Town boss Kieran McKenna has reflected on the January transfer window and not having added a third striker, while losing winger Wes Burns to injury in the final days.

The Blues signed four players during the window, loanees defender Ben Godfrey and forward Julio Enciso, from Atalanta and Brighton respectively, and permanent additions forward Jaden Philogene and keeper Alex Palmer, from Aston Villa and West Brom.

However, a third central striker to come in to compete with Liam Delap and George Hirst had looked Town’s main target going into the month, while Burns’s injury, which will see him miss the rest of the season with another right-sided wideman Chiedozie Ogbene also a long-term absentee, leaves the Blues looking short in that area.

“I think we worked really, really hard on the window,” McKenna reflected. “It’s always difficult. It gets more difficult each year. As I said, the January transfer window we had in League One where we were bringing in maybe four starters who are the very, very top players, maybe above the level for League One players, it was never going to be that January. Last season wasn’t that January.

“It gets more difficult the higher you go up the echelons of the game because you’re only talking about the very, very, very smallest percentile of players who are professionals, who can improve your squad or improve your team.

“We feel like the four that we’ve brought in make us stronger as a squad and will help and impact the team as well. We worked really, really hard. I think the squad is in a stronger position than it was at the start of January.

“Losing Wes was a big blow that you can’t really predict, but we’ve tried to make the squad as strong as we can and we’ve got pretty good depth across the positions and most importantly we’ve got a really motivated group, who are all fighting for the team cause, for the club cause and that’s a really powerful thing as well. I think the group’s in a good place.”

Regarding centre forward and wide right, McKenna believes that while there aren’t out-and-out similar replacements, there are players with different attributes who can come in.

“We feel like we have,” he said. “Of course, you need the players now to stay fit. On the right wing, for example, there’s no doubt that losing Wes and Chieo in the same season with season-ending injuries is difficult and in the late stage of a window that we lost Wes, that’s really, really hard to replace in the space of a week, to be honest, because most deals at that stage are players who are going to move or are pretty much lined up.

“We know we can’t replace them like-for-like in terms of Wes’s profile, a real penetrative, straight line sprinter, who can attack the backline, attack the box but also defend the box and defend as a wing-back and defend the full-back positions and defend the back post.

“We have to replace him with different qualities. Ben [Johnson] has, of course, played there and has different qualities in the role. Omari [Hutchinson] can play there and played there against Southampton and brings completely different qualities to the role.

“And we feel like Jaden [Philogene] has good experience there and one reason we wanted to bring him to the club is because he brings us short and long-term different qualities to that position as well.

“We have players who can fill that position and we’ll try and utilise different qualities at different times.

“The centre forward position, I made it known that ideally we would like to have three senior strikers in the building, I think pretty much every club would do.

“But the market for that type of striker is really, really small. To bring in a striker who could have improved us from where we’re at at the moment with Liam [Delap].

“Even to bring in a striker, a fully-fit George Hirst and his understanding of his teammates and what he can bring to the team and his work ethic and his profile, we really would have wanted someone who we’d see as ahead in that position.

“And that’s not easy to find because George has been very, very valuable for us. He’s had, I think, one start in the Premier League this year and did an excellent job against Brentford and is now feeling really, really good and is fully fit and is an important member of the group.

“We didn’t want to bring in a body just for the sake of a body. We only wanted to add if it was really, really strengthening the group.

“We weren’t able to find that in the striker position, so it leaves us with two strong strikers, two young strikers but both have really good qualities for us and then other people who can fill the position in different ways.

“That’s what we’re going to be to the end of the season. Hopefully we’ll get a good bill of health and we can use those attributes for all the games.”

