Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says he and his players will have ‘some good, honest conversations’ following this afternoon’s 6-0 home thrashing at the hands of Manchester City.
The four-in-a-row champions were back at their clinical best, Phil Foden (2), Matoe Kovacic, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and James McAtee all scoring in a 42 minute spell either side of half-time, to move back into the Champions League places.
This equals Ipswich’s record home defeat – a 6-0 loss to Liverpool in the Premier League relegation campaign of 2001/02 – and leaves Kieran McKenna’s men in the drop zone ahead of next Saturday’s trip to Anfield.
“It was a painful game for us, no doubt about that,” said McKenna. There’s no doubt that the opponent was too strong for us today in all aspects and we weren’t able to find the solutions to the quality they had or the problems they gave us.
“I think it was a really good game for 27 minutes from our point of view, a really even game. We competed really well, certainly could have had the first goal, and there was a really similar flow to our best games and best performances here against some of the big sides.0:00
“But after the first goal their confidence and quality went to another level that we weren’t able to cope with. They completely pulled away and took the game from us. We still had some moments and opportunities, but we weren’t able to punish them. And any mistakes that we made they ruthlessly punished.
“The last 20 minutes was a time when the team had to stick together and show character and try and stem the attacks. I think the group did a pretty good job of that. But yeah, a really, really difficult game. It is what it is.”
The Blues boss continued: “Playing against that level is new to us, there’s no doubt about that. We know how quickly we’ve climbed the ladder. There were a couple of occasions last year where we were outclassed by teams, but we still found a way to have an incredible season.
“Certainly today, and on one or two other occasions this season, we haven’t been able to hit the level. And if you’re not able to hit the level with your performance and the opposition have a very good day then the game can completely get away from you.
“There are a lot of things we need to reflect on. We need to analyse it. We need some good honest conversations.
“The first two goals were on shape, everyone’s behind the ball, but we didn’t defend well enough. We were structurally fine but we didn’t defend the incidences well enough. We had some organisational issues either side of half-time after that, which we didn’t manage well enough.
“Having said that, I think we gave them problems and organisational issues with the ball as well. But we didn’t have the execution to go and punish them today, while they punished every mistake we made and any issues we had.
“I think we needed to manage that phase better when the game got away from us. It’s not the first time this season it’s happened. It’s difficult, but we need to do it better.
“Then there’s the last phase of the game when some individuals really stood up. There was some real leadership on the pitch, the team stuck together, the crowd were fantastic and showed an amazing togetherness with the players, and we need to take positives from that. Because those are some of the equalities that have helped us do what we’ve done up until this point and those are the qualities that we need to build on for the future of the team and the club. That was certainly shown at the end of the game today.”
Asked if this result highlights the gap in class between the top end of the Premier League and the division’s newly-promoted clubs, McKenna replied: “I think Man City can do some of what they did today against some of the better teams in the Premier League and to some top class European sides.
“It wasn’t like our goal was absolutely peppered or we didn’t get out of our box. The level of their execution was just so high – and they’ve done that to better teams than us over the last few years.
“Once they scored the first goal today they really hit a top, top, top gear. So I don’t think today was necessarily just about the gap from the EFL to the Premier League. It was the gap from, in that level of form, maybe still the best team in the world, to us. That gap was pretty big today.”
Asked what he said to his players in the dressing room afterwards, McKenna said: “We didn’t speak too much. The time to speak is going to be when we get back to the training ground on Monday.
“I always give them my thoughts on the game from an honest perspective, which is pretty much what I’ve shared with you already.
“A few players have an opportunity to speak if there’s something they want to discuss. Then we’ll take it to the training ground, we’ll own the things we could have done better, analyse, reflect on the areas we need to improve and we’ll also reflect on the positives from the game as well.
“To be honest, if the game had stopped after 27 minutes, everyone would have said ‘what a good performance’ and how incredible Ipswich have done to compete with Man City. But the game doesn’t stop after a good start.
“We’ll certainly learn from the bits we didn’t do well enough in, but we’ll also take some positives from the start and the finish of the game from a mental point of view.
“We’ll move forward. We know we’ve got Liverpool away next week, we know it’s another massive, massive challenge, so we’re going to need to show an incredible amount of character next week at the training ground and at Anfield. That’s what we’re going to try and do.”
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