Kieran McKenna explains what Ipswich fans saw from Liverpool during defeat

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna is taking the positives from their opening day defeat against Liverpool as he sent a message to the club’s supporters following the clash.

The Tractor Boys more than matched their illustrious opponents during the first half of the encounter before fading after the break as they fell to a 2-0 loss. Despite showing some promise on the counter-attack, with Liam Delap the pick of Ipswich’s forward players, Liverpool’s class shone through after the interval.

Waiting until the hour mark for Diogo Jota to make the breakthrough, the Reds did not take long to score a second goal as Mohamed Salah struck five minutes later. However, McKenna made sure to earmark the encounter as a character-building experience for the top flight newcomers.

Marking their return to the Premier League after more than a 20-year absence, their head coach was eager to send a message to the fans who generated a carnival-like atmosphere at Portman Road on the day. He said: “I think they’ve seen plenty. They saw the things they love about this team in moments and they also saw the level.

“Liverpool, the execution of the two goals – probably the first goal especially where we do not that many things wrong but you’re one or two yards off in your pressure and how ruthless it can be. They saw what they love about this team and they saw the level of one of the best teams in this league and we’ll all learn from it as a club and go again.”

The highly-rated coach, who turned down approaches from Chelsea and Brighton this summer to stay put, pinpointed the aspects of his team’s performance that left him impressed, continuing: “I thought in pretty much all aspects, our pressing was really good, we regained a lot of balls high.

“We were aggressive, we were physical, we built with the ball. We went into the top line and gave Liverpool problems with the physicality that we have. There is a real good base for us to build there.”

“We know it is going to be a challenge to keep improving and have to do that for longer in the game. In the second half Liverpool were the much better team and for us to challenge, is to try and build on that first half performance, take the the good things and try and maintain them for longer in the game and learn our lessons from the second half and improve on them week by week.”

McKenna also called on his troops to learn from how they reacted to conceding first as he admitted that their lapse in concentration after Jota’s strike proved fatal. He added: “It’s a key period in the game for us. We showed full commitment and good body language and put bodies on the line when they needed to. We can learn from that.

“After the first goal, Liverpool were in the ascendancy and their front three clicked into gear. We were a yard off on our pressure and we probably went and chased the game a bit too early to be honest. We probably could have been a bit more closed in that five or 10 minutes.