| Birmingham City 2 v 2 Ipswich Town SkyBet Championship Saturday, 4th November 2023 Kick-off 15:00 |  |
McKenna: We Know We're in For a Massive Challenge Friday, 3rd Nov 2023 11:43 Second-placed Town face Birmingham City, now under the management of Wayne Rooney, on Saturday afternoon at St Andrew’s aiming to maintain their superb away form. The Blues have won five of their six Championship on the road, drawing the other. They extended their new unbeaten away league record to 15 games when they beat Bristol City 1-0 at Ashton Gate just over a week ago. Despite that remarkable form on their travels, manager Kieran McKenna, speaking after the 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat by Fulham on Wednesday, says the Blues aren’t going into games expecting to claim all three points. “That’s never how we look at it,” he insisted. “But I understand that from the outside when you win a lot of games people maybe start to expect you to win. “But we know where we’re at, we’re a newly-promoted team having to fight so hard every week or twice a week to compete in games, working really, really hard to impose our style, working really hard to come out on top of the margins because so many games are decided on margins. “We know we’re in for a massive challenge on Saturday and our focus is always just on preparing as well as we can now to go and deliver a performance do all the right things that give you a chance to win a football game. “But every game in this division is so tough. Multiply that out for an away game, so we know it’s going to be a big challenge and we’re going to have to do a lot of things well to get a result.” A win at St Andrew’s could see the Blues move two points away from leaders Leicester above them with Leeds in third - now six points behind the Blues - having beaten the Foxes 1-0 on Friday evening's live Sky game. Town currently have two games in hand on both clubs.  Birmingham are currently 14th in the table, having finished 17th last season. They made a strong start to the campaign and after five games were fourth going into the first international break. Three days after a 3-1 victory at home to local rivals West Brom on 6th October, manager John Eustace was controversially sacked by the club’s new owners, US-based Shelby Companies Limited. A statement explaining the change read: “It is essential that the board of directors and the football management are fully aligned on the importance of implementing a winning mentality and a culture of ambition across the entire football club.” Rooney took charge on October 11th and since then the Midlanders have lost all three games. A 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough was followed by a 2-0 home defeat to Hull City and a 3-1 loss at Southampton last Saturday. Quizzed on what he’s made of Birmingham’s 2023/24 so far, McKenna said: “They had a really solid start to the season. I thought they did good business in the summer, some players that I know like Ethan Laird, who came in. I thought they recruited well and really added to the squad that they had last season. “They had a good start to the season and, of course, now they’ve made a change and are finding a new way under a different manager and we know it’s going to be a really tough game. “It’s a big club, a big team, good players, a good manager and we’re going to have to be at our best. Our focus has to be on ourselves and preparing a performance.” Was he surprised when Eustace was moved on? “It’s hard to say without knowing the ins and outs of it. From the outside, they were in a position in the table, he did a good job last season to stabilise the club and everyone says he’s a very, very good man. “But I don’t know any of the ins and outs of the situation and it’s always hard to judge from the outside. “Now they’ve got a new manager, Wayne, who’s a fantastic football man, showed a real passion in his coaching career already to build up the experiences he has and I’m sure he’s going to look to make a big, big impact there. “Going to their stadium, we know it’s going to be a big challenge but we’re facing them every week at the moment. This is the next one and we’ll do everything we can now to get ready for it.”
