Not a fan of organized praise, Ilkay Gundogan. Try to avoid it if he can. So while Manchester City warmed up without their full team and kicked balls around for a while, there was still a man in the locker room who must have felt bad about being left behind.

Gundogan finally came out, which was the style at the time. A lot of eyes were looking at him with anticipation. Respectful cheers and a shy hero’s return. The players Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, and John Stones saw that their former captain was looking a little awkward because of the response and made fun of his embarrassment. Feeling like a split second in time.

Someone has been stealing Gundogan’s thunder for a week now in this part of the world. With another hat-trick ball in his hand, Erling Haaland left this place, and Pep Guardiola said that he has the same number of goals as the best players in history.

“Those numbers are crazy,” Guardiola said. “He’s as good as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.” During the previous season, he was exhausted. Despite that, he said, “I’m still tired and worn out.” I didn’t like some things we talked about in the US, but he changed his mind.

After the joke, Haaland laughed and said that he was now “back to normal,” back to business as usual. Even so, Gundogan couldn’t have thought any of this was odd.

The German player thought that his last three games under Guardiola would end with him winning the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the Champions League.

He didn’t know that the next time he would see City, they would be celebrating by holding him up in the air. celebration of a man who is back and who people can hardly believe is there. Pictures of that famous brace against Aston Villa on the last day of 2022 can be seen on the walls of the Etihad Stadium as you walk down into its inner sanctum.

His later arrival as a replacement in the 71st minute made more noise than any of the goals or the final score. They sang, “Gundo’s coming home,” as the game became safer after Ipswich Town gave them a scare early on. Like last week against Liverpool, they were brave without the ball and ready to deal some hits this year.

City had a good mood, but it went downhill after seven minutes. When Ipswich quickly countered through Guardiola’s middle, they were in. Omari Hutchinson broke quickly, and Ben Johnson knew just when to set Sammie Szmodics free. The new Blackburn Rovers player shut down what had seemed like a funfair by sneaking past Ederson. What Ipswich will have to offer, shown in perfect detail.

It was over quickly. After being poked and prodded, City ended what might have been a game in 193 first-half seconds. Again, Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, and Haaland. Shake your head and bang your head. They go after better defenders than Ipswich like that, and they’ll keep doing it after May is over.

There was good reason for Kieran McKenna’s anger; all three of these things could have been avoided. The stats show that Aro Muric, the great goalie they signed from Burnley, was responsible for two of them on his first game back at the club which helped him grow.

Manchester City and Arsenal were tied when Muric picked up a ball on the edge of his box and hesitated. This made the Kosovan player uneasy, and the lost ball went to De Bruyne. On the 14th minute, he scored with his left foot.

After being shocked, both Ipswich and Muric did something that ended their lives seconds later. The lofted pass from De Bruyne had form, but it was too easy for defenders to pick off, and Haaland was galloping like only Haaland can. In retrospect, Muric was also there, which was a mistake. The striker made two touches: one to nod the ball past the rushing custodian, and the other to smoothly side-foot into an open net. City could have scored more because both Lewis and De Bruyne hit the bar.

The equalizer came on after 12 minutes when Leif Davis slid into Savinho as he ran towards the byline, putting the away team in a somewhat dangerous position. Michael Salisbury got hurt in the warm-up, and Sam Allison came on as a substitute judge. Allison didn’t give it, but VAR told him it was clear. Haaland put in the spot kick. Muric later made an amazing save on Haaland’s shot to show how good he really is. The mistakes must go, though, if he wants to move forward.

“It gives us a lot of exposure,” McKenna said. “We’re jumping right in, and if we learn from our mistakes, we’ll be able to adjust faster.”