McKenna reacts to Davis red card and Ipswich 0-4 Arsenal

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Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna reacts to Davis red card and Ipswich 0-4 Arsenal  20/04/2025  Portman Road Stadium, Ipswich, UK

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00:00Kieran, another difficult day in the Premier League against top-quality opposition.

00:04What's your vote on that one?

00:07Yeah, really tough game.

00:09Probably two different games to a certain extent.

00:13Tough with 11 v 11, Arsenal started really well.

00:16Probably felt at the start of the game that it was maybe the highest standard

00:19that we faced this year, to be honest.

00:21The group was absolutely at full stretch trying to compete

00:24in the first 20, 30 minutes.

00:27We had a few moments where we could have hurt the opposition,

00:32but in the end, their execution was better than ours

00:34and their quality shone through in the goals.

00:38They were the better team and deserved their lead at that point.

00:42Of course, then the red card makes it almost an impossible task

00:45in terms of getting back into the game.

00:48I thought the group showed good qualities with 10 men, to be honest.

00:51The second half was a really tough situation.

00:53I thought we managed it well.

00:54The defensive organisation, spirit, resilience was really good.

00:59Didn't give up too many things in free play.

01:02We knew if we'd done that, that we'd actually get one or two moments

01:04up around their box.

01:05We had a similar situation in the Aston Villa game early in the season

01:07and we actually had a couple of little moments.

01:09You needed to go in the net, really, to have a chance in the game.

01:13But it didn't.

01:14And then, yeah, just disappointed with a couple of short corners,

01:16which were difficult to deal with.

01:18The good on short corners, when you lose that man,

01:19that's actually one moment where it becomes really difficult

01:22because, you know, without giving up too much in the box,

01:25it's hard to match up the numbers that they have in the short,

01:27even with 11 v 11.

01:29So, yeah, disappointed that the couple of short corners

01:31end up going in the net.

01:32But I thought the second half, the group showed the right qualities

01:35that, you know, were needed to show in that instance.

01:37You mentioned the red card.

01:39The crowd clearly weren't happy with it.

01:41What's your view?

01:43No, at the time, I didn't think it was.

01:45But it's, you know, it's on the far side of the pitch

01:47and that's probably more in line of knowing Leaf, really, as a player.

01:50And I don't think he's got a malicious bone, really.

01:53So, I don't think there'll be intent to injure.

01:56But when you see it on the video, it's obviously a high challenge.

01:59Again, I'm pretty certain with no intent.

02:02But it's a high challenge.

02:03So, I can see why the referee give it.

02:06And when it's given, it's never going to be overruled.

02:08So, you know, we can't have, I don't think, too many complaints.

02:12A couple of players not in the squad today.

02:14Connor Townsend, Nathan Broadhead, neither of those were sort of mentioned

02:17pretty much of a injury.

02:19Yep.

02:19So, Connor from the Chelsea game, when he came on with a hamstring

02:24that he was struggling for after the Wolves game.

02:28So, we've lost Connor and Nathan with a thigh issue.

02:33Yeah.

02:33Yeah, it still needs to be scanned.

02:42But, you know, certainly no guarantees he'll be available next week.

02:52Yeah.

02:53Yeah, he's made a good impact.

02:54He's obviously not been here short.

02:55Or he's only been here for a short amount of time.

02:57But he's made a good impression in the times where he's trained with us.

03:00And, yeah, we think he's got a good future.

03:06Kieran, after back-to-back promotions, nobody expected it to be a walk in the park for you.

03:11But are you a bit disappointed that you've lost 20 out of 33 Premier League games now?

03:16That's quite a brutal stat.

03:18Maybe not a reflection on how you've played in all the games.

03:20No, look, we could have had more points at this stage.

03:25So, the ones that we've managed to be tight, we haven't came out on top of the margins enough.

03:31There's also then a category of games like today, maybe Man City, Newcastle,

03:35where the game just gets away.

03:36The opponent's just too good, too strong.

03:39And, yeah, the challenge has been big.

03:41But, look, we've picked up 13 results.

03:43You can look at it in another way.

03:44Yeah, we've picked up 13 results, I think, you know, of the teams that we've faced twice.

