Ipswich Town would have been hoping for another memorable night against one of the Premier League’s elite when Manchester City travelled down to Suffolk, only to be met by Pep Guardiola’s men at their most ruthless.
Indeed, after the away side opened the scoring courtesy of Phil Foden just shy of the half-an-hour mark, there was only going to be one emphatic winner, as the City of old came to the forefront in a 6-0 demolition job.
The visitors just wouldn’t have believed their luck when coming up against Kieran McKenna’s men, with the Ipswich defence all over the place from the minute Foden fired home.
Ipswich’s shambolic defending
Annoyingly – before City eventually ran riot – Ipswich did have a couple of half chances here and there to shock Guardiola’s men, with Omari Hutchinson seeing one effort fly over Ederson’s goal courtesy of an Erling Haaland deflection just five or so minutes before Foden’s opener.
But, there would be no looking back after the number 47 gave his side the lead, as a whole sea of Ipswich shirts couldn’t deal with the trickery of either Jeremy Doku or Kevin De Bruyne before the England international beat Christian Walton.
The hosts simply couldn’t handle a City attack at their vibrant best, as the likes of Ben Godfrey just watched on as Mateo Kovacic hammered home a quickfire second, whilst the new Tractor Boys recruit didn’t get tight enough to Doku or De Bruyne again when Foden collected his easy brace.
The goals wouldn’t stop there as Godfrey’s poor day at the office continued into the second half when Doku and Haaland exchanged more strikes, with the ex-Everton man then substituted just after the hour mark by McKenna on what was a sobering first-ever taste of Premier League action lining up for his fresh side.
Godfrey obviously wasn’t the only underperformer at the back for the relegation-threatened outfit, as Dara O’Shea also had a notable off-day in the heart of defence despite usually standing out as a brave performer.
Performance in Numbers
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O’Shea’s performance in numbers vs Man City
Indeed, if you look at the numbers from Ipswich’s heroic 2-0 win over Chelsea from the close of December, the Irishman was a brick wall for the underdogs with three tackles registered on top of five duels being won.
He was anything but that against the reigning top-flight champions, however, with only one duel contested all night during what was somewhat of a feeble showing from the ex-Burnley centre-back.
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O’Shea’s performance in numbers |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes played |
90 |
|
Touches |
66 |
|
Accurate passes |
50/57 |
|
Possession lost |
9x |
|
Clearances |
2 |
|
Blocked shots |
0 |
|
Interceptions |
0 |
|
Total tackles |
1 |
|
Total duels won |
1/1 |
|
Stats by Sofascore |
|
In truth, it was a very flat showing from the 25-year-old who looked scared stiff by the unbelievable quality on show from the opposition, with no interceptions or blocks attempted when the visitors attacked at will.
Moreover, he would also give up the ball nine times when passing out from the back, as the below-par number 26 had a night to forget all round.
East Anglian Daily Times journalist Alex Jones would give O’Shea a low 5/10 rating after the game subsequently, with Ipswich hopeful that this is a one-off thud back to reality against a stuttering City side that have finally snapped back into life.
After all, before back-to-back defeats in the league, Ipswich had been unbeaten in three with O’Shea wanting to get back to his best when the Tractor Boys face the gruelling task of trying to topple Liverpool at Anfield up next.
Even if another defeat is put next to their name, McKenna won’t want his troops to feel too down, with plenty more crunch games away from playing the top-flight’s cream of the crop deciding their overall fate.
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