The Circus

Kieran McKenna had it as "the biggest match in world football", the eyes of the world on Portman Road as the grandest club in England (still) rolled up with their new manager, their sixth post-Alex-Ferguson. The all-hype Sunday 4.30pm Sky Sports Main Event with Peter Drury bellowing names on comms (¡HUTCHINSON!) and Roy Keane, Jamie Redknapp and Izzy Christensen in studio and on the pitch (and maybe later in the car park).

A lot of attention and hype but in truth, beyond the Amorim fuss, it struck me how little national interest there was in the actual football match. No-one showed much curiosity about the hosts for Manchester United's big day or asked Amorim what he expected to face in Suffolk. Gary Neville spent the buildup doing some rent-a-gob stuff about fancy footballers and their fancy holidays (apparently Luke Woolfenden's trip to Dubai really got his goat) before joining all his mates in glibly predicting a Manchester United win. Not much expectation about or interest in Ipswich, despite us winning our prior game away against far superior opposition.

In the Premier League you get used to weeks where the circus is in town but as hosts you have all the status of a gang of local labourers hired to put up the big tent. All the talk was about West Manchester/Trafford’s new Ringmaster. How was he going to arrange his cast of previously underwhelming performers? A thousand articles on whether Ruben Amorim would go for his favoured 3-4-3 formation straightaway, to be followed shortly by a thousand articles on his players' inability to make it work. The circular nature of the debate drove Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports into an almost existential despair. Channelling fictional player-pundit Roy Kent, he contemplated the futility of his own existence, “you’re going to try and analyse it, it’s almost pointless.”

After 90 seconds it looked worryingly like the names at the top of the playbill would also be the stars of the show. André Onana in goal zipped the ball out to Noussair Mazraoui, the right back playing right centre half. From Mazraoui it went into right winger-cum-right back Amad Diallo, who exchanged passes with Bruno Fernandes, before dashing into space. Jens Cajuste missed his tackle and suddenly it was 4 on 2 for the visitors. Diallo drove into the box and crossed to Marcus Rashford to score past a hesitant Aro Muric.

Square pegs thriving in round holes. Off the back of two training sessions, Amorim’s first line-up looked silly and precipitous to me. I have never been too impressed by managers who put ideology before praxis. This line-up was so peculiar it had me worried that he must have some special sauce guaranteed to make his preferred tactics instantly understandable to the most arrogant and uninterested superstar. Those anxieties were heightened when one of his much vaunted wing backs had an instant impact, as did his decision to field the Stratford End’s current scapegoat de jour Marcus Rashford up front.

Teams often get a jolt of energy from a change of manager but in reality the “new manager bounce” is usually just a “progression to the mean”. Underperforming players playing under systems and people they’ve lost confidence are often quick to float back towards their normal level when conditions change. As they do so the absolute last thing you want to do is give them instantaneous proof of concept.

We did that and yet it didn’t seem to matter too much. United had a composed 15 to 20 minutes in the wake of their goal but offered little threat. As the match went on it turned out the travelling circus was much less interesting than the locals making their own fun. Ipswich’s own intriguing acts merited their place under the big top.

Roll up, roll up come watch The Amazing Strongman Liam Delap twirl lesser men round his head! Marvel at the strength, agility and poise of young acrobat Omari Hutchinson! Behold with awe Sam Morsy, the man who breathes fire! Come be amazed by the telepath Leif Davis, he knows where you’re going before you do!

Most impressive of all – the high wire act! You will stare open-mouthed, as a defender you once worried might lack the pace to get too tight to Cambridge United’s Joe Ironside, flies forward against Manchester bloody United in a line so high up that even Ange Postecoglou must have been shouting “cor, bit brave that, mate” at his TV. People talk about taking risks in possession as a bit much for promoted teams, but if anything we take our life in our hands even more out of possession. We were throwing Dara O’Shea and Cameron Burgess deep into Manchester United’s half, smothering Rashford and Fernandes out of the game.

Man United had their a passage of fairly sterile possession in both halves but spent long periods penned in and looking to play lofted balls over the top for their runners. At times you had a queasy, vertiginous sensation watching Garnacho, Rashford, Diallo sprint away, but a player in blue and white always managed to get back and calmly neutralize things. Tuanzebe arresting Garnacho’s advance, Morsy sliding in on Rashford, O’Shea blocking Fernandes. all lovely examples. One exhilarating chase back and sliding interception by Jens Cajuste drew a standing ovation.

Ipswich’s attacking play was no less ambitious, nor less composed. The points were shared only because of Onana’s outstanding shot stopping and a shortage of attacking options on Ipswich’s bench. He denied Delap twice even though the England Youth picked his spot well on each occasion. It took a healthy deflection on that ¡HUTCHINSON! drive to get anything past the agile Cameroonian.

The presentable chance that fell to Conor Chaplin in the 86th minute might still have provided a fairy tale ending had it been his perennial partner George Hirst clearing a space for him rather than the less familiar Ali Al-Hamadi getting somewhat in his way. Oh, how I’d have loved to see Conor smashing that one home.

Disappointing (again) not to get all the points. Nevertheless, a point from this that would have seemed like a utopian dream after West Ham and Everton. These positive, competitive matches are now beginning to seem normal, predictable even. Even as we dropped (narrowly) back into the bottom three, it feels like Ipswich are kicking things up a notch. The upper range of our late summer performances is now our median. I’m gradually coming to expect to be on a par with most opponents, rather than hoping just to give them a decent game.

That already is quite the achievement for McKenna. As Ruben Amorim is about to discover, there’s almost nothing quite as hard in football management as quickly reinventing a football team in flux. To recruit almost an entirely new first eleven, to face more injuries than any other team, to use almost every single player in his squad (Broadhead would’ve completed the set on Sunday, had he not also been injured) and still look this coherent, cohesive and aggressive, to look more than the sum of your parts already, is quite the feat.

Not only are the new boys looking at home but the old boys you worried about, the ones we acquired for less than a week of Kalvin Phillips’ wages, are kicking on week by week (these were season best performances from Cameron Burgess and Wes Burns). In the past two games we fast-forwarded the schedule and to me it now feels likelier than not that we stay up.

Positive results in 7 out of 12 matches, if we keep that going we’ll have to finish the wrong side of an awful lot of fine margins to go down. Indeed, our tendency to leave points on the table when they’re there for the taking, continued here, is now my only real concern. Still, the circus came to town but we were nobody’s support act. It was fun gate-crashing the big show. Can you gate-crash your own party?

Wes Burns v Manchester United

Minutes 82

Assists 1

Accurate passes 15/20 (75%)

Chances created 3

Touches 33

Touches in opposition box 1

Successful dribbles 1/3 (33%)

Accurate crosses 1/6 (17%)

Accurate long balls 1/5 (20%)

Dispossessed 1

Recoveries 7

Duels won 1/5 (20%)