Stuart Watson, EADT and Ipswich Star: McKenna could make changes for Brentford clash | OneFootball

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna might employ a more pragmatic approach for Saturday's game against Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium, explains Stuart Watson, chief football writer for the East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star.

The Blues celebrated successive promotions from League One to the Premier League but are winless in their opening eight games back in the top flight.

Ipswich are 17th in the table going into Saturday’s match at the Gtech. What have you made of the club’s first few months back in the Premier League?

There was huge excitement going into the season. After 22 years away from the Premier League, Portman Road is the hottest ticket in town. There have been back-to-back promotions, Ed Sheeran is the sponsor and they spent £100 million in the summer.

They managed to carry a little bit of that momentum into this season; they had Liverpool on the back foot for the best part of an hour on the opening day before eventually succumbing to a 2-0 defeat and there was a bit of a feel-good factor off the back of that.

Then they went to Man City and the baptism of fire continued. They lost there, but that was no great surprise.

Off the back of those two games, they had four draws in a row and the two home performances were good in that run; they looked the more likely to beat both Fulham and Aston Villa.

They drew 0-0 at Brighton and there will not be many teams that keep a clean sheet against them so, six games in, the mood was pretty upbeat and there was a feeling Ipswich were hopefully going to be able to compete but, no doubt about it, the last two performances and results against West Ham and Everton have dampened the mood slightly.

Those results have been sobering and I think it is a bit of a reality check about how difficult this level is.

Football is a results business, but given how quickly Ipswich have risen from League One to the Premier League, is there going to be more leeway with the fans and the board if the wait for a first win goes on longer than hoped?

It is a good question. There should certainly be more than enough credit in the bank given what Ipswich have done in the last two seasons.

The word ‘perspective’ keeps getting used by the manager in his press conferences and in discussion among supporters in general. We have to keep reminding ourselves that, 18 months ago, Ipswich were playing in League One. They are ahead of schedule in this ambitious, exciting project under the new American owners.

They made no secret of the desire to get to the Premier League when they first came in, which raised a few eyebrows, but here we are.

Ipswich were massive underdogs to get promoted from the Championship last season and are massively up against it this year - even more so than Leicester and Southampton because both of those clubs have just had a decade or more in the Premier League and bounced back at the first time of asking.

Ipswich are 22 years removed from this level, had four years in League One not so long ago and are trying to fast-track the learning process. They recruited quite well in the summer, but that was a necessity to try and be in any way competitive.

There is a narrative to change, with the three newly promoted teams going straight back down last year, but on the other hand, there are teams who have stayed there and slowly started to build, with Brentford and Brighton the prime examples of that.

It is going to be interesting to see how the next few weeks and months pan out. If they, ultimately, fall short, the recruitment seems to have been done with half an eye on the fact they might go back down.

The club will be in a better place long term whatever happens because they are spending money on the stadium and redeveloping the training ground, too.

That does not make it any easier when you are used to seeing your team winning week in, week out for the best part of two years. There is certainly a readjustment period with some of the results not going quite so well.

Ipswich have scored first three times but failed to win any of those games. How frustrating has that been?

The biggest element of frustration has been the manner of the goals that have been conceded. If you look back at them, there has been a lot of very poor goals that have come from individual errors and the Everton game at the weekend was a prime example of that, as was the West Ham game before that.

Ipswich fans would be more accepting of the fact that, if you go to Manchester City, you get beaten by world-class players and you hold your hands up as those ones are easier to take.

But there is a sense they have maybe created their own problems and been their own worst enemies in the last couple of games.

West Ham and Everton are established Premier League teams, they have got experienced players and experienced managers. No one was underestimating the task, but it just did not feel like Ipswich gave themselves the best chance in those two games.

The reality is they will have to pick up points and probably a handful of wins against those types of sides along the way if they have got a chance of staying up; certainly the home games and that is why Saturday was disappointing against Everton.

They gave away two poor goals and that gave a Sean Dyche side an opportunity to strangle the life out of the game. It has created a bit of debate going into this one as to the best personnel, whether there needs to be a system change and whether it needs to be more pragmatic to have a chance of picking up more points.

If I was looking at it from a Brentford point of view, it might not be a bad time to play Ipswich after the last couple of games.

The one thing I think will give Ipswich the best chance of staying up is the manager. Of all the summer business they did, keeping Kieran McKenna was massive. He was linked to some huge clubs for a reason and I do think he will improve this young team as the season goes on. Whether he can improve them quickly enough remains to be seen.

Which players should Brentford fans be keeping an eye on?

Liam Delap has hit the ground running since being signed from Man City for £15 million in the summer. His goal record in the Championship was a little underwhelming – he had been at Stoke, Preston and Hull on loan – but McKenna saw something in his raw physical attributes more than anything.

He is big, he is powerful, he is mobile, he can eat up the ground, he is fast, he has got a powerful shot on him and he has got four goals already.

He has got a bit of an aggressive streak as well; he smashes into centre-halves and makes his presence known.

Omari Hutchinson is another to mention. He is the club’s record signing from Chelsea who got better and better during his loan at the club last season and finished the season in really good form, which led to his move.

He is a tricky little no.10/winger, can make something out of nothing and, like Delap, he is an England U21 international.

There is a bit of a debate as to whether he is best through the middle or out wide among the fans; on his day, he is a very exciting player to watch and someone they have very high hopes for in the future.

What should Brentford expect in terms of shape and style?

It has been a flexible 4-2-3-1 the whole way through under McKenna.

Leif Davis the left-back provided a ridiculous number of assists in League One and the Championship and he is ultra-fit, so just gets up and down the entire left side, so whoever plays on the left wing tends to tuck in.

They have two no.10s and whoever plays on the right wing plays very high and is given the freedom to almost play as an extra striker at times.

So, it is a 4-2-3-1 base shape, but with plenty of flexibility in there. They have got some injury issues in defence at the moment and the two defenders who started the season in the best form are out; one is Axel Tuanzebe who suffered a freak injury where he nearly lost his thumb while doing washing up.

Then, at the weekend, there was a bit of surprise when Jacob Greaves was not on the teamsheet. He was in the Championship Team of the Year for Hull last season and had taken to the Premier League really well, so losing him is a blow. Finding the right replacements and balance is going to be an issue going into this game.

What’s your score prediction for the first meeting since April 2019?

Away from home they have found it tougher than at Portman Road, which is where the majority of wins are going to have to come from as they have a 30,000 crowd behind them making the difference.

If I was going to put a score on it, I would say 3-1 Brentford.