03:51It's Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Forest.

03:57It's a pretty small category of teams who haven't taken something off.

04:00So, you know, we're competing against, you know, some top teams in the top league in the world.

04:05We know how big the climb's been.

04:06I think we've competed well lots of weeks.

04:08Not every week, but we've competed well most weeks,

04:10which is how we've managed to take points off of those teams.

04:13But we haven't won enough games.

04:15When we've put ourselves in position to win games,

04:17we haven't managed to get enough games over the line

04:19or take the margins enough whenever we've managed to make games really tight and competitive

04:23to have the points that we'd want to have.

04:25No, it's, you know, a massive testament to the supporters.

04:43Of course, it's, you know, mixed emotion because you're so, you know, honoured and humbled by it,

04:49but also you're disappointed because you'd like to have given them a different outcome to the game.

04:53But, yeah, I think we've got a fantastic supporter base

04:57and I think they understand, they understand better than anyone the scale of the challenge.

05:02You know, there's some there, the older generation who've seen 22 years without Premier League football

05:07and they've seen the jump that that's been for the club

05:10and for, you know, so many of the players who've been on that journey

05:13and then also players who've come into this team, into this group,

05:16but very, very few who have competed regularly at the Premier League level if ever before.

05:21So, they know that it's been a massive jump.

05:23I think they see that the group's working really hard and everyone's given everything

05:27and that's been reflected in a lot of the performances

05:29and, you know, that's been shown even in moments like today where the result's gone

05:33but the group are still working and fighting, the body language is good.

05:37And I think they know that, you know, there's not too much else that the players can give from that.

05:43Of course, we'd like to have made one or two less mistakes over the course of the season

05:46or been clinical in one or two more moments,

05:48but they know that the group's given everything and is continuing to do so.

05:51So, it's fantastic that they're behind it.

05:53I think they also know and believe that the club's in a much, much, much better position now

05:57than it was a few years ago, that whatever division,

06:01and it looks like we know what division, you know, we'll be in,

06:03but the club's much stronger going into that

06:07and that, you know, if we keep doing, you know, the right things,

06:11if we keep showing the right values, keep working in the right way,

06:13then there's a great chance that, you know, we can use this setback as another thing to push us forward

06:19because, you know, things aren't always linear, things aren't always in an upward trajectory.

06:25Of course, we'd love to have went promotion, promotion, establish.

06:29The first bit of that journey's been incredible,

06:31but it looks like we're not going to be able to do the third bit,

06:33but there's other ways to keep developing and building this club back to being,

06:36hopefully, a Premier League football club

06:38and the supporters are going to have a massive part to play in that

06:41and they're certainly playing their part at the moment.

06:44Last one.

06:45Kieran, was it the case that with Liam Dillac's rib injury

06:49that he was always going to be very limited minutes today

06:52or was it how was he today?

06:55No, it was always the case.

06:58OK, I don't want to go into too much

06:59because I don't want to put a big X on his spot for any opponents,

07:03but he's got a rib injury that he's doing really, really well to be out there for.

07:06He's not able to train pain-free at the moment,

07:09but he still wants to be available.

07:10Of course, in terms of the actual sight of the injury,

07:13it's safe to do so, although painfully or else we wouldn't put him in that scenario,

07:17but not ready to start,

07:20but available for some minutes if and what the team needed.

07:22That's good from him.

07:24It's getting better week by week.

07:26It's better this week than it was last week,

07:27so hopefully with another week's careful management,

07:31it'll be much, much better by next weekend.

07:32George obviously battled really hard out there today

07:35and, yeah, showing what he can do as well.

07:39And being in the night, I think he has done a number of times.

07:43Yeah, he's done very well.

07:44He's one who stepped up really, really well.

07:48I can be proud of his efforts.

07:49I thought he'd done his best today as well

07:51and occupied the centre-halves well,

07:52so it's good to have him ready to help the team as well.

07:57Thank you, everyone.

07:57Cheers, guys.

07:58Cheers.

07:59Cheers.

08:00Cheers.

08:01Cheers.

08:02Cheers.

08:03Cheers.

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