Ipswich Triumphs Over Union Berlin in Pre-Season Finale

Ipswich finish pre-season with a flourish as Union Berlin are picked off in their own backyard, but the real story sits beneath the 4-2 scoreline: Gary O’Neil’s plans are starting to harden.

Ipswich grow into it – then take control

Town began like a side still shaking the travel out of their legs. Union were sharper, quicker to everything, and they struck first.

A short free-kick caught Ipswich napping in the ninth minute. The ball was worked neatly into the box and Zeno van den Bosch arrived to thump home from close range. Simple. Too simple.

That jolt finally woke Ipswich up.

Leif Davis, ever the outlet down the left, burst forward and cut the ball back with precision. Jack Clarke, operating in the no.10 role, arrived on cue and guided a cool finish into the net on 16 minutes. One chance, one goal, and suddenly Town were alive.

From there, the visitors began to find their rhythm. Sindre Walle Egeli started to knit things together between the lines, and Union’s back line looked less certain with every Ipswich attack.

The pressure told again on 40 minutes. Walle Egeli flicked on cleverly inside the area, and Emersonn was exactly where a striker should be, pouncing from close range to turn the game on its head.

Union reeled. Ipswich smelled blood.

Deep into first-half stoppage time, the captain stepped up. Dara O’Shea, pushed out to right-back but roaming with intent, strode onto a loose ball on the edge of the box and ripped a fierce drive into the top-left corner. A full-blooded hit. 3-1 at the break, and O’Neil’s side had completely flipped the narrative.

Union respond, Ipswich finish the job

Union weren’t finished. On 53 minutes, Josip Juranovic darted in behind and, with Kjell Scherpen advancing, calmly lifted the ball over the keeper to drag the hosts back into it. A neat finish, but another moment Ipswich’s defence won’t enjoy on the replay.

Town, though, didn’t buckle.

Changes came just after the hour, and one of them settled it. With 12 minutes to play, Anis Mehmeti worked a yard on the right and whipped in a teasing cross. Kasey McAteer, fresh from the bench, met it first time to restore the two-goal cushion on 78 minutes. One swing, game done.

Union pushed late, but Ipswich managed the closing stages with a quiet authority that’s been growing through this pre-season. The Bundesliga side never truly looked like hauling them back.

Attendance: 12,421. A tidy crowd, and they saw a visiting Premier League side look increasingly like one.

O’Shea at right-back – a clue for Sunderland?

The team sheet carried one of the day’s biggest hints. O’Shea started at right-back again, with Darnell Furlong and Ben Johnson both watching on from the bench.

It wasn’t a one-off experiment either. O’Neil tried it against Rayo Vallecano last week, and repeating it here, in the final friendly before the Premier League returns, felt deliberate.

Right now, this looks like the manager’s preferred way to get his skipper on the pitch alongside Issa Diop and Jacob Greaves. It gives him three natural centre-backs across the line, with O’Shea shuffling wide but still able to defend aggressively and step infield when needed.

O’Shea has made no secret in the past that he favours playing centrally, but he’s also the sort who will swallow that preference for the good of the team. Here, the role suited him. From right-back he had license to surge forward, and it was from that advanced position that he thundered in his goal from the edge of the box.

Furlong could yet force his way back into the XI. Ipswich could still strengthen on that side in the market, with Abdoul Ouattara expected to arrive from Strasbourg and offering another option. For now, though, O’Neil’s back line for Sunderland is starting to look very clear.

Clarke in the no.10 – a flexible weapon

If O’Shea’s positioning was one tactical headline, Clarke’s was another.

The winger started centrally, behind the striker, and once again showed why O’Neil trusts him there. It’s not a brand-new idea – he filled that role at times last season and has done so in earlier friendlies – but the timing matters. To start him there in the final tune-up before the league begins is telling.

Clarke’s movement between the lines unsettled Union. His equaliser came from ghosting into the box at just the right moment to meet Davis’ cutback, and he later drifted wide to deliver a pinpoint cross from the right that Emersonn finished smartly.

Long term, Julio Enciso is expected to be the main man in that no.10 slot once his return to Portman Road is completed. Out wide, Daizen Maeda looks locked in on the left, with Jaden Philogene now back in the mix as well.

That’s where Clarke’s versatility becomes priceless. He can cover the middle or the flank without Ipswich losing quality or intensity. His pre-season form has been sharp, his end product clear. When the league kicks off, the puzzle won’t be whether he plays – it will be exactly where.

Philogene back in blue – but for how long?

Jaden Philogene’s summer has been dominated by noise rather than minutes. Rumours have swirled around his future, but Ipswich are yet to receive a formal offer for the winger.

A hamstring injury has kept him out of most of pre-season, though he’s stayed close to the group at Playford Road and travelled with the squad to the German capital. Here, he finally got back on the grass in an Ipswich shirt.

Named among the substitutes, he replaced Maeda at half-time and took up his usual role on the left. The tricks were still there. So were the feints, the step-overs, the willingness to shoot. What he didn’t quite manage was a decisive moment, struggling to truly bend the game to his will down that flank.

Even so, his mere presence a week before Ipswich’s Premier League return is a boost. Match sharpness will come. The bigger question is where he’ll be playing his football once the window closes. For now, he’s back, he’s involved, and he’s an option O’Neil will be very happy to have.

Lukic impresses, standards rise

Strip away the friendly label and this was a serious workout. Union Berlin, at home, are no soft touch, and Ipswich had to suffer without the ball for long spells.

They didn’t dominate possession, and outside that blistering first-half spell when they rattled in three goals, they weren’t in total control. Yet they kept Union largely at arm’s length, defending with a maturity that has grown across the past few weeks.

Sasa Lukic, on debut, looked immediately at home in midfield. He used the ball neatly, covered ground, and offered a calm presence in the middle third. Around him, Clarke and Walle Egeli stood out as the game’s brightest attacking sparks.

There were blemishes. Both Union goals came from lapses that will irritate O’Neil – the first from a quickly-taken free-kick, the second with the back line switching off and leaving Scherpen exposed. The goalkeeper won’t enjoy either concession, but he was far from the chief culprit.

Still, the broader trend is unmistakable. Ipswich’s performances have climbed a level in these final friendlies. The patterns are clearer, the fitness sharper, the new signings more integrated.

Ready for the real thing?

Seven pre-season games that supporters could see. Four wins, one draw, two defeats. On paper, solid. On the pitch, more encouraging than that.

This has been a camp of steady, visible improvement. The players look conditioned, the ideas more ingrained, the tactical and physical demands of O’Neil’s approach increasingly second nature.

Now comes the jump.

The Premier League is a different animal entirely, unforgiving and relentless. Ipswich have earned the right to face it again. The question is no longer whether they’re preparing properly.

It’s what happens when Sunderland walk out at Portman Road next Saturday and the friendly safety net disappears.