Cody Gakpo Shines in Liverpool's Victory Against Suffolk
Cody Gakpo walked off into the Suffolk night with the questions answered for him. The noise around a summer exit? Silenced. The doubts about his place in Andoni Iraola’s new Liverpool? Blown away by 90 minutes of authority and invention.
This was his game. Liverpool’s 2-0 win was dressed up as a routine away victory, but beneath the scoreline lay a performance that underlined exactly why the club have been so reluctant to even entertain the idea of letting him go.
Gakpo didn’t just assist. He conducted.
His understanding with Isak, still in its early chapters, suddenly looked like something Liverpool could build a season around. Speaking afterwards, the Netherlands forward sounded like a man who knows there is more to come from that partnership.
“Yeah, we will see. We always train together, and always try to get to know each other better. Hopefully we can assist each other many times. He owes me a few assists now!”
he joked, the grin almost audible.
The numbers backed up the mood. Two goals for Isak, both laid on by Gakpo, inside a wild nine-minute spell that ripped the game away from the hosts and turned it into a controlled away job. Liverpool had been accused of drifting in Iraola’s first two league matches, both 2-2 draws. Here, when the door opened, they smashed through it.
Isak is playing as if someone has hit fast-forward on his career. The Sweden international has already matched his entire Premier League goal tally from last season in just three appearances this term, and he is finishing like a man who expects the net to move for him.
His brace – sharp, ruthless, instinctive – carried more weight than just three points. That “nine minutes of madness” saw the former Newcastle man equal a milestone no Liverpool player had touched in over a decade, matching a feat set by Maxi Rodriguez. Different eras, same ruthless streak.
Behind it all, Gakpo’s fingerprints were everywhere. He drifted between the lines, linked play, picked passes that hurt. When Liverpool needed calm, he slowed it. When they needed incision, he sped it up. It was the kind of all-round display that makes transfer speculation feel faintly ridiculous.
He knew how important it was too. “I think it was a great game today,” he told Sky Sports. “Obviously some things we have to improve still but a much-needed win for us, and I'm really glad that we got the three points.”
For Iraola, it was more than just “much-needed”. It was a small but vital landmark. After those two draws to start his reign, the narrative was already forming: could this Liverpool side finish games? Could they protect leads? In Suffolk, they answered with a professional, controlled performance that allowed their manager to finally tick off his first win in the Liverpool dugout.
The victory also kept an unwanted statistic at arm’s length. Iraola avoided becoming the first Liverpool boss since Brendan Rodgers to go winless in his opening three Premier League matches. Thin margins in August and September can shape the tone of an entire season. This one fell his way.
Virgil van Dijk, armband on and message clear, liked what he saw. The captain pointed to a subtle but important tweak in approach.
“I think we were a little bit more direct in the beginning, which is what we wanted to put the danger in their half and create a bit of chaos,” he said. “Great goals. Cody was outstanding. Great win, and on to the next.”
Direct. Dangerous. Chaotic in the right areas. It suited Gakpo perfectly. He thrived on the early balls forward, on the space that opened up when Liverpool turned the game into a contest of duels and second balls rather than sterile possession.
Van Dijk didn’t just praise the performance. He underlined the bigger picture. With clubs circling during the window, Liverpool’s stance on Gakpo never really wavered – and the captain made it clear why.
“Massive. I said it before the transfer window had closed, he's important for us, and he will be important this season.”
On nights like this, that sounds less like an opinion and more like a statement of fact.
Iraola now has his first win, his centre-forward firing, and his creative hub making a compelling case to stay exactly where he is. If this is what Gakpo produces with transfer noise ringing in his ears, what happens when the window closes and the only sound left is the roar from the Kop?
