McKenna on Szmodics surgery, fighting for points and Palace
- Published
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Crystal Palace (kick-off 15:00 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
McKenna said Sammie Szmodics will have ankle surgery and will be out for "an extended period of time" and that if they see him this season it will be "in the last couple of fixtures".
He added that Axel Tuanzebe will miss this weekend with a "small muscle injury" and that he also needs an operation on his thumb. Cameron Burgess "is still being assessed" and one or two who weren't in the squad on Monday may be able to re-join for Saturday's game but also one or two from that squad won't be available.
Julio Enciso and Omari Hutchinson aren't too far away, Kalvin Phillips has trained and Conor Chaplin is still working his way back to fitness.
McKenna concluded on injuries: "It's certainly a bit of a tricky period for us at the moment. We're trying to make the right decisions and get a competitive squad available for Saturday."
Speaking about Ipswich's league standing and form McKenna said: "The boys have taken some positives from the game [against Forest], now we know there are 11 games left and everyone is determined to look forward to those games."
The boss was asked if his side can flip moments of adversity into something beneficial and said: "If you keep approaching them in the right way, finding the right response in your daily work, whether it goes well or against you. If you stay consistent in your behaviour, in our processes, driving the culture here, I think that builds a trust between the group."
On whether the balance between points and performance change at this stage of the season: "The feel does change a little bit. Of course the later you get towards the end of the season because there's less games ahead, the results feel more important but the best way we believe to get the points is to focus on performances and to try and perform as well as you can with whatever the game plan is in that particular game."
On Crystal Palace: "There's no game in the Premier League that is going to be anything less than competitive. If we can do a lot of things well then we'll make the games competitive and Crystal Palace are a very strong side, they have certainly improved as the season has gone on."
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