Alexander Isak Shines in Liverpool Victory Over Ipswich Town

Alexander Isak finally walked into Liverpool life like a £125m centre-forward should – by ripping a newly promoted side apart before they had even broken sweat.

Two goals in the opening nine minutes at Portman Road, both supplied by the outstanding Cody Gakpo, set up a routine 2-0 win over Ipswich Town and delivered Andoni Iraola his first Premier League victory since replacing the sacked Arne Slot. Routine on the scoreboard, yes. Anything but routine in its significance.

A flat-track? Maybe. A turning point? It felt like one.

Context matters. Ipswich were brave but brittle, still bearing the scars of shipping five at Manchester United a week earlier. They are the sort of side Liverpool should dismantle if they harbour serious ambitions of repairing the damage of last season’s dismal title defence.

But Liverpool’s night was not really about the opposition. It was about a striker who, for 12 confused months, looked like a very expensive mistake suddenly resembling the ruthless, stretching, high-speed menace Newcastle United once built their attack around.

Last season, Isak’s numbers were damning. Twenty-two games, 1,033 minutes, four goals. In the league, 703 minutes brought only three strikes – one every 234 minutes – as injuries, poor conditioning after forcing his move from Tyneside and a team in freefall combined to turn him into a symbol of excess rather than excellence. Hugo Ekitike outshone him. The British-record fee looked like a monument to misjudgment.

Here, the same player looked reborn.

Liverpool finally played to his strengths. They pushed the line high, asked him to run in behind, pressed with aggression. He responded with movement that shredded Ipswich and a demeanour that screamed confidence rather than confusion. He has already matched last season’s Premier League goal tally and it is early September.

The opening goal on six minutes came from that new, sharper version of Isak. Gakpo slipped a clever pass between Leif Davis and Jacob Greaves, Isak burst through and hammered a right-foot shot that carried too much power for Kjell Scherpen, who still should have done far more than palm it into his own net. The finish was brutal, the message clear.

Three minutes later, the combination reached a higher level of artistry. From inside his own half, Gakpo bent a delicious outside-of-the-boot pass into space. Isak glided onto it, used his left foot to flick inside Greaves as Scherpen advanced, then toyed with the keeper – a touch with his right sent Scherpen the wrong way before a cool left-foot roll into the empty net. One sweeping move, three touches, complete control.

Game over after nine minutes. Portman Road silenced. Iraola smiling.

Gakpo stays – and takes charge

The irony will not be lost on anyone at Anfield. Gakpo could easily have spent Friday night in the north west preparing for Manchester City’s match against Coventry City at Etihad Stadium. He was ready to join Enzo Maresca’s new project, only for Liverpool’s failure to land Yankuba Minteh from Brighton or Ismaila Sarr from Crystal Palace to block the move.

That aborted transfer now looks like a gift.

Against Ipswich, Gakpo did far more than provide two assists. He dictated tempo, drifted into pockets, linked midfield and attack with the elegance that once made him one of Europe’s most coveted forwards. This was the Gakpo Liverpool thought they had signed, not the hesitant version who, like Isak, struggled for rhythm in last season’s chaos.

Virgil van Dijk, his captain and compatriot, has been vocal about the importance of keeping him. The evidence at Portman Road backed every word. Gakpo has started this campaign in sharp, authoritative form. If he maintains this level, the summer “almost-transfer” will be remembered as a sliding-doors moment in Liverpool’s rebuild.

Iraola’s blueprint – and Isak’s response

For Iraola, the win ticked almost every box. A first league victory. A clean sheet. A statement performance from his record signing. A confirmation that his high-energy, front-foot football can unlock a squad that lost its way under Slot.

Isak’s role in that blueprint is non-negotiable. The Basque coach wants a forward who runs, presses, stretches defences. He made that clear afterwards, stressing that his “fight” with the Swede will be about more than just goals, about the work he does for the team in every phase. The goals, he insisted, will come if the fitness and attitude are right.

Isak, for his part, sounded like a man who knows what is at stake. He talked about the need for a fast start, about finally having a normal pre-season, about being able to play the aggressive, attacking football Liverpool now demand. He did not hide from the reality of last year either – a long injury lay-off, a difficult campaign, the burden of expectation. He framed this season as a reset, anchored around a good World Cup and a strong opening to domestic life.

On this evidence, that reset is well underway.

Portman Road certainly brings out something in him. Since the start of the 2024-25 season, his five Premier League goals there are the joint-most by any player at an away ground, level with Erling Haaland’s tally at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace. A quirky statistic, but one that underlines how comfortable he now looks in a Liverpool shirt when the conditions suit him.

New faces, new speed

Isak and Gakpo dominated the night, yet there was still room for a glimpse of the future. Bradley Barcola, the £123m arrival from Paris St-Germain, came off the bench for a 26-minute debut and immediately flashed the kind of raw, devastating pace that persuaded Liverpool to spend so heavily.

His cameo did not change the game – that had been decided long before he stepped on – but it added another layer of menace to a forward line that suddenly feels far less predictable and far more explosive than it did during last season’s drift.

For all that, the story remained Isak’s. His miserable return to Tyneside on the opening day, the questions even after scoring in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, the doubts over whether Liverpool had broken him by buying him – all of it felt a little more distant by the time he walked off at Portman Road.

Liverpool have seen false dawns before. Iraola will know one performance at a vulnerable newly promoted side does not erase a year of frustration. But if this is what happens when the “Isak code” is cracked, the Premier League may need to recalibrate its expectations of a striker who finally looks ready to justify every last pound of that £125m fee.

The challenge now is brutally simple: was this just a bright night in Suffolk, or the start of a season that reshapes Liverpool’s attack – and Isak’s reputation – for good?