Ipswich Town Concludes Pre-Season with Impressive Win in Berlin
Ipswich Town signed off their summer with a statement win in Berlin – and a few clear clues about how Gary O’Neil wants his Premier League side to look.
They beat Union Berlin 4-2 in the German capital, coming from behind and then riding out a second-half spell of pressure to finish pre-season with a flourish.
Six-goal workout in the capital
Ipswich started slowly and paid for it. Union struck first on nine minutes, Zeno van den Bosch slamming home from close range after a sharp, short free-kick routine caught Town cold.
The response was sharp. Seven minutes later, Leif Davis burst down the left and cut the ball back into the box, where Jack Clarke arrived to sweep in a composed finish and level the game.
From there, Ipswich grew. They began to pin Union back, and the pressure told five minutes before the break. Sindre Walle Egeli flicked on a cross, Emersonn reacted quickest and finished from close range to turn the game on its head.
O’Neil’s side weren’t done. In first-half stoppage time, skipper Dara O’Shea stepped forward from the back, collected the ball on the edge of the area and drilled a fierce strike into the top-left corner. A right-back on the teamsheet, a centre-half by trade, and suddenly a goalscorer in Berlin.
Union hit back after the interval. On 53 minutes, Josip Juranovic broke through and delicately lifted the ball over Kjell Scherpen to drag the hosts back into it.
Ipswich refused to wobble. O’Neil went to his bench, and one of his substitutes finished the job. With 12 minutes to play, Anis Mehmeti whipped in a cross from the right and Kasey McAteer met it first time, guiding his finish home to seal a 4-2 win in front of 12,421 fans.
O’Shea’s new lane on the right
The teamsheet told its own story. O’Shea started at right-back again, just as he had against Rayo Vallecano, with specialist full-backs Darnell Furlong and Ben Johnson named among the substitutes.
Once is an experiment. Twice, in the final friendly before the season, feels like a plan.
O’Neil clearly wants his captain on the pitch with Issa Diop and Jacob Greaves, and this shape gets all three into the back line. Furlong can still fight his way into the XI, and the club could yet strengthen that side of the defence in the market – Abdoul Ouattara’s expected arrival from Strasbourg will only sharpen the competition – but right now, O’Shea at right-back looks more like a blueprint than a stop-gap.
He has previously said he prefers playing in the middle, yet his attitude has never suggested he’ll complain about a role that helps the team. In Berlin, that switch gave him license to surge forward more often than he would as a centre-half. The reward was that thumping goal from the edge of the area, a reminder that he can hurt opponents when he steps into midfield zones.
If this was a dress rehearsal for Sunderland, it would be a surprise to see O’Neil rip up the script in a week.
Clarke’s audition as No 10
The other big tactical tell came further up the pitch. Clarke started centrally, in the No 10 role.
He has flirted with that position before, both last season and earlier this summer, but being handed the job in the final friendly before the Premier League kick-off felt significant.
Julio Enciso is expected to be the long-term answer in that role once his return to Portman Road is completed. Out wide, Daizen Maeda looks nailed on for the left flank, with Jaden Philogene now back in the mix. Clarke, then, is shaping up as the flexible piece that can plug both gaps.
On this evidence, he’s not just making up the numbers. He took his equaliser calmly from Davis’ cutback and later produced a superb cross from the right that Emersonn tucked away. His pre-season form has been sharp and he looks comfortable drifting between lines, pulling defenders around.
When the real stuff starts, where does he land? As a starter in the middle until Enciso is back? As a rotation option off either flank? O’Neil suddenly has choices – and Clarke has done plenty to make sure he’s in the conversation.
Philogene back in blue
The summer has swirled around Jaden Philogene. Rumours, interest, talk of a move. Yet, as it stands, Ipswich have not received an offer for him.
A hamstring injury has kept him away from most of pre-season action, though he has stayed close to the group at Playford Road and travelled with the squad to Berlin. That mattered. So did what came next.
Named on the bench, he replaced Maeda at half-time and immediately brought energy to the left. There were tricks, flicks, and a couple of efforts on goal. The end product wasn’t quite there and he struggled to truly bend the game to his will, but that was hardly a surprise after so little football.
What does his future look like? That remains unresolved. What is clear is that, a week out from Ipswich’s Premier League return, one of their most talented attackers is back in an Ipswich shirt and edging towards full sharpness. For O’Neil, that’s a boost he’ll gladly take.
A strong finish – and a few warnings
Strip away the “just a friendly” caveat and this was a big tick for Ipswich. Union Berlin, on their own patch, were kept largely at arm’s length once Ipswich found their rhythm. The visitors’ best spell came in that first half blitz when they rattled in three goals, but across the 90 minutes there was a growing sense of control.
Clarke and Walle Egeli stood out. Emersonn took his chance. New signing Sasa Lukic delivered a solid debut in midfield, knitting play and adding bite. Across the XI, there was a lot for O’Neil to like.
Not everything was perfect. Town conceded from a quickly-taken free-kick and then again after switching off at the back. Scherpen will not enjoy watching either goal again, though he wasn’t the main culprit on both occasions. Those lapses will sting more in the Premier League than they do in a July or August friendly.
Still, the trajectory is hard to ignore. Pre-season started sluggishly as fitness levels climbed and new faces settled. The last two friendlies have looked sharper, cleaner, more like a side ready to step into a higher gear.
Ready for the real thing?
Seven watchable games, four wins, one draw, two defeats. A clear tactical imprint. Players hitting stride at the right time.
O’Neil has pushed this squad physically and tactically over the past few weeks, and they look increasingly comfortable with what he’s asking of them.
Now comes the leap. The Premier League is a different animal to any sun-soaked summer schedule. Ipswich have earned optimism; they haven’t yet answered the biggest question.
Are they ready to go again at the highest level? Sunderland’s visit to Suffolk next Saturday will start to tell us.
