ZeeboiIpswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has acknowledged that relegation to the Championship is now highly probable after his team suffered a 2-1 home loss to Wolves this afternoon.
The Blues took a 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to Liam Delap’s close-range goal in the 16th minute, but they struggled after the interval and ultimately fell to strikes from Pablo Sarabia in the 72nd minute and Jorgen Strand Larsen in the 84th.
This defeat, Ipswich’s 11th at home in the Premier League this season, leaves them trailing 17th-placed Wolves by 12 points—effectively 13 when factoring in goal difference—with only seven matches remaining.
“I think it’s certainly more than likely on the balance of probabilities,” said McKenna, when asked if he believes his team is destined for relegation.
“That’s not that I don’t think we can finish the season strongly and win quite a few of our games, but Wolves are a really strong side, as they showed today, and the chances of them losing all their games is really, really low.
“The likeliness is we’re going to fall short of our ultimate dream at the end of the season. There’s going to be plenty of time to talk about that, analyse that and reflect on the positives and the negatives, but for now I don’t see too much changing in the next seven games.
“We knew coming into this nine-game block that the balance of probabilities was really small but we vowed as a group that we have to show the right values, show full commitment and try and deliver nine strong performances and get as many as we can. That will still be the objective when we go to our next training session.
“We have Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next, we have Arsenal here after that, we have Newcastle at St James’ Park, we have Everton in one of the last games at Goodison Park – we have some fantastic fixtures coming up for a club who haven’t been in the Premier League for 22 years.
“I know today is a big set-back and it hurts, but I also know that the players, supporters, everyone, are going to muster up the energy that we need to compete as well as we can over the last few games and try and finish as well as we can.”
Looking back on the loss, McKenna commented: “The players gave absolutely everything to the game, I have to say, in both the first half and the second half.
“Look, Wolves are a good team. If you don’t manage to get the second goal then they’re going to put some pressure on.
“We probably weren’t able to maintain our energy levels that we had in the first half, which is to be expected after the effort that the players into the game on Wednesday night (2-1 win at Bournemouth) and some of the physical challenges that we have in the squad at the moment.
“Wolves had a strong period from half-time to about 60 minutes, but I thought we’d sort of seen that off and steadied a little bit. We had some set plays and some little opportunities between 60 and 70 minutes, but we weren’t able to get the second.
“They then get the equaliser and that changes the game. You can say it’s a slightly fortuitous goal. We were back, we were defending, we blocked the first shot and it pops up to Sarabia’s foot and he bobbles it into the corner. It’s a goal from a Spanish international who’s come from PSG and come off the bench fresh and managed to find a big moment to pull Wolves back into the game.
“At that point I felt like they had all the energy and confidence and we weren’t able to quite find the response and do enough to get the result.”
Zeeboi
