Gary O’Neil admitted he was left frustrated and disappointed after Ipswich Town’s 3-2 defeat at Manchester City, but believes his side still has plenty to take from an encouraging performance at the Etihad Stadium. With the Blues pushing the Premier League leaders all the way before ultimately falling short, Daizen Maeda and Zian Flemming found the net either side of Erling Haaland brace and Phil Foden’s opener.

While the result extended City’s perfect start to the campaign, O’Neil felt his side demonstrated once again that they are capable of competing at Premier League level.

Pride Mixed With Frustration

Despite the quality of the opposition, O’Neil was no more content to leave Manchester simply pleased with the effort, instead the Ipswich boss admitted he travelled to the Etihad believing his side could take something from the game, which he was disappointed they failed to do.

At the same time, he was full of praise for the commitment and determination which his players showed throughout such a testing afternoon.

“Really disappointed with that, I guess, is where to start. When I said that we were coming here because I believed we could take points, I did believe we could, so disappointed that we haven’t, firstly. Secondly, proud of what the players gave, of course. It takes a lot to come here and to keep yourself in the game for that long and they did. They gave absolutely everything. They were fully committed to what we tried to do.”

“I think we could have done better, to be honest. I think there were some bits that we could have done better that would have maybe swung some of those fine margins in our favour.”

O’Neil reserved some special praise for the away support and the togetherness within the squad.

“But they’re an incredible group. I’ve said this in all interviews so far, to get to stand at the front and represent a team like that, that works like that, those players on the grass, the support in the stand, Triple-tier support today away at Manchester City, players giving everything, 102 minutes. It’s a privilege really to stand there and represent them because they’re an incredible group.”

“Really proud of what they gave and, hopefully, we can take belief from it, so next time that we face something like this maybe we can be a little bit more assured in certain moments.”

Second Goal ‘Really Annoyed’ O’Neil

While pleased with many aspects of the performance, O’Neil admitted that there was one particular factor which left him feeling frustrated. He felt that second Manchester City goal, scored by Haaland just before half-time, was one which his side had specifically prepared for during the week.

“Not quite as impactful. The second goal against us is the one that really annoys me. I can accept the first and the third one because there will be some chaos in the game and the game will get open at some point and you know if it does, then likes of Foden and Doku and Haaland and Fernandez, they can hurt you. The second goal was something that we’d worked on a lot, so that one was the one that really annoyed me.”

Despite this frustration, O’Neil felt that Ipswich continued to pose problems and perhaps deserved more than they actually got.

Questions Over Key Decisions

O’Neil also picked out a number of offside decisions which he felt broke up promising attacks. While highlighting that he had no issues with the officials overall but felt that several of the calls had gone against Ipswich at vital moments.

“The combination of us not quite being good enough in those moments and the linesman keeping wrongly putting his flag up, which was mad, infuriating in fact. Nothing against the officials, I think they did some good stuff today and I’ve got a good relationship with them, spoke to them all afterwards, no problem. But when you’re only getting six or seven attacks at the Etihad, to lose three of them to wrongly given offsides is tough to take momentum-wise.”

Later in the game, VAR intervened to award Ipswich a penalty after Abdul Fatawu was brought down in the area with Flemming scoring from the spot. O’Neil admitted he was surprised the incident was not picked up on immediately.

“Penalty decision was strange, I thought. It was fairly blatant, I thought. So I was surprised that didn’t get given on the field, but that’s what the technology is here for and at least we came to the right conclusion.”

Tactical Change Shows Promise

One of the most hotly discussed topics ahead of kick-off was O’Neil’s decision to switch to a back three, for the first time since taking charge. He revealed that it was a system which he had used previously against Manchester City and felt it presented his side with the best chance of staying competitive.

“I’ve used that a lot actually. I’ve used that exact set-up three times against Manchester City. We beat them at home at Wolves with the exact same. We lost in the 95th minute to a corner at home at Wolves the following season and then we went close today.”

While it meant that Town spent large periods of the game defending deep, O’Neil felt that it did largely achieve its goal.

“I thought that it would give us the best chance today of staying in the game. And then it kept us in it long enough that we could gradually start to get more aggressive towards the end and try and start to have a few swings at them. And unfortunately, we didn’t quite land enough.”

Maeda’s Goal and Positive Signs

O’Neil was also delighted to see Daizen Maeda open his account for the club. The Japanese international’s equaliser followed an attacking move which Ipswich had specifically worked on during training.

“Good goal, something we’d practised. Manchester City obviously play a very high line and we knew that we would maybe be able to hurt that with Daizen and Emmy’s speed. For the goal, we managed to get Nico O’Reilly jumping to Abdoul Ouattara and then Abdoul puts a fantastic ball into space for Daizen and he uses his speed and physicality and a good finish.”

The strike provided another example of Town carrying a threat even against one of the strongest teams in Europe.#

Focus Turns to Nottingham Forest

Despite falling to defeat, O’Neil felt that there were plenty of reasons to be encouraged. Ipswich left Manchester without the win, but they also left knowing that they had pushed the Premier League leaders all the way and with Nottingham Forest visiting Portman Road on Friday evening, O’Neil is looking to build on the performance rather than dwelling on the result.

There was also positive news regarding Sasa Lukic who missed the match with a groin issue.

“Slight groin, will be fine for next week. He’s expected back on the grass in the early part of this week, probably Monday, and we expect to see him with us on Friday against Nottingham Forest.”

If Town can take the same energy, organisation and belief into that fixture, they will fancy their chances of returning to winning ways in front of their own supporters.