Kieran McKenna Discusses Midfield Options, Phillips’ Condition, and Upcoming Arsenal Match

Kieran McKenna, manager of Ipswich Town, addressed the media ahead of Friday’s Premier League fixture against Arsenal, scheduled for a 20:15 GMT kick-off. The following are the main points from his press conference: Regarding his midfield selections to cover for the suspended Sam Morsy, McKenna stated: “We’ve got a couple of options which we need to be honest. Massimo [Luongo] has been ill over the last week or two so we have to assess how he is as well. It was good to get Kalvin [Phillips] on the pitch in the second half of the Newcastle game. That was important, he is still working his way back. Jack [Taylor] had a good game against Bournemouth. Neither are necessarily like for like replacements for Sam but they can hopefully bring their own strengths to it.” Addressing Phillips’ fitness, McKenna further commented: “I think he had a better week last week with his ankle. He said he didn’t feel anything from the game and he trained well today. I guess 100% is when you have a few more games under your belt but I think from the ankle issue he had, much better.” Regarding the return of Liam Delap, McKenna stated: “He was a loss [against Newcastle], no doubt about it. He was always going to be. It’s important to have him back, we’re going to need his strengths in the game and we are going to need the other boys as well – that’s for sure. It’s nice to have him back.” Discussing Arsenal’s set pieces, McKenna remarked: “They are a team who, set plays wise, you look at as a reference for everyone in the league. With some of the things they do, they have been excellent in that phase so we’ve got a few more days now to prepare over Christmas, a lot of hard work in the next 72 hours and we’ll be as ready as we can be.” Addressing the strategy for playing against teams like Arsenal and Chelsea, McKenna explained: “For us as staff it’s to try and come up with a game plan that gives us a chance to be competitive, to convince the players of that and then for the players to go again in a game they know they are going to be big, big underdogs in. But they go there with enough humility to know what the game is going to look like but also enough confidence to take the moments and opportunities when they come and to impose themselves and to find the belief that we can go there and try and get a result.” McKenna further indicated that they have discussed the necessary mental attributes for the upcoming match: “I think we need to show the right mentality first of all in the game. I think it’s a chance to show our togetherness, our spirit, resilience, we’re going to have to show a real mental strength. Our organisation is going to have to be really good and we’re going to have to show bravery at different moments of the game as well to take them on in the way that we want to in different phases of the game. For me it’s about the mental characteristics we want to show in the game, that’s what we’ve spoken about this morning.”