McKenna: It's a Massive Strength of Jaden's
Tuesday, 9th Dec 2025 17:31

Blues boss Kieran McKenna has praised forward Jaden Philogene’s work off the ball, believing it is one of the forward’s greatest strengths.

Former England U21 international Philogene, 23, played an important role down the left flank in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Coventry City, much of it the sort of tireless defensive running which often goes unnoticed, rather than the more eye-catching forward play which has seen him net six times at Portman Road this season, including a hat-trick against Sheffield United and one of the greatest ever East Anglian derby goals in the 3-1 victory over Norwich City.

“Jaden knows how important I think that is,” McKenna said. “One, for a forward player in modern football and, two, for him because his capacity is incredible.

“You look at his physical outputs on a game like Saturday and he’s one of the rare players who can be top or thereabouts on the pitch for distance, can be top for high speed, top there or thereabouts for sprint and be top there or thereabouts for accel-decels [accelerations and decelerations] and also hit a good high speed.

“So his capability from a physical perspective is huge and the biggest opportunity to go and use that is without the ball because, especially when you’re playing wide, sometimes you’re waiting for the ball to arrive to your area.

“He’s got a fantastic capacity in that he’s brave and he’s agile and he’s able to get his foot or his toe to things, so he is very good at regaining possession.

“I think it’s a massive strength of his and it’s one we want to keep seeing him use. He was a big part of the game on Saturday, [Milan] van Ewijk is so strong for them going down that side.

“Jaden’s capable of pressing a centre-back and recovering back to a full-back and he did that time and again, and he can do it for a whole game.

“It’s a massive, massive asset that he has and we encourage him to keep using it and keep showing it, and when he does it it’s a massive asset for the team. And it can be a big, big part of his career as well.”

Photo: Matchday Images

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Brogan55 added 18:47 - Dec 9 I had noticed Jason’s defensive work over the weeks,something which is not always appreciated.
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armchaircritic59 added 18:48 - Dec 9 An unusual array of talents, and still young. If KM can get JP to harness them on a regular basis home and away, we have a very valuable asset indeed!
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Marinersnose added 18:57 - Dec 9

I’m so pleased that McKenna has taken the time to highlight the incredible performance of Philogene against Coventry. I also noticed his work off the ball as well as the number of turnovers that he was involved in. He should be starting every game on the left as he is by far our best left sided attacker and has an excellent on pitch relationship with Davis. Brilliant.
Yes he has quiet games on occasions but he is still developing and needs to be brought into the game. Many of our players could learn from him as his touch is very impressive

ghostofescobar added 19:00 - Dec 9

Always said I loved that boys accels and decels. Been doing my wife’s head in with it. “ Have you seen young Jayden’s accels and decels though” I’ve been saying. All I get back is “you keep accels this, and decels that, I just want to see his wonder goals” she says. ‘But football is also parts accels/decels, I say, accels, decels, just you watch, Kieran will mention it one day”, and here we are, proved right yet again. Blimey, accels/decels. Keep’ em going young Jayden.

Bazza8564 added 19:14 - Dec 9 The boys improves week by week, his defensive work is excellent and his stamina is better. He also, with respect, doesn't look for cheap free kicks as often either. something that was becoming quite a habit a couple of months back. Good lad, responding well to KM
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DavoIPB added 20:35 - Dec 9 Since Matusiwa had a go at Jaden for falling over he has been very good at his defensive work. Was top of stats for most tackles won on Saturday
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PortmanTerrorist added 20:45 - Dec 9 Remember McKenna saying something similar about Omari, and it is clearly what he/we need...and agree Matusiwa having a pop probably speeded the process up.
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jon_talbot56 added 21:58 - Dec 9 Glad this noticed. Reminds of the way Muehren used to pick pockets, not with a blunderbuss but with a rapier, to mix metaphors. Reads the game well so also very good at interceptions
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Bert added 22:45 - Dec 9 Totally agree. He tracks back and defends well. He is a very intelligent player who has not yet been given the credit he deserves from the crowd.
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DifferentGravy added 06:02 - Dec 10 I actually thought the other way round. Felt he always tracked back and did a lot of hard work. It was his productivity going forward that had been lacking. Clearly, that has massively improved with some fantastic goals and assists.
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dirtydingusmagee added 15:17 - Dec 11 ive always said it was in him , now we are beginning to see it , Pleased he is getting it together now . Great goal .
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