Key events
34 min How is Jack Clarke feeling now? He’ll know he should’ve scored to make it 2-1, but at the same time, he can’t legislate for two defenders allowing the opposition’s most likely scorer to roam about the penalty box with the ball sent wide.
GOAL! Ipswich Town 1-2 Aston Villa (Watkins 32)
This is a goal both simple and complex, Villa cleverly working the ball from side to side, infield then out again, so Bailey, now in space, can loop a tremendous cross into the box where Watkins, loitering in between Tuanzebe and O’Shea, leaps to head back across Muric and in. The composure with which Villa have responded to going behind evidences a side in perfect equilibrium.
31 min “Hey Daniel; last time your existential subtext for the liveblog was whether Brentford actually exists,” recalls Karen Asad. “What are you cooking this time?”
I’m going for physical rather than spiritual existentialism this time, hence green juice. But we’ll see where we get to, the game is but young.
29 min Hutchinson into Davis, who flicks beautifully for Delap, moving through the middle. But a ball out wide doesn’t find whoever it was intended to find, so Villa are back knocking it about, Ipswich defending them in a 4-4-2 out-of-possession structure.
27 min Bailey sends Watkins out wide, but defenders surround him and Villa play to the opposite flank. Ipswich are shutting them down well, but need to fid themselves an out-ball because it won’t always be possible for them to play out.
26 min On which point, The Deuce might be the best telly I’ve seen in the last decade, but it wasn’t as feted as plenty of other shows that are far less brilliant. If you’ve not seen it, I urge you to get involved.
24 min “You’re right that baby blue would not be the kind of colour football shorts should be,” writes Simon Williams, “so it’s lucky that Villa’s are actually ‘Glow Blue’ according to the manufacturer. Very different blues. Very different.”
Sounds like a pamphlet one might purchase in The Deuce.
22 min So far, Ipswich are doing a pretty decent job of limiting space in central-midfield, forcing Villa wide to make things happen.
21 min This has been a really fun first quarter, both sides committing to attack and largely refraining from the “tedious tapping” that some know “baiting the press”
19 min Here come Ipswich again, moving Villa about before freeing Davis down the left. And his cross is a goodun too, coaxed into the middle and Clarke is there in between the centre-backs! But he can’t get his body into the right position, sending a header over the top when really, yevegottaescore.
18 min Villa win a free-kick 30 yards out, left of centre, which Dasvis swings out, and Tuanzebe’s up … but his looping header sails just over the top.
16 min VAR is checking a potential handball from Rogers … and decides everything’s fine.
GOAL! Ipswich Town 1-1 Aston Villa (Rogers 15)
Ogbene makes a mess off things down the left but Ipswich resolve the immediate danger … only for Greaves to wallop a clearance directly at Rogers, who kills it superbly, exchanges delicate pokes with Watkins, and slaps a shot across Muric and in. He knows something.
13 min “Good morning from Pittsburgh!”; good morning Erik Peterson. |I see the plaudits Ipswich Town are rightfully receiving for going three games unbeaten since their opening gauntlet of Liverpool and Manchester City, but they don’t go far enough. Three seasons ago, their Old Farm counterparts Norwich City, also newly promoted, faced that exact same pair of opening fixtures and were clobbered by a collective 8-0. They lost their next four as well, went winless in 10, and were still rooted to the table-floor when the season ended. Going up to the Premier League and knowing how much more punishment is in store for you after you dominated the second tier the year before is hard enough. For Ipswich to already settle themselves enough to do what they’ve done in the last three games, for me, is astonishing.”
McKenna has done a ridiculous job. It’s only a suspicion, but I think if he had a more obviously alpha personality, he’d have been offered a job he’d have struggled to turn down last summer.
12 min Torres is down in the Ipswich box clutching his coupon, having had a palm introduced to the back of his head. No foul, say the officials.
1o min Martinez will probably feel he should’ve saved Delap’s shot, but it was hit quickly and with the keeper’s weight moving in the other direction. Maybe a commemorative tatt is in order.
GOAL! Ipswich Town 1-0 Aston Villa (Delap 8)
NOW THEN! Konsa’s poked clearance is poor and Phillips plays a smart pass down the left side of the box for Clarke, who cuts back well, for Delap to drill inside the near post, the ball too close to Martinez for him to impart a strong enough hand. Ipswich score with their first attack!
7 min Villa’s shorts are baby blue, which doesn’t seem like the kind of colour a football short should be. Meantime, Ipswich attack down the left and eventually work the ball back to Morsy on the edge, whose shot is blocked by Hutchinson, his own player. But they sustain the attack…
5 min “A game in 1992 ‘for the elderly’!” wonders Richard Hirst. “What does that make someone who saw his first game in 1965?”
So much older then, they’re younger than that now, would be my calculation.
3 min I really like Portman Road – the design of the ground makes it look like the stands hang over the pitch, But for now, it’s Villa moving the ball, probing as Ipswich sit off, so Tielemans has a dip, his swerving effort too high and too central. But Ipswich should never have allowed him the chance to set and shoot.
2 min “Your juice sounds great and should sort you out for whatever this afternoon’s entertainment serves up,” counsels Jeremy Boyce. “Turmeric is a miracle spice, good for everything, especially staining everything yellow, ginger isn’t far behind it, and kale has (according to a woman friend who has osteoporosis) an incredible amount of calcium in it. I’m going to try that myself…”
Tell me about it. Just last week I banged my glass container and the thing smashed, sending the aforementuoned nectar all over. I was liveblogging at the time too, so had to keep going while cleaning, and then of course the floor was stained yellow. Nevertheless, I was extremely relieved, which sounds odd, until I conclude the sentence with “that my wife was in the office”.
1 min Away we go!
A minute’s applause for David Rose, former Ipswich secretary, who died on the ninth of this month.
I wonder if Liam Delap will stick himself on Pau Torres who, for all his touch lacks the power and pace you’d want in a centre-back. Delap has the physical tools to bully him, if the service is right.
I will, though, allow this all-time banger.
Here come our teams!
How can it possibly be that in 2024, we’re hearing Fat Boy Slim over the PA? Surely we can consign all of that to right there, right then?
For the elderly, this game means this goal:
I’ve just necked a pint of green juice, green juice comprising kale, blueberries, ginger, turmeric and carrots on the basis that I can’t eat vegetables but can hoy any drink past the tastebuds. Today can only get better.
On telly, they’re talking about Jhon Duran, who’s sub again. I need to see more of him – banging in from distance isn’t a sustainable approach to goalscoring – but he’s got so many attributes, so is a really exciting talent and, if he keeps on improbving, won’t settle for coming off the bench for long.
Kieran McKenna says his side will do all they can to make the game competitive. It’s about learning – so many new players, so many new to the league, but it’s still very early in the season and they’re trying to improve in every game.
Ipswich haven’t played at home for a month, but the atmosphere they’ve created in the ground and intensity of their style makes it a big advantage.
Sky have just looked back at Ipswich’s 2000-01 season, in which Marcus Stewart was the hero. He seems like a proper sound character and, though he now suffers from MND, he’s as upbeat now as he ever was.
As for Villa, they’ll be looking to get Watkins in behind, with Tielemans and Onana pushing on to box Ipswich in. I’d expect them to look for cut-backs and crosses to the front post, while also causing havoc at set-pieces.
Where is the game? Ipswich, I imagine, will be targeting the flanks. On the Villa right, Ezri Jonsa is not a full-back and Leon Bailey is no defender while, down their left, Digne likes to support the attack so there might be space in behind. Otherwise, Villa’s high line offers opportunities, but keeping them out never mind creating is easier said than done.
Email! “Oh Daniel, you said it, those negative expectations!” writes Richard Hirst. “In bracketing Fulham with Southampton as games Ipswich needed to win you seem to have failed to notice the table, where one of those teams is sixth!”
And yet weren’t able to record a victory against lowly Ipswich!
Also going on:
He’ll have his hands full, but. Villa’s left- side is dangerous, with Jacob Ramsey a physical, direct intelligent presence and Lucas Digne also a threat. Add to that Ollie Watkins pulling wide and moving from out to in and it’s not hard to envisage Villa causing him plenty of problems.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Axel Tuanzebe does today. There was a time when he looked like he might grow into a very serious centre-back – plenty in the Premier League will never play as well as he did when Manchester United won away to PSG in 2020. But injuries refused to let him be, such that Ipswich might be his last chance at sustaining a top-level career; we shall see.
Emery, meanwhile, makes one change: John McGinn is injured, so Leon Bailey comes in on the right of midfield.
Three changes for Ipswich following the draw at Southampton. Most intriguingly, Jack Clarke, signed from Sunderland, makes his first league start, while Kalvin Phillips and Chiedozie Ogbene also come in; Jean Cajuste, Wes Burns and Sammy Szmodics drop out.
I’m going to write those down, then we’ll ponder what they might mean.
Teams!
Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1): Muric; Tuanzebe, O’Shea, Greaves, Davis; Morsy, Phillips; Ogbene, Hutchinson, Clarke; Delap. Subs: Walton, Chaplin, Taylor, Johnson, Townsend, Szmodics, Luongo, Hirst.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martínez; Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres, Digne; Tielemans, Onana; Ramsey, Rogers, Bailey; Watkins. Subs: Gauchi, Barkley, Durán, Buendía, Philogene, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Bogardem Swinkels.
Referee: Stuart Atwell (Nuneaton)
Preamble
It’s much easier to impress people when they don’t know what to expect, a tribute to the human capacity for negative expectation: I’ll automatically assume it, they, you or them are rubbish, so anything better than that is a win.
Once they do know, though, it all changes – which, by amazing coincidence, is where Aston Villa found themselves at the start of this season. Before it started, we could’ve been forgiven for wondering whether they’d locate the form that took them into the Champions League – at the same time as demanding it from them, of course. Well, four wins and one defeat later – plus one win from one in Europe – suggests they might just manage it.
The thing is, Villa were actually good before they proved it – Unai Emery inherited a deep, talented and expensive squad that just needed his genius for elevating clubs of their precise description. So we’ve no reason to be surprised by how good they still are, the quality of the team reflecting the quality of manager and the quality of the manager reflecting the quality of the team in perfect symbiosis.
Ipswich, meanwhile, are finding it tough. Kieran McKenna has already performed a miracle taking them from League 1 to the Premier League in ridiculous style, but imposing that at the top level is a different challenge. Though they can’t have expected to take anything from their first two games – Liverpool home, Man City away – they’ve since drawn three in a row. Which might represent progress, but could just as easily evidence missed opportunity given Fulham home and Southampton away are the kinds of matches a promoted side hoping to stay up will feel it must win.
They will, though, feel they’ve a chance this afternoon: a 95th-minute equaliser last time out means they’re on a buzz, while Villa have the not insubstantial distraction of a midweek encounter with Bayern Munich looming. This should be good, which is where we came in…
Kick-off: 2pm BST
