Three things we learned – Manchester City 4:1 Ipswich Town

A flood of goals in the first half and a hat trick from Erling Haaland helped Manchester City to victory against newly promoted Ipswich Town in their first Premier League game at the Etihad Stadium.

Kevin de Bruyne scored the other goal and, apart from a brief period when they fell behind to Sammie Szmodics’ goal, City largely enjoyed a fairly comfortable victory.

Here are three things we learned from beating the Tractor Boys:

Haaland is back in top form

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After a season in which he was very, very good but not perfect, Haaland seems to be returning to the form he had in his first few months at City – when scoring goals seemed an inevitability.

The 24-year-old looked razor-sharp in pre-season with 5 goals in 3 games and continued that performance into the main season with brilliant goals against Chelsea and now Ipswich Town.

His first goal was a penalty, but his second and third goals also came with brilliant left-footed finishes: the second a fine lob with the side of his foot after rounding goalkeeper Aro Muric, and the third a powerful and accurate low shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.

Pep Guardiola said after the game that Haaland now seems to be in much better shape physically and in terms of fatigue, which is certainly reflected in his performance.

His body language is much more positive than last season and he seems to have improved his game in terms of movement and finishing.

If he can maintain this form, his aim this season is to score at least 40 Premier League goals and perhaps even surpass his tally of 52 goals in his debut season. For Haaland, that is well within his reach.

Lewis was the key to the win against Ipswich

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City struggled to break through against Ipswich, especially in the second half, as their defence was very tight, but Rico Lewis made the difference in the end.

His movements inside as a right-back were much more sophisticated than anything Ipswich are used to tactically in the Championship, as he often found himself in open space in the attacking zone.

His remarkable technical ability in small spaces is comparable to that of David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan, who made his second debut this week since moving from Barcelona, ​​which is about the highest praise you can give a young footballer at City.

Lewis’ final passes after receiving the ball in the box were not always perfect, but he posed a consistent threat and effectively set up Haaland’s hat-trick goal through sheer persistence alone.

The 19-year-old is probably the most technically gifted defender City have ever had and it is very difficult to leave him out of the starting line-up.

City was good, but far from perfect

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Let’s focus on the beginning of the set. City played well and deserved the comfortable win.

Haaland was razor-sharp in front of goal, while Jeremy Doku and especially Savinho posed a threat from the wings.

Mateo Kovacic played well again as a replacement for Rodri, and Rico Lewis, Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias all had good games.

And the big talking point before the game was that Ilkay Gündogan’s comeback was no disappointment. He received a warm welcome from the Etihad crowd during the warm-up and was greeted with equal enthusiasm when he came on for Savinho just before the end.

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But there were plenty of things they could put right ahead of next week’s game against West Ham United at the London Stadium.

They defended the goal poorly, from Omari Hutchison’s first possession to tracking Szmodics’ run. Ederson arguably should have tried harder to save the shot and Manuel Akanji was also in a position to potentially clear the ball off the line.

However, this is not really a cause for concern as there are plenty of strong options on the bench with John Stones, Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake to keep the competition for places in defence high and ensure that all defenders perform at their best.

The start of the second half was also pretty weak, with a few sloppy chances and a lack of real opportunities, but they made up for that by bringing on Stones, Gundogan and Jack Grealish, who helped City regain control to some extent.

None of these problems were insurmountable in the short term and there were positive signs throughout the game that City can really get going and win another Premier League title.