Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says he and his players will have ‘some good, honest conversations’ following this afternoon’s 6-0 home thrashing at the hands of Manchester City.

The four-in-a-row champions were back at their clinical best, Phil Foden (2), Matoe Kovacic, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and James McAtee all scoring in a 42 minute spell either side of half-time, to move back into the Champions League places.

This equals Ipswich’s record home defeat – a 6-0 loss to Liverpool in the Premier League relegation campaign of 2001/02 – and leaves Kieran McKenna’s men in the drop zone ahead of next Saturday’s trip to Anfield.

“It was a painful game for us, no doubt about that,” said McKenna. There’s no doubt that the opponent was too strong for us today in all aspects and we weren’t able to find the solutions to the quality they had or the problems they gave us.

“I think it was a really good game for 27 minutes from our point of view, a really even game. We competed really well, certainly could have had the first goal, and there was a really similar flow to our best games and best performances here against some of the big sides.0:00

“But after the first goal their confidence and quality went to another level that we weren’t able to cope with. They completely pulled away and took the game from us. We still had some moments and opportunities, but we weren’t able to punish them. And any mistakes that we made they ruthlessly punished.

“The last 20 minutes was a time when the team had to stick together and show character and try and stem the attacks. I think the group did a pretty good job of that. But yeah, a really, really difficult game. It is what it is.”

The Blues boss continued: “Playing against that level is new to us, there’s no doubt about that. We know how quickly we’ve climbed the ladder. There were a couple of occasions last year where we were outclassed by teams, but we still found a way to have an incredible season.

“Certainly today, and on one or two other occasions this season, we haven’t been able to hit the level. And if you’re not able to hit the level with your performance and the opposition have a very good day then the game can completely get away from you.

“There are a lot of things we need to reflect on. We need to analyse it. We need some good honest conversations.

“The first two goals were on shape, everyone’s behind the ball, but we didn’t defend well enough. We were structurally fine but we didn’t defend the incidences well enough. We had some organisational issues either side of half-time after that, which we didn’t manage well enough.

“Having said that, I think we gave them problems and organisational issues with the ball as well. But we didn’t have the execution to go and punish them today, while they punished every mistake we made and any issues we had.

“I think we needed to manage that phase better when the game got away from us. It’s not the first time this season it’s happened. It’s difficult, but we need to do it better.

“Then there’s the last phase of the game when some individuals really stood up. There was some real leadership on the pitch, the team stuck together, the crowd were fantastic and showed an amazing togetherness with the players, and we need to take positives from that. Because those are some of the equalities that have helped us do what we’ve done up until this point and those are the qualities that we need to build on for the future of the team and the club. That was certainly shown at the end of the game today.”

Asked if this result highlights the gap in class between the top end of the Premier League and the division’s newly-promoted clubs, McKenna replied: “I think Man City can do some of what they did today against some of the better teams in the Premier League and to some top class European sides.

“It wasn’t like our goal was absolutely peppered or we didn’t get out of our box. The level of their execution was just so high – and they’ve done that to better teams than us over the last few years.

“Once they scored the first goal today they really hit a top, top, top gear. So I don’t think today was necessarily just about the gap from the EFL to the Premier League. It was the gap from, in that level of form, maybe still the best team in the world, to us. That gap was pretty big today.”

Asked what he said to his players in the dressing room afterwards, McKenna said: “We didn’t speak too much. The time to speak is going to be when we get back to the training ground on Monday.

“I always give them my thoughts on the game from an honest perspective, which is pretty much what I’ve shared with you already.

“A few players have an opportunity to speak if there’s something they want to discuss. Then we’ll take it to the training ground, we’ll own the things we could have done better, analyse, reflect on the areas we need to improve and we’ll also reflect on the positives from the game as well.

“To be honest, if the game had stopped after 27 minutes, everyone would have said ‘what a good performance’ and how incredible Ipswich have done to compete with Man City. But the game doesn’t stop after a good start.

“We’ll certainly learn from the bits we didn’t do well enough in, but we’ll also take some positives from the start and the finish of the game from a mental point of view.

“We’ll move forward. We know we’ve got Liverpool away next week, we know it’s another massive, massive challenge, so we’re going to need to show an incredible amount of character next week at the training ground and at Anfield. That’s what we’re going to try and do.”

