Liverpool Secures First Win Under Iraola with Isak's Double

Liverpool needed just nine ruthless minutes in Ipswich to rip the game away from the hosts and hand Andoni Iraola his first Premier League victory in charge.

Alexander Isak did the damage. Twice. Two sharp finishes, two precise passes from Cody Gakpo, and the contest felt almost settled before Ipswich Town had found their rhythm.

The visitors flew out of the blocks. Liverpool pressed high, snapped into challenges and moved the ball quickly through midfield. The reward came almost immediately as Gakpo slipped Isak through for the opener, the forward making no mistake to silence the home crowd.

Ipswich barely had time to regroup. The pressure stayed on, Gakpo again found space, and again he picked out Isak. Same combination, same outcome. Liverpool were 2–0 up and cruising with less than ten minutes on the clock.

From there, Iraola’s side controlled what they needed to control. The tempo dropped, but the structure held. Liverpool managed the game, protected their lead and shut down Ipswich’s attempts to claw their way back.

For Gakpo, the performance came under an extra spotlight. Manchester City submitted a transfer offer for the Dutchman this week, and he responded with two assists that underlined his value to Liverpool’s new project.

There were other milestones wrapped inside the result. Bradley Barcola came off the bench to make his debut for the visitors, adding fresh legs in the second half and a glimpse of what he might offer in the coming weeks.

At the back, Liverpool finally found the defensive solidity they had been missing. After 2–2 draws with Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, this was their first clean sheet of the season, a small but important step for a team trying to tighten up under a new manager.

The win lifts Liverpool to fifth in the table on five points from three matches, a platform that looks a lot healthier after those opening draws. Ipswich, with three points from their first three games, sit 13th and will know they cannot afford many more starts as punishing as this one.

For Iraola, though, the story is simple: first win secured, first clean sheet banked, and a frontline already showing it can cut teams open in a flash.