Town manager Kieran McKenna claims that the Blues have selected a team with important players specifically for the circumstances they are now facing. Wes Burns and Nathan Broadhead were ruled out of Saturday’s trip to Plymouth, and Conor Chaplin is likely to play some role at Home Park after missing this week’s training.
During Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Birmingham City at Portman Road, Burns and Broadhead both hobbled off with muscular injuries, and Chaplin followed them after sustaining a leg gash late in the contest.
In the past, when Town has experienced similar injury problems to their regular starters, those entering the team have typically done a great job of covering the gaps left by the absent players.
“We’ve demonstrated that numerous times, and football is one of them,” McKenna remarked. That’s the nature, particularly in the run we had with the five games in a span of fourteen days, as I mentioned earlier.
“It’s truly amazing how much physical effort the players put in every week—and sometimes even every two weeks.
You therefore cannot expect to play a whole season without suffering some ailments. Other forwards on our team are also doing well.
For this and other reasons, we gained additional depth in January, which will be crucial for the second half of the season.
Naturally, you want everyone available and healthy in that, not just your starting lineup, but it also strengthens your bench. Consequently, it’s challenging to maintain the depth as strong when players do go.
“But we think we have that across all positions, really, in terms of players being ready to come into the team, fit, knowing their jobs, and mentally in a good place to contribute.”
With the possible exception of this season’s Christmas schedule, McKenna argues that playing a lot of games quickly is part of the deal. However, he believes that this will likely provide the relegated former Premier League teams an advantage over established Championship clubs and those promoted from League One.
He thought, “I think you really need to account for that in terms of how you build your squad in the season.”
“You can’t base a championship-winning season around 11 guys or a starting lineup because injuries are inevitable over the course of 46 games. It’s about trying to be as ready as you can be for it, in my opinion.
With the possible exception of this season’s Christmas schedule, McKenna argues that playing a lot of games quickly is part of the deal. However, he believes that this will likely provide the relegated former Premier League teams an advantage over established Championship clubs and those promoted from League One.
“We train intensely, but we feel that’s a big preventer of injuries, actually. I think the hard work that we do here is a contributor to the fact that, touch wood, we have had a really good injury record over the last couple of years.
“But when you are going to your limits twice a week and pushing physically as hard as the players are, it does increase the chances of picking up, especially, the muscle injuries that we did last week.
“But in terms of the schedule, it is what it is. You know going into the season. I think the only one that I would reflect on this season, and I think all managers were the same, was I thought the Christmas and New Year period was inappropriately scheduled, especially the QPR game in between the Boxing Day and the New Year’s Day games.
“But other than that, you’re going to have Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and you try and build your squad accordingly and prepare for those periods.”
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