Lift Off?

22 August 2000You just knew. Just before 10pm on an August night the final whistle blew on Ipswich's first home fixture in the Premier League since 1995. Fabian Wilnis' scorching low drive had given Ipswich the lead against the Champions of England. Manchester United got a leveller through David Beckham’s fortunate free kick but Ipswich had kept pushing and only Fabién Barthez's outstanding save from David Johnson's header kept Ipswich from a deserved win. Only two games completed, only one point on the board, but from that moment on I had no doubt Ipswich Town were not serious relegation candidates. Not for the result, teams of almost any quality can produce outstanding defensive performances from time to time and cling on for improbable draws or even victories. Sometimes there's just a forcefield round your goal. It was the feel of the game. The way Jermaine Wright, Jim Magilton and Matt Holland swarmed around Beckham, Keane and Scholes, Jamie Clapham and Fabian Wilnis tested the Nevilles, how Jaap Stam was flustered by David Johnson buzzing around him. We were almost too much for a historic team and you knew we would be plenty for the rest of the league.28 September 2024

Do I know now? Probably not like I knew in 2000. I'm different, you never believe anything with the same conviction you do as a young man. The Premier League is different. Aston Villa in 2024 aren't turn of the century Manchester United. Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana are impressive young footballers to best in midfield battle, but rolling over prime Keane and Scholes was something else.

I'm more convinced though.

Our previous matches all had something in them that left me wondering. At this point you have got to have a deep faith and trust in the people running Ipswich Town, but the part of my brain that asks "how would I read this as an outsider" could definitely see a few red flags. Teams that can't turn territory and possession into chances (as we didn't against Fulham) go down. Teams that don't threaten when they get good counter-attacking opportunities and need to defend perfectly to get anything from a game (us at Brighton) are relegation-coded. Teams that look vulnerable defensively against their direct rivals (like Southampton) smell of the drop.I won't say you can quite throw all those worries in the bin, but Saturday assuaged most of my concerns. Not to gild the lily with Villa, but over the past couple of seasons they've muscled their way into the pack of teams you expect to lose to as a bottom half team. In Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana they have the guts of the midfield for (officially) the sixth-best international team in the world. Tielemans in particular looked obscenely technical at times. In attack Ollie Watkins, Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers are all in the basic nightmare category - big, strong, fast and with a velvet first touch.There are ways you take points off this kind of outfit, especially at home, that don't really mean much. You take your chances, you get ahead in the game, you minimize mistakes, you defend your box well, your keeper makes a few big saves, their forwards are profligate. Achievements composed of superficial moments not the general flow of things. Leicester City's manager and players got very excited about their narrow loss to Arsenal but you're as well praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster as hoping your keeper makes 12 saves in a game on a regular basis. This was not that. If anything the reverse was true. Villa got one gift, a shanked Jacob Greaves clearance which Morgan Rogers stopped dead imperiously, before exchanging passes with Watkins and firing through the only postage stamp of air amongst six attempted blocks. They made one big chance. Leon Bailey slung in a cross from an unpromising situation, of the kind which nine times out of ten comes to nothing. The speed and trajectory were perfect for evading Dara O'Shea and tantalizingly out of Aro Muric's catching range. Watkins finished with little fuss. There was nothing else of note from the visitors, not even a barrage of long shots, crosses and corners.  

Conceding twice from three shots faced is usually “good night, lights out” for a promoted team against an established top-eight Premier League team. Having to pro-actively go out and find ways to control the game and to hurt the opposition (all whilst keeping a lid on counter-attacks) is ordinarily too much.

