Isak scored twice in nine minutes, and Liverpool led for the first time this season
Alexander Isak scored in the sixth minute and again in the ninth at Portman Road, and Andoni Iraola has his first win as Liverpool manager at the third attempt.
Sep 5, 2026
Two league games into Andoni Iraola’s time at Liverpool, his team had not led for a single minute of football. That ended in the sixth minute at Portman Road on Friday night, and three minutes later the match was effectively decided.
Alexander Isak scored both goals, Cody Gakpo created both, and the 2-0 win handed Iraola his first victory as Liverpool manager at the third attempt.
Two goals, one supplier
Gakpo threaded a through ball for the opener and then bent an outside-of-the-foot pass into Isak’s path for the second. Both were finished without fuss. In their opening two fixtures Liverpool had conceded first and spent the rest of the night chasing the game. Here they were two ahead before Ipswich had settled into it.
Ipswich did not collapse afterwards. Gary O’Neil’s side pushed back for long stretches at Portman Road, enough that Liverpool had to see the second half out rather than stroll through it. The hosts still did not score, and Liverpool finished with their first clean sheet of the season after conceding four in the two draws that preceded this.
Isak needed this more than most
Isak arrived from Newcastle last summer for £125 million, a British record, and then spent a first season at Anfield fighting his fitness rather than defenders. Four goals in 22 appearances is not the return anyone had in mind for that fee. He has three in three games now, and he said afterwards that the difficult part of his Liverpool career is behind him.
Bradley Barcola came off the bench in the second half for his debut. Liverpool signed the France forward from Paris Saint-Germain on 31 August, on a five-year deal worth a guaranteed £106 million with up to £17 million more in add-ons, which makes him the second most expensive player the club has bought. Isak is still the first.
At Bournemouth the wait ran to ten games
The two draws that opened Iraola’s reign had begun to rhyme with his own history. He took over at Bournemouth in 2023 and did not win a Premier League match until his tenth. Anyone who reached for that comparison after the 2-2 at Newcastle and the 2-2 at home to Nottingham Forest has had to put it down again after three.
Liverpool ended Friday night fifth on five points from three matches. Anfield hosts Atletico Madrid on Wednesday in their opening Champions League fixture, a much harder read on whether the tempo Iraola keeps describing is actually arriving.
Ipswich sit 13th on three points and have lost two in a row, the defeat at Old Trafford and then this one. Crystal Palace away comes next.