Andoni Iraola was pleased with how Liverpool controlled the game as his side picked up their first win under the new head coach
Andoni Iraola was pleased with how Liverpool controlled the game as his side picked up their first win under the new head coach(Image: Joe Toth/Shutterstock)
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As he watched Liverpool struggle to a second successive 2-2 draw, this time against last season's relegation candidates Nottingham Forest, club legend Steven Gerrard was frustrated with what he was seeing.
Speaking on TNT Sports' coverage after the game, Gerrard admitted he felt the Reds were "too nice", and that he wanted to see Liverpool be "nastier": stronger in the duel, with more players willing to take yellow cards, and generally being "a little bit uglier to play against".
Well, Liverpool certainly delivered an uglier kind of performance on Friday night against Ipswich Town, a newly-promoted side with a point to prove - the Tractor Boys having gone straight back down to the Championship after returning to the Premier League two years ago for the first time since 2002.
For all that it was absolutely a feel-good win, a clean sheet, a marquee signing making his debut, a possible turning point for another and the latest elite performance in an incredible comeback story for Cody Gakpo, Liverpool's 2-0 win at Portman Road was also a game where the Reds weren't afraid to scrap for the three points and compromise in their pursuit of them.
"I'm very pleased with the win obviously," Andoni Iraola told reporters during his post-match press duties. "We needed this win. Also with the performance. I think especially in the first half.
"We put a lot of pressure to the opposition and I think we started really strongly, the game. I think we learned the lessons from the last two games where we conceded early goals. Today, we didn't want this to happen.
"I think we were really strong in the first half. Second half also in a different way. We controlled the game, we defended well but we didn't have this threat offensively probably. But overall I think it is a game we can be pleased with.
"We needed the win today. Two points do not reflect our first two games but they are the points we had. Definitely, we couldn't lose anymore today. I’m happy because I think we controlled the game."
Iraola was billed as the return of chaos after Arne Slot's obsession with control contributed to the Dutchman losing the support of fans and, ultimately, club decision-makers, and Liverpool have hardly controlled games on the ball under the Basque so far.
The Reds, however, managed to control the Ipswich game despite long periods without the ball in the second half. It showed a pragmatic side to Iraola, witnessed for the first time since his appointment, one that is good news for the chances of a potential Liverpool revival this season.
Opening blitz sets game state in Reds' favour
To understand why Liverpool looked so average in the biggest statistics yet were undeniably the better team, it helps to know that the Reds steamed into a two-goal lead within 10 minutes of the start of this game and in doing so, frightened the daylights out of Ipswich Town.
That opening 10 minutes, or eight minutes and 42 seconds up to Alexander Isak's second goal, was the sort of football Liverpool supporters daydreamed about when Iraola was appointed head coach back in June.
The Reds were pressing high, winning the ball six times in Ipswich's defensive half, playing nearly half of their passes in the final third and dominating possession 71.3% as a result. Far from just suffocating Ipswich with their control of the ball, though, Liverpool were taking chances, completing four dribbles and making three penalty area entries - defined as when a player successfully passes or carries into the penalty area without losing the ball.
Lewis Steele of the Daily Mail hailed the return of Liverpool's Red Arrows as they romped into a 2-0 lead, Gakpo the creator-in-chief and Isak the finisher extraordinaire.
For Isak, this was massive, and by some distance his best performance since his acrimonious £125m move from Newcastle last summer. The Swede scored two goals from chances created by Gakpo worth a combined 0.21 xG (expected goals), his clinical finishing essentially killing Ipswich's hopes before the contest had begun.
Isak's xGOT (expected goals on target) was low, too, at just 0.31 (Fotmob), but this is somewhat misleading. Though his first strike was directed towards the near post at a good height for Kjell Scherpen, who did get a hand to it, it was hit so early and with such power that the keeper was caught completely off guard.
For the second, which the 26-year-old sent trickling in underneath the keeper, Isak made the odds work in his favour by feinting a shot with his right before checking back on his left with the keeper already committed. This was not luck - this was the work of a master goalscorer choosing unexpected finishes that would not even occur to lesser strikers.
As for Gakpo, the Dutchman was sublime. His three chances created were the most for Liverpool, and though they took brilliant finishes from Isak to convert into goals, they were incisive, instinctive passes that probed at Ipswich's weaknesses.
If the first was sharp, the second was a work of art. Dropping deep to receive the ball, prompting a mix-up between Dara O'Shea and Sasa Lukic, Gakpo looked up to see a huge gap where Ipswich's right-back should be: Milos Kerkez's run in behind, conducted by a gesticulating Alexis Mac Allister, had dragged Abdul Fatawu wide and away from the run of Alexander Isak.
