McKenna: First Half Well Below the Acceptable Standard Saturday, 4th Feb 2023 18:29 Town boss Kieran McKenna admitted his side’s first half display wasn’t acceptable as the Blues drew 1-1 at Cambridge United. Harvey Knibbs gave the U’s the lead on 24, before Town keeper Christian Walton saved a penalty from Joe Ironside. McKenna made three changes at half-time and one of those subs, Kyle Edwards, created an equaliser for Freddie Ladapo nine minutes after the restart but the Blues were unable to find a winning goal. “I thought the first half was well below the standard which is acceptable for us,” McKenna said. “I didn’t like anything about our performance in the first half. I thought we started with the ball under control, but not enough intensity, not enough urgency, not enough penetration, all of the things that we wanted to have in the game we didn’t have. “We conceded a goal which you can was a good goal but it was also a lack of concentration from us in the run-up to the goal, which having shown what levels we’re capable of last weekend against Burnley, in terms of concentration to keep a clean sheet for 90 minutes, it’s not acceptable to concede in a moment like that from their first shot in the game. There were lots of things in the first half that we’re not happy with and need to improve. “The second half was better. We came out with more intent, created much more chances, scored the goal early on and had more than enough chances and moments that we should have executed better and gone on and got the winning goal from there. “But, of course, the game was a bit open and a bit wild at that stage and you’re giving away more at the other end as well. “We’re not happy with the performance, we’re not happy with the outcome and we need to put it right next week.” Why was the first-half display under par? “I don’t know, to be honest. We certainly will speak about it. We spoke about it at half-time very strongly. It’s a long way off the performance last week. We were fully aware of what the game was going to be like today, fully aware of the challenges that Cambridge would bring. “Our big emphasis going into the game was creating as much intensity and aggression and urgency in the game and we didn’t manage to do that. Although we had control, we weren’t penetrating enough and didn’t concentrate enough in those moments to make sure that they’re not getting any sort of chance at the other end. “Of course, you can say it was a wonderful strike and a wonderful goal, but the build up to it, we need to do better. “It wasn’t a first half I saw coming from how we’ve performed in the last two games and trained during the week, but we need to put it right, we need to be more consistent than we were today with our performance level and that’s something we need to do in the next two big games.” McKenna had praise for keeper Walton for his penalty stop, which was a big element in Town saving a point. “A good save from the penalty, it was a big part in us getting the point in the end, not a point we take a lot of pride in, but it’s a point,” he continued. “A big penalty save and it kept us at 1-0. How the game was going in the latter stages of the first half, we didn’t handle the situation well and we were lucky to go in at 1-0. “In the second half, we can say we had enough big chances to go and get the winner but we didn’t, so we have to settle for a point.” Asked whether his three changes at the break, Edwards, Marcus Harness and Janoi Donacien coming on for Leif Davis, Lee Evans and Harry Clarke, were due to injuries, McKenna said: “No, Lee Evans has a little injury, so we’ll have to see how he is, but the other two were fine. “Just tactical changes. I think everyone in the dressing room would hold their hands up and say anyone could have come off, no one was happy with the performance. “I wasn’t happy with the performance and ultimately I’m accountable for the performances, so it wasn’t about any individuals it was just about how we wanted to attack the second half from a tactical and a mental point of view and I thought we were better in the second half.” The changes were attacking switches of personnel and McKenna felt he wanted to instil the approach with which he had hoped his side would have begun the match. “It was a time where we had to be really aggressive and send that message,” he said. “It was how we wanted to start the game. For me, the mindset is the most important thing to how attacking you and we weren’t that in the first half. “We wanted to make those changes at half-time to be crystal clear what our intent needed to be and we had a lot of attackers on the pitch and we created a good amount of chances, but the game was a bit wide open, to be honest, and we were more vulnerable at the other end. “So we need to have the same intent as we did in the second half while still having a good structure like we did at the start of the game but without the attacking intent or urgency that we needed.” The Northern Irishman was pleased with the impression Edwards made after coming on wide on the left. “It was a good impact from him,” he said. “We spoke about him playing that role a little bit, we practiced it a little bit this week and he can bring us something different there, so he came on and