Iraola got his first win as Liverpool head coach at the third attempt as Alexander Isak scored twice by the eighth minute at Portman Road, both goals laid on by Cody Gakpo, to beat Ipswich Town 2-0. It was Liverpool's first Premier League victory of the season and it came with a clean sheet, after two 2-2 draws in which they had been held.
The early goals were the point. Liverpool had started slowly in both of Iraola's opening league games, and Isak said as much afterwards. "We were waiting for the first win. We talked about starting the game good, which we haven't done recently, so it was perfect for us to get two good quick goals." Gakpo played the pass for the first goal in the fifth minute and another for the second in the eighth, and the home crowd was silenced inside the first 10 minutes.
Gakpo Supplies Both Goals
For the first, Gakpo threaded a ball between Leif Davis and Jacob Greaves and Isak hit it hard enough that Scherpen, who did get a hand to it, could not stop it going in. The second was cleaner. Gakpo picked Isak out from deep in his own half with the outside of his boot, Isak shifted inside Greaves with a flick of his left foot, and once Scherpen had committed he wrong-footed him and rolled the finish home.