‘We need to learn the lesson really quickly’ – McKenna on 4-0 defeat to Newcastle.

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna believes his players must rapidly learn from today’s 4-0 home loss to Newcastle United.

Alexander Isak broke the deadlock with 26 seconds on the clock and went on to complete a hat-trick, with Jacob Murphy grabbing the other. The Magpies also had numerous decent chances in a one-sided contest.

“We definitely need to learn from it,” McKenna added.

“We haven’t had many like that, we’ve been really competitive across the season, and I’ve been saying that the group has to be close to 100% for that to happen.”

“We did not manage to be that today. We faced a really talented opponent who was better than us, and the game got away from us.

“We absolutely need to improve in several areas, particularly in the first half. There are things we’ve done really well this season that we didn’t get to display today.

“It’s crystal clear that we’re going to have to show a different side of us in the next couple of games (against Arsenal and Chelsea).”

Aro Muric and Jens Cajuste react to Newcastle’s third goal. (Image: Ross Halls).The Blues manager said, “The game was realistically over at half-time.” Of course, at 3-0, you don’t give up on the result, and we wanted to get the next goal, but the second half was really about demonstrating the correct attributes and resilience. I believe the audience demonstrated it as well at a high level. They stayed with us. They are aware of the trip this group has taken. I believe most people appreciate how difficult it has been for us to maintain our competitiveness.

“Today slipped away from us. We don’t want to have that sensation too frequently, therefore we need to learn lessons fast and attempt to reach our absolute maximum level in the next few games.”

When asked what those lessons were, McKenna responded: “The first goal is frustrating; we made a few of mistakes, but that’s what happens when you start on the front foot against a really talented team.

“My favorite part is the last 20 minutes before half-time. Because, after the early goal, we were fine; we had ball possession, we got into excellent positions, we had some great chances, and the game was very open. But the game began to get away from us in the middle of the first half; they were becoming a significant threat, and we failed to execute our game management, decisions, defensive organization, and defensive resilience, all of which we have excelled at this season and relied on during difficult times.

“The game was open and end-to-end, which suited Newcastle’s personnel and athleticism.” We didn’t stop that flow, which is part of the reason the game went from 1-0 to 3-0 and completely slipped away from us. I believe we needed to handle that phase of the game differently and ensure we got to halftime with a 1-0 deficit, giving ourselves an opportunity to strike in the second half.”

Newcastle’s third goal, scored in first-half stoppage time, came after goalkeeper Aro Muric dispossessed Jens Cajuste with a short pass out of the back.

Cameron Burgess reacts to Town’s devastating defeat (Image: Ross Halls).McKenna commented, “We’ll never know if that was an expensive moment. That similar action was repeated several times this season, as well as previous season. We’re really one of the teams that has surrendered the fewest goals while building up. We’ve been OK with it.

“This incident was about the context of the 15/20 minutes I’ve just talked about where we weren’t managing the game well, where we weren’t recognising the state of the game. That incident is easy to pick out, because we need to do better on it, but that was completely in the flow of the spell where there were lots of decisions, both from an attacking and defending point of view, that led to chances for the opposition.

“So it’s not necessarily, for me, a discussion around playing out from the back, because we know that’s something we believe in and has worked well for us, but more about managing the game in really difficult moments. That goal was in context with the 15/20 minutes that came before it.”

With six-goal topscorer Liam Delap suspended for this game, Sammie Szmodics was used as a makeshift striker. The Blues weren’t able to make the ball stick in the final third and struggled to create chances.

Asked how much his team missed Delap’s physical presence, McKenna replied: “You always miss it in certain moments. I think more of our problems today were from a defensive, and a defensive transition point of view, to be honest.

“We got to good areas, we had opportunities in the game. Sammie has a big one-v-one at 1-0 and there are not many people you want to put in that position than him.

“Of course you’re going to miss Liam’s quality in the final third, of course Liam gives us more opportunity to play over the press or down the sides of the press. We didn’t have as much of that on the pitch in the first half, although Sammie still had some good moments.

“We’re always going to miss Liam, especially at a time when George Hirst is out. We’re missing some of most physical players (Axel Tuanzebe, Chiedozie Ogbene, Delap and Hirst) against one of the top-three most physical teams in the league. So that made it a massive challenge.

“But to me our issues today were more about defensive transitions and game management rather than what we did with the ball. I actually thought we had enough moments, we got through them enough, we broke their press enough, we broke their midfield line enough, to have got something from the game. It was the chances that we gave away that were more of a problem.”

The fixtures don’t get any easier. Town, who have 12 points after 17 games, go to Arsenal on Friday before hosting Chelsea three days later.

“It’s not about brushing this under the carpet,” said McKenna. “To be honest, I think some of the lessons from today, and some of the things we didn’t do well, are going to be absolutely pivotal in the next couple of games. If we’re talking about games management, defensive resilience, those sort of things, then going to the Emirates is as tough as it gets when it comes to those requirements.

“If we take the lessons from today then, in some ways, it’s a useful time to have a couple of really difficult games because we’re going to have to show those things in abundance.”

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