Boss Kieran McKenna admitted the Blues’ 3-0 home defeat to Charlton Athletic was a “terrible result” and that his team’s reaction to going behind was “nowhere near good enough”.

Having been the better side in the first half, in which Chuba Akpom hit the bar, the Blues went behind on the counter-attack to Sonny Carey’s goal on 52, then fell apart at the back and conceded again on 55 and 64 as Macaulay Gillesphey and Miles Leaburn completed the Addicks’ victory.

“It’s, of course, a terrible result for us. Makes it a really poor four days,” McKenna said, Town having lost 2-1 at Middlesbrough on Friday.

“There were obviously two different bits to the game, there’s the spell after the [first] goal, really the rest of the game after their goal where our reaction was nowhere near good enough.

“We didn’t find anywhere near the strength we needed individually or as a team to deal with the negative momentum. Didn’t do the fundamentals well enough, didn’t defend set plays, didn’t defend our box, didn’t track runs well enough. Didn’t defend our goal anywhere near well enough and that reaction was nowhere near good enough.

“There’s the other bit of the game, in the first half I thought there were a lot of aspects that were really, really good. We should score, we should be ahead against a difficult team who play man-to-man. We controlled 95 per cent of the half really well.

“And over the course of the night we had 30 shots, we should score on a normal night three of four goals tonight, quite possibly.

“We know it’s also not good enough to not be more clinical, have a little bit of luck in some situations, but we weren’t clinical enough with our execution and the bigger bit of the game, from the 1-0, it was unacceptable from us.”

As against Boro, the Blues were wide open at the back on a number of occasions, most notably for the opening goal and McKenna admitted that was a concern.

“Of course it is. I think there were some similar things there tonight that were evident at Middlesbrough,” he continued.

“We looked open on our attacking set plays, we were getting counter-attacked on our attacking set plays and then, when the momentum went against us, we looked really soft defensively.

“And the same for a 15-minute spell against Middlesbrough when the game got difficult against us.

“I don’t think it’s been the case all season, to be honest. I don’t think that’s been the problem.

“We’ve been one of the best teams defensively, we’ve given up very few chances. We’ve conceded chances from some poor moments which have been completely out of the context of the game, and there was one of those in the first half today, if I’m honest.

“But the looking open on counter-attacks, giving away big chances in a spell, I can’t think of instances of that before the Middlesbrough game, but it’s happened twice in quick succession, it’s happened with different players on the pitch.

“I’ve just spoken honestly about that downstairs, we did after Friday night as well, but it’s a quick turnaround so you don’t dwell too much, but we certainly need to address it.

“It’s a difficult league, there’s going to be difficult moments, games can change on an instant and you need to be strong in those moments, especially in our situation with our expectation this year.

“And at the moment, certainly on the last two occasions that we’ve been in [those moments], we haven’t been anywhere near strong enough and we need to do better.”

Given that, is he considering a change of approach and setting up with a more solid base and the squad finds its feet as an attacking force following the extensive personnel changes over the summer?

“I don’t think it’s that,” the Northern Irishman reflected. “I know because Friday night was a high profile game the story can be that we’re wide open.

“But our bigger challenge this year has been creating chances, it’s not been giving up chances, it’s been playing against teams who are frustrating us defensively and trying to click as an attacking unit and create chances. Defensively we’ve given up very few chances.

“Of course, in the last two games, for sure, there have been spells in the game where we’ve looked really open. Not the whole game, again at Middlesbrough it wasn’t the case for 30 minutes but once it happened and once we gave up one, we looked really open.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a change for the whole game, we give Charlton the ball and we sit back and defend, I don’t think that’s the answer.

“Of course, we need to make sure our balance is right when we’re attacking and in a couple of periods on Friday night and in one or two moments today, when we were behind we ended up chasing the game a little bit and we ended up with maybe not the right security behind the ball.

“We need to address that, it’s a pretty new issue for us this season, but the bigger one for me is that we need to be more clinical, we should be getting the first goal in the game again.

“But when we don’t, if something goes against us, we need to be far stronger and find a way to stay in the game and give ourselves a chance to come back, give ourselves the chance to win the game late.

“More than how we start the game, I think it’s how we address it. As a team in those situations we need to find a better way of doing so, we need to give the players some things to help them with that and those on the pitch need to find more strength in that situation as well.”

At the end there were boos from some fans, which McKenna said he understood: “Of course. No complaints at all on that. They give us good support and I think they know that in the first half there were a lot of good things and we got a good reception at half-time, and I think everyone’s feeling positive in that moment.

“But the second half, where we let it get to was unacceptable and they’ve got a right to be really annoyed, as we are.”

Photo: TWTD

Hipsterectomy added 23:16 - Oct 21 Time to go you fraud
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BlueRuin69 added 23:16 - Oct 21 Awful team selection, resign McClowna
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CookAshtonJohnson added 23:19 - Oct 21 No Plan B again, Mr McKenna. Seems that teams that play a low block and back 5 system are impossible to break down for us now - Derby, Blackburn (albeit weather played a vital role), Preston & now Charlton have had the same plan and we’ve struggled in all 4. We sold too much of the last promotion spine - we all know Burgess and Woolfy would’ve played off their socks tonight and Morsy would’ve grabbed the team by the scruff of the neck - there just seems to be no leadership or burning desire from the players anymore. Things must change Saturday. Please.

