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There was a moment that capped Ipswich Town’s rise. Two years ago, their first away game of the campaign was at Forest Green Rovers. Now it was at Manchester City. They walked past the Premier League trophy that Pep Guardiola’s side have won for four consecutive seasons. They dared to take the lead.
And that, perhaps predictably, was as good as it got. City are a club with their own history in the third tier but these days they show precious little sentiment towards anyone else. They can be the crushers of fairytales. They welcomed Ilkay Gundogan back to the Etihad Stadium but afforded Ipswich a different reception in their first away game in the top flight for 22 years.
Ahead after seven minutes, a goal to the good for five, Kieran McKenna’s side conceded three times in four. Their advantage was a cruelly brief affair. They had still less time to savour it, given that much of it consisted of a VAR check for a penalty and then a wait for Erling Haaland to convert it.
Haaland, who can prey on promoted teams, scored twice in swift succession against a side who went up in consecutive campaigns and ended up, ridiculously, with his 10th City hat-trick. Haaland scored five in a game, albeit in the FA Cup, against a club that had come up from the Championship, in Luton last year. He settled for three this time.
Such mercy, as the champions showed, was in stopping the scoring for 70 minutes before Haaland made it 4-1; Ipswich, who conceded nine to a Manchester club in 1995, could have been forgiven for fearing a repeat, especially when Rico Lewis and Kevin De Bruyne rattled the bar within half an hour.
So Ipswich may have learned a lesson when they showed the temerity to score early. It provoked such an emphatic response that it invited suggestions it was a mistake for Sammie Szmodics to deliver a goal that marked his own remarkable ascent: Szmodics has now scored in each of the top five divisions and an incisive counter-attack offered a hint he can trouble more top-class defences.
Sadly for Ipswich, however, there were also points when they appeared intent on doing an accurate impression of Vincent Kompany’s Burnley, looking horribly naïve, gifting goals. There was a common denominator: Arijanet Muric, signed from Turf Moor, showed his ability with an acrobatic save to claw away a Haaland header but only after again looking a liability at this level.
In a disastrous debut, he was horribly culpable for two goals. Dawdling in possession, Muric was robbed by Savinho, who teed up De Bruyne for an open goal. Then the goalkeeper came off his line when the Belgian bent a pass forward and was stranded in no-man’s land when Haaland headed the ball past him and angled a shot in. Muric made five appearances for City but his greatest service to his former club may have come against them.
He was, nevertheless, blameless for the equaliser, with Haaland rolling a penalty past him after Leif Davis tripped Savinho. The Brazilian marked his home bow with a terrific display, while De Bruyne was exquisite and Haaland prolific. He has now faced 23 clubs in the Premier League and scored against each. His third of the afternoon was that rarity, a long-range strike, drilled in from 25 yards.
The loudest ovation, however, came for none of his goals, but for a substitution. Guardiola unleashed Gundogan for his second debut; the applause reflected the sense that, until last week, it had seemed implausible he would be back at the Etihad Stadium in a City shirt. For the first time in his last four City appearances, however, he did not have a trophy to lift.
But when City brought on Gundogan, recruited from Barcelona, Ipswich introduced Marcus Harness, formerly of Burton, and Jack Taylor, long a Barnet player. Such are the differences between the clubs.
Like many of his new teammates, Szmodics has taken the unglamorous path. Yet if last season’s Premier League’s top scorer outscored his Championship counterpart as they met for the first time, Szmodics struck first. He had 16 minutes as a substitute against Liverpool last week. On his first start, he became Ipswich’s first scorer in the Premier League since Darren Bent in 2002.
He raced on to Ben Johnson’s pass. Ederson took the sting out of his shot, but it rolled over the line. It was an early indication that the £9m Ipswich paid Blackburn for his services may be a bargain. After 27 second-tier goals for Rovers, it was a sign that goalscoring may be a transferable skill. But he scored from Ipswich’s only shot. They have been handed the hardest of starts in Liverpool and City. They have taken as few points as most anticipated. Now for a more telling test: two years ago, they beat Forest Green. Next week, Fulham will provide a truer examination of their prospects.