McKenna, a Manchester United fan growing up, says he first became aware of Rooney during his time as an academy player at Tottenham. “He was such a wonderful player,” he said. “I think he was a year above me by calendar birth but when I was in the youth team at Tottenham he was in the same scholarship age group, so from very, very early on the players who were in the England set-up at the time were coming back raving about this phenomenon who was coming through. “A great player, someone who as a supporter was fantastic to watch. One of the greats of the English game and importantly has shown a great passion and thirst to stay in the game and work really, really hard to build a managerial career in difficult circumstances at Derby. “And then showed the ambition to go to the United States [with DC United] to continue that career and now has a big challenge and a big opportunity at Birmingham. Wish him all the best but, of course, we’ll do everything we can to win on Saturday.” McKenna says their paths crossed a couple of times during his time at Old Trafford, the Blues boss having come in as the U18s coach at the start of Rooney’s last season as a player there. “Not loads,” McKenna recalled. “I remember his last year because it was the year that they went to the Europa League final and I remember Angel Gomez coming on for his debut for Wayne in, if I’m correct, I think his last game for United at Old Trafford [a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace]. It was also Michael Carrick’s last game for United at Old Trafford, so I remember it. “A really good football person, spoken about really well by everyone at the club as a player, of course, but also his character around the club.” Quizzed on whether famous players get managerial jobs more easily than those who are rather less famous, McKenna laughed. ”There are different ways into the profession and those different ways bring different strengths and weaknesses,” he said after considering. “I worked with Michael Carrick [at Manchester United], for example, who had a fantastic, wonderful career, so many big experiences as a player that he’s able to draw on as a coach now, is able to draw on as a manager [at Middlesbrough]. “He’s experienced first-hand working with one of the greatest managers in the history of football [Sir Alex Ferguson] and I’ve seen him work really, really hard to get the opportunity that he has now and has had as good preparation as he can to take that opportunity. “My pathway was very, very different, finishing a career early, missing out on some of those experiences as a player but having so many more years to build up a different type of experiences and a different type of knowledge and understanding. “There are different ways into the profession, each bring their own challenges, their own pressure and I don’t think it’s a case that one way or the other way is easier, has more demands or fewer demands. “It’s a really challenging job and full credit and respect to anyone who decides in their madness to really commit themselves to this profession. “Whether that’s someone like me, who didn’t have a long playing career, or players who have had a fantastic career but still have the passion and the desire to stay in the game and try and impact it in a meaningful way. Full respect to all the different routes into the career.” Is Birmingham fans’ annoyance at Eustace’s departure, which they made very evident following the Hull City defeat, something Town can play upon on Saturday? “I think that’s the same for most away games. You always try and take the crowd away from the team,” the Blues boss reflected. “I’m sure their supporters will be right behind the team at the start of the game. When any new manager goes into a new club, you want to win your first couple. “They’ve had really difficult fixtures and they haven’t picked up a win yet, so I think any away game, you always know going in the large, large majority of situations that the crowd are going to be right behind the home team to start the game, and I’m sure that will be the case. “But you also know that in most instances, if you can take control of the game, if you can impose yourself on the opposition, certainly if you can get the first goal, then it can be a challenge for the home team to feel that expectation in front of a crowd. “I think that’s always the case and that’s always our mindset going into away games, to try and impose ourselves in a game, start fast and get the first goal and if you do that, you give yourself a great chance to get the result.” Asked whether Rooney has changed much since taking over, McKenna continued: “I think between different managers, it’s really common that there are going to some differences in preferences and in style. “A lot of our analysis will start tomorrow [Thursday] morning, the analysts have been working really hard on Birmingham in the background but my focus has been on preparing the team for Fulham. “We’ll analyse the things they do well, of course, the quality they have in the squad. We’ll analyse Wayne’s first three games, which, to be fair, have been some difficult fixtures and we’ll take the bits from them that might be relevant and respect the qualities of the opposition and then focus on us, as we do for every other game.” McKenna seems likely to return to essentially the team which beat Plymouth 3-2 at Portman Road last Saturday having made 11 changes for the Carabao