Claim made on Kieran McKenna's imminent Ipswich Town future - 'definitely things to be addressed' | OneFootball

Ipswich Town will persist with Kieran McKenna for a lot longer according to FLW's Tractor Boys Fan Pundit.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Ipswich Town have endured a difficult start to the season following their relegation from the Premier League, despite having been tipped up as one of the pre-season promotion favourites.

The Tractor Boys most recently suffered a 3-0 hammering at the hands of newly-promoted Charlton Athletic at Portman Road, leaving them sitting firmly in the middle-of-the-table with just three victories in their opening ten matches so far this season.

They have put in some performances that have perhaps marked them out as the best team in the division but a lack of control and consistency is costing them for the time being.

Kieran McKenna remains a highly rated coach following leading Ipswich to back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League a couple of years ago, but supporters will be beginning to become immensely frustrated with their underperformance thus far.

Ipswich will likely still stick by Kieran McKenna

Despite the potential growing pressure and their underwhelming results in the Championship, it remains extremely unlikely that Ipswich would part company with Kieran McKenna.

As FLW’s Ipswich Fan Pundit Adam Wilkin has outlined, McKenna has earned enough time and respect from past seasons to be given more time in Suffolk.

Adam says: “I don’t think the board will be putting any pressure on Kieran McKenna.

“He’s got a bunch of credit in the bank and, given the transfer window that’s happened and the new players in the side, I think they’ll give him time and they have proved that they have given time and backed him before.

“I think, at the very least, he’ll be given the season unless something dramatic happens. At the moment, twelfth place at this early stage of the season isn’t great, admittedly, but it’s not the worst place in the world.

“It’s not like performances have been dreadful. There have been some very good performances and then Tuesday night (3-0 defeat to Charlton) was the worst of the lot. “Saying that, especially in the first-half, we created a lot of chances but we just didn’t put any away.

“There’s definitely things to be addressed but I don’t think the board will be making any rash judgements just yet.”

Ipswich need a Kieran McKenna-led evolution rather than a revolution

In terms of evolving Ipswich, the squad that they currently have is almost entirely different from the one that managed to finish second and gain promotion to the Premier League in 2024.

The revolution has arrived in terms of the playing personnel, which is fair enough as McKenna has transformed a middling League One side to being in the top-flight.

The evolution needs to come from McKenna finding a different method to being effective with this group of players, as it is so different from what went before.

The same methods and 4-2-3-1 system with a second striker playing as the ‘number ten’ and a high octane possession-based game may not work with the current squad, and that is beginning to show.

A tactical evolution from McKenna wouldn’t go amiss and it would remain a fairly rash and surprising decision for Ipswich to even think about sacking the former Manchester United coach.