Blues manager Kieran McKenna admits he would have liked his side to have had more points at this stage, with the season going into its third international break following Saturday’s trip to Swansea, but isn’t taking too much notice of a Championship table which he believes will change a lot over the weeks and months to come.

Town are currently 10th in the division on 20 points, three points off the play-offs and seven from the top two with a game in hand on all those above them following the abandonment of the match at Blackburn in September.

“I think mixed,” McKenna reflected when asked what he’s made of the season so far. “We, from a results point of view, would like to be a few points ahead of where we are, but the table’s really, really tight. 

“It does feel to me a little bit like two separate chunks of games. The first four felt really different than the last eight in terms of the group.

“There are different players playing in the games, players who aren’t here anymore were playing for us then, players who have arrived, who have gone on and are going on to be important players for the team weren’t here at that point. 

“So, the first four games, probably a separate point and I‘ve spoken probably enough about the challenges of the summer and what that case was.

“I think since we’ve got the group together there have been some positive performances in there with definitely some inconsistencies and some things to work through. And we’re going to have to continue to do that. 

“Results since that point in time, I’d imagine are probably pretty positive from a points of view. But we know that with the fact that we didn’t win in the first few games, you’re sort of always catching up for the next bit, so that’s why it’s really important not to focus too much on the league table, to be honest. Not to focus too much on exactly where you’re at. 

I think [the table]’s going to continue to change a lot over the next few weeks and months. It’s a really tight division this year, certainly looks that way, and we should only focus on ourselves. We need to keep improving the performances, trying to be more consistent than we are at the moment. 

“Keep learning as a group about how to deal with different situations and if you can do those things and we can grow the team, then results, we believe, will continue to improve. And in the end, the table will take care of itself.

“We know pretty clearly where we’re at. Things could be a little bit better, could be a little bit worse, for sure, but I think the group’s generally, although with ups and downs, in a positive direction and we need to keep really pushing hard in that direction, altogether with everything that we have.”

McKenna says the three international breaks, all since the Blues completed their transfer business with a number of signings late in the window, have made the campaign up to now feel somewhat disjointed.

From next season, the September and October breaks will merge into one between September 21st to October 6th, in which international teams will play up to four games with a three-week gap in domestic fixtures. The November, March and June breaks will remain as they are now.

McKenna backs the move: “I’m glad they're changing it next year. I haven’t looked at the exact ins and outs of what it’s going to be, but for me, it is too disruptive to have three breaks in that short a spell, especially when you’re a team who have brought in players late in the window. 

“For example a few players have arrived here and had two sets of almost two weeks away from here and have now got another one coming. 

“So that’s a big, big challenge. So, yes, it’ll be good to get the last international break over. We know we have a really busy run of games then, but at least we know that the group’s going to be consistently together then for the next few months. And I think that can be beneficial.”

Photo: TWTD

ringwoodblue added 17:42 - Nov 6 If we continue our current PPG, we’ll finish on 71 points which should be good enough for a playoff place. I think that Coventry will continue to set the pace but hoping that the likes of Stoke, Preston, Boro and Millwall will falter as injuries kick in and that our squad depth will start to realise its benefits.
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TimmyH added 17:52 - Nov 6 Doesn't take a lot to get into the top 3 or 4 in this very 'so so' league...quite a few clubs will have good spells and poor ones, just look at how Blackburn and Derby have won a few on the trot previous to that they both looked awful. Expecting sides like Stoke, Millwall and Preston to fall away somewhat when the business end of the season gets going.
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TimmyH added 17:52 - Nov 6 add Charlton to that as well...
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hammo56 added 18:17 - Nov 6 Makes me laugh how people say these other clubs will fall away. I remember fans of other clubs saying the same thing about us when we were going for promotion to the Prem. At the end of the day we need to focus on how we are performing and so far this season we certainly don’t look like promotion candidates.
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TimmyH added 19:36 - Nov 6 Millwall and particularly Preston have a history of doing so...Millwall in general only just miss out on the play-offs.
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jas0999 added 21:03 - Nov 6 Play offs wouldn’t be good enough. We should be challenging to win the league … huge investment in players, highest paid manager. No mention in this article how far behind Coventry we currently are. It’s been a poor start.
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danger_matt added 23:26 - Nov 6 If you accept KMc’s point that we’re a different team since the first international break, then we’ve averaged 1.88pts per game in the last 9, putting us 3rd in the form table for that period. And if we kept that form for the rest of the season we’d finish on 82pts which I’d expect is well within playoffs. And that’s without any improvement in form or a mad run of wins in the second half of the season, which we have been known to do. No need to panic just yet.

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tetchris added 08:09 - Nov 7 Slow start to the season, tinkering with the team too much and not taking our chances has cost us. With a decent squad, anything other than top two is a failure. We don’t have a great record in the play offs only winning once in all those seasons under Burley. If we don’t make it this season then it’s puts us under pressure to do it next season before parachute payments run out and if they do do it then what effect does the reduction in income do to the playing squad. Will we back to shopping for players in lower leagues rather than PL and abroad?

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Bazza8564 added 08:51 - Nov 7 To be honest, we've seen long runs in the final third of the season over the last few years that mean that as long as we are within reach at Xmas, ie no more than 6 points from play-offs, we have the ability to surge through this league, especially as this relatively "new" sqaud hits it'sstride more. On top of that, expect the other players to be losing players and managers (Edards and Hackney at Boro for example), wheres=as we will have money to spend and no wish nor need to sell. Win saturday and Tuesdays frustration is forgotten

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MVBlue added 11:54 - Nov 7 We'll need the McKenna win run sooner rather than later. Need to click and grind into the top 3 by March
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