“When you concede goals as we did then you look back on them and identify the areas we could have done better,”
manager Kieran McKenna said at his pre-match press conference. “I know what the mitigating factors were
though. We had one day of preparation for the game, there were new relationships on the pitch, and we’re playing
against world class players who have played together for a lot of years.” Ipswich Town returns to Anfield tomorrow
after suffering a 6-0 home thrashing at the hands of Manchester City.
“I think we will continue to improve. When you bring in players in January you do it because you believe they can
help the team over the next four or five months, but you know there’s also going to be a little period of bedding in
and getting up to full speed and doing that in the Premier League is really tough.
“It’s still a short week, with the Sunday to Saturday turnaround, but we had a really good training session
yesterday (Wednesday).
“We looked back at the game. We analysed the positives – and there were positives in there, despite the scoreline –
and we analysed the main period of the game that we needed to do better in. We owned it as a group and move
forward together.
“We’ve had Jaden (Philogene) training with us properly for the first time this week, Julio (Enciso)’s now joined us,
Ben Godfrey and Axel Tuanzebe have had some extra time training too, so the group feels healthy. We’re still in
good spirits and really looking forward to the challenge this weekend.
“It’s for us to go and show a reaction. At the training ground you have to come back to work with an openness that
we had a difficult day, to be able to accept the reality that it can happen when you’re playing against a world class
opponent but also be honest enough to look at the things we could have done better to make it a different game.
“You have to be ready to go again and look forwards with optimism and positivity. The players have certainly done
that.”
ON LEAGUE LEADERS LIVERPOOL
“They’ve been fantastic. It’s been enjoyable to watch how they’ve developed. They were very good in pre-season.
When we analysed them before the opening game (a 2-0 home defeat) and you could see that he (Arne Slot)
had really managed to get his imprint on the team very quickly. They’ve carried that right the way through the
season.
“The biggest observation you can make is that they are a really complete team. They defend well, they can press
high, they defend in the block well, they have discipline in the defensive shape, their counter press is good, their
counter attacks are good, they have a real threat in attacking transitions and they can both control the game with
possession and also change gears really, really quickly and hurt the opposition with a variety of threats. They can
go behind, they can pass through you, they can go around the outside and go one-v-one, they can cross it and they
can shoot from outside.
“They have a really good balance. They’re well-coached, have good structures and principles in all phases, a very
deep squad so they can rotate, and it’s clear to see why they’re having a really good season. Credit to them.”
ON PLAYING AT ANFIELD
“First and foremost we need to enjoy it. When the songs are going up, and when you step out of your concentration
zone and notice the surroundings, we have to recognise where we are competing because it’s been a journey to get
here.
“But after that it’s about focusing on the game, focusing on the details, your role on and off the ball, your job on set
plays and sticking to that for the whole 90 minutes.
“It’s a game of football and we need to take care of the things that really make the difference.”
ON WHETHER THIS GAME IS A ‘FREE HIT’
“We don’t look at it that way. Yeah, no-one expects us to get a result, and there’s long odds against us doing so, but
I don’t think you can ever say it’s a ‘free hit’ in terms of the performance. We have to show the right things and
represent ourselves and the club right. We have to want to go there and show what we are as a team.
“We know there’s going to need to be some really good individual and team defending, but we also want to impose
our bits of the game that we take pride in and believe will get us success in the end.
“If we can get a result at Anfield against a team in their form it would be incredible, but you can’t go in thinking
that getting a result equals positive and a non-result equals negative. It’s about the qualities we show as a team and
the performance.
“Ultimately, it’s a football match and you never know what the result can be. We have to have belief in ourselves
and know that we’ve been to big teams and scored goals and played good football.”
ON WHETHER MO SALAH IS THE GREATEST PLAYER IN PREMIER LEAGUE HISTORY
“I think that’s an argument for our dressing room. Axel Tuanzebe you should ask that to because he usually leads
the argument on ‘who’s the greatest?’ and ‘who’s the top five?’ in this or that. The analysis room like a little top
three list too.”
Pressed on what he’d say, if having this debate in a pub, McKenna replied: “It’s not my game that one. If we were
in the pub I’d probably be in the corner on the quiz machine maybe!
“He’s certainly one of the best players in the history of the Premier League. He’s been incredibly consistent for so
many years and has gone from strength to strength.
“I analysed him maybe four, five, six years ago with Man United as a first team coach and I see him today and he’s
probably stronger now, certainly no weaker, than he was then.
“Having that level of consistency into his 30s is a testament to how he works. Samy Morsy speaks very highly of
him from their interactions with Egypt. Everyone knows what a top professional he is.
“We did a good job in the first game of stopping him for a period of the game, but we weren’t able to stop him for
90 minutes. We’ll try and limit him as best we can on Saturday.”
ARE LIVERPOOL THE BEST IN WORLD?
“It didn’t feel like that at five o’clock last Sunday! (after a 6-0 home loss to Man City).
But that’s definitely true. The Premier League is the strongest league in the world, and they’ve been the best team
this season and have excelled in every aspect. They’ve also been the most impressive team I’ve seen in the
Champions League, so that’s the scope of the challenge. In many ways, it’s a good one to take on. “You can’t help
but learn when you face world class coaches and world class players. It’s about trying to find the balance between
defensively solid, but also have some sort of foothold in the game and how we believe we can hurt the opposition.
These are challenges you can only be stronger for.”
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