Sheffield Wednesday must be wary of bullish Ipswich Town style ahead of high-stakes tactical battle

McKenna, a talented 35-year-old manager whose coaching style has been reared in the youth ranks at Tottenham Hotspur and more notably at Manchester United, has taken his side to the top of the division at this early stage of the campaign and has delivered a confidence that the Tractor Boys can achieve promotion at the fourth attempt.

His is a sophisticated preferred style of play that involves attempting to control the ball in huge chunks of possession, a goal reached for with a high press designed around that of Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich.

"We have to develop that style of play and become a dominant, pro-active team who are ready to take the ball against any opposition and play in their half and control games,” McKenna told reporters early in his Ipswich reign.

Indeed, no League One club has had more time on the ball than Ipswich’s mammoth 61.2% possession this season.

Their press is not an all-out assault in the opposition’s half, rather a press based on timing, the rate of which is dependent on opposition. This season McKenna’s side have allowed their opponents an average of only 7.55 passes before they make a defensive action (PPDA), the fourth-highest figure in the division.

Wednesday’s pressing style has been known to fluctuate – their figure is a more passive 11.01 PPDA.

Ipswich forward Sone Aluko will not feature at Hillsborough having suffered a serious knee injury but speaking earlier this year gave an insight into what teams are up against when it comes to staving off their defence.

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“I think the main thing he’s got us focused on is when we lose the ball and everyone’s immediate reaction,” he said. “I think you can see when we lose it high up the pitch, everyone’s reaction, there’s three, four, five players all trying to win the ball back straight away and I think that’s the main thing that he’s wanted us to work on.

“He does that just through different drills, different possession drills. When you lose it you have to win it back within a certain amount of time or if you don’t win it back you’ve got sprints to do, there are forfeits, there are different fun ways of teaching that.

“He knows what he wants, he knows the style of football he wants to play and he knows how to communicate it.”

Ipswich’s pressing style poses questions as to whether Darren Moore will stick or twist with a preference for ‘playing out from the back’ he has shown in some – but not all – matches in recent weeks.

Wednesday ran into trouble on a handful of occasions while doing so in their most recent defeat at home to Barnsley, who were praised for their efforts in stifling Wednesday’s play in their own half.

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With that defeat arriving as their first in 14 matches at Hillsborough, Moore may be tempted to look to impose Wednesday’s style on Ipswich rather than bending the other way.

It’ll be a fascinating tactical battle.