| Bristol City 0 v 1 Ipswich Town SkyBet Championship Wednesday, 25th October 2023 Kick-off 19:45 |  |
McKenna: Broadhead is Nowhere Near His Ceiling Yet Wednesday, 25th Oct 2023 23:29 Town boss Kieran McKenna says forward Nathan Broadhead has plenty of scope to improve further, the Wales international having netted the winning goal as the Blues won 1-0 at Bristol City, their fifth away win in six this season. Broadhead netted the only goal in the 16th minute, his sixth of the season for the Blues, his third goal in three in the Championship and his fourth goal in five games for club and country, making him Town’s current top scorer. Reflecting on the game, McKenna said: “I thought we played [really well], bar the first five minutes when Bristol City started really sharply and we were just half a yard short, which I think was probably to be expected, to be honest. “I thought after that, for 65, 70 minutes we played really good football, scored a good goal. “We could have scored a second goal, which wouldn’t have killed the game but would have given us a margin. “And when you don’t do that away from home, we’ve been in that position before, you know then that the last 10 or 15 minutes is going to be tough, you’re going to have to dig in, show some spirit, show some resilience and we managed to do that. “I still think we can do better in that late phase, I still think we can control the game a little bit more with a little bit more composure. “But again we showed our will to get the result and to see it out as a squad and that helped us get over the line.” Did he feel there was some rustiness with Town not having had a game since October 7th’s 4-2 home victory over Preston? “I think the only time you could maybe say that was maybe the start and the end of the game. The start of the game for sure, they were first to all the first balls, first to the second balls, but I thought we got the rhythm of it pretty quickly. “And maybe seeing the game out at the end. I thought the last 15 or 20 minutes probably reminded me of Sunderland away a little bit. “It had that feeling, possible as it was the first game back again where the players aren’t in the rhythm of winning matches, they’re so desperate to win and they’re working extremely hard putting bodies on the line but maybe lacking the composure to pick off the right pass that would help us go and get the second goal. “I think maybe you can say the gap showed a little bit at the start and the end but having said that for a large chunk of the game we played really well with the ball, created some really good situations and some chances off of that and defended well and didn’t give away very much to a good and really energetic team.” Regarding Broadhead’s winner, McKenna added: “A good goal. I think he’s improving. He’s getting fitter, he’s receiving the ball better in between the lines, he’s understanding his role and his strengths a little bit better and he always looks like a goal threat, certainly when he gets the ball in those positions. “A nice strike and nice for him to get the goal but it was certainly a team effort, a team performance in the way we defended and also a team performance and also in the way we put some of our attacks together.” Asked how far Broadhead, who has made great strides since joining the Blues from Everton in January, might go, McKenna said: “I think the talent’s always been there. The people who have worked with him through the Wales youth groups or with Everton would always attest to that. “He’s probably undergoing his first, hopefully, coming up to 10 months now of regular football, playing week-in, week-out, building up his robustness physically, building up his capacity physically as well. “That’s obviously a massive part of it. We always felt, even watching him in my first season at Ipswich when he was at Sunderland, one, that he’d be a great fit for our team and our club, and, two, that he would be a late developer. “He’s 25 but probably seems a little bit younger, looks a little bit younger but we always felt like he’d be a late developer physically and that there would be a lot to come from him in his career. “He’s had a good not 12 months with us yet, he’s had a good 10 months with us. But I still think he’s got a long way to go. I still think he’s nowhere near his ceiling yet. I still think he can get fitter, he can still get stronger, he’s still understanding his strengths. “He was more of a striker early in his career, he played on the wing as well and now he’s finding that sort of hybrid role where he’s more of an inside forward and he’s really developing the capacity for what he’s capable of, but I think there’s a lot more to come. How far that goes, let’s see. “Of course, that’s what we want for the team as well and that’s what we want for the players but he’s definitely improving and he’s definitely got scope to go further.” McKenna believes Broadhead is a later developer: “I think so. Who knows how far [he can go], but I think he’s got a lot of scope to improve. “At 25, some people have maybe played games regularly for seven years and have been in their body and fully developed physically for maybe five, six, seven years as well. “Whereas Nathan I think is really in his first year of regular games in a team that suits him and is probably only coming into the last 12 months starting