| Ipswich Town 3 v 0 Hull City SkyBet Championship Tuesday, 3rd October 2023 Kick-off 19:45 |  |
McKenna: A Special Performance Wednesday, 4th Oct 2023 00:01 Town boss Kieran McKenna hailed the Blues’ 3-0 victory over Hull City as a special performance. Goals from Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin and Marcus Harness saw Town to the win and back to the top of the Championship table. “You have to keep saying it, enjoy the moments. I thought it was a special performance, really,” McKenna said. “We spoke about it before the game, I felt like we had one in us. We were nine games in before tonight. We’re fit, I think we’re learning game by game and it’s our first home night game back in the Championship. “I felt like we had the feeling of a really good performance in us and I thought we delivered that. “I liked so many things about us. Our work on the ball to play through the pitch against a really good team. Our work against the ball, our discipline and organisation, the aggression of our pressing. “Our humility to defend in a block whenever we needed to, the performance of the starters and impact of the subs and the atmosphere in the crowd, it was a night to enjoy. “It’s only one night, it’s one game, it’s three points, but that doesn’t take away the fact that we should all, everyone associated with the club, should enjoy tonight and maybe tomorrow before start to think about another big game tomorrow.” Town once again showed their goal threat and have now scored in their last 28 matches and have netted two or more in their last 16 home matches. “We do [think we can score every game], we try and have different ways and different threats and we’ve developed that, it’s not like it was 10 years ago that there were questions whether we would score enough goals and things like that. “The players have really developed individually and we’ve developed as a team to try and have different threats, to try and play through the pitch, to be able to play in behind, to be able to combine centrally and be a threat from crosses as well. “We were really clinical tonight with the finish for the first goal, the finish for the second goal. “It doesn’t always work like that, but the players and the group have really developed their threat and we need to keep doing it because, as we saw on Saturday and we’ll probably see next Saturday again, teams are going to set up to try and stop us and try and deal with our threats. “So we need to keep working on different variations being as variable as we can be with our threat and having different ways to attack and, of course, different ways to defend.” Asked how it ranked as a result, McKenna reflected: “It was certainly one of our best performances, there’s no doubt about that. I think the players coming into the team, that’s such a credit to themselves and how they’ve trained. “Marcus and George [Edmundson] being the two making their first starts in the league, I think they were both outstanding and reflects really well on the way they’ve been training. “But also reflects really well on the group, reflects well on Sone Aluko, who wasn’t in the squad, reflects well on Axel Tuanzebe, who’s still working [on getting up to full fitness], reflects really well on the whole group because you can’t prepare to play matches if you have a group where everyone isn’t buying into what we’re doing. “I think when players step into the team it’s a big boost for them, but it’s a big boost for the squad and a reflection of the standards day-to-day and a big reflection on the staff’s work day-to-day to help these players get ready to perform. “Delighted for those two boys tonight, Brandon [Williams] as well, coming into the team, building himself up again. “I think that was one of the big positives tonight, the impact of those boys coming into the group and how that reflects on everyone at the training ground and the work going on day-to-day.” Town’s 25 points from their first 10 games is the best start a promoted club has ever made in the Championship, beating Southampton’s 22 in the 2011/12 campaign. Quizzed on how that feels, McKenna said: “It doesn’t change that much, to be honest. We’ve had a 12-18 months in terms of records and stuff like that, but I’ve always said they’re things to look back on in the future. “For now, they don’t change much. Tonight was a good night, I’m not going to shy away from the fact that it’s a night we should enjoy as a group of staff, players, a football club, supporters, everyone together. “But it’s one game. Saturday against Huddersfield last Saturday was a completely different type of game and Preston on Saturday has every chance of being a completely different type of game again, so playing so well tonight doesn’t get us six points. “It’s just a night to enjoy. Of course, longitudinally, there are positives we can take, but there’s also room for improvement. “Our focus is just on the next game. Enjoy tonight, recover tomorrow and then get ready for Preston and I think the time for looking back on those things is probably way, way down the line.” Regarding the second goal which started with keeper Vaclav Hladky, McKenna was asked if it was a special one for him. “It was. The bravery from Vaz, of course, to take the ball under pressure and play through the pitch,” he said. “And that’s been a lot of work in progress. Even the way the supporters stay behind him now and stay behind the boys at the back because I think they understand it now. “I said it last year and we went through that process of helping them understand that that’s a big part of the reason why we’re such a threat high up the pitch because of the bravery of the boys at the back. “We looked at a moment with the group against Cardiff where we lost the ball deep in build-up and the reaction of the team was fantastic and Vaz ended up making a really good save as the striker tried to round him. “I showed the players because you could see on the camera that what happened was five or six of the supporters