30

itfc2024 added 23:20 - Oct 21 stop making changes for the sake of it other teams don't so why do we and if a player can't play 2 games in 4 days then they need to think long and hard about if they wanna be a professional footballer they get paid a lot of money so should play every game
28

ForrestsFingers added 23:21 - Oct 21 O'Shea and Greaves AKA The Chuckle Brothers are possibly the worst Centre Half pairing I've seen in an Ipswich Shirt.
18

grow_our_own added 23:23 - Oct 21 "I think there were some similar things there tonight that were evident at Middlesbrough" I don't think KM gets it. He needs to kiss goodbye to the money he's spent on the replacements he started with tonight. The longer he tries to justify them, the further we'll be from the playoffs this season, and that should be our aim now. He's equated narrowly losing away to one of the main automatic promotion contenders, to getting thrashed at home to newly promoted Charlton. He threw his toys out of his pram after Friday, made seven changes, selected our reserves, who got tonked tonight. The team that comfortably beat Norwich & Pompey, finished off Sheff Utd, and almost got a point at Boro should be starting every match when fit. That eleven has won all our games this season, and is pretty much as good as this squad gets. Variations from it have won zero. For all the £200m KM's spent the last three windows, we don't have a good squad. He needs to swallow his pride, not the hype around it, and select the players who are playoff contenders. Get lucky in the playoffs, or hope for a more mature, cohesive team next year. Get real KM and deal with this situation you've created.

8

cartman1972 added 23:23 - Oct 21 I'm done with him now ....first time in years I've walked out ....59 mins in .
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BlueInBerks added 23:24 - Oct 21 Hope you kept them in after class.
2

jas0999 added 23:26 - Oct 21 KM has been nowhere near good enough. Last season and this. Certainly not to warrant his eye watering salary. £6M last year for 9 straight home defeats. Whatever he’s on this year is way too much. As for Ashton - where is he? Couldn’t keep him out of the news daily when all going well. Does he still work at the club? If so, why isn’t he reading the riot act to McKenna?

4

howarddavid3 added 23:26 - Oct 21 Did he he just say in the same interview that we had 30 shots in the game and a couple of minutes later that our problem was creating chances?
12

cressi added 23:27 - Oct 21 I do believe there will need to be a big upturn in results very shortly and if at Christmas we are still like we are now the American owners will be far from happy with McKenna or Mr Ashton after spending that amount of money. I would imagine top 6 is a minimum requirement lose Saturday the pressure cranks up another notch.
4

Randall added 23:28 - Oct 21 Terrible, very annoying second half performance, but we go again on Saturday. COYB
3

chrisbobs added 23:29 - Oct 21 To be fair to Kieran, he did well to describe the 2nd half performance without swearing. Because I can't.
18

EricGatesShinpad added 23:30 - Oct 21 I agree with GYO. Stick now with our starting 11 and use the attacking subs as the bomb squad at 60mins, as impact players. I am concerned about our CB... Greaves is not a patch on Cedric. Akpom , Ivan and Sammy desperately need a goal for their confidence....once they get firing I think we will be in a better place. I wouldn't agree with the KMK out crowd but he does need to sort it out PDQ. Uppa Town and we move on....

11

billlm added 23:33 - Oct 21 I think he's treading water now, Nothing in a year no plan b let alone c, probably to nice a guy, They have a long term plan but it's a result business and we're lacking, could end up in a real mess financially in a couple of years,
10

planetblue_2011 added 23:33 - Oct 21 Too many changes to the team. Defence was awful second half! Bet McKenna is having second thoughts selling Woolfie & Burgess. We are too slow building up the play to casual, keep making mistakes & getting caught out. Yes we had chances tonight, if one goes in first half we could have done a Charlton 3-0 up by half time. They done it 2nd half the way we should have done. They had a game plan & it worked flood their box with defenders & counter attack us. It worked. We don’t have a plan B and it was too late for the subs to even make an impact. Not good enough, time for a rethink McKenna.

13

Broadbent23 added 23:40 - Oct 21 Charlton did a job on us tonite. The same when we came up from League One. Absorbed the pressure and scored when the gaps appeared. We have the talent, but tactics play in the hands of our opponents. We needs to copy their methods and don't play like Divas.
8

tetchris added 23:41 - Oct 21 Tired of the same old excuses. Time for a change.
5

ITFCSG added 23:45 - Oct 21 He should explain how we managed to lose 0-3 to a team we destroyed 6-0 in L1, after spending close to £150 million. Beggars belief.
12

PinstripeBlue added 23:48 - Oct 21 We have been found out and cannot change, or will not change. Very stubborn man
12

Sefton_Blue added 23:50 - Oct 21 Our owners will not put up with this for much longer. End of
10

JustBeingSivell added 23:53 - Oct 21 Couldn't we play Philogene or Clarke as a 10 they are more creative and score goals than Akpom or Szmodics . Our two best players and they play in the same position. Good recruitment again. Failing that bring back Chaplin in January
4

55015Deltic added 00:06 - Oct 22 Not sure where we are going, the players dont either. From memory I have never seen a Manager turn a team around after failing for so long…… Defence absolutely awful once again. We need a communicator we need a man in charge we need an eleven to start we need an organised team with good attitude and guile. We need a change
10

JustBeingSivell added 00:31 - Oct 22 Perhaps we should start involving some of our successful U21 team who sit second in their league above the likes of Chelsea , Liverpool and Man City. they rarely get a chance on the bench. Kieron was right for all the platitudes there isn't a pathway to the first team
4

JustBeingSivell added 00:32 - Oct 22 Should be Kieron Dyer
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