Isak's Brace Sparks Liverpool's First Win Under Iraola
Three minutes to remember. Three minutes that might yet rescue a £125m narrative.
Under the Portman Road floodlights, with the noise still swirling around Bradley Barcola’s long-awaited debut, it was Alexander Isak who ripped the evening away from the headline writers and stamped his name all over Andoni Iraola’s first Premier League win as Liverpool manager.
Two goals in three first‑half minutes. His first brace for the club. Just his fifth and sixth league strikes since swapping Newcastle for Merseyside. Suddenly, the most scrutinised No 9 in the division looked like a centre-forward reborn.
“If he is fit, if he is available, if he is in good shape, I think he will produce the numbers,” Iraola said afterwards. On this evidence, the numbers might finally be coming.
Echoes of Slot, but a very different Liverpool
Portman Road has heard this tune before. Two years ago, Arne Slot walked out here for his first game as Liverpool manager and left with a 2-0 win that quietly lit the fuse on a title-winning campaign. Same scoreline, same opponent, same sense of a fresh era beginning.
Nobody around Liverpool is talking about titles this time. Slot’s side opened that season with 11 wins from 13; Iraola’s first two games were messy, nervy, disjointed. This felt more like a reset than a statement. A line drawn under a shaky start, a first clean sheet, a forward line that finally clicked.
At the heart of it, again, was Cody Gakpo.
Gakpo, the quiet conductor
For all the pre-match fuss about Barcola and the cathartic release of Isak’s brace, Gakpo ran the game in the final third.
A goal on opening day against Newcastle. An assist at Nottingham Forest. Now two more assists here, both for Isak, and a performance that underlined why Liverpool fought off Manchester City last week when an £80m move looked close.
Iraola never blinked.
“I had no doubt with Cody,” he said. “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.”
You could see why. One threaded pass sliced Ipswich open for the opener. Then came the flourish: a gorgeous outside-of-the-foot “trivela” that sent Isak clear for his second. Late on, Gakpo even shifted into the No 9 role for the final half-hour, another reminder of his tactical value in Liverpool’s most crowded area of the pitch.
And he did it the way Iraola wants his football to look: forward first, risk before safety. The Spaniard praised Gakpo’s willingness to gamble with quick, vertical passes rather than recycling possession.
“When we recover the ball, look forward,” Iraola said. “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.
Selection calls and a looming logjam
The obvious problem now? Too many attackers, not enough spaces.
Gakpo has been outstanding from the left. Barcola has been bought to play there. Victor Munoz impressed again on the right. Rio Ngumoha is waiting for his chance. Somewhere in that traffic jam, Iraola has to find a shape that keeps the goals flowing and the egos in check.
He was not afraid to make bold calls here. Ronald Araujo, on loan from Barcelona, started at right back ahead of the much-maligned Jeremie Frimpong. Barcola, who missed PSG’s entire pre-season because of France’s World Cup run, began on the bench. Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai were again unleashed as onrushing No 8s, repeatedly arriving in shooting positions from deep.
Both midfielders peppered the Ipswich goal. Both left frustrated that their names were not on the scoresheet.
Ipswich’s streak snapped with a whimper
On the other side, this was a night Gary O’Neil will want to bin and move on from quickly.
Ipswich came into the game on an 18-match unbeaten home league run. They had beaten Sunderland on the opening weekend and held their own for 40 minutes at Old Trafford last Sunday. Here, they were stretched, ragged and repeatedly exposed.
The back four never recovered from Liverpool’s fast start, and the gaping hole in front of them – where Szoboszlai and Wirtz kept surging into space – left them constantly scrambling. When Ipswich did break Iraola’s ferocious high press, there were glimpses of threat: Abdul Fatawu repeatedly beat Milos Kerkez down the right, and Araujo had to intervene desperately to cut out what looked a certain tap-in from Julio Enciso’s cross.
But the final ball lacked conviction. The finishing lacked calm. In a high-pitched, expectant atmosphere, Ipswich’s unbeaten run at Portman Road ended not with fury or drama, but with a kind of resigned sigh.
Isak’s three-minute surge
The damage came early.
Six minutes in, Liverpool pounced. Gakpo slipped a delicate, precise pass between defenders and into Isak’s stride. The Swede drilled low at the near post. Kjell Scherpen, the Ipswich goalkeeper, will not enjoy the replay; he got down but failed to turn it away.
Before Ipswich could reset, they were cut apart again. Gakpo, again, saw the run, this time wrapping his right boot around the ball to send an outside-of-the-foot pass in behind. Isak, suddenly buoyant, chopped one way, then the other, and swept his left-foot finish past a helpless Daniel Iversen.
Iraola spun away in celebration. In the away end, the chant rolled down the stands: “Isak again ole ole.”
From there, Liverpool should have buried the game before the interval. Szoboszlai fired a series of efforts at goal, only for Iversen to respond with strong saves. Isak thought he had his first Liverpool hat-trick, but strayed clumsily offside as he met Wirtz’s cross.
Control, chances, and a long-awaited debut
Ipswich flickered after the break but never burned. Each time they stepped up, Liverpool swatted them back.
Alexis MacAllister should have killed the contest, somehow heading straight at Iversen from close range. Szoboszlai briefly thought he had won a penalty when Leif Davis tugged his shirt in the box, but VAR ruled him offside in the build-up.
Then came the surprise. On 63 minutes, with a hat-trick still in reach, Iraola hauled Isak off. No visible knock, just a decision to manage minutes and protect a player whose fitness has been a constant subplot since his move from Newcastle.
The mild murmur of discontent lasted all of a few seconds. Barcola stepped onto the pitch at the same moment, greeted by huge cheers from the travelling support. His first touches told their own story: sharp turns, quick feet, and one burst of pure acceleration in behind that will have right-backs across the league taking notice.
The end product can wait. The raw tools are obvious.
A night that might matter more than it looks
Liverpool have only once gone seven Premier League games without a win. That was 24 years ago. Iraola arrived at Portman Road with that statistic lurking in the background and the weight of a chaotic opening fortnight on his shoulders.
He left with a comfortable 2-0 victory, a clean sheet, his marquee No 9 on the scoresheet twice and his record signing finally in a Liverpool shirt. Gakpo is thriving. Wirtz and Szoboszlai are getting chances. Barcola is up to speed at last.
The bill for this attack is enormous: Isak, Barcola, Wirtz. Iraola’s tenure may hinge on whether he can turn those price tags into goals and points.
If it does work, we might look back at an away day in East Anglia – three minutes of ruthlessness, and one debut under the lights – as the night it all truly began.
