McKenna: We Didn't Learn Anything New From International Role ChangesFriday, 18th Oct 2024 17:09

Town boss Kieran McKenna says he didn't learn too much new about his players on international duty, despite a number of them playing different roles to the ones they have usually occupied for the Blues this season.

Omari Hutchinson particularly caught the eye moving back to the right-sided position where he played most of his football for Town early last season for England's U21s and scoring once and assisting three times as the Young Lions thrashed their Azerbaijan counterparts 7-0 at Ashton Gate.

Wes Burns played on the left rather than his usual right for Wales, while Dara O'Shea played at right-back for the Republic of Ireland. Asked whether there was any food for thought in those switches, McKenna said: "Not in Omari's case, to be honest. He's been here for 16 months. He probably made maybe 40 appearances last year, maybe 20 of them were as a right winger, possibly a starter off the bench, maybe close to 20 where he's a right 10 and a handful as a left 10.

"We've seen Omari plenty in both positions and we've got a pretty clear belief in how we can try to make him most effective in different games and scenarios. So that one not so much.

"With Dara, we'd seen him play right-back before, so we knew it was a position he could play. It wasn't a big part of bringing him to the club, but when your defenders are versatile over the course of the season that can be useful.

"So it's another position for him and it gives another option. He's also played left centre-half for Ireland in a three and he's played lots of right-back and lots of middle centre-back in a four, lots of right centre-back in a four, middle centre-back in a five, so he's got good experience across all of them and I don't think we learned anything too much new, to be honest."

McKenna says utilising his options off the bench remains an important aspect of his approach in the Premier League.

"It's always part of the game plan," he added. "Every time you prepare for a game it's not just about the starters, but it's about how we see the game playing out, what options we might need if we're ahead in the game, what options we might need if the game's in the balance and we want to be a little bit more like for like and what options we might want if we're chasing a goal late in the game.

"We want to have different options and we work on different things in training to be ready for those scenarios. As I've said before, that's been a big part of our successful record in late goals.

"So, of course, it's going to be a bigger challenge in the Premier League, but we have good depth in those positions, aside from our injury issues which are generally in the positions deeper on the pitch.

"We have good numbers and good availability and different qualities across the front line and we'll try and utilise them as well as we can in the different game states.

"And we always feel, especially at home, that if we're competitive in the game and if the game's tight late on we always feel in terms of fitness, in terms of tactical understanding of what we might do and also especially probably in terms of the crowd, we know that we'll have a great chance to push hard late in the game.

"And you know if the game if we can make the game competitive if we can be in the game at home we always feel that that'll be hopefully a string to our bow."

Photo: Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra

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NeedhamChris added 19:02 - Oct 18Not sure this headline is particularly accurate?

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