Town boss Kieran McKenna believes the performance in last weekend’s disappointing defeat to Southampton had more positives than negatives and says there has been an encouraging response through the week.

The Blues remain three points adrift of safety in the Premier League but their attention shifts this weekend to the fourth round of the FA Cup where they visit Championship side Coventry City.

Reflecting on last Saturday’s defeat to the Saints, McKenna said: “It’s a game where if you look at the game back and analyse it you’ll find a lot more positives than negatives.

“I thought it was by far our most dominant performance against Southampton over the four games that we’ve played against them in the last few years. We created much the better chances and limited the opposition to very little.

“I know we created more good chances in the first half but against man-to-man that can sometimes be the way, we were still very close to creating big chances in the second half but we just didn’t find the last little bit.

“But if you analyse the game in a logical and objective way, there were lots of good things about the performance. Of course, we missed some chances and made some mistakes that led to goals and we end up with a really painful loss.

“There’s no getting away from that, you can’t brush that off in an hour, a day or even sometimes a couple of days, but you can stick together through it, you can go through that painful loss as a group and you can come out with the right response in terms of how you go about your work in the days ahead and you can try and find the right response in the games ahead as well.

“That’s what we’ve been through this week – the group have been excellent, they’re still competing really well day-to-day, they’re still fighting in the same direction, they know the reality was it was a really hurtful loss, they know the reality was there was a lot of the performance that showed that we’ve improved in a lot of areas compared to another big football club, and they’re looking forward to the game this weekend.

“It’s nice to have a break for a different competition and not to have to focus on the league for a week. We’re going to rotate the minutes around the squad and it’s a chance to try and compete in a different competition, get a good performance and hopefully a good result.”

While the Portman Road mood at full-time was rather abject, McKenna has called for the supporters to continue to back the team going into the final 14 matches of the league campaign.

The Town manager also highlighted the shift in mentality and challenge from competing in the Championship to going head-to-head with some of the world’s elite clubs in the Premier League.

“The supporters have been great, they’ve been right there with us and we’re going to need them right there with us for the rest of the season,” he said.

“We know what this season is, we know what the challenge is and we know that the perception is so wildly different when you go from being one of the top teams in the Championship which nobody expected us to be apart from ourselves.

“I think we’re certainly a better team this year and have improved in many departments and even the game last weekend I think we’ve shown that. But when you’re competing at the bottom of the toughest division in world football, the perception is different and it’s harder to get the wins that verify and evidence the good work that’s going on.

“I know that it is and the supporters have been fantastic all season. Of course, last weekend was a really disappointing end to the game and everyone rightly felt that disappointment and hurt and went through it together, both inside the training ground and as a club.

“I know the connections that we’ve built at this club over the last few years, I know how strong they are and I really believe that everyone here is fighting in the right direction and going to keep competing right to the very last game.

“I fully believe that if we do that the supporters will be right there with us and will be strong and in it together.”

TWTD

mrmorisato added 15:10 - Feb 7 I really don't know what Mckenna means about there being more positives than negatives but I know I'm still angry about the loss on Saturday and I really really don't know what game Kieran was watching but there were certainly NO positives from the Southampton game at all. The ONLY silver lining since then is that we have a NEW keeper - One to replace that Clown we bought off Burnley in the summer. No Wonder Vincent Kompany dropped him he's cost us a lot of points already this term and why we're still stuck in the bottom 3 :(

7

Gforce added 15:10 - Feb 7 Positives,losing against probably the worst team in premier league history??
11

WaltonBlueNaze added 15:19 - Feb 7 I’m sorry KM but I can’t agree with you on this one, I know you have to keep positive and try to keep the confidence levels high but at no stage since Saturday evening have I had any positive thoughts about the performance and more importantly the result!
11

