Manchester City romped to a 6-0 victory at Portman Road to move back into the Premier League’s top four for the first time since early December.
In fact, the match ended during half-time, by which time two goals from Phil Foden and one from Mateo Kovacic had given City a three-goal lead. Second-half goals from Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and James McAtee added a smart lead. layer of brilliance to the score.
Athletic’s Mark Carey discusses the key takeaways. . .
It might sound odd to say after the champions of England beat a newly-promoted side, but City needed this statement win and, more importantly, statement performance.
Recent victories over Leicester City and West Ham United may have looked easy on paper, but City somewhat stuttered to victory in both before surrendering a two-goal lead against Brentford this week. They needed to show that they still had the performances that can suffocate the opposition and dominate both boxes from start to finish. Sunday afternoon was a return to their former selves.
This was precisely mandatory in the context of City’s upcoming matches at national and European level. Wednesday’s match against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League (with league clashes against Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool over the next five weeks) can tell. It shows us how much City can recover this season. Even if they can’t earn the name themselves, they may simply hurt others’ customers for the next month.
Whether it is a new false dawn in his disappointing campaign, it is the best afternoon for Pep Guardiola after the most difficult months of his coaching career.
Considering he was voted Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Men’s Footballer of the Year less than nine months ago, this season has been a crusade for Phil Foden.
A lack of fitness and form, accompanied by illness, resulted in a stuttering start to the campaign but in recent weeks he looks back to his former self.
Two goals against Ipswich get the 24-year-old to 3 Premier League games, and it’s the first time he’s scored in 3 consecutive league games for the first time since October 2022.
With Jeremy Doku hugging the touchline and stretching Ipswich’s back line on the left side, Foden was at his menacing best when drifting inside from the right and picking up those pockets of space that make him so difficult to track.
Both goals came from his clever runs into the central spaces to finish off Kevin De Bruyne’s crosses. Add to that his assistance to Mateo Kovacic, and it was hard to believe a more memorable first half for any individual player this season.
Foden’s hope is to be able to maintain his form and salvage something from a differently disappointing season. Six goals in seven games are a smart reminder of his importance alongside Guardiola.
With Ben Godfrey making his first Premier League start for Ipswich at right centre-back, there was a chance for Manchester City to test the mettle of Kieran McKenna’s new back line.
With Doku starting on the left side of the attack, the early stages of the attack saw Ipswich’s Ben Johnson close in on the Belgian and stifle the City attack at its source, with left-back Josko Gvardiol offering him little width.
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City persisted with their attack down the left-hand side and added further bodies to overload Ipswich’s defence. The archetypal off-ball runs in behind from De Bruyne were perfectly timed to expose Ipswich’s back five to cross for Foden twice — in a near carbon-copy sequence for both of the Englishman’s goals in the first half.
It was a transparent tactic from Guardiola at all times. After some initial problems, they solved the puzzle to devastating effect.
In his post-match press conference, Guardiola said of Phil Foden: “We spoke several times last month and he was a completely different guy to the way he came at the start of the season. He had some problems, but they are human beings and when you have a setback and that is normal.
“But we are really pleased that he is happy again and enjoying playing, and that is really good for all of us.”
Wednesday, January 22: PSG (away), Champions League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET