Manchester City 4-1 Ipswich Town Review

Premier League GW2

MOTM: Erling Haaland

Other standout performances include: Savinho, De Bruyne & Rico Lewis

Notable Stats:

• Most hat-tricks by overseas players in Premier League history:
  12 - Sergio Aguero (275 games)
  8 - Thierry Henry (258 games)
  7 - Erling Haaland (68 games)

• Erling Haaland has scored 22 goals in 2024. At least four more than any other Premier League player across all competitions.

• Kevin De Bruyne has provided 17 assists in 2024. At least seven more than any other player across all competitions.

Game Stats: Man City - Ipswich

• xG: 2.6 - 0.38

• xThreat: 2.35 - 0.36

• Possession: 75.7% - 24.3%

• Field Tilt: 93.2% - 6.8%

• Penalty Box Shots: 9 - 0

• Deep Completions: 20 - 3

• PPDA: 6.2 - 17.3

• High Turnovers: 6 - 0

• 10+ Pass Sequences: 44 - -88

You can keep track of all first team players minutes across the season through our live google sheet linked below.

Ipswich made a great start to the match off the back of a situation you’d expect City of last season to find themselves in. Losing the ball on the edge of the box. Kovacic as the long pivot is dragged out wide by Hutchinson who then passes back inside and the pass is played through to Szmodics. Rico Lewis was too slow to get back in time and Akanji was unaware of the run. Ederson then makes a poor save as the shot goes through him to the bottom right corner.

City get their first goal at the Etihad this season after Savinho is taken down inside the penalty box by Leif Davis. Erling Haaland then stepped up to finish in the bottom left corner.

The second goal came from a well-worked turnover by City, Savinho reading the keeper well to jump up and force the mistake. De Bruyne finishing off the loose ball.

The third City goal came from finding De Bruyne in his common spot this season on the flank, who then provided the ball to Erling Haaland. Heading it past the oncoming Muric and tapping it in.

Jeremy Doku beat his man, got inside the box, and found Rico Lewis. A great chance that he doesn’t take. Part of the reason behind having the wide threats in Savinho and Doku is creating space centrally as the opposition gets dragged out wide. De Bruyne found himself some space on the edge of the box to shoot a few times, hitting the bar on one occasion.

Ipswich will feel hard done by the penalty decision, Savinho got away with one there as he got back to cut across the Ipswich player inside the box.

Muric made a brilliant save to deny Haaland another goal and his hat-trick. Header just outside the 6 yard box which he gets a hand to. Although it didn’t stop Haaland for too long who eventually wriggles free here, turns, and shoots outside the box to score.

Rico Lewis delivered another top performance at right-back. Much improved at shielding the ball to draw a foul. Wriggles out of tight spaces with ease. Finds himself in the box or half-space with so much time. Underlapping runs, drifting in unnoticed, and making the late runs a midfielder would into the box. Just needs to take advantage of it and he’ll rack up goal contributions this season.

Savinho picked up where he left off against Chelsea. We started to see some more variety to his game, he’s got plenty of tools still to be used. Should benefit more once he’s linking up with Foden in the half-space and he’s got Rodri to provide switches out to him or provide balls in behind.

John Stones came on for Kovacic and got his first few minutes since coming back for Euro 2024. The partnership of Dias and Akanji looks here to stay in the short term. Special moment for the fans and players to see Ilkay Gundogan come on in the second half. A reminder of the depth City has in midfield.

Setup and Tactics

Here is how Manchester City lined up for the match, the same team we saw against Chelsea but the wingers started inverted right away. Rico Lewis performed his standard role from RB. De Bruyne pulled out and used the space on the left flank. Jeremy Doku moved inside slightly which opened up the space for De Bruyne and made use of his strength on the ball.

Here is how Ipswich set up, shifting to a back five for possibly the first time under Mckenna. Although they picked up an early goal, the setup change was to their detriment when they tried to build up.

The third goal Manchester City scored came from their press and the work of Savinho to win the ball off Muric. Initially, Savinho is on the LCB Greaves, Haaland on the CCB Woolfenden, and Doku on the LCB Tuanzebe. Bernardo Silva alongside Luongo and De Bruyne in front of Morsey, closed off that pass from Muric. Savinho intuition led him to jump forward.

In the first two matches in the Premier League, we've seen a shift in how City set up OOP to press. Tightening up distances centrally. As you would expect with Kovacic as the lone pivot behind. Involving their two wingers more from the front. Away from the 4-4-2. They've looked to use one of their wingers to jump up onto the opposition CB, which against Chelsea did at times leave some opening but the switch to a back three from Ipswich ended up making it harder for themselves. City would have a 4v3 at the back and if needed, a FB could push forward onto the Ipswich wing-back knowing they still had a 3v3 behind.

Remains to be seen how much they improve the press over time, by reducing the spaces at the right time. If you catch the City winger pushing too high inside onto a CB then you can by-pass them to the full-back. Seen this against United in the Community Shield. Once past the press, you only have one lone six, who isn't able to cover the ground quite like Fernandinho can, to deal with. Does seem more beneficial to the likes of De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gundogan, and Kovacic to limit the spaces between midfielders when pressing. Using the physical strengths of your two wingers who are agile and cover ground quickly, next to Haaland.

For the third goal Manchester City scored they made use of De Bruyne on the left flank. Pulling out wide in the buildup. Picking up the run in-behind of Haaland. You'll also notice how many other players are making runs. Savinho and Doku from wide. Bernardo Silva centrally. Rico Lewis following them all up.

Jeremy Doku operating more inside drags the LCB of Ipswich with him and since it's the wing-back tracking De Bruyne, it leaves a lot of space in behind for Haaland if he runs across the CCB to the left.

The more interesting takeaway for me is the role De Bruyne is taking up more frequently on the flank. @city_tactics pointed out James McAtee in this position for the Community Shield. Now De Bruyne is back, he's picked that up.

It provides City options in the buildup against opposition that will close down centrally when the City backline has the ball. Stopping any passes between the lines to the pivots and eventually the #8. It'll give De Bruyne a way to pass in-behind to Haaland more frequently as well as pick out Jeremy Doku who made several runs.

One area to watch over the course of the season, whether teams figure out a good way of shutting this down and then if City can adjust well enough to it.

This highlighted the big shift in approach from City to the wide areas. Last season you saw everything get moved to the center as it gets the best out of Phil Foden. Now you are seeing the play go out wide not only to get around the opposition setups but also get the best out of our wingers.

Here is the touch map, across the entire match, for our midfield three against Ipswich. De Bruyne, Bernardo, and Kovacic.

Moving Forward

Here is how everything looks after two Premier League matches, the table before the Sunday fixtures yet to be played. City are top. The next two games and the individual stat leaders.

After the match against West Ham, there will be an international break before the match against Brentford. Likely against West Ham, we see more of the England players as well Nathan Ake. Mateo Kovacic did come off just inside the second half, hopefully as Guardiola mentioned below he’ll be back in contention for the next match.

Pep Guardiola said after the match that Issa Kabore could stay at Manchester City this season, although no final decision has been made. One to watch. No surprise that they are keeping him around given that Kyle Walker’s future is up in the air.

Next up for Manchester City is an away fixture against West Ham on the 31st August, 17:30 (GMT).

If you want more content on the match then I recommend you checkout out these two pieces below from Near Post and City Tactics.

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