Isak Shines in Liverpool's First Premier League Win Under Iraola

Three minutes. That was all it took for Alexander Isak to rip the night away from Ipswich and hand Andoni Iraola his first Premier League win as Liverpool manager.

Under the lights at Portman Road, with all eyes trained on Bradley Barcola’s long-awaited bow, it was the Swede – not the £125m headline act of the summer – who finally looked like a record signing.

Isak explodes, Gakpo conducts

Isak has worn the weight of that £125m move from Newcastle for a year now. On Friday, he shook some of it off.

Loitering on the shoulder of a rattled Ipswich back line, he struck twice in three first-half minutes – his first brace in Liverpool colours, only his fifth and sixth league goals for the club. Two finishes, one ruthless spell, and Iraola’s first comfortable victory in the Reds dugout.

“With Alex, 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 manager has every right to demand them.

The night had a familiar feel for Liverpool. Two years ago, it was at this same ground that Arne Slot collected his first win as Liverpool manager, a 2-0 on the opening day that quietly launched a title-winning campaign. No one around Liverpool is talking about that kind of season yet – Slot’s side opened with 11 wins from 13 – but Iraola badly needed a marker after two messy opening games. This looked like one.

If Isak grabs the headlines, Cody Gakpo wrote the script.

The Dutchman has started the season like a man refusing to be moved. A goal against Newcastle on the opening weekend, an assist against Nottingham Forest, and here he was again, dictating everything in the most crowded area of Liverpool’s squad.

His first contribution was a simple, devastating idea executed perfectly: one neat, threaded pass that split Ipswich and sent Isak darting into space. The finish at the near post was firm enough, but Kjell Scherpen will not enjoy the replay; the Ipswich goalkeeper should have done more than wave it in.

Moments later, Gakpo went from precise to outrageous. A sweeping outside-of-the-foot ball curved behind the defence, Isak chopped one way, then the other, and slid his left-footed finish past a helpless Daniel Iversen. Two shots, two goals, and Iraola spinning away in delight on the touchline as the away end chanted, “Isak again ole ole.”

All this from a player who, a week ago, seemed to be edging towards an £80m move to Manchester City.

“I had no doubt with Cody,” Iraola 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 think there is no doubt. I rate him very highly.”

The manager also highlighted the thing that defined Liverpool’s performance: risk. Gakpo kept turning forward, refusing the safe square ball, firing passes into tight spaces for his No 9. Florian Wirtz, watching and probing from midfield, was given a public nudge. “This is part of the process; we want to risk,” Iraola explained. “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.”

A crowded attack, a clear problem

The question now for Iraola is not whether he has enough firepower, but how on earth he fits it all in.

Gakpo has been excellent from the left, but that is precisely where Barcola was bought to play. The Frenchman, Liverpool’s joint-most expensive signing in history, finally stepped out in red after a summer overshadowed by France’s World Cup run and a missed pre-season at PSG.

Can Iraola really shift Gakpo inside or across the front line? Probably. He tried it here, using him as a No 9 for the final half-hour. But that only raises more headaches. Victor Munoz impressed again on the right. Rio Ngumoha waits in the wings. Wirtz roams in the half-spaces. These are the kind of problems a coach wants, but they are problems all the same.

Behind them, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wirtz repeatedly flooded the space in front of Ipswich’s back four, who spent most of the night exposed and overwhelmed. Both midfielders had multiple chances and will be irritated to have left without a goal.

Ronald Araujo, on loan from Barcelona, came in at right back ahead of the criticised Jeremie Frimpong and looked assured. Barcola had to watch the opening hour from the bench. It did not matter. Liverpool, for once this season, did not blink early.

Ipswich unravel as Liverpool press home control

Ipswich came into the night with reasons to believe. They had beaten Sunderland on the opening weekend and matched Manchester United for 40 minutes at Old Trafford. At home, they had gone 18 league games unbeaten.

That record disappeared with barely a fight.

Gary O’Neil’s side were stretched from the start, harried by Iraola’s intense high press and carved open through the middle. When they did manage to break that first wave, there were glimpses of threat. Abdul Fatawu repeatedly beat Milos Kerkez on the right but wasted his openings with wayward finishing. Araujo produced a crucial intervention from Julio Enciso’s low cross when an Ipswich tap-in seemed certain.

Those moments never turned into anything more. Ipswich lacked composure in the final third and conviction at the back. In a raucous atmosphere, the home team simply never found a rhythm.

Liverpool, by contrast, could argue the only flaw in their first half was the scoreline. Szoboszlai stung Iversen’s palms with a series of efforts from range. Isak strayed clumsily offside when a first Liverpool hat-trick beckoned from a Wirtz cross. The game should have been buried by the interval.

The second half underlined the gulf. Alexis MacAllister somehow planted a free header straight at Iversen when it looked easier to score. Szoboszlai thought he had a penalty when Leif Davis tugged his shirt, only for VAR to intervene and rule him offside in the build-up.

Then came the moment the away end had waited for.

Barcola finally steps into the light

On 63 minutes, with Isak denied his hat-trick and withdrawn to a ripple of surprise, Barcola finally emerged.

The reaction from the travelling fans said everything about the expectation around him. This was not a quiet introduction. Every early touch drew a murmur, every sprint a roar.

He did not score. He did not assist. He did not need to. The first impressions were enough: sharp changes of direction, quick feet in tight spaces, and a burst of pace in behind that will keep right backs awake across the division. After a lost pre-season, this was just a glimpse, but a tantalising one.

For Iraola, the night ticked all the boxes that had remained stubbornly empty after two games. Liverpool had gone six Premier League matches without a win only once in 24 years; they were not about to allow this to become a second such run. A clean sheet, a dominant away performance, his No 9 scoring twice, his marquee winger finally on the pitch.

Now comes the hard part. Can he turn the club’s high-priced collection – Isak, Barcola, Wirtz, Gakpo – into a coherent, relentless front line? If Liverpool do end up looking back on this season as a turning point, they might just circle this away day in East Anglia as the night it all started to click.