McKenna: We Need It to Be as Noisy as Possible Friday, 11th Nov 2022 18:15 Boss Kieran McKenna wants Portman Road to be as noisy as it can be with more than 25,000 fans set to watch Saturday’s visit by Cheltenham Town. The Robins frustrated the Blues and claimed a 0-0 draw in last season’s corresponding fixture in February. Town, who go into the game second, four points behind leaders Plymouth, who are at Lincoln on Saturday, have had an excellent home record since McKenna took over, falling to only two league defeats, Cambridge last season and Lincoln last month, losing both 1-0. Overall at home in the league under McKenna, in addition to the two defeats, the Blues have won 12 and drawn five, scoring 31 and conceding 10. “You can't win them all, so you're going to have games where you're disappointed,” McKenna said when reminded of last season’s stalemate with the Robins and its narrative similarity with the defeat to the Imps. “But it's true that our only loss at home this season was against Lincoln, a game where we had really, really high number of possession, shots and opportunities and conceded a goal on a set play. “And we have referenced and looked at that game a little bit this week, as Cheltenham will have done as well, I'm sure. “I don't think their strategy is going to veer too far away from what Lincoln's strategy was on that day and that's something we need to be ready for, and everyone at the game needs to be ready for. “There are things that we can do better from Lincoln. I think we addressed quite a few of those going in the Derby game [which Town won 1-0] and managed to get the intensity and feel of the game that we wanted. “But at times it can be a little bit easier on a Friday night when you're playing against a Derby County, who everybody knows are a big club and a big team and it's going to be a difficult game. “For sure, the challenge for everyone, the staff, the players and supporters, is to understand that against a Cheltenham at home we will be favourites to win the game and the other team will be coming with a plan to make it difficult for us is in many ways equally as challenging a game.
“On the pitch, first of all we have to try and create that energy, atmosphere and intensity to the game that we excel in and we need the supporters to really help us push with that, and I know they will do. “We need it to be as noisy as we possibly can and as difficult as it possibly can be for Cheltenham to come here and we need to find that nice mix of being really aggressive, positive and attacking. “But also of controlling the game and being patient in the right way because we know that if a team defend with a lot of numbers around the goal, then the goal doesn't always come early as much as we seek it. “And then, in that case it's about patience and continuing to do the right things, continuing to concentrate and continuing to build and build and build that pressure. And if you do that, usually the goal will come in the end.
“So I think we've got a good understanding of the challenge of the game, a good understanding of what makes it a difficult game and I think we've had similar games before, and we've won lots of home games and our home record has been very good. “But there are also lessons that we can learn over the last 12 months and we're just looking forward to the challenge tomorrow. “We know Cheltenham are going to come and try and make it difficult and try and frustrate, and we know that the onus is on us as the home team and home club to overcome that. “But I think that's a great challenge and I know my players would rather be stepping out in a blue kit with that challenge and with that 25,000 crowd at their backs and we're really looking forward to getting out on the pitch.” Cheltenham were dumped out of the FA Cup by non-league Alvechurch last week following a 2-1 home defeat. In League One, the Robins, 19th, four points off the relegation zone, have won one of their last five, a 1-0 success at home to Morecambe last month. They drew 0-0 with fellow strugglers MK Dons at Whaddon Road a fortnight ago in their most recent League One match. Away from home this season, Cheltenham have won one - a 1-0 success at Exeter in August - drawn two lost four.
McKenna doesn’t believe the FA Cup shock will have too much impact on Saturday’s match. “I don’t think it’ll change too much, to be honest. We haven’t looked too much back at those games,” he said. “I think the FA Cup is a law unto itself at times and it happens every year. Of course, you don’t want to be on the wrong end of it and Cheltenham were this year. “If things had gone differently on Monday night, we could have been on the wrong end of it and we would have been the team on the other side of a big upset. “It happens every year in the FA Cup. I don’t think that game has too much reckoning into Saturday will be like. “I think in the last home game against MK, in terms of the tactical set-up of their team and the flow of the game, is more relevant. “I thought they defended very well and limited MK to very few chances. Their organisation was very good and you could see the good things they have as a team, and also they played some good football and were fairly close to having more possession than Milton Keynes. “We know what they’re about as a team, we know their strengths and we know how difficult the game’s going to be. I think we are ready and prepared for a strong Cheltenham team.”