Not today though. It felt like there was tangible threat from almost all over the pitch, from new characters and old protagonists. Jack Clarke, socks down, hair slicked back and shorts billowing, formed a lovely bond with Leif Davis, who no doubt appreciated his former Leeds team-mates' intelligent movement and willingness to work his way out of tight spaces. Clarke was a route up field that Villa couldn't afford to leave one-on-one. Davis himself continues to ramp up his attacking contributions. The passing is getting more confident and more ambitious as he settles at the level. One through ball for Liam Delap was sumptuous. Speaking of Delap, Liam probably doubled his transfer value over the 90 minutes. It's coarse to speak of such things though, better to just sit back and enjoy our big, burly, boisterous bruiser of centre forward bulldozing his way past opponents. I have no idea how you deal with a charging rhino doing a 60mph stepover and neither did poor Diego Carlos. At first I was somewhat resistant to Liam's charms, yearning for George Hirst's more controlled physicality. Now I have to admit the pulse rather races whenever Liam’s juggernaut goes through the gears.Delap benefited from two bits of service that were just that crucial smidgen sharper than in previous matches. Compared to a few weeks ago, options were chosen quicker and more decisively. For our first, Kalvin Phillips settled on a second ball, then scooped it in behind Ezri Konsa for Clarke to execute "the cutback" (TM). Delap took the Conor Chaplin role, shooting early and shooting hard. Build up for goal one was the new boys, goal two, some older connections. A turnover by Jack Taylor, who clearly felt the Championship was an inadequate setting for his skill set and now feels much more at home in the Premier League. His pass between the lines found Omari Hutchinson. Omari who at times this season has looked a bit annoyed that he can't do everything himself at this level. He ended last season as a one-man wrecking ball, leaving a trail of crying full backs and twisted ankles in his wake. At this level, he's adapting to a new role, less of a goal threat and more an "enganche”, a connecting hook between midfield and attack. He seems to be picking the ball up deeper, meaning when he evades a tackle and breaks into space, the premium option is more often the boring, simple pass to keep the move going, rather than the flashier stuff. Against Villa Hutchinson was finding pockets, picking astute passes and maintaining tempo. It was lower key but it was as effective as I've seen him this season. The pass to Delap - quick, decisive, precise, straightforward - was a case in point. After 2-2 Ipswich kept pushing. Tuanzebe's header from a Davis’ cross was just about cleared by Lucas Digne. Hutchinson flashed over from 25 yards. Pau Torres scrambled back in the nick of time to block Wes Burns shot from just East of the penalty spot. As stoppage time arrived the Blues were the likelier winners with further half chances for Jack Taylor and Dara O'Shea.

By the end we were all having too much fun to welcome the final whistle, despite the unexpected point in our pocket and the stress of pushing so many players forward in search of a winner. The pace of the Premier League is such that everything feels so vertiginous, like any moment you might suddenly plummet. Yet you willed us to have a bit more time to complete our latest high wire act.

It was a performance where strengths revealed themselves. A defence with sufficient pace and organisation to hold up in a game we chased for an hour against one of Europe’s best teams (they’re beating Bayern München as I write this). In Phillips and Morsy we have an atomic pair in midfield that looks fully capable of imposing itself on other teams. Our attacking options increasingly have not just the individual skills to hurt opposition defences, but now also the patterns of play and shrewd decision-making that really brings that consistent attacking threat.

You walked away thinking, without any sense of an insider’s delusion, “if we play like this at Portman Road every week, we’ll win a lot of games”. I might not “know” for certain like I did in 2000. I’m too old not to chuck in all those doubts that experience brings. Some performances are outliers, illustrative of your ceiling not your median. Some opponents, for all their qualities, make for a good matchup, your strengths match their flaws for some reason. There are caveats but not fear any more. Competing in this league is not beyond us.  

Jack Clarke v. Aston Villa

Minutes 89

Assists 1

Shots 2

Accurate passes 20/27 (74%)

Chances created 3

xG 0.14

xA 0.13

Big chances missed 1

Blocked shots 1

Touches 44

Touches in the opposition box 5

Successful dribbles 3/4 (75%)

Passes into final third 2

Accurate crosses 0/2

Accurate long balls 0/4

Offsides 2

Dispossessed 1

Tackles won 2/3 (66%)

Clearances 1

Defensive actions 4

Recoveries 3

Ground duels won 6/8 (75%)