Phil Sumbler
Kieran McKenna brings his promotion chasing Ipswich Town side to the Swansea.com Stadium today expecting a physical test against a side who have proven to be rolled over far too easily in recent weeks.
The midweek 4-0 defeat to Leeds for the Swans was just one of a few results where the Swans have afforded too much space and respect to their opposition and found themselves out of the game inside the first twenty minutes.
That will be a mistake that I am sure Luke Williams will want to avoid this afternoon and McKenna is certainly wary of the plan of Williams to try and turn Swansea into an aggressive team both on and off the ball.
Ipswich’s promotion run has faltered a little in recent weeks but a 4-0 midweek win at Millwall has got them back into the hunt and they come into today’s game already playing a little bit of catch up due to Southampton’s 2-0 win at West Brom yesterday evening.
“We know it will take a big physical effort but it’s a game to look forward to in a busy spell of the season where the games come thick and fast. We relish that,” McKenna told Ipswich’s TV channel.
“Luke (Williams) hasn’t been there for too long but you can see exactly what they are trying to do, as an aggressive team both on and off the ball. They have a good tradition as a football team for playing nice football and it’s a nice pitch in a nice stadium, so it should make for a good game.
“We’ll go there looking to impose themselves and they will do the same for sure, so it will be an interesting 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 the advantage of 24 hours more to prepare for the game with their game on Tuesday being followed on Wednesday by Town’s game at Millwall and it is something that McKenna is more than 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 come through with no problems, everyone’s 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.”