Cup tie against the Cottagers. Vaclav Hladky will be in goal with Brandon Williams and Leif Davis the full-backs. Luke Woolfenden is set to be the right centre-half but McKenna will have to decide between George Edmundson, who came into the team against the Pilgrims, and Cameron Burgess, who started against Fulham and has largely been a fixture in the side, on the left with the Australian international probably getting the nod. Skipper Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo will be the central midfielders with Omari Hutchinson on the right of the three ahead of them with Conor Chaplin in the middle and Nathan Broadhead on the left. George Hirst will return as the striker. Despite the three defeats in his first three games, Rooney says there’s no sense of panic or major concern and the former England skipper is confident that results will soon turn around. “It's not a time for me to be worrying and thinking we haven't picked up points,” he said. “I knew that the fixtures were very tough when I first came in and I know how I want to play and know it will take a little bit of time, of course, it will. “It's a process which we'll keep working on, keep trying to improve and I have no doubt that will happen.” Rooney revealed that his squad played an in-house game on Tuesday during which some of those involved won themselves a place in Saturday’s side. “We've got players who needed the game, give them some minutes – but it was also a chance for me to work on a few things for the game on Saturday,” he added. “There's one or two players who are starting the game Saturday because of their performance in it. “This is what I say to players every day, ‘You have to train as you play’. If you come in and you're not training right, you won't play it as simple as that and the players know that. They are very aware that.” Rooney is a fan of his Town counterpart: “Kieran is a really good young coach who had a great learning curve at Manchester United and then obviously going to Ipswich. He's done a fantastic job getting them promoted and then this season has started really well. “They are a good team, no superstars but they are playing how we want them to play the game, which he's had quite a bit of time to develop. “That's what can be achieved in terms of having that opportunity to work with the players and get an identity of play.” Left-back Lee Buchanan (ankle) and forwards Keshi Anderson (hamstring) and Tyler Roberts (calf) are unavailable until after the November international break, while midfielder Alfie Chang is sidelined with a long-term knee injury. Another midfielder, George Hall, is back in training after a hamstring injury and may return to the bench. Right-back Laird, who worked under McKenna at Manchester United, returned from two months out with a hamstring injury to take a place among the subs at Southampton last week. Historically, Town have had the better record in fixtures between the sides, winning 35 times (32 in the league), drawing 18 (18) and losing 30 (24). At home this season, Birmingham have won four, drawn two and lost one, while the Blues haven’t beaten them at St Andrew’s in six games and only once in their last 19. Town most recently beat Birmingham on their own turf 1-0 in Mick McCarthy’s first game in charge 11 years ago today [Friday] with DJ Campbell, who had been with the Midlands club earlier in his career, the goalscorer. The teams last met at Portman Road in April 2019 when Town’s relegation to the third tier for first time in 62 years was confirmed after a 1-1 draw. The visitors took the lead in the seventh minute via Lukas Jutkiewicz before Gwion Edwards netted the equaliser a minute after the restart. The Blues had the better of a second half in which Alan Judge hit the post but were unable to find the winner which would have put off a relegation, which had seemed inevitable for some months, for a further week. At St Andrew’s in the previous September, Paul Hurst continued to wait for his first win as Blues boss after two second-half Jutkiewicz goals denied Town victory having been two goals in front via Jon Nolan and Matthew Pennington at half-time, the game ending 2-2. Nolan netted on 26 and Pennington - who was sent off for a second yellow card late on - doubled the lead in the 41st minute as the Blues looked set to claim three points until Jutkiewicz struck on 48 and 68 to dash their hopes. Blues forward Sone Aluko was brought up in Birmingham and came through their academy as a youngster, making one senior appearance, as a sub in a League Cup tie against Hereford in 2007. Saturday’s referee is Leigh Doughty from Lancashire, who has shown 48 yellow cards and two red in 11 games so far this season. Doughty’s last Town match was the pre-season friendly against Luton at Colchester, which ended 1-1, in which he awarded the Hatters a penalty, which was converted by Carlton Morris, after Edmundson slid in and felled Chiedozie Ogbene, although the Blues’ defender had clearly been pulled back in the build-up. His only competitive Blues game was the 2-2 draw at Cambridge in October 2021 in which he booked Chaplin and no one else. Squad from: Hladky, Walton, Williams, Clarke, Donacien, Davis, Ball, Woolfenden, Burgess, Edmundson, Tuanzebe, Morsy, Luongo, Taylor, Humphreys, Jackson, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Aluko, Hutchinson, Hirst, Ladapo, Scarlett.
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