Manchester City 4-1 Ipswich Town: Sammie Szmodics reaction

Town lost back-to-back league games for the first time under Kieran McKenna yesterday, falling 4-1 at four-time defending champions Manchester City after opening the season with a battling 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool.

For Szmodics, it was a day of mixed emotions - he bagged his first Premier League goal on his first Town start just seven minutes in, before City roared back to take a 3-1 lead in a matter of minutes.

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“It’s mixed emotions," the £9m signing from Blackburn admitted to Town TV. "Amazing for me – first Premier League start and goal, and I think first half we probably deserved a little bit more, the way we played.

“It’s just individual mistakes and errors that we need to learn from at this level.

“The mistakes are going to get punished at this level – and we’ve got to learn quick.”

Szmodics slides home at the Etihad (Image: PA)
Of his goal, he added: "We worked on it in the week. We knew City, like Liverpool, play a high line and it was all about timing our runs, because I think against Liverpool we got caught offside four or five times.

“So (Lee) Granty has been working in the week, and the gaffer’s been working with us about making your run as late as you can, and as soon as the ball fell to Ben (Johnson) I knew he would just play it through.

“I timed my run well, got a bit lucky with the finish but it went through Ederson and it was a proud moment for me.

“I think it’s just about managing the game after that.”

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City wasted no time getting back on level terms after Town's shock opener and then went ahead to stay, scoring three times in short order.

"I think defensively the shape was good, the communication was good and we tried to frustrate a top, top team," Szmodics insisted.

“And it’s just individual mistakes, which we will learn from. We’ve been punished at this level and you’d rather make them (mistakes) in the second game of the season.

“But nothing’s shocked us in the first two games. We’re truly good enough and fit enough to be where we’re at, in this Premier League, and the lads will dust themselves off, recover and look forward to getting back to Portman Road.”

Szmodics celebrates his strike with his Town team-mates (Image: PA)
After those three quickfire goals, the Blues kept City out until Erling Haaland's late long range effort which completed his hat-trick.

“It was skip (Sam Morsy) and Leif (Davis) pulling us all together and saying ‘right, let’s get some composure,'"  Szmodics explained.

“I think we leaked three goals in four minutes, and that’s not us at all.

“You get punished at this level with people like Haaland on the pitch, and we were five or six minutes off drawing the second half 0-0.

“I think we’ve got to look at these little positives. Haaland scored from 25 yards, this what we’re up against, but we’ve played two of the best teams in the league and we’ve got to learn quickly.”

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Of the second half, Szmodics added: "I think we did ourselves proud with the way we did play.

“We frustrated a top, top team and on another day we want to press forward more and nick the ball and get on the counter attack.

“But the manager mentioned it in there, we were five minutes off drawing the second half and we’ve got to take these positives as much as we can.

“Nothing’s shocked us at all in the last two games and we’re a good enough team to be in this league.”

Sammie Szmodics scored Town's first Premier League goal in 22 years (Image: PA)

After a baptism of fire in their first two Premier League games, it's back to Suffolk next Saturday - via a Carabao Cup clash at AFC Wimbledon on Wednesday - to host Fulham, as the season really begins in earnest.

And Szmodics stressed: “We take the positives out of today, we’ve got a cup game where we can get minutes in again and we look forward to a good backing at Portman Road against Fulham, where we can, I think, play with a bit more bravery and a bit more courage.

“But I think with the defensive shape that we showed out there today we’ll be fine and we can really compete.”

If Town are to defy the odds and stay up this season, their army of fans will be crucial - something Szmodics also recognised.

"The fans are amazing," he said. "They travel in numbers and they had three tiers today,  which is an unbelievable following and you could hear them throughout.

“We need it, it’s like a 12th man – and especially the last five or ten minutes when we are in the lead, we need them backing us.

“And I thought today, throughout, they were fantastic.”