Ipswich Town 2-0 Chelsea: Kieran McKenna hails ‘outstanding team performance’ in one of his top Portman Road displays
Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna hailed the Blues’ 2-0 victory over Chelsea as a special night up there with the best of his time in charge at Portman Road.
Goals from Liam Delap (12’) and Omari Hutchinson (53’), against his old club, saw Town to their first home win in the Premier League since defeating Middlesbrough in April 2002, and their first top-flight victory over Chelsea since August 1993.
The Town support was at its noisiest as their side drew closer to achieving a famous result but McKenna says Portman Road has often been like that this season.
“We’ve had that atmosphere, that’s for sure,” he said. “The atmosphere has been fantastic and we’ve had some really good performances at home, to be honest, we’ve had some really good days here.
“Man United was a fantastic game and performance, Aston Villa, fantastic game and performance, Liverpool we lost, fantastic game, performance, atmosphere.
“But, of course, to get one over the line when we’ve had a couple of really close ones, to get one over the line at home, to do it against a team like Chelsea, to do it in a night game, to do the last game of 2024, it’s a pretty special night.”
Quizzed on where the win ranks among his other victories at Town, he reflected: “It’s definitely one of the best achievements in terms of a win, there’s no doubt about that. The quality of the opponent, I think six of the League One team were starting tonight, so in terms of an individual achievement, to beat a team like Chelsea, that’s right up there.
“We’ve had some incredible games here, some incredible nights, it doesn’t feel any sweeter than a last-minute winner here in the Championship.
“It’s another great night but in terms of an individual game and a win at Portman Road, it’s our best one.”
Delap ‘enjoying the challenges’ at Town
Delap was most observers’ man of the match after a terrific display but McKenna felt there were similarly impressive evenings from many of his side.
“It was an outstanding team performance, there were so many outstanding individual performances in there, but Liam was fantastic tonight, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“I’ve been saying it to people around the club, he’s improving. He’s a different beast now to what he was in July and when you see that rate of improvement from a 21-year-old, showing the increased maturity that he is, the desire he’s showing to improve, that’s a really positive sign at 21. He’s done a great job tonight and all season really.”
On Friday, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who previously worked with Delap when he was coach of the development squad at Manchester City, said he felt the striker can be an important player for England.
McKenna says the England U21 international’s thoughts aren’t on that at the present time.
“I don’t think he’s thinking about that,” he said. “Liam’s a funny lad and he’s good at staying in the moment. He’s enjoying his football, he’s enjoying the group of boys he’s in the dressing room with.
“He comes into training, he wants to have fun and now he wants to get better as well and he’s trying to improve every day, and he’s trying to take on the challenge of playing in the Premier League.
“I also spoke to him today about taking on the challenge of leading the team because when you’re that number nine in the team with the dynamic of where we’ve come from, it’s a lot of responsibility from a leadership point of view.
“And he’s just enjoying the challenges. I think he’s taking each day as it comes and he’s not focusing any further than that. I think that’s exactly the right thing to do.”
McKenna on keeper switch
Keeper Christian Walton came into the team for only his second start in the Premier League and McKenna was pleased with his performance and explained why the former Brighton man came in for summer signing Aro Muric.
“Christian was excellent. Christian deserved it. He’s been training really, really well, I have to say. He’s been so professional in the group, so supportive in the group,” he said.
“He’s a very good goalkeeper, he played well when he had his opportunity at the start of the season and he’s knuckled down and he’s kept himself ready.
“Part of it was him deserving his opportunity, to be honest, to come into the team and show what he can do. He’s probably deserved that opportunity for quite a while, even last season, to be honest.
“Aro has a small issue in his thigh anyway, that he’s been playing through in the last couple of weeks that’s been limiting him a little bit with his kicking. That and a few other factors meant it was a good time for him to get a break tonight and for Christian to get his opportunity to come in and he did a fantastic job.”
