Blues manager Kieran McKenna felt there were positives and steps forward from his side as they beat OGC Nice 1-0 in their final pre-season friendly at Portman Road this afternoon.

Axel Tuanzebe netted the game’s only goal in the 58th minute to see the Blues to victory.

“It was a good game, a good challenge,” McKenna said. “Some good positives and steps forward in our performance and areas still to be improve, players getting fitter and stronger week by week but also a lot of the squad have still got a way to go in that area.

“It was a good game, could have gone either way with the penalty especially. But I thought we did plenty of good things in the game. A really good one to look back on.”

For the second week running, the Blues scored their winner via a set piece, Jack Taylor having scored the only goal against Bundesliga side Hoffenheim last week.

McKenna knows free-kicks and corners will be vital in the season ahead: “There’s no doubt about it, I’ve spoken lots about how we’re going to have to try and keep our identity but adapt and we’re not going to be able to open up the game as much every minute of every game pretty much like we did last season.

“We’re going to have to find times to do that and find time to keep the game a little bit more closed and also we’re going to get fewer set pieces, so it’s going to be of the utmost importance to be even more efficient with them and we’re going to defend more, so we’re going to have to be even more resilient against our set plays.

“Lots of challenges for us in there and that’s two weeks in a row we’ve kept a clean sheet across 90 minutes and scored from a set play, so it’s a pretty good formula to strengthen ourselves again.”

McKenna tweaked his system slightly with Ben Johnson playing in a deeper midfield/wing-back role on the right rather than in the more advanced position Wes Burns usually takes up on that flank.

Asked why he made that change, McKenna explained: “A mixture of things. I think anyone who has watched us for a good period of time will know that one or two positions can be tweaked and the system can look different but in reality, nine or 10 of the roles are very, very similar.

“Sometimes we defend with a line of three, sometimes a line of four, sometimes a line of five.

“There were bits of the game today when we were super-aggressive and really defended big spaces and we were really, really brave and when we were defending a little bit lower, we made a back five a little bit earlier in our defensive structure with Ben dropping in.

“That was just something we wanted to look at over pre-season, to be honest. It gives us a different option, gives us a possibility to strengthen across the backline in certain situations and, of course, the chance to look at different personnel in different positions.

“The chance to look at Ben today playing in a more advanced role than he has in the first couple of games.

“Again, we’re going to need to be even more adaptable this year, not just in our system and the systems that we used, but also within the strategies that we use within that. Today was a good practice on certain bits of that.”

Looking back over pre-season as a whole, which ended with back-to-back 1-0 victories over teams who will be playing in the Europa League this season, McKenna reflected: “I don’t base a review of pre-season on the results of the matches, that’s for sure, but there’s been some positives to pre-season.

“That’s six weeks now, so by the time we reach Liverpool that will be seven weeks. There are quite a few of the group who have managed pretty much every session and been available for every game and that always gives you a really good chance going into the season. Some of the players have got through a really good body of work.

“We’ve had some good time together, two good trips away and a really competitive fixture list. Certainly some positives in there, some good additions to the staff, not just the technical staff but around the club.

“We’ve developed in certain areas but there have been challenges in there as well and the step up on all aspects of the club for the Premier League has been a big challenge, has been a big challenge for everyone.

“Everyone at the club is working incredibly hard to be as ready as we possibly can, but the reality is moving from the division we were in to the division we’re going to in the space of two years is an incredible jump. Everyone’s worked so hard to prepare as well as we can. We’re really excited now for next Saturday.

“We take the positives from pre-season, we know there are still several areas at the football club that we need to continue to develop and improve over the next few weeks, next few months and next few years and that’s going to be an ongoing journey. We take the positives and we go to next week now with a lot of excitement.”

Photo: TWTD

renoble added 17:11 - Aug 10 Well, I'm as impatient as the next in regards to signings but 24 months ago were in division 3 and in 7 days we play Liverpool...so happy days. I was also wondering recently how much John Wark in his prime would cost these days? Any road, next Saturday and the season ahead is one to absolutely relish and if, by chance, Man Uts and Fulham draw 0-0 on Friday then we'll be top of the Premier league at 12.31

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victorysquad added 17:19 - Aug 10 We all stick together and we will be just fine
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JewellintheTown added 18:38 - Aug 10 Having not been able to see or get to any preseason games, so only reading up for now, how are the new boys looking, especially Delap? Reading Greaves, Muric & Johnson are doing well, but not read much about how Delap is doing.
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ArnieM added 21:01 - Aug 10 Delap looked a handful today. Really strong on the ball, with excellent upper body strength. He's quick, direct and with more coaching ( he's not the finished article), will prove to be an astute signing. For a big man, he displayed dome really good deft touches, flick ons and twists and turns. A ayer that really did surprise me today, when he came on was Freddie Ladapo. I've never seen him run do hard and fast. He used doen with real intent and was really, really unlucky not to score late in the game. We are going to rely on both Delap and Ladapo in the early games unless we sign a proven , quality striker. But I think they'll both be a handful in different ways....

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Lukeybluey added 08:36 - Aug 11 Thought we looked really solid with a back three. Would probably think we would start with that this season, Tuanzebe, Edmundson and Greaves as the back three, with Davis and Johnson as wingbacks.
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ArnieM added 11:08 - Aug 11 McKenna alluded to a modification in approach by interchanging between a back three and then going to a five. I thought we looked very solid in defence in that first half and brought the ball out more quickly than we usually do. Not so much peeing about with across the bank line and getting the ball forward quicker to midfield or front line. A notable change from last season for me. This was less evident when the defenders were changed in the second half, where I’m afraid to say the pedestrian Woolfenden continues to “walk” the ball out of defence, ending predominantly in his usual sideways short pass. I’m hoping we stay with the first half combination , but we’ll see what happens. If we move the ball slowly out of defence and without purpose these fast PL opponents will turn us over.

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Linkboy13 added 11:04 - Aug 12 Ladapo a handful in the Premier league ive heard it all now. I sometimes wonder if some people on here have ever kicked a football.
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