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Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has told a news conference that his team face a "massive challenge" against Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday - but it is one they will "embrace".
Ipswich, promoted from the Championship last season, lost their opening top-flight game to Liverpool last weekend.
Henry Brownsey
BBC Sport journalist
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Manchester City (kick-off 15:00 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
On Ipswich's opening loss to Liverpool: "It was a great experience for us to go through, the most overriding feeling after the game was positivity and the group came away more confident from the game that we can be competitive this season."
He said his side "felt first hand how a team the calibre of Liverpool can go through the gears, they became a huge threat very quickly and had a number of big chances in quick succession so we need to manage that better."
He thinks Manchester City are "an even bigger challenge - the big goal is to get points but underneath that it's about coming out of the weekend stronger and we use it as a way to fast-track our adjustment to the league."
On prolific City striker Erling Haaland: "He is pretty unique in world football; in terms of his physical attributes and his strength, pace and power - there's probably not anyone in the modern game that comes close in these aspects."
New signing Jens Cajuste may be involved on Saturday and McKenna said: "He's a different profile to the midfielders we already have, he's a very talented player - there will be a period of adjustment but I think he's going to be a good addition to the group."
McKenna thinks the side are now strong in the midfield area but "there are still some areas we feel we want to add to, the forward area is one of those". He added: "With the level of the league and how we operate, we need great depth in those areas. We want to add different qualities that will help us be successful in the Premier League."
On Armando Broja, who is reportedly set to join on loan from Chelsea, he said: "There is nothing confirmed yet, until there is any confirmation - I think that is still a little way away."
Wes Burns has had a scan on his hamstring this week and he will be out for "a number of weeks". McKenna said it is a "blow because he's an important player for our system". Goalkeeper Arijanet Muric is doubtful but on-loan midfielder Kalvin Phillips is unable to play against his parent club.
Image source, Getty ImagesIpswich's Kieran McKenna will be the 14th different manager whose first ever Premier League away game came against the reigning champions.
None of the previous 13 have won (drawn two, lost 11), with Mark McGhee managing Leicester City (1-1 v Manchester United in 1994) and Claudio Ranieri managing Chelsea (3-3 v United in 2000) the only ones to earn a point.
Richard Woodward
Fan writer
I doubt many Ipswich Town fans will look back on Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Liverpool with any concern. If anything, the overriding emotion should be encouragement.
Our previous Premier League campaign included an 0-11 aggregate loss over the two games to the Reds. Any pre-match optimism was therefore offset with a lingering worry that history might repeat itself, at least to some extent. But, this present-day Ipswich, with eight players getting minutes who starred in our 22-23 League One promotion, always give things a good go. The aggressive start by Kieran McKenna’s side nearly led to goals for Jacob Greaves and Omari Hutchinson.
But Liverpool ultimately deserved their win. The goals by Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah demonstrate a standard of attacking play which won’t be common for us to face most weeks this season. But, it’s worth noting that Arne Slot was forced into a half-time substitution and a tactical tweak to help make it happen.
There are of course lessons to be learned by McKenna and his team.
The bar for refs to hand out yellow cards is much lower than the EFL (annoyingly for the Portman Road faithful!). It’s clear that winning fouls, but more importantly avoiding cards, is an art form in the Premier League.
The luxury of decision-making time, especially during counter attacks, is not something we’ll be afforded much of. Too often an extra touch was taken by a Town player when presented with a sight of goal. Realistically the trigger will need to be pulled much earlier if we’re going to get enough goals to win games a level up.
But these are the kind of lessons to learn when there are 37 games still to go. The Blue Army will be hoping we don’t get a schooling though during a daunting trip to the Etihad.
Find more from Richard Woodward at the Blue Monday Podcast, external
Image source, Getty ImagesIpswich Town defender Axel Tuanzebe says the side "don't fear" the top teams but they do have "lessons to learn".
The Tractor Boys played their first Premier League game in more than 20 years on Saturday as they kicked off the season against Liverpool at Portman Road.
Despite a 2-0 defeat, the newly promoted side won plaudits for their first-half performance and will need to take that level into their next match against Manchester City.
"You have seen a glimpse of what Ipswich are capable of," Tuanzebe told BBC Radio Suffolk. "Chances don't come often and you can see Liverpool took their chances. We can only learn from that and capitalise when it is our turn.
"We respect them [top teams] but we don't fear them. This was a game when we could take the gloves off and go for it. If you lose, people just think: 'Oh well, it was against a big team.' But, for us, it takes us a step forward and tests our levels to see where we are at compared with the top teams.
"We caused them a few problems and it was difficult for them to break us down. The second half was when we needed to keep that intensity and keep concentration throughout the game.
"We have some big lessons to learn."
Image source, Getty ImagesIpswich Town kicked off their Premier League campaign with a home defeat by Liverpool on Saturday, but there were still promising signs for Kieran McKenna's side.
Join BBC Radio Suffolk for The Blue Hour at 18:00 BST as host Brenner Woolley discusses the loss alongside special guests and looks ahead to Saturday's game at champions Manchester City.
Listen to BBC Radio Suffolk live on BBC Sounds
We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Ipswich and Liverpool.
Here are some of your comments:
Ipswich fans
Sam: Really not unhappy with our performance. We stuck to our core principles and created some decent chances in the first half. Liverpool upped their game in the second half but if we play like we did in the first half then results will come. We kept going.
