Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna urges stars to be ‘dominant and aggressive’ as they gear up for Liverpool clash on return to the Premier League

Kieran McKenna has urged his Ipswich Town stars to be on the front foot from the get-go on their return to the Premier League.

The Tractor Boys make their splash against Liverpool at 12.30pm today after 22 years away from the top flight. 

And former Manchester United coach McKenna – who has steered Ipswich to back-to-back promotions – wants to see his players adopt the same style that brought them up. 

‘We are, and we want to be, a really aggressive, dominant, attacking team. We want to dominate the ball, create a lot of chances and score a lot of goals,’ he said. 

It is an approach that has hamstrung the likes of Norwich and Burnley in recent seasons and McKenna is under no illusions about the challenges ahead. 

He wants his players to stick by the style that got them promoted where it is possible

‘We know that the division we’re going into is going to be a big challenge and we’re going to have to adapt certain things and every game isn’t going to look exactly how we want it to look in a dream scenario,’ he said. 

‘We need to keep and show our identity to the Premier League, we need to stay brave, we need to keep our aggressive, attacking mindset.

‘Coming up from the Championship to the Premier League with the strength of the Premier League now, I’d be surprised if, hand on heart, anyone of a new promoted team, whether it’s a manager, player or supporter wouldn’t say that being in the division the following season would be success.

‘Our focus is going to be on how we continue to work day-to-day, how we continue to improve, to adapt to the level that we’re coming up against and be as competitive as we can be in every game.’

Ipswich were the top scorers in the Championship last season with 92 goals scored in 46 games. 

They have also boosted their firepower significantly by this week signing Sammie Szmodics from Blackburn for a reported £9million.

He was the top scorer in the Championship last season, bagging 27 goals in 44 games, and scored 33 in all competitions. Before moving to Portman Road he had time to score three more goals in two games to kick off this campaign.

Among other signings Kalvin Phillips has joined on loan from Manchester City while they have made Omari Hutchinson’s loan from Chelsea permanent for a club-record deal worth around £22m. 

Their first test will be against Liverpool, who have had a strong pre-season under Arne Slot

Portman Road has been receiving a facelift to make sure it is ready to welcome Premier League football.

As Mail Sport’s Joe Bernstein found on a trip to the Suffolk ground, the capacity is now beyond 30,000, there are LED screens behind each goal, the tunnel and dressing rooms have been revamped, and a TV studio is under construction. 

Many of Ipswich’s heroes when they won the FA Cup and UEFA Cup under Robson between 1978 and 1981 will also be present for the big kick-off on Saturday.

Former skipper Mick Mills commentates for Radio Suffolk, goalscoring midfielder John Wark hosts sponsors in the lounges and famed centre-half pairing Terry Butcher and Russell Osman will pay for tickets as regular fans.