Ipswich Town manager provides injury update on Axel Tuanzebe, Jens Cajuste and Omari Hutchinson after 3-0 defeat at Newcastle United
Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says Axel Tuanzebe and Jens Cajuste weren’t involved in the 3-0 defeat at Newcastle United as their previous injuries were managed.
Tuanzebe was absent from the 20-man squad having recently recovered from a hamstring problem, while midfielder Cajuste was an unused substitute, both having been regulars in the side.
Forward Omari Hutchinson was also on the bench after being out for the last month with a hamstring problem.
On Tuanzebe, McKenna said: “It’s really just a follow-on from the injury that he had and he’s really pushed to be back as quickly as he could.
“But he wasn’t available today and we had to protect him a little bit.
“To be honest, Jens and Omari were here to support the group more than anything, not really at the point of being available either.
“We’ve had 13/14 senior players really to pick from and not probably quite a spread of positions so we can put everyone in their favourite slots. It’s been an incredible challenge.
“We don’t want to expect any ‘well-dones’ but internally we need to know that we’ve tackled that game well in the first 30 or 40 minutes or whatever it was with the challenge that we had, and the players need to know that.
“That’s how we have to keep going and hopefully we can get bodies back, get some training into the group because the last couple of weeks has just been trying to keep bodies fit and available and try and finish off strong and see if we can deliver one or two big performances before the end of the season.”
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Regarding Sweden international Cajuste, who is on loan for the season from Napoli, he added: “He’s just managing his previous injury. He’s played a lot of minutes lately and especially the double-header we had against Wolves and Bournemouth and what the boys put into that has taken its toll on the group, to be honest.
“He’s had to be managed over the last few weeks and today he wasn’t quite able to turn it around.
“But he’s so committed to the group and wanted to be available and wanted to be here and maybe if there was a result on the line with five minutes to go, he would have put himself out there. But hopefully now alongside a few others he can recover well and get some training in over the next few weeks.”