ITFCSG added 15:30 - Feb 7 How is 0 shots on target for the 2nd half vs the worst club in the division and probably in recent PL history at home positive? Saints have 9 points after 24 games and we gave them 4! Take off the blue-tinted specs, even neutrals can see how crap we were last weekend
13

blueboy1981 added 15:36 - Feb 7 He talks about ‘lots of positives’ from every game, but they don’t seem to produce any better results !! In fact we’ve slipped backwards from Early Season !
4

surgery added 15:46 - Feb 7 The only positive is, hopefully, we’ve seen the last of that dross who you bought off Burnley
4

Ipswichbusiness added 15:50 - Feb 7 KMc must know as well, if not better, than us that this stuff about “positives” is all nonsense; it’s what the public relations people have told him to say.
6

Stato added 15:50 - Feb 7 Hutchinson 3 goal involvements all season isn't a positive
6

Jimbo12 added 15:52 - Feb 7 There were positives. We completely outplayed them in the first half. If it wasn't for the dope in goal we'd have gone in 1 or 2 up at half time and been in complete control. Yes, the last 30 minutes was awful. But don't let the result or that 30 minutes cloud your memory. We're all disappointed but the most important thing is that when the players come out at Coventry tomorrow, we're all 100% behind them.

1

SickParrot added 16:47 - Feb 7 The only positive for me was the performance of Enciso. I'm disregarding our first half performance because despite some good football Ramsdale was only seriously tested once (for Delap's goal).
0

algy added 16:54 - Feb 7 Unfortunately in the way he looks at games KM regresses at times to the youth development coach that he was for the longest period of his career, where the result is not the most important thing. For him the most important thing is his development, so he can achieve his "big club" ambitions, he's still learning on the job here and he has the security of his new contract, the highest paid learner in the game.

0

grow_our_own added 18:23 - Feb 7 Agreed, good performance by us vs Southampton. Deserved to win. Calamitous goalkeeping performance, as has been the case for most of the season with Muric. Glad McK has swallowed his pride. Many managers would have flogged a dead horse to vainly prove they were right. Hopefully fixed now. CoYB!
2

grow_our_own added 18:27 - Feb 7 I think many here are conflating the Saints result (awful) with the performance: 1.84 vs 0.91 xG. 21 vs 13 shots. It was an objective decent performance. The reason we lost has hopefully now been solved. Let's all get back on the tractor McK is driving.
5

bluebullet29l added 19:00 - Feb 7 There was definitely no positives....you can't put a spin on that result I'm afraid KM.
0

bluebullet29l added 19:01 - Feb 7 I think possibly KM is losing the plot.
-1

Linkboy13 added 19:44 - Feb 7 Keiran McKenna is doing what every manager does putting a spin on things. The only positive for me against Southampton was the performance of Encisco but like a lot of players in our team he's very young and has a lot in common with Delap and Hutchinson with his decision making holding on to the ball when he should be releasing it but he's definitely a class above what we have in the squad. I think the lack of experience in the squad has been a big problem for us this season. I don't think we can afford to experiment tomorrow another defeat is not going to do our league form no good a good cup run would at least give us something to cheer about. To the trained eye it's obvious the squad is not strong enough no matter what formation or players we select. Changing the manager is not going alter this we haven't got Premier quality players to work with like teams such as Everton have who insadently out classed us at Portman road. Unfortunately we haven't got the financial clout to attract the quality players required to compete in this league.

-2

algy added 21:15 - Feb 7 Here's the main positive for the manager and his players from that game. They participated and got beat, failed to win at home once again, and all of this season's newcomers still get Premier league pay for a Championship performance. Why care about relegation they'll still be rolling in it.
0

shakytown added 06:03 - Feb 8 Impossible to take any positives from that load of rubbish. one shot against the worst team in the league is nothing short of disgraceful. Love kmac but something has too change or we are dead
-1

blueboy1981 added 09:57 - Feb 8 What a Load of Cobblers Mckenna - that was an awful performance against possibly the worst Prem’ team for years - and we couldn’t even beat them ! Which in Reality makes us worse still. Stop talking nonsense, it wears thin !
-2

Millsey added 11:49 - Feb 8 What the hell was he supposed to come out with ffs???? They had two shots which should have been saved and that was it. Get a grip
1

Blogs 298 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls