Kieran McKenna has come to debutant Harry Clarke’s defence despite the defender being sent off in Ipswich’s defeat to Brentford.
Former Arsenal youth player Clarke endured a nightmare debut in the Premier League as he was sent off in the 69th minute, having already conceded a penalty and accidentally scored an own goal as Ipswich suffered a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Brentford. Despite the player’s multiple mistakes in the game, manager McKenna came to the 23-year-old’s defence as he protected him from social media criticism.
Speaking to reporters at his post-match press conference, McKenna said, “It’s his Premier League debut and he has not started a game since April. So, he will get plenty of support from us. He did some good things in the game, and there have been some good things In his performance, but there are a few things, of course, a few defensive moments, that you want to do better on and he’ll be disappointed with.
He is a young player, making his Premier League debut, coming back from a big injury and because of the injuries we have, we had to throw him straight into the team where ideally he’d have a longer period, maybe coming off the bench like all of our players and our culture. He’ll take his mistake on the chin I am sure and look to learn from it and work hard on those things in training and come back again stronger.”
Clarke has been an integral part of the Ipswich side under McKenna that secured back-to-back promotions to the top division. Unfortunately, he remained sidelined with an injury since April this year and had to wait until late October to finally make his debut in the English top flight. The Tractor Boys are yet to register a win in the Premier League in the 2024-25 campaign and are currently just a point above the relegation zone.
Next Saturday, McKenna’s team will play Leicester City at home in a crucial matchup with the goal of recording their first league victory.
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