The manager of Ipswich Town, Kieran McKenna, has expressed his desire to have more depth in a few different positions after a difficult stretch of games and a few serious injuries to his players.
The Championship’s top three players simply cannot seem to get out of their own way. Had any of Ipswich, Leicester City, or Leeds United managed to maintain their current level of play throughout the end of the season, they could have already secured the league title.
Over their past five games, the three of them have combined to give up 26 points. All of the teams are currently in a similar position at the top of the second tier as they were before this bad run, and Southampton could potentially cause an upset now that this is a possibility.
After his team’s tie with Middlesbrough over the weekend, McKenna was named the league’s Manager of the Season. He then thought back to one of the reasons Town has struggled this early in the season.
Kieran McKenna on the depth problem at Ipswich
After receiving the award, the 37-year-old stated that his team’s lack of choices at some positions has worsened the impact of the amount of minutes his players have had to play in recent weeks.
According to McKenna via EADT, Town has seen players like George Hirst and Wes Burns sustain serious injuries that will keep them out until the last few games of the season, at the earliest. As a result, some of his players have been playing a lot of minutes.
“We’d like to have a little more depth in one or two positions,” McKenna told the BBC, referring to some of the lads who had played five games in the previous fifteen days, with each game lasting 90 minutes.
“That’s a ridiculous amount of football, and every match has been close. The boys give it their all physically, we’re the league’s most running squad, and I believe we’ll recover from the break stronger.
We now have a little window of time to exercise, get ready, and recuperate before starting three games. Although we are aware that it would be extremely difficult, we are excited about the opportunity and will give it our all.”
Perhaps Ipswich needs an unusual hero.
There are frequently guys that emerge over these protracted, exhausting seasons who have an incredible run over a three- or four-game span. That kind of stuff might be just what Town needs to cross the finish line.
Even though Ipswich has lost their last three games, their destiny is still in their hands. Conor Chaplin and Kieffer Moore are two of their team’s clear big hitters, but right now things aren’t quite working out for them.
An Ali-Al Hamadi or even a more unpopular player like Kayden Jackson might provide them with the sparkplug performance they need to challenge for one of the top two slots.
