Isak Shines as Liverpool Secures First Win Under Iraola

Three minutes. That was all it took for Alexander Isak to rip up the script at Portman Road and, just maybe, restart a Liverpool career that had begun to look a little stuck in neutral.

All the noise before kick-off circled around Bradley Barcola, the joint-most expensive signing in English football history finally ready for more than a cameo in Liverpool red. Yet when the Suffolk floodlights dimmed on Friday night, it was Isak’s name echoing loudest from the away end – and Cody Gakpo’s fingerprints all over the night.

Isak explodes, Gakpo conducts

This was a badly needed, morale-soaked evening for Isak. The Sweden international has worn the weight of that £125m move from Newcastle for a year with only four league goals to show for it. Here, he doubled that tally in the space of three ruthless first-half minutes.

First, on six minutes, Gakpo slid a precise, threaded ball into his strike partner, Isak peeling off the shoulder of a ragged Ipswich back line. The finish was sharp at the near post, but Kjell Scherpen will not enjoy the replay; the Dutch goalkeeper got down but failed to push it away.

Before Ipswich could reset, Liverpool sliced through again. Gakpo, this time with a gorgeous outside-of-the-boot pass, sent Isak racing in behind. One chop, then another, defenders stumbling, and a cool left-foot finish past the exposed Iversen. Two shots, two goals, and Iraola sprinting down the touchline in delight as the away fans chanted: “Isak again, ole ole.”

For Andoni Iraola, chasing his first Premier League win as Liverpool manager, the pressure eased in an instant.

“With Alex, if he is fit, if he is available, if he is in good shape, I think he will produce the numbers,” the Spaniard said afterwards. On this evidence, that faith might finally be repaid.

Gakpo at the heart of everything

And yet, even on Isak’s night, Gakpo quietly ran the show.

A goal on the opening weekend against Newcastle. An assist against Nottingham Forest. Now two more defence-splitting passes to create Isak’s brace, plus a stint as No 9 for the final half-hour. In a squad stacked with attacking talent, the Dutchman is playing like a man determined not to be the one sacrificed.

All this while an £80m move to Manchester City seemed to be edging closer only a week ago.

“I had no doubt with Cody,” Iraola insisted. “He has been very good all the pre-season, has started the season very well, producing numbers. I think Cody knows how much we value him… I rate him very highly.”

The manager also highlighted what separates Gakpo in his system: risk. The instinct to look forward immediately, to gamble.

“This is part of the process; we want to risk,” Iraola said. “When we recover the ball, look forward. It’s the moment you can find some spaces between the defenders and we can give the No 9 chances. If we play ‘safety passes’, the chance won’t be there.”

Florian Wirtz, take note.

Iraola’s attacking puzzle

That philosophy is already shaping a new-look Liverpool front line – and presenting Iraola with a welcome headache.

Gakpo has been devastating from the left. Barcola, signed to operate in that very zone, is now pressing for minutes. Victor Munoz impressed again on the right. Rio Ngumoha waits in the wings. Somewhere inside that cluster of forwards, a fixed attacking trio has to emerge.

Can Iraola really move Gakpo away from the flank where he has been so influential? The answer, given Barcola’s price tag and profile, will probably be yes. But not without a fight.

Behind them, Szoboszlai and Wirtz stormed through Ipswich’s midfield with regularity, both finding pockets of space and both racking up shots from the edge of the box. Neither found the net, and both left the pitch frustrated, but the lanes they ran through said plenty about Ipswich’s shape.

Ipswich unravel as Liverpool press bites

For Ipswich, this was a jarring comedown. They arrived with confidence: a win over Sunderland on the opening weekend, 40 impressive minutes at Old Trafford last Sunday, and an 18-game unbeaten home league run.

That record vanished with a whimper.

Liverpool’s high press, so disjointed in the first two games of Iraola’s tenure, clicked here. When Ipswich did break the first wave, they found space and some joy – but never the composure to make it count.

Julio Enciso’s low cross flashed across goal only for Ronald Araujo, starting at right back ahead of the much-maligned Jeremie Frimpong, to intervene at the last second when a tap-in seemed certain. Abdul Fatawu repeatedly beat Milos Kerkez down the right but wasted his openings with wild finishing.

At the other end, Ipswich’s back four received precious little protection. The double threat of Szoboszlai and Wirtz surged at them time and again, running into a gaping zone that should have been shielded. Both midfielders had multiple sights of goal. Both failed to convert. The scoreline, at times, flattered the hosts.

Missed chances and a controlled second half

If there was a criticism of Liverpool’s frontline, it was their failure to kill the game before the interval. Isak strayed clumsily offside when he might have completed a first Liverpool hat-trick from a Wirtz cross. Szoboszlai tested Iversen a couple of times, the Ipswich keeper standing firm.

After the break, the pattern hardened. Liverpool dominated territory, the hosts snatching at counter-attacks when they came.

Alexis MacAllister should have ended any lingering doubt, heading straight at Iversen from close range. Szoboszlai briefly thought he had a penalty for a shirt pull by Leif Davis, only for VAR to rule him offside in the build-up.

Then came the moment everyone had waited for.

Barcola’s first steps

On 63 minutes, Iraola made the call that drew gasps: Isak off, no hat-trick. The surprise barely had time to settle before it was replaced by noise. Barcola, Liverpool’s blockbuster summer signing, trotted on to a roar from the away section.

The early signs? Electric.

A few sharp turns in tight spaces. Rapid changes of direction. One burst in behind that made it obvious why Liverpool were prepared to pay so heavily for him. He has missed all of PSG’s pre-season because of France’s World Cup run, so sharpness will come later. The raw pace is already there. Right-backs up and down the league have been warned.

A line in the sand?

Two years ago, Arne Slot’s first win as Liverpool manager also came at Ipswich, also 2-0. That day quietly lit the fuse on a title-winning season, only the club’s second in 35 years.

Nobody inside Portman Road on Friday will seriously claim this victory signals a repeat of that campaign. Slot’s side opened that season with 11 wins from 13. Iraola’s Liverpool have stumbled through their first two games and arrived here needing calm, not coronations.

They got what they needed. A clean sheet. A first league win for their new manager. Their leading No 9 back among the goals. Their record signing finally on the pitch. And a historic wobble avoided: Liverpool have only once gone seven Premier League games without a win, 24 years ago. There was no danger of that statistic being revisited.

For Iraola, the task is clear. He must turn the club’s high-priced trio – Isak, Barcola, Wirtz – into a ruthless, coherent machine. If that happens, this routine away win in East Anglia might not just be a footnote. It might be remembered as the night everything clicked into gear.