Boss Kieran McKenna admitted the Blues’ 6-0 defeat at home to Premier League champions Manchester City was a painful game with the visitors, who he believes still may be the best team in the world, too strong for his side in all aspects.
Town fell to their joint-heaviest ever home defeat to City, but having been well in the game up until the visitors went in front in the 27th minute through Phil Foden, the first of two, and then added a second via Mateo Kovacic three minutes later.
Foden’s second made it 3-0 at the break and Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland, fresh form signing his new 10-year contract, and James McAtee completed the rout in the second half.0:24
“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, there were chances both ways but we could have had the first goal, was a really similar flow to our best games and best performances here against some of the big sides.
“But after the first goal, their confidence and quality went to a level that we weren’t able to cope with and they completely pulled away and took the game away 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 them and showed their quality.
“The last 20, 25 minutes then was just a time where the team had to stick together, show character and try and stem the attacks that Man City were having, and I think the group did a pretty good job of that. But yes, a really, really difficult day, a difficult game and it is what it is.”
Quizzed on what lessons can be learnt from the afternoon, McKenna said: “I think 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, incredible season.
“But certainly today, and on one or two other occasions this season, we haven’t been able to hit the level and if you can’t hit the level and the performance and the opposition have a very good day, then the game can completely get away from you.
“In terms of what we’ll take form today, I think there are a lot of things we need to reflect on. We need to analyse it, we need to have some good, honest conversations.
“The start of the game, as I say, had lots of positives. The first two goals were on shape and everyone’s behind the ball and we didn’t defend well enough against the moments. We were structurally fine but we didn’t defend the incidents well enough.
“We had some organisational issues either side of half-time after that, which we didn’t manage well enough but, 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 and they punished every mistake we made and any issues that we had.
“I think we needed to manage that phase better and it’s not the first time this season. It is difficult, but we need to do it better, there’s no doubt about that. We needed to manage the phase better when the game got away from us.
“And then there’s the last phase of the game where some individuals really stood up, showed some real leadership in the pitch, the group stuck together and the crowd were fantastic, they showed an amazing togetherness with the group of players on the pitch.
“The group of players on the pitch stuck together and we need to take positives from that because those are some of the qualities 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, the future of the club, and that was certainly shown at the end of the game today.”
McKenna felt the game showcased the gap between the teams at the top of the Premier League and those promoted from the Championship, although he believes City are capable of doing the same as they did to Town to other top sides.
“I think so,” he reflected. “But I think Man City are better than that on their day, to be honest. I think Man City can do some of what they did today to some of the better teams in the Premier League and to some top class European sides.
“The level of their execution, 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 that high and they’ve done that to better teams than us over the last few years, and 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 Championship or the EFL to the Premier League, I think it was bigger than that. It was the gap from that to, in that level of form, maybe still the best team in the world. And that gap was pretty big today.”
Town played Brighton on Thursday, while City’s previous match was the 2-2 draw at Brentford on Tuesday, giving the Blues a tight turnaround and the visitors two additional days in which to prepare.
“I think it was an issue and it has been a challenge,” McKenna said. “I think it’s quite a few games in a row where we’ve given up lead time [to the opposition] going into the game. Man City’s tough anyway but Thursday night to Sunday afternoon is our quickest turnaround of the season. To have that before you have Man City and I think we gave up days in all the games before that as well.
“We’ve had injuries and players probably coming back in quicker than we would have wanted. If I’m honest, Omari [Hutchinson]’s probably had to come back in the team quicker than would have been ideal in terms of his sharpness, and there are other instances like that.
“I think it’s a tricky spell for us from a physical point of view. We’re coming out the back of a really busy winter spell, the group’s been down in some positions. We’re trying to work back to full fitness, individuals are trying to work back towards full fitness.
“We’ve got new players coming into the group, who don’t have fitness and match fitness to the level they would want to be at yet.
“Trying to integrate all of that and get back to our best condition through an incredibly difficult run of games that we’ve had has been really, really tough.
“I think in general we’ve done a pretty good job of it, but today we weren’t able to do well enough and I think that was part of the issue.
“Again, we have one day fewer than Liverpool [who Town face at Anfield on Saturday] but it’s a better run-in, so we’ll get a few days’ training next week, which will be beneficial. A few days with the players who are coming back from injury and with the new players.
“After Liverpool, we have a week to Southampton and I think from that physical point of view, I still think we’ve got a challenging couple of weeks ahead, but I think if we keep doing the right things, if we stick together as a group, if we work well, I think in a few weeks’ time we can be in a much stronger position to attack the end of the season.”
McKenna says he didn’t say a lot to his players in the dressing room after the game with the post-mortem to come on Monday.
“We didn’t speak too much,” he said. “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. I give them my honest perspective on the game.
“A few players have the opportunity to speak if there’s anything they want to discuss in the group, and we’ll take it to the training ground and we’ll own it. We’ll own the things that we could have done better.
“We’ll analyse the game, we’ll reflect on the areas we need to improve, we’ll reflect on the positives from the game as well because for 27 minutes, if the game stopped then, everyone would have said, ‘What a really good performance, how incredible Ipswich have done to compete with Man City’.
“But the game doesn’t stop after a good start and we’ll certainly learn from the bits that we didn’t do well enough.
“But we’ll also take some of the positives from the start and also the finish to the game from a mental point of view, and 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 incredibly amount of character next week at the training ground and going to Anfield, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”
Leave a Reply