Town boss Kieran McKenna says it’s possible he could look at making changes to his team with Saturday’s home game against Plymouth coming only three days after the 1-0 away win at Bristol City.

The Blues squad arrived home in the early hours of Thursday morning following the visit to Ashton Gate, their fifth win out of sis on the road in the league this season, the other game, at Huddersfield, having ended in a draw.

“It's possible,” McKenna said when he was asked if he was considering changes as a result of the two games being so close together.

“Of course, we're never going to give away the team, but we'll always look at everything, really. We'll look at freshness from Wednesday night, it was the first game in a while, we made our five substitutions.

“In some ways, some of the players, I think, will be stronger for having the game in their legs and we're probably in a better physical condition going into this one on the other end of the late night and its travel.

“We have a midweek game next week, but on the other hand, midweek next week is a cup game.

“So, we'll take all of these things into consideration and pick what we think is the right team for that next game, but also the right team for the group and for the longer term as well, and for the balance between getting results, which is the absolute paramount, but also to continue to develop our group here and make sure that the squad is all ready and engaged for when they're needed.”

Quizzed on how he manages rotating his squad and keeping players happy even when they’re not starting, the Northern Irishman reflected: “There are a lot of different factors to it. I think your environment, your culture day to day, is probably the key one.

“Of course, everybody wants to play, everybody wants to start games in the division, in the Championship that we're in this year.

“But if it's a really good place to come to work, if players feel like they're improving whether they're in the team or out of the team, they're still being coached, they're still being treated with respect, they're still learning in a really positive environment, then you know you've still got a great chance of having a good dressing room, and we like to think that we've done that pretty well.

“Beyond that, the players know that it's a long season and people are going to play a part at different times.

“Last season was the same. There are times when your team is more settled, there are times when there's more rotation and there are times in the season when players who have maybe been not involved in the squad or haven't been starting as many games will come in and have a big big part to play.

“And there are times in the season when players who are playing regularly at the moment will end up out of the team, whether that's through form or through injury or suspension or whatever reason. 

“I think the group have lived the experience together of knowing that it's a long season, it's going to take different contributions from different people at different times.

“And while everyone wants to start as much as possible, they understand and respect that, especially as a newly-promoted team trying to rise to this challenge, we need a big squad, we need to have that, not just competition for places but we need to have that cover and those options in the different positions and everyone's right behind that. 

“And I think beyond that, then having the right things going on day to day, the right environment, the right respect, the right training hopefully still makes it an attractive place for players to be. 

“I have to say they've been really good supporting each other. As I said many times, we've got great leadership in the group. We've got some senior players who set a top example for other players coming into the group and that's something we have to keep working on.”

McKenna says he's going to need his whole squad with the Blues in a busy period with the Blues boss breaking the season down into little blocks.

“I think that's natural in the Championship, not necessarily in terms of, as I've said many times, setting targets for points collection, but in terms of knowing that in this block I think we have five league games, one cup game,” he said.

“The last block was, I think, six league games and really intense blocks of games with then a pause.

“I think it's natural that you sort of look at the collections of games and focus on what things we're going to have to do well and the performances, what things we're going to have to do better from the last block, what things we're continuing to try and improve on.

“And we've got some things that we're working on again in this block and, of course, we're off to a good start with the Bristol City game, but also lots of things still they get better at, so that now starts tomorrow, and we'll look to go and try and deliver a performance.

“It's a busy run of games, a busy block with the Rotherham game having been called off. We move to maybe six games in 18 days or something like that from Wednesday.

“That's pretty intense, so we're going to need the squad, we're going to need full focus and commitment from everyone, but we're in a good place.

“I think the squad's healthy, we've got good bodies and everyone's ready to play, so we're ready to take on the challenge of lots of games in a short space of time.”

Meanwhile, McKenna has no issues with the Rotherham game, which was postponed last Friday after the River Don burst its banks, being rescheduled for Tuesday 7th November during what’s already a busy period for the Blues.

“I think we knew it was going to be that week,” he said. “They always seem to try and rearrange it as soon as possible and there was a spare week there, and it made sense to get in as soon as possible and I don't know what can happen down the line.”

Photo: TWTD

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 16:14 - Oct 27 What a joy to be guided by a manager who is intelligent, straightforward, analytical, never abusive, and a nice bloke into the bargain. We are very lucky to have him.
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Linkboy13 added 17:22 - Oct 27 Plymouth's strength is their front three who are very lively and im wondering if he might recall Edmundson for a one off game and possibly Harness who gives the midfield a bit more solid look.
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Broadbent23 added 17:40 - Oct 27 Does KM have a plan to beat Fulham next week, therefore needs to create two competitive teams from the squad. It would be great to win both our next two matches, but we are not robots. We trust KM in his next selections.
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Carberry added 17:54 - Oct 27 Plymouth must be shattered with the travelling they have to do.
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Fat_Boy_Tim added 09:36 - Oct 28 Plymouth scored 101 points last year, they should have been shattered then too. I think they are underachieving whereas we are doing the opposite. There are far more to an 6 teams worse than Plymouth in this division (in terms of squads) and far more than 1 better than us but a team includes all the other stuff like management, culture, spirt etc and the you are where you are.

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