Ipswich striker Liam Delap has spoken of an inspirational training session he had with England captain Harry Kane.
The 22-year-old frontman is with the England U21s but was invited to train with the senior group by new Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel.
That allowed Delap - who has scored 10 Premier League goals this term - to play with and talk to England's record goalscorer.
“That was the first time I’ve trained with Harry. He is someone I've looked up to for ages and he's got everything," said Delap.
“He's had the most amazing career and he's still flying so there's someone as young as me to look up to him and then be able to watch him live is an incredible experience.
“I had a little chat with him, he's a really nice guy. I watched him enough in the shooting drill to take so much from him and he's just incredible. What I noticed was that just everything goes in!
“His all-round game is incredible and he's played at the top level for so long now but as a striker it's something I really enjoy doing, to watch the best practice and it's the best I've seen."
Ipswich striker Liam Delap has spoken of an inspirational training session he had with England captain Harry Kane.
The 22-year-old frontman is with the England U21s but was invited to train with the senior group by new Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel.
That allowed Delap - who has scored 10 Premier League goals this term - to play with and talk to England's record goalscorer.
“That was the first time I’ve trained with Harry. He is someone I've looked up to for ages and he's got everything," said Delap.
“He's had the most amazing career and he's still flying so there's someone as young as me to look up to him and then be able to watch him live is an incredible experience.
“I had a little chat with him, he's a really nice guy. I watched him enough in the shooting drill to take so much from him and he's just incredible. What I noticed was that just everything goes in!
“His all-round game is incredible and he's played at the top level for so long now but as a striker it's something I really enjoy doing, to watch the best practice and it's the best I've seen."
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna says it was positive to have Julio Enciso back despite defeat at Crystal Palace.
The Brighton loanee returned to the starting XI after missing nearly a month of action with a knee injury picked up against Aston Villa.
Enciso provided a bright spark for Ipswich during the game, after which McKenna lauded his importance.
"Julio is just a positive, having him back," McKenna said.
"He's versatile, he can play left-10, he can play right-10. He's got a really good level of individual quality that we feel can take us to another level and we'll use him in a few different roles behind Liam [Delap] or George Hirst.
"He's done both of them for us already so he's going to be really useful for us.
"We feel that Julio is going to be a big addition for us, he can help us. It's been a big blow to lose him but good to have him back today."
Ipswich remain winless in the league this year – their last win was against Chelsea at Portman Road in December – Crystal Palace have won five of their last seven.
That run has lifted Oliver Glasner’s side well clear of relegation trouble into 12th place and their improved form is not lost on McKenna.
“There’s no game in the Premier League that is going to be anything less than competitive,” he added.
“If we can do a lot of things well then we’ll make the games competitive and Crystal Palace are a very strong side, they have certainly improved as the season has gone on.”
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna is not ready to abandon his footballing principles in his side’s fight for Premier League survival.
The Tractor Boys sit five points from safety in the bottom three and have 11 games left to avoid an instant return to the Sky Bet Championship, with Crystal Palace next up at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
McKenna said: “If you keep approaching them in the right way, finding the right response in your daily work, whether it goes well or against you.
“If you stay consistent in your behaviour, in our processes, driving the culture here, I think that builds a trust between the group.
“Of course the later you get towards the end of the season, because there’s less games ahead, the results feel more important.
“But the best way we believe to get the points is to focus on performances and to try and perform as well as you can with whatever the game plan is in that particular game.”
Ipswich have been dealt another injury blow as forward Sammie Szmodics requires ankle surgery and will be ruled out until the closing weeks of the season.
The Tractor Boys' Premier League survival battle is being undermined by injuries and the crisis shows no sign of easing, with defenders Axel Tuanzebe and Cameron Burgess also added to a lengthy list of absentees.
Boss Kieran McKenna, whose side will bid for just their fourth league win of the season on Saturday at Crystal Palace, said: "Sam Szmodics has gone for an ankle operation, unfortunately.
