Kieran McKenna takes his promotion-chasing Ipswich Town team to the Swansea.com Stadium today, expecting a hard battle against a club that has been rolled over much too easily in recent weeks.
The Swans’ 4-0 defeat to Leeds in midweek was just one of several instances in which they gave their opponents too much space and respect and were out of the game within the first twenty minutes.
That is a mistake that Luke Williams will undoubtedly want to avoid this afternoon, and McKenna is suspicious of Williams’ plan to transform Swansea into an aggressive team both on and off the pitch.
Ipswich’s promotion push has stalled in recent weeks, but a 4-0 midweek win at Millwall has put them back in contention, and they enter into today’s game playing a little catch-up after Southampton’s 2-0 success at West Brom yesterday evening.
“We know it will require a lot of physical effort, but it’s a game to look forward to at a busy period of the season when games come thick and fast. We enjoy it,” McKenna told Ipswich’s TV station.
“Luke (Williams) hasn’t been there long, but you can see what they’re trying to do: be an aggressive squad on and off the field. They have a solid tradition as a football team of playing excellent football, and the pitch is nice in a nice stadium, so it should be a fantastic game.
“We will go there to impose ourselves, and they will undoubtedly do the same, so it will be a fascinating game.
“Swansea have been a good Championship team and a Premier League club not that many years ago, so it’s one we should look forward to and one the supporters should hopefully enjoy.”
The Swans do have an advantage of 24 hours more to prepare for the game, as their game on Tuesday is followed by Town’s game at Millwall on Wednesday, which McKenna is well aware of. “We think everyone came through, but we’re still recovering, and we’ll do a light session before we go again,” he added.
“We seemed to get through with no problems, everyone is in good spirits, and we’re looking forward to the next game.”
“Our preparation will be done in a different way because we won’t have mucb time on the grass, but we have plenty of experience of that and we’ll be ready come 3pm on Saturday.”
