Premier League - Ipswich Town vs Liverpool FC Preview & Matchday Thread

[Mauswara]

Walton will be playing for the Jersey just like Hladky did when Walton was injured. I think he’s due a blinder.

That's the way Charny, COYB.

[Ricco]

Presumably Hladky left because no guarantees over game time. May be regretting that now while sat on bench a division down...

[Frosty]

Fantastic first half from the lads, so proud of the commitment

[Cabanas Blue]

I'm shattered but we have done so well so far and had the better chances I just wish it was full time.

[QldBlue]

Fantastic first half from the lads, so proud of the commitment

First 5 mins were so nervy but great to see us growing into the game. Greaves looks class.

[Frosty]

Yeah mate, greaves and hutch look great, burns might be a bit lucky to still be on

[Charnwood]

0-1 Jota, unfortunately it’s been coming for a few minutes. Davis could have done better but Salah is such a good player.
We really do need to regroup at the back or Liverpool will tear us apart.

[Charnwood]

0-2 Salah again comfortably losing his marker Leif Davis.

[Ricco]

Lessons and welcome to the Premiership for Davis today then! He won't have 348 assists to make us turn a blind eye to his defending this season

Always going to be a tough day today, 3 of our big signings injured or on the bench. Plenty more to come and not disgraced by the looks if it.

[Frosty]

There were a lot of positives, not too disheartened

[TODD66]

Games against Liverpool are not going to define our season or overall standing.

Good effort on day one and no shame in losing. Other teams will get turned over by Liverpool by far greater margins.

Keep playing with belief and on the front foot we will get the results we deserve.

[Bluemike]

Chuffed with that tbh, first half showed me we can compete in this division and lesser teams will struggle here

[lucy]

0-2 is a respectable Score, I was worrying we'd lose 0-4/5.

[lucy]

Today was our 1st Home Defeat since August 2023 and only our 2nd since October 2022

[Blue Wilf]

Fantastic effort from the Town. 2 things beat us in my view - incisive balls through our midfield and pace from the wings. If we play like the first half all season then at least 3 other teams will be below us. As for Adrian Durham on talksport saying we are already down, I want to ram that down his throat in 9 months time - peterboro tosser! Anyway - lots of positives and most of our new additions to join and add to the party. No disgrace at all - COYB's!

[Bluemike]

Adrian Durham is a complete wanker then, anyone criticising our effort today against a world class side is lacking in something, of course we can improve on things and we will but that was a very good effort, especially the first half.

[hallamblue]

I’m feeling VERY proud of our team today. To a man , every player raised their game today, and matched Liverpool in that first half. Second half, as expected LFC stepped up their game , and we were paying for an eye balls out intensity in the first half, as the gaps around the pitch began to appear.But there is so much to take from two days game that is positive. I will register on here, my thoughts on Woolfie, who I thought had his best game in a Blue shirt. If he could do that every game, I’d have no complaints about him. But Greaves is different gravy. An absolute class centre back.

Carry forward, today’s performances and intensity to remaining games this season, and I think we will have a good season. But we will have to be aware that the slightest slip or the need to have that second touch to control the ball, will see it whipped away from their feet by the opposition. The smallest mistake will be punished., and conversely we must learn to take the one chance we may get in a game. That PL level for you. But overall , I think Town players did nothing but raise their profile on the international stage today.

One thing I think we will have to get used to though, is the complete bias from refs towards established PL clubs. The prat in black today was a joke. 94 min before he finally booked a Liverpool player.

Town showed up today.Well played lads.

[Bluemike]

I think we should all be proud because we did very well considering it's the first game back in the prem against one of the giants of the game. For 45 minutes we matched them and confined them to a single chance while we had 3 efforts.

I thought our closing down in that first half was excellent, we gave them no time or space at all and matched them in all departments, to be level at HT has me believing we will be ok. Yes the second half saw them step it up and show some class at last but what do we expect, 7 of the players we started with were in League One.

I see a real player in Jacob Greaves, superb for me today and I really like Liam Delap too, in truth nobody should be criticised although I thought Conor Chaplin was anonymous while Leif was probably at fault for the goals which was a Shame as he started the game well.

