Heading into the new season, some would have preferred Kieran McKenna to occupy the seat in the opposition dugout on Sunday. McKenna and Michael Carrick both worked under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United, and they have gone on to forge successful coaching careers since then.
After securing the Tractor Boys’ return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, Ipswich were preparing to continue with McKenna at the helm. However, on June 10, the former United assistant shocked everyone in Suffolk. “It was a complete bombshell,” East Anglian Daily Times’ chief football writer Stuart Watson told MEN Sport. “Kieran McKenna had written himself into Ipswich Town folklore with three promotions in four seasons. [He was] adored by the fanbase and players alike.
“There was a feeling when promotion was secured… Kieran was talking about the club being in a much better place to take on the Premier League this time around. He helped design the state-of-the-art new training ground that has just opened.
“So when the news came in June that he was quitting to take a break from the game, it took everyone by surprise.”
After recovering from that unexpected blow, the thoughts of everyone at Ipswich turned to who his successor would be. Just less than two weeks later, Gary O’Neil was appointed as the club’s new head coach.
“I think it’s fair to say the Gary O’Neil appointment didn’t necessarily set pulses racing to start with,” Watson admitted. “But very quickly he’s won people over.
“He’s been very bullish about what Ipswich Town can do this year. That’s been backed up by a really ambitious transfer window and a fantastic start to the season with the win against Sunderland on Saturday. So the mood’s pretty buoyant at the moment.”
The victory over Sunderland last weekend could have been the shock of the opening day, if it had not been for United’s dismal showing at Hull. Watson explained that O’Neil has won a lot of fans round by playing the front-footed, possession-based style of football that beat the Black Cats. However, he believes that O’Neil has the potential to eclipse his predecessor’s legacy.
“If there was any slight knock on Kieran McKenna, and I’m loath to highlight too many, because he was absolutely remarkable for Ipswich Town, but it was that you tactically always knew what you were going to get,” Watson said. “There wasn’t a lot of deviation from 4-2-3-1, front foot, possession-based. One or two questioned whether there was maybe a little bit of naivety to that in the Premier League last time around.
“Gary O’Neil has said that he’ll be adaptable, he’ll be flexible, and you only have to look at the way he kept Bournemouth and Wolves in the Premier League before, he changed tactics in certain games. He too likes to be front-footed, possession-based, attacking football. That’s what he did at Strasbourg last season and that’s what we’ve seen so far in pre-season and on the opening day against Sunderland.
“I think Portman Road, they’re going to really go for it in most of the games and take people on. But he says, when we go away from home to Manchester United, for example, it’s not going to be that and it’s going to be a bit more pragmatic. So, whether we’ll see that for the first time at Old Trafford on Sunday will be interesting.”
The talk of pragmatism will haunt United after last weekend. Hull don’t always play in a back three, but the Tigers spotted a weakness in the Reds, focused on it before the game and exploited it on Saturday.
Watson believes there is a good chance Ipswich could look to recreate that same system on Sunday. “As soon as Gary O’Neil talked about having that sort of flexibility to maybe go a bit more defensive, counter-attacking for the tougher away games in the division, we were looking through the squad, working out where the personnel fits in it,” he admitted. “They certainly have got the personnel for kind of a back three/five.
“The right-back at the moment is the captain Dara O’Shea, who played all of last season at centre back. He is a centre half by trade and he’s played him at right back because they’ve brought in Issa Diop, experienced player from Fulham, ex-West Ham. He’s kind of taken the right-sided centre half role, which means the captain’s ended up playing out of position at right back. So he sort of naturally tucks in anyway, which can create a bit of a back three feel.
“The left back, Leif Davis, is very adventurous. He’s one that likes to push on, so he’s certainly got a wing-back feel to him. It would be who plays at right wing back which would be the most interesting call.
“They’ve brought in a player from Strasbourg, reunited with Gary O’Neil, called Abdoul Ouattara, young Ivorian, who we don’t know much about at the moment, other than the fact he’s ultra versatile. He’s played at Strasbourg, left back, right back, centre midfield.
“Gary O’Neil says he’s got a role in mind for him, but he won’t tell us just yet. He came on for a ten-minute cameo on Saturday and played central midfield, although they’re a little bit light in that area at the moment, so I don’t know whether to read too much into that. He could be the right wing-back option if they decide to go down that route at Old Trafford on Sunday.”
Ipswich also have threats going forward. Julio Enciso is the main man and is a popular figure at Portman Road. He rejoined Ipswich this summer having spent the second half of their last Premier League campaign on loan at the club.
“He’s got a habit of scoring worldies from 30-40 yards out. He got one for Ipswich at Goodison Park that beat Jordan Pickford all ends up, off the crossbar,” Watson raved. “He’s done it before for Brighton. He’s done it elsewhere as well. He’s an absolute superstar back in Paraguay. He scored at the World Cup against Germany this summer and he’s seen as a major coup.”
He is joined up front by Abdul Fatawu, who arrived from Leicester in the summer for £20m, and centre-forward Emersonn who is seen as one for the future. “It certainly feels like a club in general that’s far more prepared this time around,” Watson admitted.
“It was, you know, 22 years away from the Premier League. It was back-to-back promotions from League One, and it was a fantastic story, but the chairman Mark Ashton always used the analogy of trying to build a plane in flight and it was just too big a gap to bridge. So they’ve come back at the first time of asking and the water levels have risen in terms of the quality in the squad.”
He concluded: “I think their feet are firmly on the floor. Ipswich’s eyes are wide open now to how tough the Premier League is. Gary O’Neil talked after the weekend about not getting carried away. It’s just one win and he’s a Premier League manager now with a bit of experience, so he knows every game is difficult, as the cliche goes.
“Before a ball was kicked, he said: ‘I don’t want us to go into this season with any kind of fear. I don’t want us to be scared of any of the challenges ahead of us,’ and that’s the kind of attitude internally. I think fans are feeding off that.
“So I think they’ll go to Old Trafford very mindful of it being still a very, very difficult Premier League game, but equally no fear about what they could potentially do at the weekend. I think everyone’s just going into Sunday’s game really looking forward to it.”
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