“But anything that we can take in terms of previous experiences and ideas of how to stop the opposition and control the opposition we’ll take them where possible. “But it’s two different clubs, two different teams and the game will have its own life and its own challenges and we need to be ready for them. ” McKenna says the Portman Road crowd, which is set to be in excess of 23, 000 with Brett Johnson and Berke Bakay from the American Three Lions group among them, will have a role to play.
Watching them, it looks like they have done a really incredible job recruiting players from the European market, which they obviously have very good insider knowledge of. “We should say a big credit to the manager and the club and his staff in how they have managed to change the style, introduce new players into English football a lot of whom have hit the ground and excelled really, really quickly. “And also make good use of the players who have been at Burnley for a long time in the Premier League. “They have put that together into a formidable team and you have to say credit to them for that.
“Massive. I think it’s fantastic really, ” he said. “It’s a big effort, the cup games aren’t included in the season tickets either, so we’re grateful and thankful to the supporters for coming out in those sort of numbers to support us. “I don’t think there are many clubs who are going to have that sort of percentage of capacity for the FA Cup games this week anywhere in the country. “It’s a big credit to them. We hope to do it justice and I just hope they enjoy it, to be honest. “It’s a game we all have to enjoy. You have to win a few rounds to get here, you can always say when you’ve got through that it was easy, but if it was easy, then the club would be in the fourth round every year.
” McKenna says he hasn’t crossed paths with Clarets boss Kompany previously: “No, I haven’t. We know some people mutually but I haven’t before but I can only say he’s obviously doing a very, very good job at Burnley. “A fantastic player, I enjoyed watching him, he was the study for lots of defensive best practice videos that I would have done as a young coach and was a fantastic defender, and is now transferring that well to his teams in terms of how they defend but also how they build and attack with the ball. ” McKenna sees aspects of the Manchester City side with whom Kompany won the Premier League four times, the FA Cup twice and the League Cup on four occasions in the forme Belgian international's Burnley team.
“The club, the players have done well to get to this point and it’s important that we go on and enjoy the challenge now and take it head on. ” Saturday’s game isn’t the only cup tie Town will be involved in this week with Tractor Girls hosting Lewes at the AGL Arena in Felixstowe on Sunday and the U18s in FA Youth Cup action against Liverpool at Portman Road on Friday. “It’s nice to be fighting on all fronts, ” McKenna said.
“Everyone is looking forward to the Youth Cup game next Friday. The girls have got a big game on Sunday and, of course, we have a big game this weekend. “Let’s hope that at the end of it, a couple of those teams – if not all three – can still be in their respective competitions. ” McKenna has said he’ll make changes to his team as he looks to keep everyone in his squad involved and match fit, while a couple of players have minor knocks which are set to keep them out. Vaclav Hladky will be in goal, while Janoi Donacien, Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess could return at the back. Last week’s new signing Harry Clarke is cup-tied having played for Stoke City in their 3-0 win at Hartlepool in the last round.
Ipswich Town vs Burnley live score - AiScore