Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna praises his players for their recovery in Championship victory over Cardiff City at Portman Road
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has praised the ‘spirit’ and ‘quality’ that his side showed during today’s rollercoaster of emotions in the 3-2 victory at home against Cardiff City.
The Tractor Boys looked to be staring down the barrel of back-to-back defeats in the Championship after goals from Aaron Ramsey (30’) and Joe Ralls (52’) put the visiting Bluebirds in control of the scoreboard at Portman Road.
However, Freddie Ladapo – on as a substitute after speculation surrounding a deadline day move away from the club failed to materialise – scored twice inside the closing stages after Nathan Broadhead had reduced the arrears to give Ipswich the three points that moves them up to second place.
Speaking to TownTV after the final whistle, McKenna said: “It was another thriller. We said we’d try to give the supporters some entertainment and a team to be proud of who won’t give up – we lived up to that today.
“It was a tough game. I wasn’t happy with the goal we gave away in the first half because we showed a real lack of concentration in the moment. Having said that, you see the the quality of the Cardiff side today, you see the quality of the forwards, you know they’re going to have their moments.
“But overall I’m so pleased with the spirit, so pleased with the quality. To comeback from behind again, to show resilience again to keep playing our way again and also for the subs to come on and have such a big impact – it’s a big win for the squad as a whole.
“It’s a big learning game for us. I want to enjoy the win so I’m not going to pick at all of the negatives, but it was a big learning game, as every game is for us in this league.
“Today was the first time I’d say a team has come and showed us the respect of playing a low block with 11 men behind the ball. We had the ball in their half and they defend super, super compact and I thought we were doing ok.
“The (first) goal and the build up to the goal, we lacked the concentration to know that even though it feels like we’re in control of the game, they have excellent players who can score at any moment. And if we switch off then it becomes a much, much harder game.
“We spoke about that at half-time, about concentration that we didn’t have in that moment. Other than that I felt attacking wise I didn’t feel like we were far away. We changed a few little details positionally, got another body between the lines and changed a few little bits in our structure, but other than that I didn’t think we were far away.
“When they come and defend with 11 behind the ball you’re going to have to be patient, work the ball well and they’re going to get tired at the end. If we keep doing it the goals will come. We need to stick with it in those moments, we need the crowd to stick with us in those moments because we can’t force things and play too quickly into the opposition’s traps. We need to trust that it’s going to be hard for them to defend us for 90 minutes.
“There’s lots to learn and it was a completely different 90 minutes to what we’ve had in any other games in the Championship so far.”
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters later, McKenna revealed that the club are in talks to sign Axel Tuanzebe, who is a free agent following his departure from Manchester United.
TWTD quotes McKenna as saying: “Axel’s a player I know very well (from Man United), a player of real high pedigree. He’s someone that we’re speaking to at the moment.
“He is not fully returned from his injury yet, so we’re continuing to have discussions with him as that process goes on.
“And there’s not too much more I can add at the moment. We’ve got a space in our squad available and Axel’s a free agent and a tremendous player, who has played at higher levels and would be attractive to any club, certainly at this level, so we’re speaking with him and we’ll continue to speak with him and see if it’s beneficial for us and the right thing for the player to join us at some stage.”
