Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton has responded to comments to Bristol Live made by Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna after their fixture on Tuesday night, in which the Northern Irishman claimed the game was a “cup final” for the club.
The two sides drew goalless at the Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night in what was a result that put a halt to Bristol Rovers’ five-game losing streak in the league, which included a 5-1 drubbing at Morecambe in that time.
As for Ipswich, the result means they have now won only one of their last eight games as they start to lose valuable ground on the automatic promotion places with the club fourth in League One, sitting eight points behind Sheffield Wednesday in second and ten points behind league leaders Plymouth Argyle.
https://twitter.com/Official_BRFC/status/1625610140425527313?s=20
After the game, McKenna had claimed that Barton apologised to him after the game for a more defensive approach at the Memorial Stadium, with the former Manchester United first-team coach also describing the League One affair as a “cup final” for Bristol Rovers and their fans.
However, responding to Bristol Live, Barton claims his comments after the game were misinterpreted and that he didn’t go for a more defensive approach but as well as that, he’s voiced his views that McKenna is a man under pressure following their recent patch of poor form, especially when the Suffolk-based side has a £15 million budget.
Barton said: “I just went to him at the end of the game and said ‘Sorry we couldn’t take you on’. That’s what it meant, I wasn’t apologising for the way we played. I thought we were excellent in our strategy and really got the best opportunity to win the game by going the way we did.
“To be fair to Kieran, he’s probably worried about four wins in 15 with a £15million budget in League One and Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth pulling away and Derby, Wycombe, Barnsley, Bolton and the group chasing closing in on them.
“He’s a man under pressure. I could smell that on them and I knew that before with the results profile. It was part of the reason we went with the strategy because they were nervy and on a run of drawing a lot of games and finding it hard to break teams down.
“I don’t want to be a counter-puncher, I want to be in the middle of the ring trading blows with you, but I guarantee you if the boot was on the other foot, he wouldn’t be attacking me with a £3m budget if I had a £15m budget, that’s for sure, and he wouldn’t be drawing 0-0.”
https://twitter.com/Official_BRFC/status/1625789880994258946?s=20
Joey Barton’s side currently sit 14th in the table following a dramatic promotion from League Two last season, with a 7-0 home victory over now National League Scunthorpe United made sure they pipped Northampton Town to third place to claim automatic promotion.
As well as that, Barton was also disappointed about McKenna’s comments of the game being a “cup final” for the club and for the fans who attended, even though the game is not even in the top five most attended games at the Memorial Ground this season.
Barton added: “We had to be (more defensive than usual). “I hope one day to have their budget and if you give me £15m versus our £3m, I’d ask Kieran if he would want to stand in the middle and trade blows because I guarantee he wouldn’t.
“For us at that moment, it would have been a kamikaze approach and we had to adjust our strategy and show a different side to our team and me as a coach to nullify our opponent to give ourselves the best opportunity of winning the game.
“To get out of there with a clean sheet and a point was a step in the right direction for us, but I’m not sure Kieran’s well versed in the Mem. He said it was a cup final for our fans and they have all turned out, but we have been at capacity since the back end of last season and I just felt that was a little bit of a strange comment.
“Based on my CV and his CV, there is no doubt who is the A-side if there was any cup final because he was a civilian until he started coaching.”
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Writers View
Looking at these views and response from Joey Barton from the comments made by Kieran McKenna, it certainly seems like a case where he is defending his team and his tactics, even when he has a smaller budget compared to the Tractor Boys in which before the five game losing run, Bristol Rovers were having a very good first season back in League One after a year away.
I thought some of the comments made by McKenna in particular seemed odd, especially the “cup final” one when at the end of the day, both teams are competing in the same league and both want the same thing.