TWTD

ITFCSG added 15:30 - Feb 7 Perhaps you should consider getting MA to build up the overseas scouting network asap? For a Prem club our overseas network is probably the weakest. Even many Championship clubs with no recent Prem history i.e. Blackburn, Coventry, Hull etc. have better overseas scouts than us!
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OliveR16 added 15:32 - Feb 7 It will be interesting to see who starts as striker against Coventry. I'd imagine he won't want to risk Hirst or Delap, except as a non-playing substitute. A game for AAH, who's now at Stoke!
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Marinersnose added 15:51 - Feb 7 I think McKenna should be looking to field a very strong side against Coventry in order to not only win the game but restore some much needed confidence and give new additions more time to bed in. It will be a tough game for sure
14

OldFart71 added 16:19 - Feb 7 I would rather we lose to Coventry and get some points on the hoard for the relegation fight. Even so our second eleven if you can call them that should be strong enough.
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atty added 16:32 - Feb 7 It’s the midfield two that worry me. Cajuste can’t manage 90mins, Sam running out of steam late on, Phillips just not happening, and Taylor just not PL quality.
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Dissboyitfc added 16:40 - Feb 7 Finding the right calibre of striker is extremely hard! With hindsight I would have kept keiffer Moore, much better option than AAH.
2

Zonny added 16:53 - Feb 7 Maybe stop just looking in the UK for players, and start looking overseas
3

blues1 added 17:10 - Feb 7 Zonny. So u dont think we are looking abroad? Must be why, in the last 2,windows alone, we've been linked with Iannopolis, and igor jesus. Let's face it, if arsenal and man utd were unable to find a striker in this window, why does anyone think we should have been able to.
4

blues1 added 17:12 - Feb 7 Atty. Phillips,should be playing,,s he's been much better alongside Cajuste this,season. As for Taylor? He's looked really good when he's played, or come on as sub. Has livened us up in the last 30 minutes orxso.
3

Suffolkboy added 17:30 - Feb 7 KM measures his words with care and eaves us to do the interpretation as he’s always way of either direct personal criticism or damaging confidence anywhere in the squad or team . Unity, belief, commitment and ongoing enthusiasm are so essential ; and we should be somewhat in awe of our Management team who do such a great job ! COYB
2

ArnieM added 18:34 - Feb 7 If anyone thinks this club is not working on building an overseas scouting network, they're living in cloud cuckoo land. Of course we are!! But these things take time to establish. You need to thank Evans for the clubs infrastructure decline. There's been so much that Gamechanger HAS attended to in just 36 months. How about giving that some recognition!
3

flykickingbybgunn added 19:01 - Feb 7 Great strikers dont grow on trees. If they are not available then you cant have them. There is no point in signing somebody that is not up to speck.
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Cloddyseedbed added 19:53 - Feb 7 Midfield should have been addressed. Ours is just not strong enough. It's slow, unimaginative, does not drive forward and help strikers to create chances. The signing of Phillips has not worked out at all. He offers nothing. We have concentrated on signing young players who play behind a striker, we have too many of similar qualities. Squad now looks unbalanced.
0

Leejames99 added 20:57 - Feb 7 Why do people say the signing of Phillips hasn't worked out, he never plays its ridiculous, Cajuste and Phillips really good together but like Burns, he always has to play Morsy who 8s not a prem player. I believe we didn't sign anyone because Mckenna was told they weren't spending anymore, there was some good strikers with Prem experience who could of came to Town, Ichenachu, Will Lankshear etc or strikers in Championship and abroad. I think quite rightly they have been told to work with what they got. Millions of pounds of talent sitting on the bench while Dads Army play. Mckenna even bought Luongo on against Man City.... I think Ashton needs to get some help in for Mckenna a Sean Dyche or Redlnapp or Alladyce. All those new signings would be getting picked. I love Kmk and all he has done but it looks like he has far too much sentiment for the older players and feels he should play them. How can he say Burns is hard to replace on right wing, Hutchinson is the right winger and should always be there and if he needs to go off the Philligene can play there and J Clarke can play left. If we keep changing team and accommodating Morsy and J Taylor etc every week its no good. Thank god Szmodicks is back

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