Andoni Iraola had gone three games at Liverpool without a win and the questions were starting to arrive early. Alexander Isak answered them at Portman Road on Friday night. Two goals, a clean sheet at the other end, and a 2-0 win that finally gave the new manager something concrete to point at.
Isak is doing the one thing Liverpool needed
Isak has now scored three times in three league games, which puts him level with Bruno Fernandes at the top of the Premier League scoring charts. That is a start nobody at Anfield would have taken for granted. His first season on Merseyside was interrupted often enough that supporters had learned to hold their breath every time he pulled up, and his final tally then was modest by the standards of the fee.
This version looks different. Iraola has been open about what he wants from his striker, and it is not simply goals. He wants the pressing triggers, the runs that drag centre-backs out of position, the willingness to keep making them in the eightieth minute. Get those right, the argument goes, and the finishing takes care of itself. On Friday it did.
Ipswich are learning how thin the margins are
Gary O'Neil took the Ipswich job in June after Kieran McKenna stepped down, and his side have already discovered what promotion feels like at this level. They have conceded eight goals in three matches. They were beaten 5-2 at Old Trafford a week earlier. Portman Road was full and loud, and for half an hour Ipswich pressed with the kind of energy that made McKenna's Championship side so difficult, but Liverpool's midfield eventually found the spaces behind it.
There is no shame in that. Ipswich have a home win on the board already and the fixture list gets kinder. What they cannot afford is to keep leaking goals in bunches, because a team with their budget survives on tight games and set pieces, not on shootouts.
What this means for Iraola
Liverpool sit on five points from three matches, unbeaten, with the longest run without defeat in the division. That is not a title-winning start and Iraola knows it. Arne Slot was sacked at the end of May after a season that ended without a trophy, and the club then spent heavily again, with Bradley Barcola arriving from Paris Saint-Germain in a deal reported at £123m. A squad assembled that quickly needs time to look like a team.
Friday was the first evening it did. Alisson kept his clean sheet, the shape held without the ball, and the striker took his chances. Iraola will take that into the international break and hope Isak comes back from Sweden duty in one piece, because right now Liverpool's season is being carried by one man's finishing.
Match facts: Ipswich Town 0-2 Liverpool, Premier League, Portman Road, Friday 4 September 2026. Scorer: Alexander Isak 2. Liverpool: played 3, won 1, drawn 2, 5 points. Isak: 3 goals in 3 league games, joint leading scorer in the Premier League.
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