McKenna: We're Getting Used to the Very Different Schedule
Friday, 18th Oct 2024 16:47

Town boss Kieran McKenna says he’s getting used to a very different schedule in the Premier League with games coming far less frequently than they used to in League One and the Championship.

The Blues play only their eighth Premier League match of the season and ninth game overall, when they take on Everton at Portman Road tomorrow, their first home match since the end of September and only their second since August.

While in the Championship and League One, midweeks without matches were rare.

During the international break, in order to keep players up to speed, Town played a behind-closed-doors friendly at Crystal Palace’s training ground, which ended in a 2-2 draw, but with both clubs having plenty of their senior players away on international duty.

“It is something we're really getting used to,” he reflected. “The schedule is so, so different and you forget what it's like in certain elements, in terms of coming through our last two years in League One, where there are not even international breaks, and then the Championship where there are a lot more league fixtures and obviously my previous experience at Man United, where you're always deep in cups and European competition.

“So it's a completely different rhythm for us at the moment. There are benefits to it in terms of time on the grass. We'd like to have had more games, one of the downsides is it's difficult to build momentum.

“Probably since we made quite a few signings late in August, they've had four weeks, the bulk of four weeks away from us.

“And we all internally or externally are judging performances on a really small sample size. When you don't have a game for two weeks, a good half or a bad half or a goal from a mistake for us or a mistake from the opponent can completely change the perspective, so it is a challenge.

“On the other hand, it makes it really exciting. Look, we're all really looking forward to getting back to Portman Road again tomorrow, the three games we have had there have been fantastic occasions.

“I think really good performances and absence makes the heart grow fonder, so I think we're all excited to get back there tomorrow and hopefully have another really good game.”

McKenna says not too much has surprised him about the Premier League having worked in the division before when part of Manchester United’s coaching staff.

“I don't think so, not in a theoretical point of view,” he reflected. “I've been around the Premier League enough to know the level, to know the jump.

“I think it's more the feeling that you go through with the players and probably the biggest feeling that is maybe a lesson for the group is just how quickly games can get away from you.

“We've been really very good in large elements of different games and we've had lots of positive spells and certainly our home games have been predominantly positive.

“Even in the away games, we've had good spells in all of them, but at the same time we're really feeling the level.

“I think the players are feeling that when you drop off in your concentration and when you make errors, they're going to be punished quickly.

“And more so just the momentum in the game, especially in the away games we've had, and, I think, probably the two bigger losses that we've had, the Man City one and the West Ham one.

“Obviously, the City one it was pretty easy to see how quickly the goals came, but West Ham, in a similar way, we were in a position where we felt really stable in the game, the performance was good and in a five or ten-minute spell where you make some bad decisions, the game can completely flip on its head, and you can feel a million miles away from competing and getting a result.

“So the games can flip really quickly and that's not necessarily something we didn't know, but I think it's a feeling that as a newly promoted team you probably have to go through and you have to understand, and then you have to find solutions to be strong in those situations and I think that's one of the reflections that we've taken so far.”

Photo: TWTD

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ArnieM added 16:53 - Oct 18 ...znd thus new PL "schedule" of infrequent, non Saturday, so called "internationals" strewn fixtures, played to the tune of the Sky Pimp, SUCKS!
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