McKenna, whose side will be looking to get back to winning ways in the league having drawn 4-4 at Charlton a fortnight ago, has said a number of players will be assessed ahead of the match due to injuries and illness in the camp, so second-guessing his team selection is even tougher than usual. Christian Walton seems certain to be in goal, however, with McKenna having decisions to make at the back even if everyone’s fit. Cameron Burgess could start on the left having been in the XI at Bracknell following his facial surgery, with Luke Woolfenden and Janoi Donacien to his right. Richard Keogh and George Edmundson are the alternatives. Leif Davis should at left wing-back with Wes Burns, who missed out on a place in the Wales squad which was announced on Wednesday, wide on the right. Skipper Sam Morsy and Dominic Ball are likely to be in the middle, although Cameron Humphreys made a good case for his inclusion from the start with his performance against Bracknell. Two of Conor Chaplin, Kyle Edwards or Kayden Jackson are likely to start as the number 10s with Tyreece John-Jules and Marcus Harness among the doubts having missed the trip to Bracknell with injury and illness respectively. Freddie Ladapo looks set to be the number nine. Cheltenham manager Wade Elliott says Blues boss McKenna has a largely settled squad which he was able to add to in the summer. “They are a big club in the league,” he told GloucestershireLive. “When Kieran came in last season, the starting XI hasn't changed massively since midway through last season. “But he's been able to bring in two or three people, key players who fit the system he wanted to play, gave them the characteristics he wanted to make the system work and they look a really good unit, with strength in depth and lots of different attacking options and a good structure behind them.” Asked whether he can take confidence from the 0-0 draw in last season’s corresponding fixture he reflected: “Off the top of my head, there will be four or five who played there last season, Lewis [Freestone] and Rags [Charlie Raglan] played. “Reece Hutchinson played and Bondsy [Elliot Bonds] played. The group we have now have shown that when they are at it, they are capable of competing with anybody.” The Robins’ defensive approach frustrated both the Blues players and fans, who chanted “boring, boring Cheltenham” throughout the second half of last season's Portman Road fixture. “They are a big team in the league and a good side,” Elliott continued. “We are not expecting to go there and be easy. “It'll be tough and we'll come under a bit of pressure I'm sure, so we'll go there and look to be organised and together, but we want to carry a threat going the other way as well. “It's a brilliant game. There will be 25,000 there, I remember Ipswich being in the Premier League and being in Europe. These are the games you want to play in.” Right-back Ryan Jackson is out with a back injury, while centre-half Caleb Taylor has a concussion and will also miss the match. Midfielder Taylor Perry is struggling and striker Alfie May returned as a sub against Alvechurch after a month out but felt his ankle and won’t make the trip to Suffolk. Forward Dan Nlundulu is OK, despite suffering a cut to his leg against Alvechurch and Ben Williams is fine despite having been forced off with a head injury in the FA Cup defeat. The games between the teams last season, a Cheltenham win at Whaddon Road and the 0-0 draw at Portman Road, were their first EFL meetings. The clubs' only previous competitive fixtures were in the Southern League in the Blues’ first two seasons as a professional club in which they achieved four wins out of four. In 1936/37 Town won 3-1 at Whaddon Road and 3-0 in Suffolk. The following year, the Blues were 3-1 victors at home and 2-1 winners away. In February, McKenna’s 100 per cent home record with Town came to an end as the Blues were frustrated by Cheltenham, the game ending 0-0. McKenna’s side dominated for most of the match and created enough chances to have claimed the three points. At Whaddon Road in August last year, Cheltenham came from a goal behind at half-time to beat Town 2-1, their first ever victory over the Blues. Matt Penney’s brilliant first goal for the club gave Town the lead on nine and Macauley Bonne had a golden chance to make it should 2-0 during a dominant spell following the goal. However, Cheltenham were the better side in the second half and goals from Callum Wright and Will Boyle sealed a first League One win of the season for the Robins. Blues wing-back Burns had a stint on loan with the Gloucestershire club in the second half of 2014/15, scoring four goals in 14 matches. Centre-half Burgess made 17 starts for the Robins during a loan spell there during the second half of the following campaign. Fellow central defender Keogh was on loan at Whaddon Road from Stoke from March to May 2008, making 10 appearances. Former Town academy striker Charlie Brown joined Cheltenham in January from the MK Dons. Brown left the Blues to move to Chelsea’s youth set-up aged 16 in July 2016 having already broken into the U23s. Saturday’s referee is Geoff Eltringham, who has shown 17 yellow cards and one red in six games so far this season. The County Durham-based official’s last Town match was the 2-1 home victory over Accrington Stanley in January in which he booked Edmundson, Tom Carroll, Bersant Celina and three of the visitors. Prior to that, he was in charge of the 2-1 loss at Reading in March 2019 in which he booked Jon Nolan, Toto Nsiala, Gwion Edwards and four Royals. In the preceding December he had taken charge of the 2-0 defeat at Stoke in which he again cautioned Edwards as well as one Potter. A couple of months before that, he was the man in the middle for the 2-0 home defeat to QPR in which he booked just one visiting player. Before that he took the whistle for the second half of the 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough in December 2017 when he replaced Robert Jones at the break and booked Celina and one Teessider. Eltringham refereed the 3-2 defeat at Leeds in September of the same year when he booked Jonas Knudsen, Cole Skuse, Jordan Spence and one home player, and was also in charge of the 2-1 win at Barnsley the previous month in which he booked Dominic Iorfa, Knudsen and one Tyke. Prior to that he was the referee for the 3-1 loss at Fulham in April 2017 in which he booked three home players and Blues captain Luke Chambers. He also took control of the 2-2 draw with Reading at Portman Road two months earlier in which he cautioned Knudsen and two of the visitors and the 0-0 draw at Blackburn in October 2016 in which he booked only one home player. Eltringham also refereed the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday in April 2013 when he kept his cards in his pockets throughout. His first Blues match was against Leeds at Elland Road in January 2012, which ended 3-1, in which he red-carded on-loan Town keeper Alex McCarthy for handling outside the area thereby denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity and booked Luke Hyam and one Whites player. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Keogh, Burgess, Burns, Vincent-Young, Davis, Morsy, Ball, Humphreys, Camara, Harness, Edwards, Chaplin, John-Jules, Ladapo, Jackson.
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