Ipswich Town: Sam Morsy on 4-1 defeat to Manchester City

The Blues took a shock lead through Sammie Szmodics but found themselves 3-1 down after 16 minutes as Erling Haaland fired in two goals each side of Kevin De Bruyne’s strike.

Haaland then wrapped up the win with a hat-trick in the dying embers of the match, handing Pep Guardiola’s side all three points as they continue their bid to retain their Premier League title.

“They’re the best team in the world in my opinion, so it was always going to be tough,” Morsy admitted after the game. “We had good spells and obviously we got punished in different spells, but it’s about learning.

“We’re all going to learn together and get better together.

“Teams will punish you at any level, to be honest. We just have to work harder, be there for one another and just keep improving individually and as a team.

“That’s what we’ve always done and what we’ll continue to do.”

Despite the scoreline, there were a number of good things in Ipswich’s performance, continuing the trend from last week’s 2-0 loss to Liverpool in their Premier League opener.

“There’ve been plenty of positives in the first two games,” Morsy argued. “We just want to keep developing, really. Keep going, keep believing.

“We know it’s a very difficult league but we deserve to be here and we want to show that we can compete at this level.

“In the last decade, they [Man City and Liverpool] have been two of the best teams in world football. Not just at this level, world football.

“You can see that. It’s a good learning curve and we’ll continue to grow. We’ll work hard and use it as an educational thing to keep getting better because that’s what we want to do.”

The midfielder had the most tackles in the match [3] and won the most duels [9] (Image: PA)

One player who may take the defeat a bit harder than his team-mates is Arijanet Muric, who was caught out against his former team for their second and third goals.

Coming in to make his Town debut, he was caught on the ball by Savinho which allowed De Bruyne to fire into an empty net. Seconds later, Haaland picked up a lobbed ball from the Belgian and caught the goalkeeper off his line, working it around him before making it 3-1.

“He won’t be the first or last to make a mistake – it’s football,” Morsy said, stressing that the team will rally around the Kosovo international. “I’ve made plenty of them, the lads have made plenty of them. It’s always – in football as in life – about how you react to them.

“He’s a great goalie with great potential, a great guy. He’s going to keep growing, we’re going to keep growing and we’ve got to improve together.”

Asked what he’s noticed from the first two Premier League games, Morsy replied: “All sorts, really. Tactically and technically, you see the level of the top players, how we can exploit teams, what works, what doesn’t, what you need to improve on. There’s loads of things, loads of nuggets for every player, every department.

“We’ll come into work on Monday, take the positives and keep on learning. That’s what we’ll have to keep on doing.

“It’s never good to lose, certainly, but it’s good to test yourself and see where you’re at. It makes you think, ‘okay, I’m doing well there but I want to improve that’, so it’s great really.

“The first two games have been brilliant. For me personally, I’m looking at it and thinking about what I’m doing better than others, what are others doing better than me, what I can add to my game, whatever.

Morsy stressed that his main aim is to help the Blues improve over the course of the season (Image: PA)

“There’s loads of golden nuggets in there if you can really focus and block out any noise. Work hard, work on your craft, then there’s loads of development to be had for all of us.”

It’d be easy for heads to drop after two defeats, particularly right at the start of the Premier League season. However, Morsy is adamant that his side will remain confident, highlighting the need for them to be courageous in the coming days, weeks and months.

“Confidence is everything, but importantly it’s about courage,” he explained. “Courage is, if you don’t get a result and there’s a temptation to say it’s tough, it’s hard, you’ve still got to do the right things.

“It’s got to be about courage and that’s going to define our season, really.

“We’ve played two of the best teams in the league, we’ve got plenty of positives and plenty of things to work on. Monday, we come in with fresh heads and we go again.”

On a personal level, Morsy is immensely proud that he’s been able to lead Town back to the Premier League and captain them in their first two games. For him, however, the priority is to have a successful campaign.

“It’s brilliant to do that, but I want to have a successful campaign, that’s the most important thing,” he stated.

"We’ll take each game as it comes, but I want to captain a Premier League team to have a successful season, that’s the main goal.”