On August 24 at 22:00, in the second round of the Premier League, Manchester City will host newly promoted Ipswich at their home ground. Today, media figure Ao Ming posted on his personal social media account to make predictions about this match.
The total value of Ipswich’s squad is one-tenth that of Manchester City, with the highest-valued player being Phillips, the defensive midfielder loaned from City, who did not come off the bench in the first match. There are players in the newly promoted team worth tens of thousands of pounds—how can they compete against the reigning champions, Manchester City?
Ipswich played quite well in the first half of their opening match against Liverpool. However, don’t be misled; Liverpool was playing it safe and taking it easy. After Slot made some demands at halftime, Liverpool stepped up their game in the second half, and Ipswich couldn’t keep up.
I’m curious as to what tactics young manager McKenna will employ to challenge Manchester City. Parking the bus is definitely not advisable; it’s exhausting, and after holding out for 60 minutes, you might concede multiple goals in the last 30 minutes. Pushing forward to press? Manchester City is the least afraid of pressing, quickly dispossessing the ball with short passes, and launching a counterattack where Haaland scores—what do you do then?
Since it’s a lose-lose situation anyway, why not just go for 45-degree long balls, targeting behind City’s defense, and see if there’s any mistake from the opponent? Right?