Ipswich Secures Statement Win Against Union Berlin in Pre-Season Finale
Ipswich finish pre-season with a statement win in Germany – and a few clear clues about what Gary O’Neil’s Premier League Town will look like.
They beat Union Berlin 4-2 in the capital, coming from behind and then riding out a second-half wobble to close their summer with momentum and a bit of swagger.
Six-goal rehearsal
Ipswich started slowly and paid for it. Union struck first on nine minutes, Zeno van den Bosch smashing in from close range after a short, sharp free-kick routine caught Town cold.
The response was sharp. Seven minutes later, Leif Davis hit the byline and cut the ball back, Jack Clarke arriving with the kind of calm finish that’s becoming his trademark. One touch, one sweep, 1-1.
From there, the visitors grew into it. On 40 minutes, Sindre Walle Egeli glanced on a ball into the box and Emersonn reacted quickest, pouncing from close range to turn the game on its head.
Ipswich weren’t done. Deep into first-half stoppage time, their captain stepped up. Dara O’Shea, pushed out to right-back again, strode onto a loose ball on the edge of the area and hammered a rising drive into the top-left corner. A centre-back’s frame, a winger’s finish. 3-1 at the break, and Union rattled.
The Bundesliga side hit back after the restart. On 53 minutes, Josip Juranovic spotted Kjell Scherpen advancing and delicately lifted the ball over him to drag Union back into it.
The game opened up. Changes came, legs tired, spaces appeared. Ipswich found the decisive punch on 78 minutes. Anis Mehmeti, on from the bench, worked room on the flank and whipped in a low cross. Kasey McAteer arrived right on cue, meeting it first time to restore the two-goal cushion and effectively kill the contest.
A crowd of 12,421 watched Ipswich close out a 4-2 win that felt more convincing than the scoreline suggests.
O’Shea’s new home on the right
The teamsheet told its own story before a ball was kicked. O’Shea started at right-back again, with Darnell Furlong and Ben Johnson both left waiting among the substitutes.
We’ve seen it before – O’Shea played there against Rayo Vallecano – but twice in a week, in the final stretch of pre-season, starts to look less like an experiment and more like a plan.
O’Neil clearly wants his skipper on the pitch with Issa Diop and Jacob Greaves, and this is the route he’s chosen. Furlong can still force the issue, and the club could yet strengthen that side of the defence, with Abdoul Ouattara expected to arrive from Strasbourg. For now, though, this looks like the manager’s preferred back line.
O’Shea has been open in the past about preferring centre-back, but he doesn’t play like a man sulking out of position. In Berlin he used the role to step forward aggressively, joining attacks and eventually thundering in that superb strike from the edge of the box. It felt like a glimpse of what O’Neil wants: a rugged leader on the right, but one who can still punch holes going the other way.
Expect to see the same shape when Sunderland roll into Portman Road next weekend.
Clarke at 10 – and catching the eye
If O’Shea on the right was one big pointer, Clarke in the middle was another.
The winger started as the no.10, operating behind the striker rather than hugging the touchline. It’s not new – he popped up there at times last season and has done it in earlier friendlies – but to see him trusted in that role in the final warm-up game felt significant.
He justified it. Clarke took his equaliser well, timing his run and finishing Davis’ cutback with composure. Later, he drifted wide and whipped in a dangerous cross from the right that Emersonn turned into a goal, underlining his flexibility across the front line.
Long term, Julio Enciso is expected to be the main creative hub in that pocket once his return to Portman Road is completed. On the left, Daizen Maeda looks nailed on, with Jaden Philogene also back in the mix. Clarke’s ability to slot in centrally or out wide gives O’Neil options – and his sharp pre-season form will make him very hard to leave out.
Where he lands when the real stuff starts will be one of the more intriguing calls of opening day.
Philogene back in blue
Philogene’s summer has been dominated by noise rather than minutes. Speculation has swirled around him, but Ipswich are yet to receive a formal offer, and a hamstring problem has kept him away from the bulk of the pre-season schedule.
He has stayed around the group at Playford Road, and he travelled to Berlin. Named on the bench, he replaced Maeda at half-time and immediately tried to make things happen. There were tricks, little bursts of acceleration, a couple of efforts on goal. The end product wasn’t quite there and he struggled to truly bend the game from the left, but the sharpness will come.
What happens next in his story is still unclear. What is clear is that, a week out from Ipswich’s Premier League return, Philogene is back in an Ipswich shirt, on the grass, part of the picture. That alone is a boost.
A summer that finished with purpose
This wasn’t a perfect performance, but it was a convincing one against top-flight opposition on their own patch.
Ipswich’s pre-season started slowly as fitness built and new arrivals settled. The last two friendlies, though, have looked and felt different: more intensity, more cohesion, more clarity in what O’Neil wants.
They never completely strangled Union’s control, but they did keep them largely at arm’s length, aside from those two lapses – one from a quickly-taken free-kick, another when the back line collectively switched off. Scherpen will not enjoy watching those goals back, yet he wasn’t the primary culprit on either occasion.
There were plenty of positives. Clarke and Walle Egeli stood out. Sasa Lukic impressed on debut in midfield, knitting play and giving Ipswich a firmer base. The starters, by and large, looked like a group hitting the right gear at the right time.
Pre-season closes with four wins, one draw and two defeats from the seven games supporters could see. More important than the numbers, the arc has been upward. The players look lean, fitter, and increasingly comfortable with the tactical and physical demands being placed on them.
Now comes the leap. The Premier League is a different animal, unforgiving and relentless. Ipswich have taken their run-up.
Next Saturday, at 3pm against Sunderland, we find out how ready they really are.
