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 truth, the game was over by half time, by which time two goals from Phil Foden and one from Mateo Kovacic had given City a three-goal lead. Second half strikes from Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and James McAtee added a more than healthy layer of gloss to the scoreline.
The Athletic’s Mark Carey analyses the key talking points…
A good time to rediscover the old City magic
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 especially needed in the context of City’s upcoming fixtures on the domestic and European stage. Wednesday’s away trip to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League — with league clashes against Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool in the next five weeks — could inform us of just how much City can salvage anything from this season. Even if they can’t win the title themselves, they could put a significant dent in the prospects of others’ in the next month.
Whether this will be another false dawn of their disappointing campaign or not, this was the perfect afternoon for Pep Guardiola after the toughest few months of his managerial career.
Foden finding his feet again
Considering he was voted the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Men’s Footballer of the Year less than nine months ago, it has been a strange campaign for Phil Foden this season.
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.
Foden scored twice against Ipswich (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Two goals against Ipswich made it five in three Premier League games for the 24-year-old, and the first time he has scored in three 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 his goals came from his intelligent runs into central areas to finish Kevin De Bruyne crosses. Add in his assist for Mateo Kovacic and it was difficult to think of a more impactful first half for an individual player this season.
The hope for Foden will be that he can keep up his form and salvage something from an otherwise disappointing season. Six goals in seven games is a good reminder of his importance in Guardiola’s side.
City’s persistence down the left pays off
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 game saw Ipswich’s Ben Johnson getting touch-tight to the Belgian and stifling City’s attack at source — with left-back Josko Gvardiol offering little width behind him.
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 clear tactic from Guardiola’s side throughout. After some initial teething problems, they solved the puzzle to devastating effect.
What next for Manchester City?
Wednesday, January 22: PSG (away), Champions League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET
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(Top photo: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
