Liverpool registered Andoni Iraola’s first Premier League victory as head coach with a sharp early burst at Portman Road, where Alexander Isak scored twice inside nine minutes to ensure the visitors kept their first clean sheet of his tenure.
After opening the campaign with 2-2 draws against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, Liverpool finally found the decisive edge their start had lacked. Cody Gakpo created both goals, Isak finished them, and the remainder of the evening became an exercise in protecting the lead they had built almost immediately.
Isak’s quick double puts Liverpool in control
Portman Road barely had time to settle before Liverpool had the game exactly where they wanted it. Iraola’s side pressed with more purpose than they had shown in their first two league matches, winning the ball high up the pitch and finding Isak in the spaces that mattered.
The first goal arrived in the sixth minute, with Gakpo supplying the pass and Isak applying the finish. Three minutes later, the same combination struck again, this time in more emphatic style. Gakpo bent a long, outside-of-the-boot pass behind the Ipswich defence, allowing Isak to adjust his feet and drive a low finish home to make it 2-0.
That burst effectively settled the shape of the match. Liverpool had the cushion, Ipswich were left to chase, and the visitors could play from a position of control even without dominating the chance count across the full 90 minutes.
Isak nearly had a first-half hat-trick, only for another finish from a Florian Wirtz cross to be ruled out for offside. Even so, the damage was already done. His brace by the ninth minute was Liverpool’s earliest Premier League double from one player since Maxi Rodríguez scored twice by the seventh minute against Fulham in May 2011.
Isak and Gakpo provide the cutting edge
Liverpool did not win this by overwhelming Ipswich with constant pressure for the entire evening. They won it by being ruthless in the moments that mattered most, and the Isak-Gakpo connection proved to be the clearest difference between the teams.
Isak noted that Liverpool had spoken about starting better after sluggish openings in recent matches, and that intention was obvious from the opening exchanges. Iraola also pointed to the first-half press as the key, stating that Liverpool were much better at winning the ball high and finding Isak in dangerous positions.
Gakpo’s contribution went beyond his assist total. His second pass, bent into space with the outside of his boot, carried the kind of ambition and precision that turned a promising attack into a decisive one. He now has four direct Premier League goal involvements this season, comprising one goal and three assists.
The wider picture suited Liverpool, too. They finished with 56 per cent possession and seven shots on target, managing the second half with far more calm than urgency. Bradley Barcola’s debut from the bench in the 64th minute was a secondary detail in the flow of the game.
Ipswich’s response falls short
O’Neil’s side responded with energy and carried enough threat to make the match more awkward than the scoreline alone suggested.
Julio Enciso was the clearest source of that danger, forcing saves in the 19th and 60th minutes and repeatedly finding room to shoot. Daizen Maeda also tested the Liverpool goalkeeper before the break, while late efforts from Zian Flemming and Kasey McAteer kept the visitors working until the end.
Those moments help explain the statistical contrast. Ipswich finished with more shots, 14 to 10, and a higher expected goals return, 0.899 to 0.656, but lacked the end product that Liverpool found twice before the match was 10 minutes old.
O’Neil’s reading of the game was straightforward: two early mistakes made the task difficult, yet Ipswich were excellent for long spells and especially good with the ball in the second half. There were frustrations, too, including the feeling that Jeremy Jacquet might have been shown a second yellow card for a challenge on Emersonn, but that was not the central reason for the defeat. Ipswich’s problem was that their recovery never produced the goal that could truly shift the game state.
What comes next for Liverpool and Ipswich Town?
Liverpool move up to fifth in the Premier League with five points from three matches, and the result gives Iraola his first league win in charge as well as Liverpool’s first clean sheet of his reign before Fulham visit on Saturday 12 September.
The performance did not show a side in complete command from the first whistle to the last, but Liverpool’s disciplined management after the early goals gives Iraola a clearer tactical base for the next test.
Ipswich remain 13th on three points and stay at Portman Road for their next test against Crystal Palace on the same day. O’Neil can point to the response, the chances created and their second-half control of the ball; what his side still need is the finishing quality that would make those spells count.
