Alf Ramsey or Bobby Robson would have thought a religious festival had broken out at Portman Road. For a 12.30 kick-off, swarms turned up closer to breakfast time. In the milky August sun many Ipswich fans were like awestruck travellers to an uncharted land.
It was all going beautifully until the promoted team in the tale flipped from upwardly mobile warriors back to being Ipswich, and Liverpool displayed the soft shoe defence-slicing skills you need to be Champions League regulars. Focus frays, the mind tires, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah go to work. The next thing you know, you’re getting a standing ovation for losing 2-0.
All foreseeable, and certainly forgivable. Only Nottingham Forest had been out of the Premier League longer before returning than Ipswich, for whom most of the 21st century has been a struggle to get back in. In May 2002, they lost 5-0 at Liverpool to complete their relegation. Twenty years later, in walk the Liverpool of Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold as Portman Road is sent into raptures by the Premier League’s sensory overload.
Returning to the cartel after such a long time away is framed as an epiphany. Ipswich comfortably matched the Anfield noise level but an hour of trying to deal with Champions League-quality was all they could manage.
“Sleepy Suffolk”, as it was known in Robson’s time, pretty much put its fingers in an electricity socket for the big return. By the time Kieran McKenna and Arne Slot appeared for the first Premier League fixtures of their careers, the stadium announcer was shouting his lungs out to a crowd of 30,014: “It’s our time. We stand together as one club, one town, one county … The journey has been tough, but the journey continues.”
Two consecutive promotions buy a lot of conviction, in the stands and on the pitch. Ipswich fans were right up to speed with taunts of “who’s the scouser in the black” for the referee and McKenna’s team were oblivious to the leap they had made.
League One two seasons back, Championship last year – it’s all the same to Ipswich, who defended tightly, counterattacked keenly and pressed zealously. Even better, Liverpool were regarded like any other visitor to a ground where Ipswich began the day unbeaten in 21 home league games and still has corrugated roofs on the West and Cobbold Stands.
Three yellow cards in the first half an hour suggested a lack of deference and a dose of realism to go with the stylistic fluidity. Their central midfield enforcer, Sam Morsy, was the pre-season bookies’ favourite to collect the most yellow cards. McKenna praised the blend of “composure and physicality” in the performance.
Promoted sides are often cast as idealists or dreamers cruising for a culture shock. But defending loosely – as Ipswich did for both goals – is not synonymous with not knowing how to defend. Not on day one. Not against Liverpool.
An example. Leif Davis, the Ipswich left-back, was a standout, attacking down his flank and stopping Salah numerous times in the first 45 minutes. Davis, though, was beaten by Alexander-Arnold’s through ball to Jota for Liverpool’s first and helped the ball into Salah’s path for their second. No matter. Davis remains one to watch. Sammie Szmodics, who scored 27 times for Blackburn last season, also caught the eye when coming on. Kalvin Phillips stayed on the bench but is in the right place to revive his career.
“We gave a really strong team a lot of problems,” McKenna said. “We showed all the ingredients we’re going to need.”
McKenna is a rookie in Premier League management but he knows how this cabaret works from his time on the Manchester United coaching staff, when Old Trafford was often a house of despair. If turmoil descends on Portman Road, McKenna will know its name.
But there was nothing in this organised, tenacious performance to indicate impending humiliation. Struggle, yes, but not embarrassment. Those two promotions instilled a faith that will withstand much dismissive comment. McKenna’s dissection of this game spoke of a sharp sense of what he expects and needs to justify his decision to turn down other Premier League clubs.
The BBC Sport website likes to invite people who don’t have to publish their full names to “get involved”. In the great democracy of semi-anonymity, somebody called Joe waited less than 70 minutes of a 38-game season to pass judgment on Ipswich’s capacity to survive.
He wrote: “Just like Luton, Ipswich will go down. Defensive errors will be their downfall.” In this myopic state, the eye sees only the detail that supports a preconceived argument. “Ipswich will go down.”
If they can spend 22 years trying to get back up, they are entitled to expect us to keep an open mind for more than 70 minutes.
