Despite putting in a serious shift for most of the match, Ipswich Town managed to lose their third Premier League game on the bounce yesterday afternoon.
Kieran McKenna’s side may have gone 2-0 up by the 31st minute, but by full-time, they had conceded four times to lose 4-3, and while there were some impressive performances from the boys in blue, there were a number of seriously disappointing ones too.
However, perhaps the worst of the lot was 23-year-old Harry Clarke, who was so bad on his Premier League debut that he also ruined the first start of one of his teammates.
Clarke's performance in numbers
So, after not being included in the squad for the first six match weeks of the season and making his first appearance off the bench in the defeat to Everton last week, McKenna opted to hand Clarke his first Premier League start against Brentford yesterday afternoon and to say it backfired on the Northern Irishman would be an understatement.
Unfortunately for the Ipswich-born full-back, what should have been a brilliant day for him was anything but, as while he looked reasonably comfortable in the early exchanges, the tide soon turned, and he put in what can only be described as a horror show of a performance.
Now, that might sound hyperbolic, but it’s an opinion shared by the East Anglian Daily Times’ Alex Jones, who awarded the starter just 4/10 on the day, describing his display as a ‘nightmare’ and while he was unlucky at points, he ‘shouldn’t give the referee a decision to make on a booking.’
Moreover, the five foot 11 defender is now only the second player in Premier League history to have scored an own-goal, given away a penalty and be sent off in the competition, alongside former Southampton defender Jan Bednarek, who completed the not-so-glamorous triple crown.
Lastly, aside from the headline-grabbing actions of the penalty and sending off, Clarke also produced some rather lacklustre statistics from the encounter.
For example, in his 69 minutes on the pitch, he produced an expected assists figure of just 0.02, was dribbled past once, maintained a passing accuracy of just 78%, lost three of his five ground duels, lost the ball 11 times, committed two fouls, misplaced 100% of his crosses, took no shots and was accurate with just 50% of his long balls.
Minutes
69
Expected Assists
0.02
Dribbled Past
1
Passing Accuracy
18/23 (78%)
Ground Duels (Won)
5 (2)
Lost Possession
11
Fouls
2
Crosses (Accurate)
1 (0)
Shots
0
Long Balls (Accurate)
4 (2)
In all, the unfortunate right-back had a full debut to forget, and in the process, he also ruined the full league debut of one of his teammates, a teammate who played well.
George Hirst's impressive performance
Yes, the player in question is 25-year-old centre-forward George Hirst, who, like Clarke, was making his first Premier League start yesterday.
However, unlike the defender, the Sheffield-born poacher was excellent in 73 minutes of action, scoring once, providing an assist and surely putting himself in the picture for more minutes and potentially even more starts as the season progresses.
We aren’t the only ones who were seriously impressed with the “powerful” striker, as dubbed by journalist Alan Biggs, either, as Alex Jones was full of praise, awarding him an 8/10 on the day and writing that it was a ‘really strong showing on his first Premier League start’ and that ‘he was a nuisance running in behind’ throughout his time on the pitch.
Unfortunately for the 6 foot 3 marksman, all of his hard work in earning the Blues a two-goal lead was undone in large part thanks to his teammate’s own goal, the penalty he gave away and the sending-off to boot.
However, with all of that said, while Clarke’s disaster class ultimately means Hirst’s brilliant display amounted to nothing, the fans, and more crucially, McKenna, now know how effective he can be in certain situations in the top-flight.
£8m profit: Ipswich hit gold selling goalscorer once compared to Shearer
Ipswich sold the young striker at the perfect time.
ByJack Salveson HolmesOct 25, 2024
