Cody Gakpo's Impact in Liverpool's Premier League Win

Andoni Iraola never blinked. Not when the rumours swirled. Not when the bids came. And certainly not when Cody Gakpo walked off at Portman Road having ripped Ipswich Town apart.

On a sharp Friday night in Suffolk, Liverpool finally collected their first Premier League win of the season, a controlled 2-0 victory that owed everything to Gakpo’s authority and Alexander Isak’s ruthless finishing.

Two attacks. Two assists. Game done inside nine minutes.

Gakpo answers a summer of noise

All summer, Gakpo’s name sat at the heart of the transfer storm. Tottenham were linked. Manchester City went further, ready to drop £85m to drag him out of Anfield. The Dutchman, by all accounts, was open to talking. The clock ticked. The window tightened.

Liverpool held their nerve.

They simply couldn’t find a replacement they trusted, and Iraola – newly in the dugout and still shaping his Liverpool – refused to treat Gakpo as expendable. On this evidence, he was right.

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

Those numbers arrived early at Portman Road. Twice Gakpo picked out Isak, twice the Swede punished Ipswich. The home crowd barely had time to settle before Liverpool’s left side had carved them open.

The performance, though, went beyond the two assists. As the tempo dropped and the game demanded control rather than chaos, Gakpo shifted role and responsibility.

“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.”

Versatile, trusted, and now central to Iraola’s plans – a far cry from the summer narrative of a player edging towards the exit.

Competition bites in Liverpool’s new-look attack

Liverpool’s attack has been rebuilt with a clear edge: nobody is guaranteed anything.

Iraola made that point bluntly when asked about Gakpo’s mentality and status within the squad.

“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. He has also strong competition for minutes because we have good players in those positions, and it’s a matter of pushing each other.

“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.”

That one line – sometimes they will not play – landed with particular weight when you consider the price tag attached to Bradley Barcola.

Liverpool spent £123m to bring the Frenchman in this summer. He did not start at Portman Road.

Barcola’s cautious introduction

Barcola’s cameo came late, a 30–minute glimpse rather than a grand unveiling. Iraola knows exactly why.

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

The threat was there, even if the final touch or pass never quite landed.

“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,” Iraola said. “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?

“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.”

The message to the fanbase was clear: patience, not panic.

“I think it’s normal, he hasn’t played any pre-season minutes,” Iraola added. “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.”

Iraola’s frontline vision takes shape

One game into the league campaign, the hierarchy in Liverpool’s attack already feels sharper. Gakpo, once seen as a potential casualty of a new era, has instead become its standard-bearer. Isak is finishing the chances. Barcola is waiting, dangerous in the shadows, still building towards full tilt.

For now, Iraola’s gamble in resisting an £85m sale looks like one of the early calls that could define his reign. If Gakpo keeps bending games to his will like this, how long before the talk shifts from “nearly sold” to “indispensable”?