't stop the facts from being true. Thank goodness we had Burns to provide some excitement.
2

ChrisFelix added 19:10 - Apr 7
I agree bossman, but I also think with Thompson in the side our attacking threat is lopsided. Unlike Burns on the right we have nothing on the left. What is wrong with Vincent Young
6

ringwoodblue added 19:59 - Apr 7
Our next game has 0-0 written all over it.

I'm looking forward to seeing how we compete against Rotherham and Wigan, the two best clubs in the league, to see how far we have progressed since the meetings earlier in the season.
2

shakytown added 22:57 - Apr 7
We just need to learn how to be more ruthless against weaker opposition. Far too many points dropped to the likes of Cambridge especially when you see what Wycombe did to them. Good sides find a way too win and we dont YET!!!!
2

peaky69 added 03:53 - Apr 8
Yes we want to win these games but with our players please. Pointless playing Bonne, Bakinson, Celina and Thompson unless the plan is they will be staying beyond this season.
Aluko, Carroll, Norwood also given their contracts expire this season.
1

shakytown added 08:21 - Apr 8
Peaky. Hopefully we will keep Celina Aluko and Bakinson the rest can go as we can do better especially up front.
3

Bazza8564 added 09:20 - Apr 8
I see things very differently to some, because I dont think we have been playing a back 5 at all.
True there are times when Thompson has pushed back, but rarely so Burns. We've actually been playing 343 or 3421 a lot of the time.
For me our lack of goals has simply been down to Bonne's goal scoring drying up almost completely since October and a lack of quality to replace it.
Jackson was beginning to shine again and we were getting back into stride until his injury.
And whilst scoring has been a problem, the net gains from shoring up our defense have meant our points tally has been massively better, despite the draws recently.
We desperately need a proven CF scoring 20+ to play around the system we have, and Jackson to stay.
My team for tomorrow would include Penney for Thompson which instantly restores attacking ability on both flanks, Bakinson for Carrol, to free up Sam Morsy to get further forward where he has been more effective, Aluko for Chaplin, he ran the game against Lincoln and hasnt started since (yes I know hes 34) and probably Simpson or Bonne.
I can 100% promise you Simpsons contract issue is down to a dominant agent, let the boy play, we will inevitably take up his one year, get the boy out there playing and see what happens. We probably all agree Nors Pigott and Bonne wont be here in August, what have we possibly got to lose by giving the boy an hour to whet his appetite. Then we will see whether he wants to play for the club, or be browbeaten by an agent who has a better chance of out maneuvering Mark Ashton than I have of winning the Grand National. Ney lad!
2

Razor added 10:38 - Apr 8
Could somebody somewhere tell us how are long term injuries are progressing----especially Evans,Jackson and Simpson-------was bringing Simpson back just a publicity stunt---WHERE IS HE!!!????
0

Bazza8564 added 10:57 - Apr 8
RAZOR,
Simpson's injury cleared up 2-3 weeks ago and he will be in contention this weekend, whether he makes teh XI remains to be feen.
The Fridge was in the fanzone the weekend after his ankle went and he actually told me 6-8 weeks so 2 weeks away but Im guessing unless its critical hes unlikely to play again this season. Evans' aggravated his knee this week and is at least 2-3 weeks away (according to an interview on this site from midweek). Jackson's immediate prognosis was out for the season as soon as it happened. Kyle Edwards' quad was January and from memory thought to be season ending too so dont expect any back soon.
Simpsons issues are mainly now agent related, he has told the boy not to sign, we have an option which I understand is certainly going to be taken up, so watch this space. I really hope he gets a go soon.....
2

Edmundo added 12:07 - Apr 8
Drop the loanees and start blooding youth. A total over 70 points would do now. It's all academic though: let's start pre season now.
1

ArnieM added 20:12 - Apr 8
Sampson's “ issues” have always been his bloody agent - when isn't a player's issues not agent related!
0

Stato added 00:36 - Apr 9
Back 5 in defence and back 3 attack it still doesn't produce as many goals as a back 4 as played by Liverpool and Man City especially with a double pivot sitting in front of that. KM no different to Lambert and McCarthy in playing too defensive especially at Portman Road. KM such an improvement on Cook but next season will need to show further improvement
0

Europablue added 12:25 - Apr 9
Edmundo I totally agree, I actually don't care about the results, I just want the team to be putting everything into next season when we will be expecting automatic promotion, the playoffs at the bare minimum.
0


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