Omari enjoys big few days
Regarding Hutchinson, who scored against one of his old clubs days after being booed by the fans of his other at Arsenal on Friday, McKenna was delighted with his goal.
“Really pleased with it,” he said. “A big few days for him. He got a tough time of it the other night, to be honest. I thought for a young player who was trying to do the right thing for his career, I was a little bit surprised by that.
“But that was a helluva learning experience for him the other night and against quality opposition as well, and to bounce back from that three days later, to play against another of your former teams, to play another 90 minutes at 21 years of age and to show the physicality, the maturity, the dynamism that he showed tonight right off the back of that 90 minutes against Arsenal the other night, that says a lot about Omari and the direction he’s travelling in.”
Win not a season-changing moment
Does the result give the squad a boost going forwards? “I got asked that downstairs. Honestly, I don’t think it will change drastically on the inside. I get on the outside that it will change the perception completely. The perception that if we don’t win tonight at the halfway point that we’ve got no chance, it’s impossible to do what we’re trying to do.
“But that’s never been the feeling inside, the feeling inside the group is that there have been a lot of good performances, there’s been growth and development and after tonight over half a season we’ve been in almost every game and if we keep doing that, then it’s only fairly small margins to turn the results a little bit more in our favour.
“The belief in the group has been strong. Of course, to maintain that belief you need to pick up some points along the way. It’s not 15 games ago since we won, it’s two games ago against Wolves.
“We know we’re not going to win every game but the group takes belief from how we stuck together and defended at Arsenal. They’re clever enough to take belief from the little steps along the way.
“But, of course, points are important, picking up three tonight is really good for the group but if you say about belief, that’s probably more the external narrative that will change more tonight than how we’re feeling inside.”
Asked whether he was happy with 15 points at the season’s halfway mark, McKenna reiterated that he doesn’t take much notice of tables or positions at this stage of a season.
“You know me, I don’t look at points, I know they’re really important,” he said. “Of course, if we had five points sitting here now it would be really bad, if we had 30 we’d be feeling great.
“We don’t particularly set markers as a group, we focus on day-to-day process, we focus on preparing performances. We focus on performances, we focus on a commitment to every game and we’ll for every single game, hopefully for every second of every game until the end of the season, and whatever that gives us, it gives us.”
McKenna on defensive changes
On Friday, the Blues manager recalled Jacob Greaves and Luke Woolfenden to the centre of his defence, moving Dara O’Shea to the right-sided role previously occupied by the injured Axel Tuanzebe, an selection he continued with this evening.
Asked whether it was a tough decision to leave out Burgess, who had impressed since coming into the team after Greaves suffered an injury, McKenna said: “A good decision, to be honest. Of course, Cameron has done really well and is an important player for us, but a good decision in terms of wanting to have good players competing and Cameron is showing that he can step up to the level, has shown great leadership.
“Jacob Greaves started the season really well, is working his way back from injury. We think he’s a top prospect at his age and is a left-sided centre-half.
“Having two players like that competing for a spot in the way they are, that’s only a positive.”
Regarding O’Shea, who is becoming an increasingly important player to Town, he added: “Dara was fantastic tonight, I have to say. A lot of good performances out there, but I thought his was right up there and I think he’s getting better every week. You forget how young he is, I think he’s 25 Dara.
“He’s improving, he’s got a special mentality, he’s already a big leader in the football club and he’s shown that he can play in a couple of different roles, and, of course, we’ve mixed Axel’s attributes in that role and Dara’s in some ways the most similar profile in terms of some of his qualities, and I thought he was outstanding tonight.”
McKenna also had praise for local boy Woolfenden: “Very good, very pleased, very proud of him. Against [Christopher] Nkunku and later in the game [Nicolas] Jackson, I thought he was excellent and managed the game really well on and off the ball.”
Town, whose victory moved them up a place to 18th in the table and one point from Wolverhampton Wanderers just outside the relegation zone, return to action in six days’ time at Fulham’s Craven Cottage on Sunday (2pm).