A few simple observations for me.....

Walton hats of to him, did little wrong and deserves to start next week.

Woolfy, pretty solid alongside Greaves and one of his better games.

Axel worked so hard 1st half, ran out of steam a bit.

Hutchinson a real livewire and will terrorise lesser defences.

Harness looked more effective than Burns when he came on.

Luongo will probably find the going tough as season unfolds but was ok.

Morsy always willing and gets stuck in but it was tough for our Midfield today after the break.

Delap was very impressive, big, strong and powerful, a real handful and ran his socks off.

The ref was hilarious with the cards although Burns was lucky not to see Red with the handball.

Town fans were incredible

Liverpool fans, silent and pretty embarrassing to be fair.

A good 7/10 from Town today with room to improve

Town MOTM Jacob Greaves by a distance

[Ricco]

Cheers for the reports everyone sounds like plenty of positives to take forwards.

Sadly I'm convinced that Szmodics is a direct replacement for Chaplin Mike, I can't think why exactly, but Chaplin looked to really fade away in the 2nd half of last season.

[Bluemike]

Chappers will need to step it up for sure as Szmodics is ready and hungry, God I didn't realise how small Szmodics is !! Also with Burns now injured I want to see Harness grab his chance cus again today I liked what I saw.

[Charnwood]

I saw it as a game of two halves, the first, one that we gave Liverpool no room to work in and one that so easily we could have gone in at half time a goal in front.
The second was almost the opposite. They upped their game and upped the pace and found so much room to work in it was only a matter of time before we would concede. Our man of the match by a country mile was Greaves who was a colossus in defence and looked a bargain even at £15m. I’l concede that Woolfie had a good game alongside him but omg he doesn’t half put the team under pressure at times with his poor distribution that completely changes the direction of play if only we could find another Greaves type to consolidate the defence. Omari did his best today and was definitely a handful as was Delap who looks a useful front man. Despite many fans fears when Walton was named in goal he played well above most people’s expectations and will be difficult to drop based on today’s performance alone. Yes, some of his distribution looked a bit risky and balls we got away with in the Championship will get punished at this level. We may have to rethink some of our passing out from the back strategies especially when the players likely to receive the ball are closely marked.
For me the only player who really struggled in the game was Conor Chaplin who looked somewhat out of his depth and along with Massimo Luongo will probably be two players who make way for two new boys. Leif struggled defensively at times but I guess there!s no disgrace in that when you’re marking Mo Salah, however there aren’t many easy days at this level.
I liked McKenna’s team selection today,clearly giving many of the players who got us where we are the chance to show what they can do. I think in commentary it was said that 7 of todays starting line up had began the journey in League 1 and were by no means disgraced today.
If fact today will have been a great learning day especially for the players who should feel proud of themselves and looking forward to the rest of the season.
I expect next Saturdays starting line up to include Phillips and Szmodics at the very least when it comes to changes and regardless of the result next week these opening two matches will be great experience for the season that follows.
Feeling good about our chances of staying up, and will feel even better shen we post our first win, but we may have to be patient.

[Bluemike]

I doubt Phillips will be eligible for next week

[Charnwood]

I doubt Phillips will be eligible for next week

I completely forgot about that Mike, although I can’t imagine he would bother them too much, unless of course he played an absolute blinder and embarrassed them which is highly unlikely.

[Mach_Polish_Blue]

Came back in the last hour.

The thing that was really annoying for me today. Modern football era and its half-half scarves. Makes me truly sick. Anybody who bought these scarves ought to be banned from Portman Road. Sorry my personal opinion.

As for the game. Hmmm the results will get better I am sure. The players put an effort and that's fine. 7 players out of the opening 11 were in League One so can't we blame them for today? No we can't. I am sure the lessons will have been taken from it. One of those is a focus. A focus non-stop. You switch off and top opponent will take his chance. Davis switched off twice and we paid the price.

In Jacob Greaves we have had a giant. He was monumental. Not scared of any tackles, challenges, blocks. And you wonder why he was put in the best 11 of Championship last season.

Burns' injury was a bad thing as after he came off there was no threat from that side of the pitch. Johnson doesn't seem to have a sense of positioning either.

