Boss Kieran McKenna admits he’s virtually putting a new side together given the changes which have taken place at Town over the summer.

The Blues have lost a number of players who were core members of the team which won back-to-back promotions and played in the Premier League, skipper Sam Morsy, fellow midfielder Massimo Luongo, defenders Cameron Burgess and Axel Tuanzebe, and forwards Omari Hutchinson, Nathan Broadhead and Liam Delap.

McKenna is integrating new additions Kasey McAteer, Chuba Akpom, Azor Matusiwa, Ashley Young, Cedric Kipre and David Button, while Jens Cajuste has returned from Napoli for a second season on loan and with further signings expected before the deadline a week on Monday.

The pace of change is illustrated by Leif Davis being the only player to have started both today’s 1-0 defeat at Preston and the Blues’ last match at Deepdale, the 3-2 loss in January 2024.

“That’s the reality of it,” McKenna said when it was put to him that he is essentially having to build a new team. “That’s come around pretty quickly, but I think the cycle of a team goes a lot quicker when you have the journey that we have had.

“If you stay in the same division, have maybe one promotion then you keep the team together for maybe three, four, five, six years sometimes at times.

“But the scale of what we went through meant that the cycle of that team that did terrificly and we loved being a part of came around quicker than we would have anticipated for a lot of different reasons, not that we wouldn’t have wanted because part of it is the success of the club.

“The situation is what it is. We have a new team to build. We’re not where we want to be yet with the team. The situation, the expectation on us is different and I understand and we expect that, but the reality is that it’s a new group and a group that hasn’t been together that long, they haven’t played together in terms of starting matches very much.

“The reality is they haven’t won together very much either because if we’re talking about the players who joined us last year, they were trying to compete in the toughest league in the world at a brand new club for the first time at that level for nearly everyone.

“There’s a lot of work to do and we’re going to be trying to do that work under a fair bit of expectation. But that’s the reality and that’s what we have to step up to. We have to bring this team together, produce a team that we can be proud of, that we can be successful with and we need to do it as quickly as humanly possible.”

McKenna admits it’s a big week for the club as the Blues look to add to the squad, but with his mind still on the defeat to the Lilywhites.

“I think so,” he reflected. “I can’t really put my head to the recruitment side at the moment because I’m frustrated that we’ve not delivered better as a group with what we have here.

“I know the reasons for that, but it’s not about making excuses, it’s about keeping the demand strong on ourselves that we need to produce better.

“There are some pieces to the squad that we’d like to add to to really be as complete and as strong as we’d like to be and hopefully we can make some progress on that this week.

“We’ve got to make sure the numbers are right and deep enough that we have the cover, but not too deep that people are going to feel detached from what’s going on on the pitch.

“We’ve got to get all the right over the next nine or 10 days that’s left, but my overriding thought at the moment is on the group that’s here and how we push to get the most out of ourselves.”

Photo: TWTD

blueoutlook added 19:00 - Aug 23 You didn’t have to rip the old one up quite like you did !
2

IP9 added 19:01 - Aug 23 Now it’s time to stick together more than ever.
22

keighleyblue added 19:04 - Aug 23 Some truly idiotic comments on this forum tonight. Almost like whatever the manager says, idiots are turning a deaf ear to
23

bluesissy added 19:04 - Aug 23 Here we go.....
0

Phil1969 added 19:08 - Aug 23 Absolutely no need to panic one side made the play offs last year winning 17/46
16

flykickingbybgunn added 19:10 - Aug 23 It's not an excuse. It's just the way it is after the turmoil the squad has had over the last month or so. It will sort itself out.
12

delias_cheesy_flaps added 19:13 - Aug 23 Absolute guff, these are supposedly professional footballers! KM has to move away from possession based football, we are tedious to watch and even easier to beat!!!
-14

grubbyoik added 19:13 - Aug 23 Just shows you how much respect and control Morsy had on the dressing room. I dont believe contracted players would be jumping ship under his watch..
-6

Juggsy added 19:30 - Aug 23 10 of the 11 starters were here last season. They are hardly strangers.
14

delias_cheesy_flaps added 19:39 - Aug 23 LOL …-2 votes for 3 games and 4 shots on target!! You need to give your tiny little mind a massive wobble! I’m now into my half century watching this once great club, and to put it bluntly, this is firkin embarrassing!
-2

Hamish1979 added 19:43 - Aug 23 I must be the only one to disagree! I saw some positive signs today. Lacked rhythm but that's to be expected. A couple of wins and I think we'll be fine.
7

grow_our_own added 19:45 - Aug 23 "We have a new team to build." - KM says this in the future tense, but he built it already last summer/winter. Spent > 150m. What do we have to show for it? Only Dara O'Shea from where I'm sitting. We were promoted from the Championship with a borderline Prem survival team. We needed to add a little depth to the central midfield, a striker, and to keep Hutchinson. Instead, we blew the bloody doors off! We didn't need to jettison Cameron Burgess, Nathan Broadhead, Harry Clarke, and Conor Chaplin. Replacements for them generally been worse. No better at best, and at the cost of team cohesion. For the money we've spent, that's pretty shocking management.

