Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has been speaking to the media before Saturday’s Premier League game against Newcastle (kick-off 15:00 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
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On injuries he said there is “nothing new” from last weekend but Liam Delap is suspended after he was booked in the tunnel at Wolves. On that Mckenna said: “The referee told me that if there’s a fracas on the pitch at the end then the rule is that he has to book a player from both teams. I take him at his word on that. We’re disappointed, because I don’t think Liam did much wrong.”
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McKenna didn’t want to give too much away on who will replace Delap up front: “Ali [Al-Hamadi] is the most natural striker we have, but there are four or five options in the building. There are some obvious ones, Wes Burns has played there, Omari Hutchinson has taken up some centre forward positions. We have a starting team and finishing team in mind. Both are as important as each other.”
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On their late winner against Wolves: “We’ve had quite a few draws this season and every point is precious but it’s the three points that make the difference. We want to be a team that pushes for the margins to go in our favour.”
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On Newcastle he said: “They’re in good form and have outstanding qualities. We’ll go into it humble but we believe in ourselves and go into it excited. The game before Christmas always feels extra special.”
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On surpassing three years in the role: “I wouldn’t have imagined it would have been as quick as this [being in the Premier League]. We knew it was the ultimate destination – destination is probably the wrong word because we want to build, we wanted to rebuild a Premier League football club and we are competing in the Premier League at the moment but we’ve still got some strides to go.”
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McKenna added that a win in their final home game before Christmas would be an “incredible present”, adding: “A good performance and a good result – a win – would be an incredible Christmas present that we could give everyone associated with the club so we’ve got to fight for that with every single ounce of strength we have and that’s what we are going to try to do.”
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