Alexander Isak Shines as Liverpool Secures First Win of the Season
Alexander Isak walked into Portman Road on Friday night as Liverpool’s £125m problem. He walked out looking every inch like the £125m solution.
Two goals in nine ruthless minutes from the Sweden striker settled a 2-0 win over newly promoted Ipswich Town, delivered Liverpool’s first Premier League victory of the season and handed Andoni Iraola his maiden league triumph since replacing the sacked Arne Slot. On paper, routine. In reality, it felt like the night Isak finally turned up.
Yes, the context matters. Ipswich were spirited but fragile, still bearing the scars of the five they conceded at Manchester United a week earlier. They were willing, they were open, and against Liverpool’s attacking quality they were always likely to suffer. But this was about more than three points against a soft target. This was about a record signing who had been drifting dangerously towards the “vanity purchase” pile suddenly looking like the player Liverpool thought they were stealing from Newcastle United.
And it wasn’t just him.
Cody Gakpo, who spent much of the summer seemingly destined for Manchester City, produced the kind of performance that makes Liverpool quietly grateful a couple of transfer moves elsewhere collapsed. He orchestrated the game with a calm authority, stitched attacks together, and carved open Ipswich twice to give Isak the platform to finally announce himself.
Barcola’s flash, Isak’s night
Even the £123m arrival of Bradley Barcola – and a 26‑minute debut full of raw, devastating pace – ended up as a side note. The Frenchman hinted at what he will bring, stretching the game and terrifying tired legs, but this was Isak’s stage.
Twelve months ago, the same player looked lost. He arrived from Tyneside out of condition, having effectively downed tools to force his move, then disappeared into a fog of injuries and poor form. While Liverpool’s title defence imploded and Slot’s reign unravelled within a year of lifting the Premier League trophy, Isak came to symbolise the excess: the record-breaking signing who barely flickered.
The numbers were brutal. Twenty-two games, 1,033 minutes, four goals. In the league, 703 minutes and three goals – one every 234 minutes. He was outshone by Hugo Ekitike, overshadowed in almost every metric, and often looked like he was playing a different, slower game to everyone around him.
Here, though, he looked like himself again – the Newcastle version. The one who lives on the shoulder, darts in behind and presses defenders into mistakes. The one who scares backlines with movement, not just price tags.
And he did it in perfect tandem with Gakpo.
The Dutch forward could easily have been preparing for Manchester City’s fixture against Coventry City at Etihad Stadium this weekend. He was open to joining Enzo Maresca’s reshaped squad, but Liverpool’s failure to land Yankuba Minteh from Brighton or Ismaila Sarr from Crystal Palace shut that door. Fate intervened. Liverpool kept him. Ipswich paid the price.
Two passes, two finishes, game done
The damage came early and brutally.
On six minutes, Gakpo slid a clever ball between Leif Davis and Jacob Greaves, inviting Isak to burst into the gap. The striker didn’t hesitate. One touch, then a thumped right-foot drive that carried too much power for Kjell Scherpen. The Ipswich goalkeeper still should have done better than simply help it into his own net, but Isak didn’t care. Nor did Liverpool.
Three minutes later, the move was pure theatre.
From inside his own half, Gakpo wrapped his right foot around the ball and sent a gorgeous outside‑of‑the‑boot pass arcing into space. Isak read it early, gliding onto it before using a deft left-foot flick to shift inside Greaves as Scherpen charged out. A nudge with his right sent the keeper the wrong way, a cool left-foot roll finished the job.
From Gakpo’s vision to Isak’s composure, it was perfection. And it killed the contest before Ipswich had even settled.
For Isak, it felt like a release. He had been poor in Liverpool’s opening‑day draw at Newcastle, his return to Tyneside soured by a flat display despite the emotional backdrop. Even in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, when he did score, questions lingered about his overall contribution.
This time there was no caveat. This was Isak at full tilt, used correctly and responding in kind.
Iraola’s demands, Isak’s response
Iraola knows what he has on his hands.
"He's a massive player for us," the Liverpool manager said afterwards. "My demands will probably not be about the goals. I know he is fit and in good shape. He's going to produce the numbers.
"My fight with him will be more about other stuff, how to help the team in other situations - but it is good he has already played two full games, scoring the goals, so I am very happy to have him."
Isak’s own assessment carried the air of someone who understands the stakes.
"We were waiting for the first win," he said. "We talked about starting the game good, which we haven't done recently, so it was perfect for us to get two good quick goals.
"With a normal pre-season, I think we are starting to get to the way we want to play. To be offensive and attack the defence. I think we did that. We scored two, and we could have scored more."
He did not shy away from the bleakness of last season either.
"It was not easy. It was obviously a long injury and a difficult season in general. I was thinking to have a good World Cup, and then to start off the season well, which I think I have done now. It's kind of behind me, but it wasn't easy."
Portman Road, for now, feels like his sanctuary. Since the start of the 2024-25 season, his five Premier League goals there are the joint most by any player at an away ground, level with Erling Haaland’s haul against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. For a striker rebuilding his reputation, those are the kind of quirks that help reshape a narrative.
Gakpo’s second act
Gakpo, too, is writing a different story. He struggled to find rhythm last season, caught between positions and systems as Liverpool lurched through their title defence. Here, he looked liberated.
This was the elegant Netherlands international at his best – not only the two assists, but the way he dictated tempo, drifted into pockets, and repeatedly found angles that Ipswich simply couldn’t close.
Virgil van Dijk, his captain for club and country, did not hide his relief that Gakpo is still in red rather than sky blue.
"It's massive. I said it before the transfer window had closed," Van Dijk said. "He's important for us, and he will be important this season. He showed it here. He showed it last week as well, and over the last couple of years. He needs to just keep going."
That last line might as well have been addressed to Isak as well.
Liverpool have seen false dawns before with big-money forwards. Iraola will know one electric night in Suffolk does not erase a troubled first year. But if this is the template – Isak running in behind, Gakpo threading passes, Barcola exploding off the bench – then Liverpool’s attack suddenly looks like a weapon again.
The question now is simple: was this just Ipswich, or the first glimpse of a Liverpool front line finally ready to live up to its price tags?
