Ipswich Town: Kieran McKenna on using 26 players in Premier League
In their first eight Premier League games, Ipswich Town has gained four points. Kieran McKenna assessed the bigger picture after Saturday’s miserable 2-0 home loss to Everton.
Kieran McKenna has already used 26 players in eight Premier League games.
The only players who haven’t played in league action yet are Nathan Broadhead, who just recovered, backup left-back Conor Townsend, and third-choice custodian Cieran Slicker.
Late in the transfer window, six players joined: Jens Cajuste, Jack Clarke, Dara O’Shea, Chiedozie Ogbenne, Kalvin Phillips, and Sammie Szmodics.
Injuries have also occurred. Axel Tuanzebe, Jacob Greaves, Ben Johnson, Massimo Luongo, and Cajuste are now absent, while Harry Clarke, Broadhead, George Hirst, and Ali Al-Hamadi also had short preseasons. Aro Muric, Kalvin Phillips, and Wes Burns were also forced to miss games.
So far, I’ve seen six distinct combinations of the offensive trio behind the striker, three different centre-back pairs, and three different midfield partnerships.
After Saturday’s heartbreaking 2-0 loss to Everton at home, McKenna remarked, “It was a difficult summer, a lot of the group didn’t really come together until the end of August, and since then we’ve had four weeks when players have been away on international duty.”
“We’ve had one home game since the end of August, so it’s not been very easy to get momentum and get into the season, especially when we’re having some injuries and we’re having to be put debutants in every week and new players in different partnerships with players they haven’t played with before. There’s no doubt that makes a challenge.
Jacob Greaves is now set for a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
“But it’s a long season and there will hopefully be spells where we will have more consistency and continuity.”
Early defeats to Liverpool and Man City came as little surprise, then four successive draws – against Fulham, Brighton, Southampton and Aston Villa – raised positivity levels. Successive defeats to West Ham and Everton have dampened spirits though.
“We want to have more points on the board than we do. Of course, it’s important to pick up points,” said McKenna, whose side travel to Brentford on Saturday.
“We have played eight games and we’ve got a result in four of them. If two of them had been wins, even if one of those had have been a win and we had the same points, then that would be a little bit different.
Four Town players have started all eight Premier League games thus far, including Sam Morsy.
“We can’t concentrate on it; it is what it is. Although we are aware that we can do better in certain areas, we also believe that we have truly engaged in the game for periods of time in each of the games.
Our individual qualities also emerge and we appear to be a competitive team in the division when we are able to force our organisation, structure, and patterns on teams both on and off the ball.
We’ve also noticed, though, that games can swiftly lose their momentum. We believe that the opponent players’ individual skill levels are extremely high, far more than the majority of our players have ever encountered, and that both high-quality and low-quality moments can be costly.
It’s extremely difficult to regain control of a game once it slips from your grasp, and mistakes can be punished with extreme brutality.
“For us, it’s about trying to stay on course, continue doing the things we’re doing well, and be open and honest enough to reflect and try to improve the things we’re not doing so well.”
Ben Johnson is one of three different players to have started at right-back so far.
ITFC’S 24/25 PREMIER LEAGUE COMBOS SO FAR
CENTRE-BACK
4 games: O’Shea/Greaves
3: Woolfenden/Greaves
1: Woolfenden/Burgess
CENTRE-MIDFIELD
5: Morsy/Phillips
2: Morsy/Luongo
1: Morsy/Cajuste
RIGHT SIDE
3: Tuanzebe/Burns
2: Tuanzebe/Ogbenne
1: Tuanzebe/Johnson
1: Johnson/Burns
1: O’Shea/Burns
LEFT-SIDE
4: Davis/Szmodics
3: Davis/Clarke
1: Davis/Hutchinson
PREMIER LEAGUE STARTS 24/25
8: Davis, Morsy, Hutchinson, Delap
7: Muric, Greaves
6: Tuanzebe
5: O’Shea, Phillips, Burns
4: Woolfenden, Szmodics
3: J.Clarke
2: Johnson, Luongo, Ogbene
1: Walton, Burgess, Cajuste, Chaplin
Sub app(s) only: H.Clarke, Edmundson, Taylor, Harness, Hirst, Al-Hamadi
Unused: Slicker, Townsend, Broadhead
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