Gakpo then pulled off the unthinkable, producing a jaw-dropping trivela pass through the gap, which met Isak's run perfectly. The No. 9 did the rest.
It was the kind of pass only Mohamed Salah used to attempt for Liverpool, and it was a mark of the responsibility Gakpo has taken on his shoulders this season in what is threatening to turn into one of the greatest Reds redemption arcs in recent memory.
The 27-year-old also won eight of his 11 ground duels, and did a job in a centre-forward role as Isak's understudy when Iraola withdrew the Swede and shut up shop in the second half.
All three of Isak's goals so far this season have come from Gakpo assists, with the pair topping the Premier League goals and assists charts respectively at the time of writing. Gakpo is arguably playing the best football of his Liverpool career, while Isak has already equalled his entire league goals tally from last season - after just three games.
Both were central to that opening ten-minute bloodbath. But Liverpool's approach to the rest of the game would be far more considered.
No more goals but plenty of threat
Ipswich, to their credit, woke up after the second goal. It would have been easy for Liverpool to get nervous at this point, especially after so many dropped points from winning positions last season, but the Reds have actually avoided that particular dishonour since Manchester City's 2-1 win at Anfield in February, when Erling Haaland's goal was disallowed and Dominik Szoboszlai was sent off for attempting to deny it in added time.
Granted, they hadn't previously had the luxury of defending a lead this season, but did so here by continuing to pose a threat even as Ipswich began to build their own.
Opta momentum chart: Liverpool were hugely threatening at the start of the game, but gradually faded in an attacking sense as they opted to protect their lead
Opta momentum chart: Liverpool were hugely threatening at the start of the game, but gradually faded in an attacking sense as they opted to protect their lead(Image: Opta)
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The momentum chart shows this continued threat, albeit the intensity of the first ten minutes was never recaptured. After the second goal up until half time, Liverpool only made five further successful dribbles, but kept up a similar threat in and around Ipswich's box, making 12 more penalty area entries and playing 79 passes in the final third - around 40%.
Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz were central to keeping Ipswich from fully committing forward. The Hungarian constantly put himself in dangerous positions to shoot if the ball broke to him, and it seemed as if it was drawn to his right boot like a magnet just at the opportune moment to strike.
Though both he and Mac Allister won possession in the final third twice during the game, Szoboszlai was once again absent from the heat of the battle in midfield, contesting just four duels (winning two) and not attempting a single tackle.
Instead, the 25-year-old lurked in an inside right position or drifted out to the half-space, helping with attacks and covering plenty of ground as ever but offering little in the way of midfield structure.
But what Szoboszlai did do was constantly test the keeper with his attempts from distance. All three of his shots were on target, accounting for a huge 1.26 of Liverpool's 1.94 xGOT (Fotmob).
With his shooting boots on and his running power undeniable, Ipswich couldn't afford to commit either of their own leaky pivot midfielders forward for fear of leaving space for the Hungary captain to exploit.
Wirtz, meanwhile, was thoroughly involved and was unlucky not to register an assist for Isak's disallowed would-be hat-trick. His six touches in the box were the most for Liverpool, as were his 21 passes in the final third, and no player other than Gakpo matched his three successful dribbles.
The Dutchman played the ball to Wirtz 12 times, more than to any other player, with the German returning the favour five times. Isak and Wirtz, playing closer together, exchanged 10 passes (more than double their four against Nottingham Forest) with Wirtz also the Swede's top receiver (six passes).
The fact all three of these players spend a lot of their time on the ball drifting around on the left should theoretically be more of a problem than it appeared here. Instead, there was a fluidity to Liverpool's attack that made the trio a joy to watch.
Opta average positions map: Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz played close together, linking up effectively and creating space for each other
Opta average positions map: Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz played close together, linking up effectively and creating space for each other (Image: Opta)
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Wirtz also showed a more dogged side to his game that has been long overdue. Though he only won six, no player on the pitch competed in as many duels as the 23-year-old (15), and he finished his evening's work with five fouls to show for it.
In spite of the danger Liverpool continued to pose, though, their threat began to diminish. In the first 15 minutes of the game, 42.2% of the action was in Ipswich's defensive third. That number progressively decreased at every 15-minute interval as the match went on, finally ending with just 16.7% of the action in the home side's own third in the final 15 minutes.
The action in Liverpool's defensive third progressively increased by the same token, starting with 12.9% and ending with 37.1%. This was a pattern which set in after the second goal that would require the Reds to manage the game as much as attack it in the second half.