Simon: McKenna rightly selected players who have brought Ipswich this far over the past two years. That we were the better team for 45 minutes shows how far they, and the club, have come. Liverpool found their mojo in the second half and we couldn't match them, but we were trying to match a top-four side and we are newly promoted. A positive start for Ipswich.
Jan: Ed Sheeran needs to get his priorities sorted. We were the better team while he was there!
Liverpool fans
Eddie: It was a slow start against a very good Ipswich team who ran themselves into the ground in the first half. What I liked about this game was that Slot changed things for the second half and we really did start to play good football. We still need a couple of players in - definitely a left-back and a left-sided centre-half, and extra cover in midfield.
Tommy: Liverpool were agonisingly slow in the first half and very fortunate not to be a couple of goals down by half-time. The back four were horrendous. There was a big improvement second half but if we start a match like that against one of the big teams we will get picked off.
Garry: A good result, and it was probably expected that newly promoted team would want to give an account of themselves. Liverpool usually take time to get going, but I worry that our passing needs to improve overall. It seems we get closed down too easily and are subject to mistakes in passing. However, we've retained our ruthless counter-attacking strategy. Great team performance.
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Ipswich captain Mick Mills spoke to BBC Radio Suffolk about Jacob Greaves, Liam Delap and Sam Szmodics, who all made their club debuts in the defeat to Liverpool:
"I like the look of Jacob Greaves, he's strong, athletic and has a good touch. I think he'll do good for us this year.
"Liam Delap started to show us what he is all about. He showed us his strength against two very good centre-backs and showed us the pace he's got when Trent Alexander-Arnold showed him the byline and he left him for dead.
"Even Sam Szmodics, he came on and showed us one or two things. He's been played on the left touchline and it didn't phase him. His touch is good and he's very positive on the ball."
On Kalvin Phillips, who is yet to make his Town debut, Mills added: "He's the type of guy I thought we would have been searching for a long time ago in the summer. He's the sort of guy you need in central midfield with that experience. He's tough, tenacious and even Gareth Southgate said the player we missed most [at the Euros] was Phillips. We've got a lot to look forward to with him."
Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's six Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from Friday's game between Manchester United and Fulham.
If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.
Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:
Matthew Howarth
BBC Sport journalist
Image source, Getty ImagesKieran McKenna has turned Portman Road into a fortress during his time in charge of Ipswich Town, his team losing just one of their past 39 home league matches prior to Saturday's visit of Liverpool.
For a while, it looked as though the Tractor Boys might continue that fine record as they more than matched Arne Slot's team in the first half, with Jacob Greaves and and Omari Hutchinson both testing Alisson in the Liverpool goal.
Unfortunately for the hosts, they were unable to maintain their intensity levels after the break as the visitors laid siege to the Ipswich goal and twice went close to breaking the deadlock before Diogo Jota's opener.
Mohamed Salah's close-range finish all but ended Ipswich's hopes of a route back into the game, but there were plenty of positives for the home side - who began the match with seven of the players who started the club's final game of the 2022-23 League One campaign.
Sammie Szmodics made his debut in the second half after joining the club from Blackburn Rovers last week, while Kalvin Phillips was left on the bench following his season-long loan move from Manchester City.
If Ipswich's latest new arrivals can settle in quickly, Tractor Boys fans will fancy their chances of staving off relegation.
Image source, Getty ImagesKieran McKenna spoke BBC Match of the Day after Ipswich's defeat to Liverpool: "Irrespective of how the game went today, it would have been a great occasion for the football club to have Premier League football back at Portman Road for the first time in 22 years, it was always going to be a great occasion and I think the performance especially in the first half was something to be really pleased about and a real good base for us to build on in the season.
"I thought in pretty much all aspects, our pressing was really good, we regained a lot of balls high. We were aggressive, we were physical, we built with the ball. We went into the top line and gave Liverpool problems with the physicality that we have. There is a real good base for us to build there.
"We know it is going to be a challenge to keep improving and have to do that for longer in the game. In the second half Liverpool were the much better team and for us to challenge, is to try and build on that first half performance, take the the good things and try and maintain them for longer in the game and learn our lessons from the second half and improve on them week by week."
On two chances in the first half: "Not just the chances, probably we end up with the shot but also big moments and big opportunities on transitions and things as well. I thought we were the more dominant team in the first half.
"We know where we have travelled from, seven of the starting 11 were with us in League One so for them to be playing against Liverpool on the first day of the season and be in the ascendancy for the first half and probably the better team in that period, that's a great reflection of what we have achieved here but we'll also look at the second half and continue to find ways to improve and manage that bit of the game better but for sure I feel like there are a lot more positives out there today than negatives."
On conceding two goals in five minutes: "It's a key period in the game for us. We showed full commitment and good body language and put bodies on the line when they needed to. We can learn from that.
"After the first goal, Liverpool were in the ascendancy and their front three clicked into gear. We were a yard off on our pressure and we probably went and chased the game a bit too early to be honest. We probably could have been a bit more closed in that five or 10 minutes.
"I've got no concerns about the character that we showed on the pitch and in the crowd as well we know we are going to have difficult moments and we faced them head on and we stuck at it and we still played our football until the last whistle."
Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?
Ipswich fans, have your say on the team's first game back in the Premier League, external
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Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies
There are six games on the opening Saturday of the 2024-25 Premier League and BBC Sport will bring you all the action and reaction throughout the day.
*All times are BST