"So he's going to be out for an extended period of time. He originally suffered the injury in a tackle in the Fulham game, then had a recurrence of it in the Coventry (FA Cup fourth round) game, then he had a recurrence of it after the Manchester United game.
"I don't know the exact timescale, but it's going to be a good number of weeks and if we see him again this season it will be in the last couple of fixtures."
Smzodics, a £10m summer signing from Blackburn Rovers, has scored four goals in 19 Premier League appearances so far this season.
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna defended Jack Taylor after the midfielder had his crucial spot-kick saved in the FA Cup fifth round defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Taylor was unsuccessful with the tenth penalty after nine perfect attempts from both sides after the two teams could not be separated following a 1-1 draw.
The midfielder dropped the ball on the spot after taking the walk, with referee Tony Harrington then telling him to replace the ball as it was in the wrong place.
"There’s certainly an element of luck to it," said McKenna to ITV Sport.
"Disappointed to lose, no doubt about that. A really challenging night in so many aspects, and really proud of the effort.
"We took pretty good penalties, all four. Even Jack’s is a good save but it comes down to a tiny margin.
"That’s a team with a lot of changes, where the group has been and where it’s grown, to be on this stage and to lose two out of our three defenders in the half-time period was a big blow as well.
" It makes it more of a challenge to get through extra-time as we used a lot of our subs early. We met a lot of challenges tonight in many, many different aspects. We met it head on and had a performance to be proud of."
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna has stated it was the correct decision to send off Patrick Dorgu during the 3-2 loss to Manchester United.
Dorgu was sent off by referee Darren England after VAR advised the match official to review the 20-year-old defender's challenge on Omari Hutchinson just before half-time.
"It was a red card. I was right in front of it. He has gone over the ball," he said.
"I assume he has not meant it but he went over the ball and it resulted in Omari going off in the second half. That was a blow for us and hopefully Omari will be okay."
On Hutchinson's fitness after going off injured following the challenge from Dorgu, McKenna added: "I've not heard anything from the medical team but we will need to assess it.
"It is heavy damage on the shin but he managed to play on."
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna has slammed the game management of his team following the 3-2 loss to Manchester United.
United were reduced to 10 players after Patrick Dorgu was sent off shortly before Jaden Philogene scored his second of the afternoon to make it 2-2.
However, Harry Maguire would go onto head home the winner two minutes after the restart for United, despite the hosts facing a numerical disadvantage.
"No doubt about it," McKenna said when asked if it was a wasted opportunity.
"Very frustrating outcome and we are very annoyed with the goals we have conceded. Went from a good start to a difficult position. We've managed and played the second half poorly.
"Big priority after half-time was to not concede and tonight we were not able to deal with their physicality and strength in the penalty box.
"We didn't do it within a minute of the restart. In the second half, they showed their quality. They were stronger on both ends of the pitch."
Kieran McKenna when asked if he still believes Ipswich can stay up despite defeat to Spurs:
“No doubt.
“Wolves picked up a good result today against 10 men with an early red card with a VAR. These are really small margins in football. And they haven't gone our way this year.
"I don't think anyone can say that we've had any sort of fortune or margins go our way too often. We know we've got a big challenge to stay in the division. We know we're going to have to pick up points at a greater rate in our last 12 games. I believe that we can pick our points up at a greater rate, for sure.”
Sky Sports News' Sanny Rudravajhala at Ipswich's training ground:
Kieran McKenna was his usual sanguine self this afternoon ahead of Tottenham on Saturday.
Speaking to the other local journalists in the room, they say he’s changed little since their League One days which, remember, were only two seasons ago.
Despite the big changes at the club and news of a new training ground in development, the 38-year-old was as generous with his time as he seemingly has always been.
It was interesting to gauge his reaction to facing the side where he worked through the ranks as a youth player before injury saw him move into coaching at the club.
