Cody Gakpo Shines in Liverpool's 2-0 Victory

Andoni Iraola never doubted Cody Gakpo. Not when the rumours swirled all summer. Not when the money on the table touched £85m. And certainly not on a sharp, cool night at Portman Road as Liverpool finally kicked their Premier League season into gear.

Gakpo answered the noise with football.

Two assists in nine breathless minutes, both laid on for Alexander Isak, set Liverpool on their way to a 2-0 win over newly promoted Ipswich Town and gave Iraola his first league victory as Liverpool head coach. It was ruthless, efficient, and driven by a winger who spent the summer with one foot – at least in the headlines – out of the door.

Gakpo shines after summer of speculation

For weeks, Gakpo’s name sat at the centre of the transfer storm. Tottenham were strongly linked. Manchester City pushed harder. The Premier League champions were prepared to go to £85m for the Netherlands international, sensing an opportunity as the window ticked towards its close.

Liverpool listened. They looked. But they never found a replacement they trusted. The clock ran down, the door stayed shut, and Gakpo stayed at Anfield.

On this evidence, Iraola is more than content with that outcome.

“I had no doubt with Cody,” he told reporters after the win at Ipswich. “He has been very, very good. All pre-season, and has started very well this season, producing numbers.”

The numbers at Portman Road were simple and devastating. Twice he picked out Isak with precision, twice Liverpool scored, and the contest was effectively over before Ipswich could settle. Gakpo then finished the game as a No. 9, working the line, helping Liverpool close it down with a maturity that underlined exactly why Iraola fought to keep him.

“Today, even after the two assists, he finishes as the No. 9 to help us close the game,” Iraola said. “It’s good to have Cody because he can play in the three positions up top, like all of our other players. To have him in this place for the beginning of the season is good.”

“I will demand a lot of him”

Iraola did not just praise Gakpo’s versatility. He leaned into the standards he expects.

“I think Cody knows how much we value him. I think there is no doubt. I rate him very highly,” he said. “I will demand a lot of him, obviously.”

The demand will be real. Liverpool’s attack is suddenly crowded and expensive. Gakpo is competing with £123m summer signing Bradley Barcola, as well as Rio and Victor, for those wide and central attacking roles.

“He has also strong competition for minutes because we have good players in those positions, and it’s a matter of pushing each other,” Iraola added. “Now with Bradley, with Rio, with Victor, it’s a matter of sometimes they will start, sometimes they will come from the bench, sometimes they will not play. But this competition, I think, is going to be good for our team.”

For Gakpo, that means every performance has weight. At Ipswich, he looked like a player intent on making sure he is the one Iraola cannot leave out.

Barcola’s cautious introduction

While Gakpo stole the headlines, all eyes also tracked Barcola’s first competitive minutes in a Liverpool shirt. The club’s record signing arrived with fanfare but also with a caveat: he had not played a single minute since the World Cup.

Iraola handled him carefully.

“I think Bradley hadn’t played a single minute since the World Cup so we needed to be careful,” he said. “I think he is training well, in a good place, and I think that he has helped us.”

Barcola came off the bench and immediately offered flashes of what Liverpool paid for. Iraola felt his team could have used him better.

“Probably, we haven’t found him in a couple of situations where I think he was going against the ‘keeper, but we haven’t really seen his movements,” the coach reflected.

Even so, the threat was obvious. Barcola drove at defenders, carried the ball with intent and, at one point, released a sharp counter-attack that ended with a chance for Gakpo which went unfinished.

“And also he has had a very good counter, very good passing side that I think Cody finished, but we didn’t score. But he was always a threat, you know?” Iraola said. “When he carries the ball, I think you can feel this threat and I’m happy because I think 30 minutes is going to be good for his fitness, for his build-up, and we will continue because now we play a lot of games, so he will have a chance to play more.”

Patience and pressure

The message around Barcola is clear: be patient, but do not lower expectations.

“I think it’s normal, he hasn’t played any pre-season minutes,” Iraola explained. “I think he’s still in a good place. I don’t think he will need something like a very special build-up, but we have to be aware that he hasn’t been playing in a while and the demands of the games are very different from training, so we have got to consider this.”

Liverpool’s schedule will not allow much breathing space. Matches will come quickly, and Iraola intends to rotate his forward line. That rotation will test egos and resilience, but it also gives him weapons to change games from the bench.

For now, though, one thing is settled. Amid a summer of doubt and a market ready to pull him away, Cody Gakpo stayed – and on the first real night that mattered, he played like a man determined to make this Liverpool attack his stage.