MK: “We’re not going there to lie down.”

Ahead of the Ipswich Town clash, Mark Kennedy was happy to divulge his thoughts on an individual player and provide some detail about the process that goes into rehabilitating an injured player.

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!

Injuries: Teddy Bishop is well on track, as is Lewis Montsma who does have a return to training date that MK won’t be divulging at the moment, but he is doing brilliantly and is in a really good place.

Discussing the latter player led to the conversation broadening out. “One thing I think we’re really good at, we put our players on quite a bespoke program….there’s a huge amount of discussion and detail; research that goes into what we do with our players. We’re very stringent on how we go about our processes etc.”.

MK added that he is really pleased with that side of the club, but it remains important to maintain patience with the players throughout.

Players typically want to ‘walk before they can run’, especially with short-term injuries as they just want to get back (playing). Often it’s easier when a player has a long-term injury as they know to get their head down and around what they need to do.

Often players will be reintegrated to the physical contact side of the sport gradually. They will take part in warm-up, technical drills and possession exercises but as a ‘floater’ on the outside.

Ultimately, like everything players learn to manage their injuries with experience. For that reason, MK is a big believer in talking to players – sometimes when the medical side are saying they’re not ready; as the player knows his body best. Obviously, they would not select a player if it was to his detriment. Sometimes it’s good to give the player autonomy and it allows them to return to action more quickly than anticipated.

Ipswich Town: MK was keen to stress that preparation as always had been 100% but the focus remained on the Imps, not the opposition.

“It’s always about what we do and how we go about things”

MK is not naive to think that Ipswich are anything less than a very good side and City are the underdogs, but he doesn’t dwell or focus on that. The team are travelling to Portman Road with the single focus of bringing back as many points as possible. It will be difficult at a great stadium with a full house and a brilliant manager, and ‘we’ cannot get away from that. “….but we’re not going there to lie down, park the bus and scrape a draw if we can; and defend for our lives. That’s not us”.

Ben House: The conversation focussed on the role Ben was playing, his impact and his strengths. MK is very happy with BH. As a coach he has been talking to Ben about his attributes and if anything he was a little surprised that Ben played his role down a bit. MK is mindful that is something that the young squad as a whole do and he wants them to puff out their chests and go out having self-belief and confidence. That is understandable having the youngest L1 squad and he will work on that as he personally is very big on that.

For Ben’s part, his goals are only 10% of his game and with three already this season that is very good. The other 90% of his game is so impressive and important as part of his wider game. “He’s strong, he’s physical and he’s quick. He sets up for good counter press”.

If anything the biggest problem for MK is to find him a key position to play in. He has already shown this season what a good job he does in the 8 or 10 roles, and with Tom Hopper being injured it has helped Ben showcase his skills as a 9. Ben is really a well-rounded player and grounded human being; certainly somebody ‘we’ really believe in.

Writer: hulloutpost

Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!