5

Broadbent23 added 19:46 - Aug 23 We had a close knit and courageous team to get us to the Prem with no real star quality players. Then even with good Championship players we could not cope with tactics or pressures of the Prem. We are now faced with a turnover of players for various reasons. Of course KMc has a mega job to create a new team (promising the owners a return to the. Prem). We also have a target on our backs. The Preston's want to test us. Maybe we should have used the first team against Bromley to drill in playing tactics. But KMc likes squad rotation. Therefore we are in a process of finding our new 1st team. (We could have new additions again this week). Therefore more questions to be answered. Rome wasn't built in Pre season. Let's give KMc some slack to find an answer. COYB.

5

MickMillsTash added 19:51 - Aug 23 Ashton talked about building a squad with greater physicality - well we haven't If we hadn't conceded today- early on - well.......we would have conceded a goal to a set piece anyway and then huffed and puffed and not scored. Not enough strength at the back, not enough strength out wide not enough pace and aggression anywhere Were Leif and Chaplin playing with hangovers?

-2

1960H added 19:53 - Aug 23 @grow our own....Spot on exactly what I said at the start of last season, a few additions here and there to a squad with team spirit and togetherness, all blown away!
0

Pilgrimblue added 19:54 - Aug 23 Me too! I can’t believe we’re in this position. Last season was poor but having lost our three best players it shows that the rest aren’t good enough. KM has lost it so sadly for me he must go. Too many v poor signings last season and nothing has changed much better since. Good sides in this division are going to rip us to pieces so unless there’s a major clear out we’ll be saddled with a bunch of no hopers and struggling to avoid relegation. We’re nowhere near Coventry WBA Brum etc so expect Town to miss playoffs.

-1

ITFC_1994 added 19:55 - Aug 23 He's spot on, those that can't see at are absolutely clueless.... I can't believe some of the comments on here, absolutely baffling. Anyone that thinks KM is or should be under any sort of pressure is a clown. Preston did a job on us today but if we were to come up against them in a month or twos time and they played like that, we'd tear them apart. Only disappointment for me so far is Jack Clarke. Looks so uninterested... maybe a goal will give him some confidence and kick start his season, but I'm not sure.... Big week ahead in the transfer window and then a big (winable) game against Derby on Saturday. COYB

1

Michael101 added 19:57 - Aug 23 It your job you're the man getting paid megga bucks to sort it out stop talking crap and get on with it.
0

bluesince76 added 20:09 - Aug 23 Same excuses.
0

Van_Blue added 20:19 - Aug 23 Annoying result but having watched the game this morning I finally see Town "imposing themselves on a team" which is what McKenna has been saying he wants to do. 72% possession, 15 shots vs 2, xG 1.34 and some of the play had a lot of intensity. One stupid mistake and wayward shooting it could have been different. If we keep playing like this and get shots on target then the season will look good.

4

DavoIPB added 20:38 - Aug 23 It's not a new team. It's basically the one we signed in January last year minus our three of our best players. We have lost our creative players and replaced them with players with no end product.
1

herfie added 20:45 - Aug 23 Realistically the only sensible option we have is to stick this out, and believe that KM will get it right - once the transfer window is closed, and the final make up of the squad is known. Of course the here and now is frustrating, with team performances below par. KM has to address some fundamental issues, irrespective of who wears the shirt. The quality of our play is below standard. But ditching KM right now would not necessarily lead, instantly, to the place we need to be - and would prove costly, given the contract put in place last year. Appreciate, however, that patience is not finite; but taking hasty action now is probably not the best way forward.

4

bluearmy81 added 20:48 - Aug 23 It's not about excuses so why do you keep making them then ?
2

mickcosh added 20:52 - Aug 23 I love our so called fans? Look where we were 4 years ago. Yes it’s been poor start but no need to panic just yet. Come on you blues
-1

ArnieM added 20:53 - Aug 23 I think there's been a big mis judgement by the management team ( Ashton, McKenna, Pert etc), on the number of players that would jump ship at the end if the PL season, such is the nature of the midern footballer. The words " we expect to lose ibe or two" clearly demonstrates this to me. So we are then trying to recruit from the top percentile of players, that whilst lordabke, may in fact have been far to ambitious. This has led to a very frustrating summer window, eith many likely targets either not willing to join us or are unavailable. Meanwhile we miss out on decent CC players, and the insistence of playing expensive recruited players last season, ahead of the previous promotion winning squad has led to even more departures. Its a bit of a shambles really. I think we all need a bit of a reset in our expectations for this season. Take the pressure off, and see where it takes us, but most of all, let's stick together.

3

Blogs 298 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls