McKenna: Delap Getting Better Session By Session
Thursday, 22nd Aug 2024 17:57

Blues boss Kieran McKenna says new striker Liam Delap is getting better and better session by session.

Delap joined Town from Manchester City for an initial £15 million last month and will face his old teammates at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

McKenna was asked whether he thought Delap would be looking to emulate Cole Palmer, who left City for Chelsea last summer and enjoyed a hugely impressive season at Stamford Bridge in 2023/24.

“He’s certainly coming here looking to make an impact now as a permanent signing,” McKenna said.

“I think it always feels a little bit different when you’re going out on loan. He had three loan moves [at Stoke, Preston and last season Hull City] and, of course, as usual with loan moves, some are more successful than others, there’s adjusting to different styles.

“But I think for a young player now, picking very wisely the club that you will make your permanent transfer to if you’re leaving one of the biggest clubs is very important and we feel like he made a very good choice and he feels he’s made a very good choice.

“He’s a player that we like and we think has got great room to keep improving. I feel like he’s getting better session by session at the moment and week by week from when he first arrived.

“He had a pretty significant knee injury in the second half of last season, so we have to be patient and understanding with him and he wasn’t at absolute full speed when he arrived.

“But he’s improving with every session and every game and I thought he showed in periods of the game last week that he can be an impactful forward player in the Premier League already, and that’s a really positive sign.

“I think if you look at it in general last week, one of the big positives was that we had Jacob Greaves, 23 years old, Omari Hutchinson, 20 years old, Liam Delap, 21 years old, Leif Davis still 24 years old. Young players starting in the Premier League for the first time and showing outstanding physical and technical and mental qualities.

“We believe with continued exposure, they’re only going to get better and they’re great assets to have at the football club.”

Looking ahead to Saturday, Delap may have long spells without seeing too much of the ball.

“I think that’s the reality of it for all of our players but probably especially for the forward players,” McKenna admitted.

“You’re not going to have four or five shots each, you’re not going to have 50 touches in the final third, so it’s being ready for your moments.

“We know we’re going to have to defend for chunks of the game, whether that’s trying to get high pressure when possible but also defending compact in shape when we need to, and that’s going to be a big part of your job description on Saturday.

“From the goalkeeper right through to the centre forward, it’s going to take an incredible team effort to build a big resistance against the strength of their side.

“But we also believe that there’ll be opportunities for our forward players and situations and moments where they can go and express themselves and try and exploit the opportunities that they might get.

“The biggest challenge is probably being ready for those moments when they arrive because in the type of game it typically is, there will be a longer periods of defending before one of those moments arrives.

“That’s a good challenge for us. We had exposure to that a little bit last week as well with some of the opportunities that we had and I’m sure all the forward players and all our players know that we’re in for a really big shift from a physical and tactical point of view.

“But also believing that if we do things well on and off the ball, that we can get our opportunities as well and we know we’re going to have to be super-clinical when those opportunities come.”

Photo: Matchday Images

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BurleysGloryDays added 22:14 - Aug 22 That touch and run from Delap was :-O
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algarvefan added 22:19 - Aug 22 Think Delap has what it takes in him, in time KM will draw that out I'm sure. Really pleased with our signings so far.
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