Kieran McKenna exclusive: Ipswich manager on figuring out Premier League demands, Omari Hutchinson and building from the back | Football News

Ask Kieran McKenna what style he wants his Ipswich team to play this season and he might surprise you.

McKenna has built a machine that applies a lot of pressure and scores goals. He racked up 194 points and 193 goals in successive promotions, leading a struggling League One side back to the Premier League in less than three years.

Many of the players who started this journey remain at the club. Seven were in the starting eleven on the opening day against Liverpool but a cap was reached.

Their territorially dominant, high-pressing game cannot continue in a squad with so many left over from League One. The effort following promotion to the Championship last season was also brave, particularly when Ipswich’s number of goals conceded in League Two almost doubled.

But McKenna believed in his philosophy and proved emphatically right after he led them to an unthinkable 96-point haul and further promotion.

McKenna’s success has made him synonymous with this all-action style, but he always knew that would change with the pace of Ipswich’s rise. But he is no stranger to pragmatism in his time at Portman Road.

When he first arrived at the end of 2021, with the club stagnating in mid-table in League One, his first priority was to strengthen Ipswich’s defence. They kept seven clean sheets in his first ten games; The goals started flowing later.

Hard work and aggression, hallmarks of the McKenna philosophy since day one, remain non-negotiable. But he has been uncharacteristically forgiving when it comes to how that is reflected in the Premier League – particularly given the hand-picked £100m of new signings who have joined the club this summer.

“At this stage and for a while it’s just about us adapting to the level as a group,” he says Sky Sports. “It’s about being competitive in every game, improving and developing our style and figuring out what that’s going to look like for us at this level, what it’s going to look like at home and away – and trying to win every game along the way “We.” I’m there.

“The start of the season was always a big challenge for so many reasons. There was such a big turnover in the summer, for all the right reasons, we are trying to integrate as many new people into the group. Many who have never played in the Premier League or have been playing regularly in the Premier League recently.

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“We are open and honest about these things. We’ve never lost two games in a row and then when you have Liverpool and Man City in your first two games there’s a chance that could happen. You might as well get it out.” open up and discuss what your reaction will be.

He continues: “We want to be brave, dominant and aggressive with and without the ball. But we also know that this will not be the case for everyone.

“In the Championship we always felt comfortable when things opened up because we knew our fitness, our playing patterns were designed to exploit large spaces and we wanted us to come out winners. We can’t allow that.” The game will now become more open and intense against every opponent.”

In many ways, McKennas Ipswich has come full circle. Away from “We score one more goal than you” and back to the principles with which the path to the first division and then to promotion to the championship began. Construction from behind. Be hard to beat.

There will be no repeat of Burnley’s unfortunate attachment to their style of play a year ago. They will still press when they can, like in the first half against Liverpool. But they too will keep their mouths shut, like they did during the hard-fought point in Brighton.

“When you move up a division it’s important to know that you’re hard to beat, you’re going to keep clean sheets and you’re going to defend when you need to,” McKenna said. “It’s about deciding every game and every week how aggressive we can be to give ourselves the best chance to be competitive.”

“We have to find other ways to be competitive and fight for points. We know that we will not achieve the desired result every week. It’s about controlling what we can control, and we’ve been very oriented,” at least in the last few years.

“We never talked about promotions, we never talked about determining the scores, we never talked about other teams or looked at the tables, it was about us, our team, our development.”

Ipswich are still hoping for their first win but McKenna points out they would win the three draws that followed a sobering opening salvo against Liverpool and Man City with one win and two defeats.

Of those, only one point at Southampton feels like a missed opportunity. Even that showed they had carried their resolve into the Premier League after Sam Morsy’s 95th-minute equalizer. Last season Ipswich scored 25 goals in the final 15 minutes of play, the highest in the Championship.

The downside is that it was only their third goal in five games. Ipswich had fewer shots and a lower xG than everyone else, making getting results even more important.

Attacking depth was an issue all summer and even leading up to Deadline Day there was hope of securing deals for Armando Broja and Reiss Nelson until both failed in the 11th hour. “It would have brought a little more experience and quality to this department, but I am happy with where we are,” emphasizes McKenna.

Their absence could mean the difference between survival and relegation. But there is hope elsewhere in Chelsea’s £20m purchase of Omari Hutchinson after a successful loan move last year.

He has no Premier League experience but the 20-year-old knows Ipswich and McKenna inside and out. He has yet to add to the 11 goals he scored last season, but his manager knows exactly what he brings to the table.

McKenna cites the first-half performances against Fulham and Liverpool as his team’s best examples of pressing. Hutchinson handled most of the pressure in the former and only Liam Delap forced more turnovers in the latter. As the season has progressed, Hutchinson has felt the most pressure in the Premier League.

“It was a big priority to keep him,” McKenna says. “He has found a really good footballing home here, an environment, teammates and a group of staff who have really supported him and helped him achieve the same performance as last season.”

“In a summer where there would be a lot of turnover, with him you get a player who already understands how we work, how we train and what values ​​we represent.”

“It gives them a better chance to hit the ground running and you can see that in Omari’s performances.”

McKenna hopes goals will follow as his side’s style matures like they did in his early days at Portman Road. But against some of the best defenses in the world, there is no guarantee of a repeat performance.

As long as Ipswich can stay in touch with the chasing group there will be no panic. It helps when five other teams are still winless after as many games, an all-time high.

Ipswich play two of them, Everton and Leicester, as well as struggling West Ham in their next four games, but will have to face three of last season’s top four by the end of last season Great Sunday when Aston Villa comes to town.

But if McKenna sees his own team’s style of play relaxed in a survival season, don’t expect a Champions League opponent to bother him.

“That’s positive,” he says with a smile. “We knew the start of the season would be a big adjustment process. There is no better way to do this than to play against the teams at the top.”

Watch Ipswich vs Aston Villa live Sky Sports Premier League Sunday from 1 p.m., kick-off 2 p.m