Alexander Isak shines in Liverpool's 2-0 victory over Ipswich
Alexander Isak walked into Suffolk on Friday night as the £125m enigma and walked out looking every inch the striker Liverpool thought they were buying.
Two ruthless finishes inside nine minutes. Game done. Ipswich Town beaten 2-0. Liverpool up and running with their first Premier League win of the season, and Andoni Iraola finally on the board after replacing the sacked Arne Slot.
Yes, the context matters. This was a newly promoted Ipswich side, brave enough, but still carrying the scars of a five-goal beating at Manchester United the previous week. They are open, they are ambitious, and against elite attacking talent they look there for the taking.
But that doesn’t dilute what this meant for Liverpool, or for Isak.
The £125m striker finally shows up
For a year, Isak had been the symbol of Liverpool’s slide. The British transfer record deal that turned sour almost on contact. He arrived from Newcastle United after effectively downing tools on Tyneside, out of condition, then spent the season fighting his body and his confidence.
He looked lost. Detached. Like a luxury signing in a team that could not afford luxuries.
The numbers were damning. Twenty-two games, 1,033 minutes, four goals. In the league, 14 appearances, 703 minutes, three goals – one every 234 minutes. For a £125m striker in a team supposedly defending a title, it bordered on farce.
Hugo Ekitike outshone him. Others faded with him. Liverpool’s title defence collapsed so dramatically that Slot, the manager who had lifted the Premier League trophy only a year earlier, was gone. Isak became the face of that decline.
At Portman Road, that image started to crack.
This was the Newcastle Isak. The one who terrifies centre-backs by living on the shoulder, by sprinting in behind, by pressing with venom instead of jogging through games. Iraola used him exactly where he is most dangerous, and Ipswich could not live with it.
The finishes were sharp, but it was his body language that really changed the mood. He played with a snarl, with purpose, as if someone had finally found the code Liverpool spent a record fee to unlock.
Gakpo the unlikely cornerstone
Isak dominated the scoreline. Cody Gakpo dominated almost everything else.
The Dutchman produced a performance that will have had Liverpool quietly grateful a transfer never happened. He could easily have been back in the north west this weekend, preparing for Manchester City’s fixture against Coventry City at Etihad Stadium. The move collapsed; Liverpool are now seeing the upside.
Gakpo knitted attacks together, linked with Isak, and gave Liverpool a structure they simply did not have for long spells last season. He didn’t need a goal to leave his mark. His understanding with Isak, still in its early days, already looks like the spine of Iraola’s attacking plan.
Just when Ipswich thought they had survived the early storm, Gakpo kept dragging them back into it, finding spaces, dragging markers away, feeding his centre-forward exactly where he wanted the ball.
Barcola’s blistering cameo
On most nights, a £123m debutant from Paris St-Germain would own the headlines. Bradley Barcola had to settle for a supporting role – but he still found a way to jolt the stadium.
Introduced for a 26-minute cameo, he showed flashes of why Liverpool pushed so hard to get him. Raw, direct, frighteningly quick. Every time he opened his stride, Ipswich defenders retreated a yard.
For Iraola, this was the perfect bonus. Isak firing. Gakpo orchestrating. Barcola hinting at the chaos he can cause once fully integrated.
A different Liverpool – or a one-off?
Nobody at Liverpool will pretend this was a definitive statement. Ipswich, for all their courage, are still adapting to the division and have now conceded seven goals in two games. Bigger tests will come, and quickly.
But this was about more than the opposition. This was about a £125m forward finally resembling the player Liverpool ripped him out of Newcastle to be. About a new manager seeing his ideas take shape with the right personnel in the right roles.
Isak has already matched last season’s Premier League goal tally. The numbers will matter in May. For now, Liverpool will cling to something less tangible but just as important: the sight of their record signing playing with conviction again.
If this is the version of Isak they get from here, the story of their season might be very different from the one that cost Arne Slot his job.
