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."