contributed well to getting the goal and some other big moments that we had.” Did he feel like his team would go on and get the three points having levelled so soon after the restart? “We definitely had the momentum and we had the game where we wanted it for a while and we created enough chances to go and do it, but we didn’t produce the final pass, the final finish that we needed to and Cambridge, to be fair, produced a couple of really good defensive moments and a really good save when George Hirst put it across the goal. “It felt at that stage that we would go on to get the winner, certainly for the first 20, 25 minutes of the second half. I think at the end of the game it became a little bit more wild and there were moments at both ends. “I think overall we had the better chances in the game, we had moments in the game, but I don’t think we can have too many complaints about the point because the first-half performance wasn’t at the level that we can really say that we deserved to win the game.” Town are now six points behind the top two - with new leaders Sheffield Wednesday at Portman Road next Saturday - with Derby and Bolton in fourth and fifth two points away from the Blues. Quizzed on how significant a setback the result was given the context of the division, McKenna said: “It’s a setback in terms of our development as a group because I don’t think there have been many times this season where I’ve had many complaints about the performance and today it’s 100 per cent on us, no excuses. “Conditions were fine, we have no complaints, we had prepared well and we didn’t go and deliver a performance. In general, I think we’ve been pretty consistent with our performances, but today our approach wasn’t right and our performance wasn’t right. “So that’s a setback for us but it’s one we need to use in a positive way. It needs to be a key moment of realisation for us of what the requirement’s going to be because today in the first half we were well below the level that is acceptable for us.” Looking ahead to Tuesday, McKenna says the result hasn’t changed his thinking ahead of the FA Cup fourth-round replay trip to Turf Moor, although he has been concentrating on the U’s match this week. “I don’t think so, I haven’t thought about it too much, 100 per cent of my focus has been on this game, I’ve tried to keep my mind off Burnley completely,” he added. “I think we all know going into next week that Sheffield Wednesday is the biggest game of the week but on the other hand we need to be competitive as a squad, have worked hard to get to that point and we need to go on and make sure that we represent ourselves with pride, so we need to find the right balance to do that while making sure that we have a good team ready for Saturday.” Asked whether the players just want to get back out on the pitch to right some wrongs, he said: “I hope so, we’ll see next Saturday. Tuesday is a game unto it’s own, it’s a really tough game and we need to go there with a resilience and the right mindset to be in any way competitive in the game, but, for sure, we want to get out there against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. “I think in general, the intensity of our performances and our general approach and intent and aggression and positivity has been really good, so it’s not like we haven’t done it. We did it in the last game, we did it against Plymouth in the last game before Morecambe at Portman Road but we didn’t manage to find it today. “We need to be like that in the so-called big games, in the games at home in front of big crowds but we need to be like that when we come here today and we’re playing against a team who were always going to try and make it difficult for us and we didn’t do enough to make it difficult for them.” McKenna has enjoyed a strong backing from fans over his first year or so but could he understand supporters’ confidence and belief might be a little fragile having gone through previous false dawns and disappointments? “I understand,” he reflected. “Ipswich have had some disappointing seasons in League One and some seasons where they’ve really fallen away. I know the history of it. “I still have big belief in this group of players, I have big belief in our performances over the course of the season, which up until this point has got us to a good position and could be a better position, and if we hit those performance levels between now and the end of the season I think we will be in a really good position. “Today was one of the few days when we haven’t done that, so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of disappointment. I don’t think we gave the supporters who were here and were brilliant throughout the game the performance they deserved today, but on the other hand I think our performance levels have generally been really, really high. “We need to get back to that, we need to find that consistent level and have belief that that will have us where we want to be at the end of the season. “This is a new group, a new staff, a new club and it certainly doesn’t help to attach things from the past to now. We have to live in the present and make sure we work for everything that we can to have a better future.”
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