Oliver Glasner says his side have been working hard on their defensive progress this season, rewarded by their clean sheet at Portman Road - but that facing Manchester City will be one of their toughest tests of the season.
"I'm very pleased," he said of his defenders, speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference. "We're always talking and we're analysing.
"If you don't always score three or four goals, then you have to reduce the goals you concede, and this is what we could do. It's also the amount of chances we allowed the opposite team, especially from open play, we reduced dramatically in a positive way.
"Now we're quite stable in defending set-plays. The last games we struggled a little bit in this area, so again it's an all-over-the-year process, and this is what we're talking about. We're trying to find solutions.
"The back three, it's their sixth or seventh game together. You have to get to know each other, how everybody's playing, what they need and how we want to play, and everything gets more settled.
"So it looks better. But also, to be honest, I think we need a better defending team performance than against Ipswich and Newcastle to control this brilliant City offence."
After Jean-Philippe Mateta revealed he had been talking to the goalkeeping coaches to try to hone his finishing abilities, Glasner emphasised that this was further indication of his character.
"He did [it himself] - I didn't tell him to talk to the goalkeeper's coach," the manager said. "I think this also shows JP.
"He's the best finisher. Maybe Wout Weghorst at Wolfsburg was similar, when he got the ball in the box he was a great finisher, but all the others didn't have such a finishing quality like JP
"With the right foot, with the left foot and even with the head, this is his biggest strength.
"Now it's our job to create situations, where he can get the ball in these dangerous areas, because then we know he will score goals for us."
