5 Things we learned from Liverpool’s comfortable win over Ipswich Town
Andoni Iraola picks up his first three points as Liverpool manager. It’s been a pretty rough start for the former Bournemouth manager but at the third time of asking he’s picked up a really important win at Portman Road tonight, he couldn’t have asked for a better start as just five minutes in Cody Gakpo dodged a challenge in midfield before finding Isak with a brilliant pass in the box who fired past Scherpen at the near-post to put Liverpool 0-1 up. Just three minutes later Iraola’s side doubled their lead as Gakpo played an outrageous trivela pass through to Isak who feinted to shoot with Scherpen out of his box before bringing the ball onto his left-foot firing into the net, a perfect ten minutes to start the game for Liverpool who all but wrapped the game already. As the game progressed Ipswich did improve going close a number of times but that lack of quality in the attack cost them any real chance of getting back in the game, if Ipswich had got one back the second half might have played out differently but Liverpool for once actually looked pretty comfortable and were able to see out the game to finally kick-start their season.
Will this result be the one that kick-starts Liverpool’s season? It was so important that Liverpool won today considering they’ve dropped points in their opening two games and that’s exactly what they did with a relatively comfortable win at Portman Road, whilst Isak did score last week I thought his overall performance left a lot to be desired but he was electric tonight and was unlucky not to come away with the match ball after his third goal was ruled out for offside. Defensively they looked so much better tonight and a lot of that was down to Ronald Araujo coming in for Jeremy Frimpong at right-back, the Uruguayan put out so many fires down that right-hand-side and brings a level of defensive solidity that Frimpong can only dream of. In midfield there are still plenty of problems which is why I was shocked not to see Ryan Gravenberch come back into the starting 11 but it didn’t come back to haunt Liverpool tonight, one of the worries Iraola will have is the performance of Floarian Wirtz who yet again just disappears far too often for my liking even when Liverpool are playing well. I still can’t get my head around Liverpool trying to sell Cody Gakpo all summer and yet again today he provides two brilliant assists and is building up a partnership with Alexander Isak that can only be a good thing for Liverpool, overall all that mattered today was the three points for Iraola and he will be looking to build on that against Atletico Madrid this week in the Champions League.
Terrible start killed any chance Ipswich had tonight. After playing well at Old Trafford last week I thought Gary O’Neil’s men would come into this with some momentum but they were sleep-walking at the start of the game which had them 0-2 down in ten minutes, Scherpen should have saved the first Isak goal which was right at him at the near-post but Ipswich’s playing out from the back gave Liverpool chance after chance which was certainly naïve from Gary O’Neil. The second goal came from a brilliant pass from Gakpo but again you’re looking at Scherpen and he is so hesitant coming out that Isak can just fire the ball into an empty net and basically finish the game within ten minutes, Ipswich certainly improved as the match went on but their attackers like Emersonn, Maeda, Enciso and Fatawu just kept on making the wrong decisions when they got in good positions. We did see Zian Flemming come on in the second half who scored over ten goals in the Premier League for Burnley last season so you’d think he’d improve that frontline when he’s ready to start, if him and Enciso can build a partnership going forward Ipswich have a chance of staying up this season. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see if that happens.
Can Alexander Isak get back to his Newcastle form this season? Having made him the most expensive signing in Premier League history last season Liverpool will be hoping in his second season Isak can hit the ground running and lead the frontline this season, he looked really sharp today particularly in the first half drifting out to left like we saw so many times at Newcastle and he’s already matched his Premier League goal tally from last season in three games which has to be encouraging for Liverpool fans. He spent so much of last season watching from the side-lines because of injuries but if can stay healthy this season there’s no reason why he can’t hit upwards of 20 goals in this Liverpool team, with Hugo Ekitike out until at least the new year Isak is Liverpool’s only real out and out number nine so they’ll need him fit and firing if they are going to be successful this season. He’s started on the right track anyway.
What’s up next for these two teams? Up next for Liverpool they will taking on Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday which is sure to be a fiery game considering the history between those two at Anfield, they are back in action again at Anfield in the Premier League next weekend against Fulham on Saturday. For Ipswich they take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park next Saturday and then go back to Portman Road in the Carabao Cup for a tasty tie against Arsenal. It’s a busy few weeks ahead with the Champions League starting this coming week so keep an eye out for those match reviews over the next week or so, for tomorrow I’ll have Inter vs Napoli so keep an eye for that in the evening.