Hirst Surgery Successful as Striker Search Continues Friday, 12th Jan 2024 15:39 Town boss Kieran McKenna says striker George Hirst’s operation was a success with the 24-year-old now beginning a long period of rehabilitation, while the Blues are continuing their search for one or more frontmen to come in before the end of the transfer window as well as looking at strengthening other areas of the squad. Hirst posted a photo from a hospital bed at the weekend having undergone surgery on his ruptured hamstring. The former Leicester City man is expected to miss all but the very tail end of the season. “Everything went to plan, so that's a positive,” McKenna said. “And he's now going to be in a long period of rehabilitation, but he's in the best hands, and we look forward to having him back.” Hirst’s injury and Dane Scarlett’s recall by parent club Tottenham means the Blues are short of number nines at present. Quizzed on progress on replacing them with Blackburn's Sam Gallagher understood to be among those of interest, McKenna said: “We've lost George and we've lost Dane from the first half of the season, so it's an area that we want to add to. “As I've said, not every club, but I'd imagine maybe 80 per cent of the clubs in the Championship are trying to add a forward or a striker to their ranks. “There are only so many available, there are only so many available within our budget and most of those are currently involved with a team who don't want to lose them. “So the club is working hard to make additions in that area, but there's nothing that we've been successful with yet, and we'll see how the next couple of weeks in the window continue. “What I will say and emphasise is that our focus has to be and our support has to be with a group that's here this group over the last 12 months, we scored 100 goals in the league last year not based off of one player. “George has got six goals in the league this year, one of them a penalty, and has been a fantastic player for us, but the team isn't built on one player. “It’s up to us as a group internally to find solutions, find the best ways to attack, find the best ways to defend and make sure that the group go out on the pitch well-prepared and ready to run and fight and give everything for the club. “I think it's up to everyone around the team, the supporters and everyone around the club to get behind the players who are in the shirt. “And that's what I hope to see and what we'd love to see tomorrow is Portman Road at its best in full support vocally of the players on the pitch and the players on the pitch giving absolutely everything they can to represent the club well and to do so in our brave style and I think if we get that then I'll be happy with what comes from the game.”  McKenna says its important to remain calm and not make hasty signings just for the sake of adding bodies to the squad, particularly with the Blues very careful to get players who have the right attributes to play in the team both from football and personality perspectives. “I think there's a lot of truth in that,” he reflected. “The reality is there aren't many forwards on the market, so even if you weren't selective, it's a very difficult window to sign a striker who would be anywhere near the level that you would want. “I think if you look at it how many strikers have moved in the transfer window so far in the top two or three divisions in England. I'd imagine it would be you know very, very, very few. “So that's the reality of the market for us, we have a pretty clear playing style, we have pretty clear profiles for the position and we want to attract players to the club who fit as many of the criteria as possible. “In January, at times you need to be a little bit more flexible, a little bit more adaptable and we are in our thinking, and we can always be adaptable how we set the team up. “But the goal is always to add players who can fit your current playing style and contribute in the way that the team has so far been successful, so again that limits your selection a little bit. “I'm certainly calm in my position. I think the playing group have belief in the work that we've done over a long period of time now, our ability to score goals over a long period of time, our ability to perform as we want to over a long period of time and our ability to pick up positive results. “Of course, that's a challenge when you're missing players, and not just forwards, we have missed players in other positions over the last month. “But we'll continue to stick together as a group and prepare for each game and try and go out there and perform. “And I hope that everyone will stick with the players because I see how hard they work and go to the stadium tomorrow full of optimism to hopefully see a great game of football between two good sides, and an Ipswich team on a good trajectory playing good football and hopefully providing a game to enjoy. “And if we do all that and we stick together then there's a good chance we'll get a result as well.” In addition to strikers, the Blues now find themselves short on full-backs and McKenna says Town are looking to strengthen throughout the squad. “There are a few different areas and you're always constantly evaluating the squad. It's one of the reasons why January is a tough window because you're trying to improve the squad and you go into the month with plans that you make through the autumn, but things can change. “Your striker has a major injury that rules him out for almost the season, at full-back we go from being really, really strong to really pretty light over the last few weeks and in midfield we've gone from a real consistency of Samy [Morsy] and Massimo [Luongo] playing the large majority of games over the calendar year to now where they’ve both missed games recently. “So you have to stay really flexible and adaptable in your thinking and we're reviewing the squad in every position really to see where we need to strengthen. “Of course, full-back is one of the areas. Part of the main reason why we feel short is because of injuries and illnesses, so, of course, any decision will be linked to what the return times are like in those players.”
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