The Northern Irishman told us that his focus was solely on the game but did reveal that two of his best mates are on the coaching staff at Tottenham Ange Postecoglou’s assistant manager Matt Wells and Rob Birch, Spurs’ goalkeeping coach. Friendships that go back to their childhoods in the Tottenham Academy will be paused, for 90 minutes at least.
When I asked McKenna whether he had any sympathy for his opposite number, he replied that Ange Postecoglou had handled the injury issues well and had ‘done brilliantly with his career’.
He was also rueful that they weren’t facing Tottenham a few weeks earlier when the injuries and European exertions were pushing them to their limits.
Ipswich’s survival hopes may rest in the hands of a new goalkeeper, Alex Palmer, signed in the transfer window from West Brom. He was their hero in taking a point from Villa Park last week, with Town down to ten for the best part of an hour.
“He’s done very well. He’s a really good communicator and you can tell he’s played a lot of games over the last couple of seasons”, the Ipswich boss told me.
“We don’t expect him to be perfect, no one is. There’s going to be mistakes along the way from every player, but he’s a very good goalkeeper and he’s made a good start.”
Those sentiments were echoed by one man who’ll be starting in front of the 28-year-old, defender Jacob Greaves.
Ipswich regularly bring a player to their press conferences and the ex-Hull City centre half told me on Palmer, “He’s been a really nice addition, he’s chatty he talks a lot, sometimes a bit too much! But he’s been good, especially his debut against [Aston] Villa. He made a lot of top saves and sometimes when you go to those places you need it from your ‘keeper.
Even his kicking as well, I thought was excellent. It’s a nice face to have in goal and hopefully, he can carry on that form that he showed in the Villa game.”
Ipswich have won only one game in the Premier League at home all season.
McKenna told me that it’s the finest of margins that have denied them more victories at Portman Road. Let’s see if Palmer is the man to make the difference as Ipswich’s quest for survival continues tomorrow.
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna feels Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou does not need anyone's sympathy as he looks to turn the club's fortunes around following a testing spell.
A raft of injuries saw Spurs go through a difficult winter, but Postecoglou's depleted squad were still able to reach the knockout stages of the Europa League.
A 1-0 win over Manchester United last weekend moved Postecoglou's side back up towards the top half of the Premier League table.
With the likes of Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison and Brennan Johnson all returning to fitness, there is renewed belief Spurs can push on through to the business end of the campaign with growing confidence.
McKenna, though, has enough concerns of his own in kick-starting Ipswich's survival bid when Spurs head to Portman Road on Saturday.
"He certainly doesn't need that (sympathy) from me, I don't think," McKenna said.
"He had done brilliantly in his career, the progression that he has had. He is an excellent manager.
"He has gone through a spell where they have had a lot of injuries and some challenges.
"We all know that comes at some point for any team, for any any manager, and I think he has handled that situation well.
"I am sure they will be able to pick up for him in the months ahead. We have got to try and make sure that doesn't continue on Saturday."
Ipswich have been handed a boost with news on-loan forward Julio Enciso's knee injury is not as bad as first feared.
Paraguay international Enciso, 21, on loan from Brighton until the end of the season, was forced off after only 17 minutes of Saturday's 1-1 draw at Aston Villa in the Premier League.
An MRI scan of his left knee on Tuesday revealed only "minor trauma", according to the Paraguay national team's chief medical officer Dr Osvaldo Insfrán.
“Julio Enciso is greatly improved, the resonance [MRI] threw nothing of gravity,” Dr Insfrán told Paraguayan radio station 650AM.
“He will enter a recovery regime in Ipswich, they don't have an estimated time at his club for his return.
“We talk about trauma or sprain, studies will be done. There’s no talk of a recovery time, we hope he can get back to training. He will do physiotherapy and rehabilitation work.”
Enciso underwent two operations on the same knee in 2023 having torn his meniscus during training, sidelining him for six months.