McKenna: Challenges This Season Not Linked to Playing Style Friday, 4th Apr 2025 15:58 Town boss Kieran McKenna has insisted the Blues’ position in the Premier League table isn’t down to a reluctance to change his preferred style of play. Pundits, including Danny Murphy and Tony Cascarino, have recently suggested Town and Southampton have been unwilling to tweak their styles of play since being promoted to the Premier League, believing they can out-football teams as they did in the Championship. McKenna was asked whether the second goal at AFC Bournemouth, scored by Liam Delap, illustrated that that’s not the case, the striker having received a long pass from Jens Cajuste in the build-up. However, the Blues manager firmly but politely took issue with that being cited as a more direct goal given that it was started by keeper Alex Palmer. “I think it's a really, really bad goal to ask that question, and I understand it, but a really, really bad goal,” he said. “We scored two goals the other night that involved Alex Palmer rolling the ball in the midfield, so it wasn't a direct goal. “It was a goal that was really well rehearsed but we rolled short on a goal-kick to Dara O'Shea with a pattern movement to Sam Morsy, with a pattern connection to Nathan Broadhead, with a pattern connection back to Jens Cajuste because we knew we had the two-v-one on their number 10 when they were pressing in their diamond shape. “We knew whenever we connected back to Jens Cajuste that Liam would be one-v-one in the left channel because Julio Enciso would have dragged the right-back inside. “So, we knew that we'd go into the space to Liam Delap in the channel and then Conor [Townsend] would arrive with an overlap, and we knew that our number 10 and our winger would run to the first line, so we'd go for a second line cross. “If that is the epitome of direct play and that's going to be categorised as that then I'm not sure. “The first goal again was Alex Palmer rolling to Jens Cajuste. I can't remember if he went exactly short to Conor Townsend, but Julio again dragged the right-back inside, Liam worked down the left-hand channel. “We knew we wanted to get Liam one-v-one with [Illia] Zabarnyi on the left channel, retained it, worked it back to Julio, carried through the lines and Broady [Nathan Broadhead] made a really good half-space run to get the finish. So, the two goals can't be described as direct play. “Across the season, we've been really versatile, would be my opinion. I think we've built the success of the club on a style over the last couple of years. “This year we've had games where we've pressed higher, games where we've defended deeper, games where we've built up, shorter games where we've gone over the press, games where you could call or shape a back five games where you could call or shape a back four. “We've tried to be really versatile in the games and give ourselves the best chance to compete in every game. “The reality is if there was one tweak or one style or one way of doing things that would mean that we would have a greater chance of having a lot more points on the board, then we would use it. “The challenges we've had this season are numerous and in my opinion they're not particularly linked to playing style.”
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