Liverpool learn to win ugly
It is not entirely unreasonable to criticise Liverpool for failing to pose a threat for most of the second half. Bradley Barcola's 33-minute cameo may have been quiet, but it took a moment of quality from the £123m signing from Paris Saint-Germain to give Liverpool their first shot in half an hour when he rolled a ball back across the area only for Gakpo to see his effort blocked.
The Frenchman played wider than Gakpo had when he came on, using his considerable pace - his 35.9 km/h (Fotmob) the fastest speed any player has clocked so far in the league this season - to stretch Ipswich and constantly making diagonal runs in behind, which his teammates will learn to find more regularly.
Iraola has typically played one winger more narrow than the other this season, and other than against Forest, that has been the left winger. It's fair to ask how this would work with Barcola starting, with Gakpo presumably in line to start and play his usual inside role on the right, considering the man who played right-back today - Ronald Araujo - is not exactly known for providing width in attack.
On Friday, it mattered little. Araujo was monstrous in defence, winning the most duels (nine out of 10) of any player on the pitch, including all six of his aerial duels. The former Barcelona captain also made the most clearances (nine), including a goal-saving intervention ahead of Daizen Maeda at the back post in the first half that Jeremie Frimpong might have struggled to make.
Young Jeremy Jacquet to Araujo's left made some strong interventions, winning two of his three tackles, but like Kerkez he struggled at times, winning 50% of his ground duels but a disappointing 33% of his aerials and was shaky on the ball on more than one occasion.
Kerkez was especially sloppy, looking short of confidence and winning just four of his 10 duels, but it mattered little due to Virgil van Dijk's performance to his right. The captain was back to his imperious best, winning all of his five duels and all three of his tackles - not putting a foot wrong in a second half where Liverpool needed him to lead with composure.
The 35-year-old was even more central than usual to Liverpool's build-up, making 100 touches, 18 final third entries and 27 line-breaking passes. This was a vintage performance from Van Dijk and one he will hope to build on to remind the league of his peerless quality.
Virgil van Dijk's touchmap: the Liverpool captain stood out with a flawless performance that combined defensive interventions with quality on the ball
Virgil van Dijk's touchmap: the Liverpool captain stood out with a flawless performance that combined defensive interventions with quality on the ball(Image: Opta)
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Unflinching defensive performances were required in a second half where Liverpool played just 12.8% of their passes in Ipswich's own third. But as Liverpool's attacking presence faded, Iraola showed a side to himself that had until now been an unknown quantity to supporters.
Rather than pushing for another goal, Iraola backed Liverpool's three giant defenders to see the game out against the 6'1" Zian Flemming, who replaced Emersonn up front for Ipswich in the 67th minute.
Araujo moved inside to form a back three with Szoboszlai dropping in at right wing-back, Ryan Gravenberch coming on to replace the Hungarian in midfield and Gakpo and Wirtz forming a loose front three with Barcola.
The plan worked - the Reds making eight clearances between the substitutions and the end of the game - and Liverpool's margin of victory was made comfortable without the need for a nervy finish.
Liverpool have learned to win ugly again - and it's a trait that could prove vital as the season wears on.
More to come
There is no getting away from the feeling that, with the transfer market closed, Liverpool's squad planning has left a lot to be desired. Though this will be far easier to manage in terms of attackers once Barcola has fully acclimatised, Iraola had little in terms of different midfield profiles off the bench to help him control the game in possession - aside from the unproven but once again impressive Trey Nyoni.
Being able to kill off a game early against a newly-promoted side would obviously be preferable, but with this in mind it is encouraging that Iraola has shown so early that he is willing to compromise on going for the jugular if the game state tells him another approach is his best path to a victory.
Nyoni, like Iraola's other substitutions, was a wise introduction. The timing of Barcola's debut, too, gave Ipswich just enough to think about and kept the momentum from the travelling Kop behind his side.
Getting his first win as Liverpool head coach in the bag avoids pressure starting to mount after a slow start in the first two games and, with a player like Araujo in the team providing that kind of flexibility, this probably won't be the last time Iraola leans on his side's defence to manage games the Reds are leading.
This won't work in every game - stronger opposition could well punish the Reds for a similar early retreat - and while questions remain over the midfield balance and the performances of Kerkez, clever managers will find ways to target Liverpool's weaker areas.
But there were plenty of positive signs to suggest that Liverpool can continue to rack up imposing leads, and with van Dijk and Araujo leading by example, perhaps supporters can start to breathe a little easier.
*All statistics used are from Opta unless otherwise stated.