Ipswich Town under-21's stepped in to play a pre-season friendly against Borussia Mönchengladbach yesterday, losing 3-1 at Sportpark Heimstetten on the outskirts of Munich. Alex Jones provides his takeaways.
John McGreal took charge of the game at Sportpark Heimstetten (Image: Ross Halls)
A late change
There’s no dressing up the fact that preparations for this game were hardly ideal.
Up until Thursday evening, this was expected to be a first-team fixture. Kieran McKenna had spoken about splitting the squad for the two fixtures to have two separate starting lineups, but even after Saturday’s game against Fortuna Düsseldorf, he seemed a little unsure about how that would work.
Ultimately, this was undoubtedly the right decision. Stretching the first-team squad at this point would’ve been the wrong move. It’s clear that the club are working hard to recruit extra players while a handful of the current crop are working hard to recover from injury.
It presented a fantastic opportunity to Town’s youngsters. This game, for many, would’ve been the biggest in their careers so far. They got to test themselves against some of the best and they came off well.
If the Blues could go back in time, they probably wouldn’t have organised this friendly. That being said, it worked out well for them, although Borussia Mönchengladbach may disagree.
Gerardo Seoane voiced his frustration after the match (Image: PA)
Borussia backlash
The atmosphere around the stadium was tense. Upon entering, you could sense the dissatisfaction of the Gladbach fans queuing outside the ground - many had voiced their frustrations on social media.
Soon after, the club revealed that refunds would be issued to supporters who traveled to the game, while sporting director Roland Virkus spoke out ahead of kick-off.
“We’ve had a great training camp and were hoping to round the week off with a friendly against strong English opposition,” he said via the club’s official social media.
“That Ipswich have now gone against our contractual agreement due to personnel issues is incredibly disappointing and has left us very frustrated.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to find an alternate friendly opponent at short notice, so we have no choice but to try and make the best out of the situation.”
Manager Gerardo Seoane followed it up with some comments of his own after the match.
“It’s not what we expected and we’re very unhappy about it,” he admitted. “The agency should’ve done a better job with this game.
“It makes a difference if you play against an under-21’s side or a first team.”
Ipswich may have some good friends in West Germany, but Borussia Mönchengladbach probably won’t be one of them after this.
The friendly was stopped numerous times due to on-field clashes (Image: Ross Halls)
A feisty affair
It’s fair to say that the atmosphere off the pitch translated to the game at the Sportpark Heimstetten.
From the off, there were strong tackles and plenty of aggression. There was a sense that Gladbach weren’t overly happy to be playing the game at times, and that was worsened by Town’s early goal, which was met with a lot of frustration from the travelling German fans.
The young Blues flew in with some strong challenges of their own, picking up four bookings in the first half. As a result, there were two stoppages as the players clashed with each other, often taking a while to be separated.
A particularly nasty moment came after the break when Harry Barbrook attempted to nutmeg Tomáš Čvančara. The two tussles before squaring up, with the Czech international landing a slap on the 19-year-old, who seemed to relish the confrontation.
Even speaking to him after the match, he seemed remarkably calm, albeit with a little buzz about him. He and his team-mates clearly enjoyed the experience, and while they were beaten, they got to play in a fierce friendly where they more than held their own.
Leon Ayinde opened the scoring in the third minute of the game (Image: Ross Halls)
Key moments
The aforementioned early goal will live long in the moment of Leon Ayinde, who pounced as Cieran Slicker’s long ball bounced over everyone, including Gladbach captain Jonas Omlin in the opposite net. That allowed the winger to work his way around the box before firing into an empty net, giving his side the lead inside three minutes.
His celebration, seen above, painted a real picture. Even though this was a pre-season friendly, one that many fans were disappointed was taking place at all, it clearly meant a lot to him. He’s been impressive with the under-21’s and took his chance here.
From a Town perspective, their best moments came at the other end of the pitch where Slicker made some outstanding saves. Ryan Carr’s block to deny Tim Kleindienst was also outstanding.
The Germany striker, however, was too tough to stop. He bagged the equaliser from a quick free-kick and wrapped up the win late on from another set-piece situation. The other goal was scored by Julian Weigl, who fired home from the penalty spot.
For context, Kleindienst finished as Heidenheim’s top scorer with 12 Bundesliga goals last season. Weigl won the DFB Pokal and DFL Supercup with Borussia Dortmund before joining Benfica for €20 million in 2019. If you look through the rest of Die Fohlen’s squad, you’ll see a former Manchester City defender and a midfielder who was linked to Liverpool, amongst other talented players.
Yet John McGreal’s side more than held their own throughout the 90 minutes, creating the odd chance and enjoying some brief spells of possession. The only downside was Nico Valentine’s injury, with the winger stretchered off holding his shoulder in the first half. Hopefully it’s not too serious.
Kieran McKenna's side will face Hoffenheim in Austria this afternoon (Image: Ross Halls)
Another day, another game...
All eyes turn to today's game in Kufstein, where Ipswich’s first team will play against Hoffenheim.
The Blues will cross the border into Austria for this game, taking on a side who’ll play in the Europa League next season. It’ll be a real test - their hardest of pre-season so far - especially knowing that Pellegrino Matarazzo’s men return to competitive action next weekend to face Würzburger Kickers in the DFB Pokal.
What will the team look like? That really remains to be seen. It should look similar to the team that took on Fortuna Düsseldorf last week, although Omari Hutchinson has been back in training and looks ready to participate. There are question marks over others, including Wes Burns, who rolled his ankle in that defeat at Portman Road last Saturday.
The real stuff isn’t far away now. In exactly two weeks, Ipswich will welcome Liverpool to Portman Road in their Premier League opener.
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