Kieran McKenna hits back at Ipswich Town doubters after Paul Merson claim | OneFootball

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has responded to criticism from pundit Paul Merson, who claimed that his side have been too open this season.

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has defended his style of play after pundit Paul Merson claimed being too open has contributed to the club's relegation from the Premier League.

After completing back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League, Ipswich returned to the top flight for the first time in 22 years this season, but it is fair to say that they have found life tough at the highest level.

The Tractor Boys were within touching distance of safety after a 2-0 victory over Chelsea at the end of December, but a run of just one win in 15 games since the turn of the year, coupled with a significant upturn in form for Wolverhampton Wanderers, has condemned McKenna's men to the drop.

While their relegation had been inevitable for some time, Ipswich's fate was finally confirmed after their 3-0 defeat at Newcastle United on Saturday, and it means that, for the second consecutive season, all three promoted teams have gone straight back down to the Championship.

The Tractor Boys have come in for plenty of criticism in recent weeks, and Soccer Saturday pundit Merson slammed McKenna for attempting to play the "Pep Guardiola way" with a squad that is "not good enough" to deliver such a brand of football, although he did reveal that he was confident the club would "come back up".

Kieran McKenna responds to damning Paul Merson comments

When asked about Merson's comments, McKenna passionately defended his style of play and denied claims that his side have been too open this season, and he insisted that it would be wrong to simply blame one factor for Ipswich's relegation.

"It doesn't overly concern me to be honest because there's lots of people who have to give an opinion on football and I'm pretty sure they don't have the time to watch every game of a team," McKenna told the East Anglian Daily Times.

"It's always easier if people feel that they can put a label on a team and say 'this is why something's gone wrong'. I've said many times, but if there was one aspect of why this season has been a challenge then I'd like to think we're smart enough to have solved it.

"When you're a newly promoted team that concedes more goals than what you'd want then it's easy to put the label on and say 'they've played too open'.

"I think the reality is we've been very, very adaptable this year. With our style of play, we've tried to keep our most positive elements, but we've been nowhere near as attacking or as open or as dominant in our play as what we had been in the last two divisions.

"We've had to try and be adaptable while still trying to keep some of the core elements that make us successful.

"Our challenges this season have been vast and, in my opinion, have not been related to playing style.

"I think we've won matches where we've been positive and we've won matches where we've defended deeper. We've certainly lost or dropped results whenever we've had attacking game plans and more of the balance of play, and we've lost games where we've set up to be really compact and frustrate the opposition and defend really deep. You can win, and you can certainly lose, as a team in our position in different ways.

"If we have a choice, and we feel that the team can compete in that way, we'd always try and rather compete in a positive way. But we've also been, certainly in our eyes, very pragmatic at times this year whenever we felt that we needed to be to protect the group. It is what it is.

"I think our reflection will be a lot more detailed and nuanced then trying to identify one area. If people really look at the background of the group and where the players have come from, look at the journey that they've been on and then how they compete against Newcastle last week or Arsenal the week before and then say that's about playing style... I would disagree on that.

"We'll reflect on everything as the season ends and I'm sure there will be things that we can do better. But certainly, I'm very, very confident that there won't be one reason at the end of it and to try and label one reason why a team in our position has struggled to win games in this league this season is not the right approach."

Kieran McKenna must learn from Ipswich Town relegation

McKenna is understandably keen to defend himself and his players from criticism, but there is some truth in Merson's claims that Ipswich have not been pragmatic enough in the Premier League this season.

The Tractor Boys conceded 57 goals on the way to promotion last season, so there was always a chance their defensive weaknesses could be exposed in the top flight, and the failure to bring in enough players with experience of the division has been costly.

Having signed a number of top Championship players last summer, Ipswich look well-equipped to mount a promotion push next season, but McKenna must tighten his side up defensively in order to build some stronger foundations for long-term success.