Premier League legend Harry Redknapp has offered his prediction for this afternoon’s Super Sunday Premier League clash between Ipswich Town and Manchester City (4.30pm).

The iconic former boss believes four-time defending Premier League champs City – despite their well-documented struggles – will just have too much for Kieran McKenna’s battling Blues

Predicting a 2-1 City win, Redknapp told Bet Victor: “Ipswich have looked more solid in the last few games but as a result, they’ve not been as threatening going forward.

“I’m a big fan of Liam Delap up front but he was so isolated against Brighton and it was a really tough task for him.

“Manchester City just look so vulnerable at the back; I don’t know what’s going on. To blow a 2-0 lead at Brentford so late on is so unlike them, that sums it up for me.

“Pep Guardiola’s clearly desperate to get some players in but I’m curious to see how much impact they’ll have; it always seems to take players a while to settle in this City side.

“Despite the form, I’m going for City, just!”

He added: “Erling Haaland signed a massive contract this week and it would be typical of him to find the net here!”

Manchester City are back in Premier League action as they travel to Suffolk to face Ipswich Town in the Premier League.

City have seen something of a revival recently with a run of five unbeaten matches but will be disappointed to have conceded two late goals to see a win turn into a draw against Brentford.

They now face a fight to get into the top four, but will be boosted by the impending signings of Vitor Reis, Abdukodir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush and the unexpected news that Erling Haaland has extended his contract until 2034, nine and a half years in the future.

Their opponents, meanwhile, are battling it out at the bottom of the table, and will look to former City player Liam Delap to be the man to keep them up and cause City problems.

Here are five things to look out for as City take on Ipswich:

City’s brilliant centre forward will be boosted by his bumper new contract and will look to be getting himself on the scoresheet against the Tractor Boys.

Haaland is in fact having an extremely underrated season, with 16 goals in 20 Premier League games, putting him second in the scoring charts behind just Mohamed Salah.

The 24 year old scored a hattrick against Kieran McKenna’s side in the reverse fixture – a 4-1 home win for the Blues – but has yet to appear at Portman Road, and will be hungry to add to his goal tally and chase Salah down in the race for the Golden Boot.

With Savinho, Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne all hitting form behind him, it’d be surprising if Haaland doesn’t score and help City get back into winning ways.

The best moment of magic we got from the Brentford game was De Bruyne’s ferocious cross from the right hand side and Foden’s deft finish to give City the lead.

The two have struggled for fitness and form this season after being such important players over the last few years for City, but the flashback to previous years we witnessed against the Bees bodes well for upcoming games.

Supported by Haaland, Savinho and soon to be Omar Marmoush in attack (along with Oscar Bobb, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku too) the goals will start flowing the Blues again, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see their two key attacking midfielders at the heart of everything they do.

The good vibes around the club continue with Bobb and Dias’s return to training.

The 21 year old winger shone in pre-season and has now been training for more than a week so may well be ready to return to the bench.

Dias, meanwhile, is needed to make his return and take the burden of Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake at centre back and to gain some momentum of his own.

When fit he’s arguably City’s best defender, and will be needed to nurture new centre back signings Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov and help them to improve their games and fulfill their potential.

It’d be good for them to get minutes in the tank ahead of PSG on Wednesday, as Dias in particular will improve the team significantly with his presence.

Delap up against the central defenders

Former City striker Liam Delap is enjoying life at Ipswich, and like with Cole Palmer last season many supporters are wishing he’d been kept around this season.

He’s a strong, aggressive forward and will look to unsettle the central defenders, taking advantage of any existing mental or physical fatigue.

Ake and Dias as a partnership would be best equipped for dealing with him, but it’s unlikely that Dias will be fit enough to start.

Perhaps starting with Akanji and Ake and bringing Dias on is the way to go for the Blues, who will know that stopping Delap will go a long way to limiting Ipswich’s goal threat.

A first appearance for any of the new signings?

At time of writing, none of the players have yet been announced, so it is exceptionally unlikely that we’ll see any of them make their debuts at Portman Road.

However, Khusanov and Reis are said to have completed their medicals and if an announcement comes at any point on Saturday evening or Sunday morning there’s a chance they’ll be in the squad for Sunday.

Marmoush is yet to complete his medical so won’t be officially signed in time, but all three should be aiming for the Paris Saint Germain game in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night as the opportunity to make their debuts.