Isak's Double Hands Liverpool First Win as Ipswich Struggles
Andoni Iraola did not have to wait long this time. Ten games for a first league win at Bournemouth; nine minutes at Portman Road with Liverpool.
Two ruthless finishes from Alexander Isak, both aided by the uncertain hands and wandering feet of Ipswich goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen, delivered a 2-0 victory and the Spaniard’s first Premier League success in red. The scars of that slow south‑coast start will not fade quickly, but this was a very different opening chapter.
Lightning start, fragile gloves
Liverpool arrived with questions swirling after back‑to‑back draws under Iraola. They left with their first win, their first clean sheet of the new era, and the sense that their No 9 is starting to snarl again.
On six minutes, Cody Gakpo slid a perfectly weighted ball into Isak’s stride. The Swede hit it hard but straight enough for a confident keeper to repel. Scherpen’s wrists wilted. The ball burst through him and into the net. Liverpool were off and running, Ipswich stunned.
They never really cleared their heads before the next blow landed.
Three minutes later, a long Liverpool ball should have been routine. Scherpen came, then seemed to change his mind, stranded in no man’s land as Isak darted in down the left. One touch to steady, one low finish past the exposed keeper. 2-0. Same scorer, same supplier, same sense of dread in the home end.
Isak, who plundered a hat-trick here with Newcastle on his previous visit, had punished Ipswich again. Gakpo, electric in Iraola’s high-tempo blueprint, had two assists inside nine minutes and looks reborn in this system.
Ipswich respond, but Liverpool shut the door
For Ipswich, promoted optimism has quickly met Premier League reality. Two defeats on the bounce tell one story; their response after the early collapse told another.
Gary O’Neil’s side did not fold. Leif Davis ghosted into the box on the half-hour to meet a right-wing cross, only to steer his header wide with Liverpool briefly wobbling. The home crowd sensed a route back.
They thought they had seen Isak complete another Portman Road treble before the break. Florian Wirtz whipped in a superb cross, Isak finished crisply, but the flag went up. He had gone a fraction too early. The hat-trick would have to wait.
Ipswich’s frustration deepened after the interval. Jérémy Jacquet, already booked for a foul on Emersonn, flew in from behind again on 53 minutes. The challenge brought fury from the stands but not even a free-kick from referee Darren England, let alone the second yellow the home support demanded.
The noise only cranked up when Liverpool were briefly awarded a penalty. VAR spotted a foul by Davis on Dominik Szoboszlai, but the review kept rolling and found Szoboszlai offside in the build-up. Decision overturned, no spot-kick, and a rare roar of relief around Portman Road.
Iraola’s Liverpool show another side
If the first half belonged to Liverpool’s front line, the second was about control and restraint.
Bradley Barcola, the £123m arrival from PSG, stepped off the bench on 66 minutes for his Premier League debut, a glimpse of the attacking depth now at Iraola’s disposal. But this was not a night for chaos. Liverpool tightened up instead.
The press, which had looked ragged in earlier games, bit hard and high. Ipswich were forced long, then forced wide, then forced to accept they were running into a red wall. Iraola wanted intensity and structure; for long stretches, he had both.
“It’s nice, we needed this one,” he told Sky Sports, satisfied with the clean sheet and the control, especially in that ferocious first spell. Isak, he insisted, will be judged on more than just goals – on his work for the team, his pressing, his movement – but two games into the season, the numbers are already flowing again.
Isak himself spoke like a striker intent on erasing last year’s struggles. A normal pre-season, a clear plan, an early brace. The long injury lay-off and difficult campaign, he said, are now “kind of behind me”. Perform like this and they will be for everyone else too.
Ipswich’s cursed No 1?
The subplot refuses to go away. Ipswich’s goalkeeping position looks haunted.
Last season, Arijanet Muric arrived from Burnley as the trusted No 1 and endured a year littered with high-profile errors at the worst possible times. The club turned to Scherpen this summer, hoping a new face would bring calm. Instead, his first major outing in front of a packed home crowd unravelled inside those brutal opening nine minutes.
Both Liverpool goals were on him. At this level, those mistakes are not just costly; they are defining. Ipswich competed well for long periods, stuck to O’Neil’s plan, and even had Liverpool looking slightly ragged before half-time. One moment of weak handling, one misjudged charge from his line, and all that work evaporated.
O’Neil had other irritations. He bristled at what he saw as Liverpool’s ability to “kill the game” with slow restarts, feeling his own goalkeeper had been hurried at Old Trafford while Iraola’s side were allowed to manage the clock more comfortably here. He still praised the officials for landing on the right VAR call over the Liverpool penalty, but the sense of double standards lingered.
Even so, Ipswich were applauded off. The home fans recognised the effort, the aggression, the refusal to sink after that nightmare start. They also know they cannot fight on two fronts: against elite opponents and against nerves in their own six-yard box.
After Muric’s stumbles and Scherpen’s harsh introduction against Liverpool, the question hangs over Portman Road: is this just bad luck, or does that No 1 shirt really carry a curse?
