The West Stand Senior on Town vs Liverpool

Back at Portman Road, the roars of excitement are booming around the stadium like rolling thunder. It’s an amazing atmosphere and reminds me of when I watched AC play Inter in the San Ciro: Suffolk matches Neapolitan passion.

As I huff my way to the top of the West Stand, the steward smiles and says, “You can sit down and relax now.” Since when was watching Ipswich Town relaxing? Never. And that’s the way we like it.

The line-up is interesting. Even with a few new faces, it feels so familiar— it will be judged as the game progresses, no doubt.

It feels surreal to be sitting watching Town play Liverpool. All week, I have felt anticipation, expectation, and trepidation in equal measure.

But now I feel surprisingly calm. As always, I know they will give their best, and they certainly do. 

First half

The first half belonged to Ipswich, with a couple of good shots and plenty of pressure. My two men of the half were Davis and Walton, especially the latter’s brilliant diving save in the 37th minute.

I was surprised the Liverpool team wasn't shinier and more spectacular, but as Ali Al-Hamadi said, “They are just human”.

Half time

The buzz continues, and everyone is upbeat and pleased with the 0:0 scoreline and the play so far. The game feels much like many last season, but this feeling doesn’t last.

Second half

Liverpool changed their game to counter our style of the first half, and the pressure began to mount. The game suddenly felt like I had worried it might be.

Town are on the back foot.

For at least thirty minutes, they are two steps off the pace, creating the gaps Liverpool can capitalise on.

Burns, who had been effectively marked out of most of the game, came off injured, and Salah provided the perfect assist for Jota to score an easy goal.

Five minutes later, defensive scruffiness led to another goal, this time netted by Salah. This was the first time we heard the Liverpool fans sing. We carried on roaring.

I was not a fan of how Hladky faffed around in front of his goal, and suddenly, Christian Walton was doing the same thing. Perhaps it’s part of a cunning plan. 

Town fought back as always and never gave up, but today it was just not to be, even with eight minutes extra time - no ‘Sarmiento moment’ this time. That was one game no Ipswich fan will ever forget. My two men of this half were Hutchinson and Greaves.

Round-up

Everyone agrees it was a ‘game of two halves,’ although no one else has been cheesy enough to say so.

We need Muric, Broadhead, and Hirst to fit into the team going forward, and hopefully, Burns will be back on form, too. It seems he gets injured every time he changes his hairstyle.

Next week, we will have another testing match with Manchester City away. The gods of the Premiership didn’t smile kindly on us.

I think it will take a little time for Ipswich to gel back into the tight-knit, intuitive team they were in the last two seasons, and I do not doubt that Kieran is working hard on that right now.

Many of the premiership outfits they’ll face won’t have had to make as many new signings.

Managers, too, will be more of the calibre of our beloved Kieran McKenna (but not quite, of course). Arne Slot is a wiley cookie, methinks.  

View from the train

It was very promising. There was no whinging or despondency, just happiness at playing a part in a historic match and the feeling of good things to come.

The young chap sitting next to me was looking forward to Match of the Day, where he would see the pundits discussing the Ipswich game for the first time since he was a kid.

One chap was ‘iffing’ lots of situations to the carriage in general: ‘if X had run faster he would have reached the ball first’; ‘if the shot had been lower, it would have been a goal’, ‘if, if, if’ and so on ad nauseam.

I couldn’t resist saying, “If my grandmother had wheels, she would have been a bike” (a quote from a Gino D’Acampo clip). He looked suitably startled, but I don’t think he got my drift.

Can’t wait to be back for the Fulham game.

Keep on believing.