to get anywhere near his capacity physically with more to come. “I think he’s got the potential to develop further in his career, but that’s up to him, up to us, up to a lot of factors, but we’re enjoying working with him.” Town picked up their sixth Championship clean sheet of the season and McKenna was pleased with the way his backline, despite the Robins going very close in an incident in the second half when a Harry Cornick shot hit the post, struck Vaclav Hladky and ran along the goal-line before being cleared by Brandon Williams. “I thought for the most part we defended pretty well,” McKenna reflected. “We had a few little organisational things. Bristol City played more of a double pivot and played through there a little bit more than they have recently. “We had a few little bits with our organisation but in general we were committed, we defended well and we limited them to not too many chances. “Of course, there was the sort of random one where we make a mistake, there’s a deflected shot, it hits the post, it comes back of Vaz’s back, that was probably the big moment and, of course, we were fortunate in that moment, but on the other hand it would have been a lucky goal as well. “In general, we defended well, both in organisation and spirit but still lots of things to improve.” The win sees the Blues move five points off leaders Leicester and nine in front of Leeds in third with a game in hand on both the Foxes and Whites. “It’s not something that we can focus on, to be honest,” McKenna said, reiterating comments he has made previously when asked about the league position. “Of course, we know that we’ve had a really outstanding start for a newly-promoted team to the division. We know that Leicester have had an outstanding start. Of course, their squad is extremely, extremely strong, as are the two other newly-relegated teams, as are some other teams in the division. “We know how tough the league is, it’s great to have had this start but you can see tonight how hard we’re having to fight for every game, so it’s pretty easy for us in the camp, to be honest, to keep our feet on the floor because every game’s a challenge and they’re going to come round quickly now, which will be good. “But we know we’re going to have to focus straight away on the next game and just keep that perspective and who knows where it will bring us.” When it was pointed out that Town fans are dreaming given their team’s start to the campaign, McKenna smiled: “You never want to stop anyone dreaming and amazing things happen in football, but we need to enjoy the moment. “It’s a pretty unique start, it’s literally a unique start, so we have to enjoy the moment, enjoy these games as they come, enjoy coming away to a really good club against a good team and getting a win in midweek in front of 3,000 fans with a home game on Saturday to look forward to in front of a full Portman Road. “I think to spend too much time looking away on the horizon would probably miss the enjoyable and memorable bits that are going on now and certainly our focus is on the here. “And for the supporters, it’s nice to dream but also I hope they keep enjoying these moments as well because it’s a pretty unprecedented start.” Town are the first promoted team in any English division to begin a season by winning 10 of their first 12 games and are the fastest promoted side in any of the four divisions to reach 10 wins. The Blues, who have equalled their points total from their previous season in the Championship, the 2018/19 relegation campaign, have also made their best start to a second tier season, bettering the previous best under Sir Alf Ramsey in 1960/61, a year which ended with Town winning the old Second Division title. Quizzed on what it feels like to be mentioned in such illustrious company, McKenna said: “Obviously, it’s really early in my managerial career, it still feels pretty early in my tenure and it’s certainly early in our transition to this division. “It’s nice to have had the start we’ve had but any comparisons with greats of the game or great managers that Ipswich have had as well I think is really, really early on and we’re still in the development process as a team. “I think our focus just has to be on the here and now and there’ll be a time somewhere down the line, who knows how many months or years it will be where we can look back on these moments, but for now it’s full focus ahead and counting any records or anything like, that’s going to be for other people. “For us and the supporters, I think it’s about focusing on the now and enjoying these moments.” Meanwhile, Town released their new third kit earlier this evening and McKenna says he is a fan of the white and black look, which is based on the away strip from the 1981/82 season. “I saw it because I think it’s known that we were going to wear it on Friday night [in the postponed game at Rotherham], so we showed it to the players on Thursday so they could be familiar with it,” he said. “I think it’s a lovely kit. I know it’s another nod to tradition. There was actually someone outside the team bus today wearing the 1981 version, which was pretty cool. It almost looked as if he knew what was coming later in the evening. I think it’s another really nice kit, so credit to everyone involved in that.”
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