Chaplin really needs to step up otherwise Szmodics will have had his place in the team.

Davis fantastic in the first half and pain in the arse for Salah. Two lapses of concentration so a world class striker is always going to take an opportunity.

Al-Hamadi just please go out on loan to Championship.

----

Said before the game that even defeat wouldn't spoil the day so lets move on. Probable battering next week and our season will start against Fulham.

[shabba]

Charnwood summed it all up perfectly.

Thrilled with that first half but second half we stopped getting in their faces and they upped their game massively and the gulf in quality was clear to see.

Very proud of the team today.

We definitely need one more Omari type player - even if it’s a loan.

[ITFC2024]

For those who went to the match, what was the atmosphere like? Is that the first time we’ve had 30k plus?

I have a feeling Burns could be out for a while. He’ll probably need surgery on that hamstring.

I was working so I didn’t see the match, but I was following on live texts. Lovely to hear we took it to them in the first half.

Next up Man City! COYB!

[arana peligrosa]

You could say we didn't disgrace ourselves but that kind of implies we were there just to make up numbers, to lie down and not allow them to walk all over us. It wasn't quite like that and for the first period alone we matched them and then some and could just have easily taken a lead into the interval. Maybe then it could have been a different end result but guess we'll really never know.

Unfortunately after the break they picked up and their greater match fitness and top level experience was the difference in that we couldn't match them for it. Would have been unfair to lose greater than the two goal margin particularly given the first half performance but they could have won by a bigger score. Kind of surprised to see Smodzics not start and reduced to sub appearance but guess was used with caution and not ready to be thrust into action so soon after Blackburn transfer. The other kids we brought in particularly Delap and Greaves showed promise and went about their duty with efficiency but you can't make judgment on one game alone.

Disappointed to lose particularly to those... but we showed desire and ingenuity for enough parts of the game but once again the greater stamina and top level experience of the opposition proved decisive. It's clear you can take a certain pride from this opening contest despite defeat but thought ahead of time it may have been possible to take something more from it. Just couldn't match them in certain aspects as the game progressed. Been away for 22 years after all, it's going to take time to work or gain something from the season.

[Bluemike]

For those who went to the match, what was the atmosphere like? Is that the first time we’ve had 30k plus?

I have a feeling Burns could be out for a while. He’ll probably need surgery on that hamstring.

I was working so I didn’t see the match, but I was following on live texts. Lovely to hear we took it to them in the first half.

Next up Man City! COYB!

The atmosphere was incredible, the noise levels were something else prior to kick off and during the game. Even when they scored the opening goal we all just sang and clapped the boys and took it up a notch, you couldn't even hear them, my son was watching on TV and said it sounded insane.

[hallamblue]

For those who went to the match, what was the atmosphere like? Is that the first time we’ve had 30k plus?

I have a feeling Burns could be out for a while. He’ll probably need surgery on that hamstring.

I was working so I didn’t see the match, but I was following on live texts. Lovely to hear we took it to them in the first half.

Next up Man City! COYB!

The atmosphere was DEAFENING. I left PR with my ears literally ringing. It was so loud i coild hardly speak to Mike stood next to me. It was electric.

When they scored, Town fans as one chanted "BLUE ARRRMY, BLUE ARRRRMY" fir several minutes, which reverberating around the grojnd. Simply awesome support ftomnus in my view. We never stopped singing.

Town have had over 30k in PR on mznhnjccassions before. But over past 20 yrs there were safety restrictions enforced which meant in high demand games we were never able to reach 30k. The biggest attendance ever ( which I was at ( was the FA Cup) game vs Leeds in 1978, which saw 30,010 crammed in.

Yesterday ( and I suspect fir just about every home game now), the attendances will be just over 30k.

Somehow through all of the reconstruction work ( don't forget we've lost a lot of seats to new media positions in the stands), Ashton has managed to worm in more seating for fans so the capacity is now just over 30k.

[Cabanas Blue]

Agree with all that has been said I'm very proud of our team, I didn't really want Delap but I was very impressed if he can find his goal scoring touch we will have some player, as to Greaves class just class. COYB.