| Ipswich Town 1 v 3 West Ham United FA Premier League Sunday, 25th May 2025 Kick-off 16:00 |  |
McKenna: West Ham Executed Better Than Us in Both Boxes Sunday, 25th May 2025 19:55 Town boss Kieran McKenna felt his team showed a lot of things they’ve done well this season in their 3-1 final-day home defeat to West Ham but that the Hammers executed better in both boxes. The Blues’ ninth home defeat on the trot and 14th in the league this season, both new records, saw Town end their first Premier League campaign in 22 years 19th in the table, 16 points from safety. James Ward-Prowse gave the visitors the lead two minutes before the break, Nathan Broadhead levelled seven minutes after the restart but Jarrod Bowen put the East Londoners ahead again two minutes later and Mohammed Kudus sealed the points on 87. “I thought it was an even game, a well-balanced game, we did a lot of good things to compete with West Ham and at times be the better team, if I’m honest,” McKenna said. “I thought we had more chances in the game than them. “We’ve spoken lots this year about the different categories of games but I think it was reflective of the challenges and the level that we haven’t quite been able to hit. “Against most of the teams in most of the games this year, we were able to compete in terms of our principles, our organisation, our football between both boxes, we were able to get to good positions in good areas. “But the execution of top-end players in this division with the experience and the calibre that they have, they execute more often than ours. “You can see that in the first two West Ham goals with Jarrod Bowen’s execution on both. The first one, I know it’s a mistake from Samy [Morsy], but we’re still round covering, hoping the defender can still block it, the goalkeeper can still save it, and he produces a reverse pass to somebody [Ward-Prowse] with basically an empty net, which is top-level play. “And then we get back to 1-1 and he picks it up from on the touchline and beats a player and smacks it in the net. “That’s part of the difference. You know facing against the best players in the world every weekend and the best and wealthiest teams in the world. “Individual challenges, the physicality of the league’s really, really important. We lose a duel for the third goal and if you lose a duel or a physical challenge in this division then very often it ends up in a chance. “I think today you can see some of the things that we’ve done well to compete this year. The spirit was good, organisation was good, the players worked really hard, played some good football, got to good positions but a West Ham team executed better than us in both boxes and they take the points.” At the end, the Town squad and staff were applauded round the pitch by their fans, despite a season in which they have fallen well short and have won only once at home, the 2-0 defeat of Chelsea just after Christmas. “We’ve got fantastic supporters, no doubt about it,” he said. “It’s a special football club in that way and we’re so grateful for it. “They’re also, I think, a sensible supporter base. They see the jump, they see the climb, they see a group of players there and many of them on the pitch, who have been every week, who have made an incredible climb really, really quickly and are now trying to compete in the toughest league in the world in a group in which not many of them have competed at that level before. “They see a group who not many weeks you could question their commitment. They’ve been there every week, have given everything to it. They see a club that’s very much still together and united, and they’ve been a massive part of that and they’ve been right behind it. “That’s going to be really important for us going forward. We finish the season, of course, not with the outcome that we want, but still very much together and that gives us a really strong position going into the years ahead.” Asked about the gulf between the Premier League and the Championship with the last six promoted sides all relegated in their first season up, McKenna added: “I think the gap’s there and you can see that in the last couple of seasons that it’s clear. “I think our position is different and as much as at the end of the season the table looks like we’ve been a million miles away, but week by week I don’t think we have been. “I think if margins had gone differently, we could have accumulated quite a lot more points and it’s also a season where there’s also not really any teams on very low points by Premier League levels. “I don’t think it’s impossible. Our jump is pretty unique. I think the teams who came up with us, we all feel like we could have done better, but I don’t think it’s an impossible climb to make. I’m sure there will be teams who achieve it, whether it’s next season or in the years ahead. “I think, certainly in our position, we look at and feel like if we can get back to this position we’ll be in an infinitely stronger position than we were this year and we’ll believe that we can make a bigger impact than we did. “It’s a huge jump, it’s a huge financial jump, that then leads to a huge jump in the player quality. “The level of the teams who are middle or bottom end of the Premier League now, it puts them amongst the wealthiest and best clubs in the world, so to come from the Championship to that is very tough. “From League One, maybe nearly impossible, but if we thought it was impossible to get back to this level and compete, then we’d probably all give up now. I don’t think it is and hopefully we’ll be one club who can prove that.” Quizzed on whether he’ll look at other clubs who have come down as he prepares for the Blues’ return to the Championship with last year’s relegated teams having mixed fortunes, Burnley having been promoted second on 100 points, Sheffield United third and defeat in Saturday’s play-off final by Sunderland and Luton Town relegated again down to League One. “You always do,” he said. “Each club is different, but you look at those that have been before you coming up, those that have been before you coming down - what they did well, maybe mistakes that they made. “Usually speak to people at the club, speak to the managers, get their reflections and try and learn the lessons as well as you can and learn from others’ success and learn from others’ mistakes. “We’ll try and do that again this summer but ultimately each club is unique and you have to find your own pathway to tackle it. “Are managers amenable to that? Yes, I don’t think there are many exceptions. I think managers, we all know what we go through. If you’re not going to be competing in the same division, then I think generally people are happy to have a discussion around their experiences.”
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