MK: “I’m quite comfortable with that.”

Ahead of the Sheffield Wednesday fixture, Mark Kennedy took the opportunity to discuss in detail his expectations from defenders and the ethos he places on making the Imps hard to beat.

You can discuss what Mark Kennedy has said ahead of this match HERE, as well as get involved with our pre-match threads: You can post your score predictions, discuss the starting XI, and predict the attendance!

Formation and Clean Sheets: MK responded to a query about the recent change of shape and whether it was something that had led directly to the number of clean sheets being accrued. He took the view that he is very conscious of the defensive side of the game. Coming into the club he was always confident he would make the side hard to beat and was more concerned about developing the goal-scoring aspect.

“The irony of it was we were scoring a lot of goals….we scored in a high percentage of games but we were also conceding a lot of goals”

The reality is that as good and great a group of players there are at the club ‘we’ aren’t a Real Madrid that are going to beat sides 4-3.

“At the end of the day to win games of football you’ve got to be hard to beat, tight at the back, so that number one was the biggest thing I was conscious of…….from that, then it was a conversation around shape and personnel”.

MK had noticed a feature of games was that although the side were defending well and protecting Carl (Rushworth) goals were still being conceded so the defensive side of the game is definitely an area he has worked on tightening up.

Expectations of the Defenders: MK was asked if the defenders took confidence from the clean sheets in the same vein that a striker gleans from going on a goal-scoring run.

“As defenders, you have to really enjoy defending. You have to relish one v one duels, you have to relish blocks, throwing your body on the line, winning headers. You have to love all those things if you’re a defender. I think our guys do but we placed a big emphasis on that. One of my concerns was that with us it’s all about possession and popping it around at the back and multiple passes and passing sequences and we talked about the understanding and the desire to actually, you’re a defender first and foremost…..the other bit will come beyond that. If you’re great at football and you can’t defend, you’re not going to play….so it was the emphasis on being a defender and your defined role in the team”.

Squad Management: MK is mindful there is a period of upcoming run of weeks where there are midweek matches. It will always be the case that he will have to manage the squad.

“I’m quite comfortable with that because I’d rather have a small squad of good players than a diluted squad, bigger pool of poorer players”

So far, the club has been unlucky in having a number of players having long-term injuries so he hasn’t been able to rotate in defensive areas as much as he would have liked and been able to do as some other areas of the pitch. Consequently, the likes of TJ (Eyoma), Paudie (O’Connor) and Regan (Poole) in particular have been maxed out.

Sheffield Wednesday Game: Tashan Oakley-Boothe is a confirmed injury and the full extent of that is still being assessed. None of the other long-term injured players will be available but they are all on track with no setbacks and Teddy Bishop is ahead of schedule.

The opposition make it a sizeable fixture and MK was asked if the occasion would be a feature of that. He took the view that it is always about the game first and foremost, ensuring that ‘we’ influence what can be, within those parameters. Obviously, the occasion will factor into that as well, such that was seen for example during the game versus Derby County.

“I’m certainly comfortable where we are and I hope the lads are with myself and the staff; where there’s big expectations from each other and there’s a huge confidence in each other that together we can do something proactively positive together”.

Writer: hulloutpost