stood up and started applauding. “And for me that was a really good sign and a good moment and a sign that the understanding is there, the empathy is there with the players and what they’re trying to do, and how hard and how much work it takes to execute and the fact that it’s not always going to be right, but we’ve got to stick together with it. “That was a good sign and it showed in the second goal tonight, the bravery, and then the execution to go right the way through the pitch and finish the move off in such good style. “A really good goal for us, I thought we had quite a few moves really that were really, really top end and it was great to finish that one off.” Was there any doubt that Hladky would keep his place despite Christian Walton returning to the squad having recovered from the plantar fascia injury he suffered in pre-season? “No, look, Vaz has performed so well in the start of the season, he’s performing so well, he’s in such a rhythm,” the Blues boss added. “Christian’s an outstanding keeper as well and has been a big part of this team and is going to continue to be a big, big part of the group, but he’s only been back training a couple of days with the whole group. “It’s great to have him back in the squad, you never know, so it’s great to have him here and available, but Vaz was always going to stay in the team tonight and build on the work that he’s been doing.” Sponsor Ed Sheeran was at a game for the first time this season and was handed a League One promotion medal having been a member of the squad. McKenna was asked if his number 17 was happy after this evening's match. “He came down to the dressing room tonight, which was nice,” McKenna revealed. “The players hadn’t met him, he’s been to some games here, but he’s so busy doing marvellous things so they hadn’t had a chance to meet him yet. “Great for him to be here tonight with a really good performance, lovely for him to be able to come down the dressing room after the game and meet the players “They had a little bit of a sing-song together, which is a moment for everyone to enjoy, players and staff and he’s an important part of the football club. We really appreciate his support and it was great to have him here tonight. “What did they sing? Perfect. That’s your headline? I’ve done the job for you!”
McKenna was asked whether he’s enjoying watching his team playing at the moment. “Yes, I enjoy it,” he said. “Not every night’s like tonight, not everyone comes to play a football match against us and each game is different tactically, mentally, everything. “I didn’t enjoy watching Saturday even though we did a lot of good things, but it was a different type, a different style of game and we had to show different qualities, to battle to get a hard point. “When you do that, you also know there will be other nights when you can show different qualities, and tonight was one of those nights. “It’s hard to ever really step back and enjoy it because you’re always trying to be in the moment, to keep the standards high, help the players during the game in the right ways, and I thought that was part of tonight. “It wasn’t just some of the excellent football that we played throughout, it was the defensive work, it was the humility of the substitutes to come on and help the team keep the clean sheet. “There’s not too often that you can really step back and enjoy it, but tonight was one of those nights because we had the three-goal margin that you could take a few of those moments. “But in general, we’re so intensely trying to live in the moment and keep trying to get better and perform for every minute of every game that there’s not too much time to look back.” The Town manager was quizzed on his players running off the field with purpose at half-time, while Hull trooped off somewhat disconsolately. Is that a conscious thing? “It’s something that we spoke about early in my time here,” he said. “But the players have really taken it on. It’s not like we speak about it all the time, it’s something that we spoke about, but there might only be 60 or 70 per cent of the team here now that was here then. “They’ve really taken that on and driven it, and body language is important, of course, and showing that we’re feeling good and our fitness levels are there and we’re going to be ready to come out strong for the second half is important. “It’s something that we spoke about quite a long time ago but the players, like they do with a lot of things here, have really taken it on and pushed that standard themselves.” Regarding the instinctive way his players were moving the ball around during this evening’s game, he added: “It’s always pleasing when they do. Every game’s different and teams mark in different ways, give you different spaces. “We work really hard on our attacking structure, we try and work on it every day in different ways and in different types of practices. “But we work really hard on our attacking structure, we try and stay consistent, while still having different variations that we can use against different set-ups and different moves that we can quickly adjust to against different set-ups, and it’s nice when you see it coming off and some good moves like tonight. “But we need to keep improving, we’re going to face different strategies. Huddersfield completely different, tonight completely different, Preston will probably be different again and we need to keep developing and improving. We can’t stand still now where we are now because then you become easier to analyse, easier to prepare against. “We need to keep working to develop as a team, our movements, different structures we can use and we need to keep working to develop the players individually because it’s great having good patterns and good attacking structures, but individual quality and individual actions are what makes it come to life. “We’ll keep working really hard on the group and we’ll keep working really hard with each individual.”
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