Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna felt his side created enough chances to win two Premier League games in their defeat at Leicester on Sunday.
The Blues missed a host of opportunities during their 2-0 defeat, Leif Davis going closest when he struck the post early on. Omari Hutchinson, George Hirst, Julio Enciso and Nathan Broadhead all had opportunities while Jamie Vardy and Kasey McAteer goals at the other end proved decisive.
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna. Picture: Barry Goodwin
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna. Picture: Barry Goodwin
“That’s a really frustrating way to lose a game,” said McKenna. “At this level you can lose games in different ways, but I thought we created the better chances.
“Controlled most of the game but we weren’t clinical enough with our chances and our concentration wasn’t good enough in the moments that they scored, especially the first goal. Our action and our reaction wasn’t good enough and Leicester punished us with a clinical finish.
“There’s a lot that we can take from this one, especially going into next season, but in terms of this season, it’s a frustrating one.”
McKenna was happy with the overall performance with the lack of ruthlessness at both ends of the pitch the issue.
“That’s a big one in terms of the clinical nature of this league,” he reflected. “I know Leicester aren’t going to stay in it but Jamie Vardy has certainly been in it for a long time and that’s where we have to get to in terms of execution.
“You know in this league, if you don’t take your chances, you get punished, but also, things we’ve been talking about in the dressing room, there haven’t been many games where we’re been the dominant side creating lots of chances this season, so we haven’t had too much practice at that.
“If you compare it to where we were at last year in terms of going away to Leicester and the games against Southampton, I think we’re much more dominant this season than we were, but we didn’t find a way to win the game.
“There’s a lot for us to take from that going into next season where we know there will be a lot more games where we’ll have control of the game, we’ll be the team in the ascendency.
“There are a lot of things that you need to do well from a mental point of view, from a tactical point of view to make sure you win those games and you don’t give them away and you don’t lose them.
“We know we’re going to be in that position in terms of what some of the first half felt like today more often. It’s a good position to be in, it’s better to be the team who feel like they’re controlling the game and creating the better chances, but those winning margins, those winning details, we know we have to re-find those now in the summer and build them with a new group.
“If we can do that, we’ll be in a great position because there were a lot of good things in evidence.”
McKenna dismissed the suggestion, as he did pre-match, that the result might put down a marker for next season when both teams will be in the Championship.
“No, I don’t worry about that,” he insisted. “We wanted to win the game for this season. Get the club a little bit more money and on how we competed and where we feel we deserve to be.
“We wanted to win the game in terms of this season and we have another chance to try and do that next weekend [at home to West Ham].
“In terms of next season, I don’t see it having any impact, to be honest. If you asked me if we’d come here today and won comfortably 2-0 or 3-0, which would have been more dangerous for next year, to be honest, some of the lessons from today that we just spoke about in the dressing room, if we use them well going into pre-season, going into next season, I think that could stand us even better stead.”
Nevertheless, McKenna admits that the two points from the six games against fellow relegated sides Leicester and Southampton hasn’t been good enough, the Blues having taken eight points from those matches in the Championship last year, drawing 1-1 twice with the Foxes and doing the double over the Saints, 1-0 away and 3-2 at home, despite never dominating those matches.
“That’s something we need to own and reflect on,” McKenna continued. “We played against those teams last year, they were generally, with Leeds, by far the hardest games that we had.
“For example, when we came here last year we managed to get a point but it felt like we were clinging on with our fingernails to the game and really we managed to hang in there and then push late in the game with some substitutes and get a point.
“The two games against Leicester this year have felt completely different to that. We’ve been dominant in both games, in my opinion.
“Four games in football is a small sample, so we should have won the first game [against Leicester] and it probably wouldn’t be a discussion point, apart from a referee’s decision. If Leif hits a millimetre closer to the inside of the post today we go 1-0 up and there’s every chance we win the game.
“The Southampton game at home, we had much better chances in the game. That should lead us to winning the game, so the margins are really fine.
“I think it’s a positive thing that we are, in my opinion, much more dominant than we were against that level of opposition, but we’re not going to hide behind the fact that coming out on top in margins and tight games is going to be massively important for us and is something that we did fantastically well last year and it’s something that we need to get back to next year.”
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