Godfrey was subbed at half-time of Ipswich Town’s 4-1 home defeat to Tottenham.
Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says ‘strong character’ Ben Godfrey has reacted well to his difficult afternoon against Tottenham.
In for the suspended Axel Tuanzebe at right-back, the 27-year-old was subbed at half-time of the 4-1 home loss after being given a torrid time by Son Heung-min.
Having made his league debut for the Blues in a 6-0 home thrashing at the hands of Manchester City, it’s been a difficult start to life at Portman Road for the January loan signing from Atalanta.
“Being on a yellow card it wasn’t a very difficult decision (to take Godfrey off) because he’s up against a really good opponent,” said McKenna, when asked about the two-cap England international.
“The yellow card would have made it dangerous, especially after what happened last week with Axel (who was dismissed for two bookings at Aston Villa).
“Saturday was a challenge, but Ben’s a strong character.
He’s come in with a really good attitude today and has trained well.
“He’s trying to give good things to the group and we’re going to need him across the games to the end of the season. He really wants to help the team.”
Reflecting further on the defeat to Tottenham, which has left his side five points adrift of Premier League safety with 12 games to go, the Blues boss said: “
The mood’s been fine.
We’re not going to be dancing and singing on the tables after losing a home game, but we know we came out on the wrong side of a harsh scoreline.
I think anyone who was at the game would concede that it was that.
“For us to have a tight game with fine margins against Tottenham means we’ve done a lot of good things in the performance.
But, of course, conceding a couple of late goals puts a different shine on it.
“It was disappointing the way the game ended up, but we’ve taken a lot of positives from it.
Of course, we can do better in some moments as well, but now we’ve got a great game to look forward to on Wednesday.
“So there’s a great energy around the training ground today.
Everyone’s really excited to go to Old Trafford to play against Manchester United.
“We’ve got a lot of hard work to do in the next couple of days to be ready for the game. But everyone’s really excited.”
