Manchester City 4-1 Ipswich Town: Terry Hunt on Blues

Predictably, the games against Liverpool and Man City have both ended in defeat,  but we haven’t been embarrassed or humiliated when taking on two of the best club sides on the planet.

Now, the thinking goes, we can start playing teams when we have a realistic chance of picking up points, starting next Saturday when Fulham are the visitors to Portman Road.

I agree with that. This next game will be a good indicator. Fulham are likely to finish mid-table, they won’t threaten the top four but equally they won’t be in danger of relegation. An average Premier League team - if such a thing exists!

So our performance and result against them will tell us quite a lot. It certainly won’t be easy. They have some really good players and have strengthened with the arrival of Emile Smith-Rowe from Arsenal. He scored a terrific goal on Saturday.

Erling Haaland bagged a hat-trick against Town - but we won't be facing him every week! (Image: PA)
Also, we will be under more pressure. Against Liverpool and City, we really had a couple of free hits. No-one expected us to get anything. It will be different against Fulham. A packed Portman Road will expect a good result.

The game at City on Saturday had some encouraging aspects, but ultimately was frustrating. When you’re playing an awesome side like City, you don’t want to give them a helping hand, and that’s exactly what we did, arguably with all four goals.

Goalkeeper Arto Muric had an absolute stinker of a debut, presenting City with two gift-wrapped goals in the first half. I also think he should have done better with the late goal which gave Erling Haaland yet another hat-trick.

Inevitably, lots has been said about Muric’s horror show. I have to say I was slightly surprised that Kieran McKenna didn’t keep faith with Christian Walton after his really good display against Liverpool.

But, now it’s vital that Muric is backed by the fans. Terrible debuts happen. Mistakes happen too - and for goalkeepers there’s absolutely nowhere to hide. Jordan Pickford presented Spurs with a goal on Saturday, so it happens to the best.

Manchester City celebrate going 2-1 up after Muric's first mistake (Image: PA)
Leif Davis has also had a tough start to the season. He was outfoxed by Mo Salah on the opening day, then had to face the incredibly tricky Savinho on Saturday.

He made a mistake with an unnecessary challenge to give City a penalty just a couple of minutes after Ipswich had taken a shock lead. A game-changing moment? Maybe.

Leif is having to learn really quickly. Let’s face it, in League One and the Championship he has hardly had any defending to do. He has spent the vast majority of his games bombing forward and setting up goals. Suddenly, he is facing some of the best wingers in the world. It’s a steep learning curve.

The big positive against City was the performance of Sammie Szmodics, capped by a really well taken goal. He reminds me Jamie Vardy, playing on the shoulder of the last defender and bursting on to through balls. As we saw through last season, and again on Saturday, his finishing is full of confidence. He could be an important player for us.

We are still very much a team in transition. We haven’t seen Kalvin Phillips and Jens Cajuste yet, we have just signed the exciting left-winger Jack Clarke from Sunderland, and centre-back Dara O’Shea followed him through the door.

That means McKenna has signed a complete new team since the end of last season. Inevitably, it will take time to integrate the new players, plus we have the injured trio of attackers, Nathan Broadhead, Wes Burns and George Hirst to come back into the reckoning.

Town skipper Sam Morsy battles Jack Grealish at the Etihad (Image: PA)
A couple of final points. It was great to see Cameron Humphreys score a Messi-like goal for his new loan club Wycombe Wanderers. Amid the frenzy of big money arrivals, we mustn’t forget the exciting talent of Humphreys. I’m convinced he has a big future.

Before I sign off, a message for Gary Lineker and his Match of the Day colleagues. If I make the superhuman effort to stay awake to watch MOTD, can you please make sure you actually say something about my team? On Saturday, Ipswich barely warranted a mention amid the eulogising about City!

See you at Portman Road on Saturday.