After a pair of difficult matches to start off their 2026-27 season with draws against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, Andoni Iraola’s Reds were given a slightly easier task in week three against an Ipswich Town side that simply didn’t look ready for the Premier League.
For Liverpool, you can only beat the side in front of you and they did that in convincing fashion, and certainly it was good to see a Liverpool side not crumble completely when Ipswich did manage a few decent and intent-filled
minutes. All told, then, that made for some mostly enjoyable viewing for fans, but not every game will go as easily as this one. Let’s dig into it…
Winners and Losers
Cody Gakpo Take a Bow
Alexander Isak scored the goals but Gakpo set them up, assisting on Liverpool’s opening two goals with a pair of very tasty assists. First, he cut inside—but from a very deep starting position on the break—and carved and incisive pass down the centre-right channel that Isak converted for the opener.
Then, he curled a perfect outside-of-the-boot pass from near the half-way line to spring Isak down the centre-left channel to make it 2-0. Add in a few forced turnovers and it could almost feel like the start of a Gakpoissance, but to call today that would be to ignore that he’s arguably been Liverpool best player in each of the first three games now under Iraola.
Not bad for a player who became the poster child for all that was stagnant in Liverpool’s attack last season, and if Gakpo can keep this up we’ll really be left wondering what it was Arne Slot was asking him to go—and we’ll be thankful that move to Manchester City never went through.
Victor Muñoz is Rapid
Also he never stops running on or off the ball and does fun things on the ball like sometimes running so fast he can’t sort his feet out to make a simple pass but seriously did you see how quickly his legs were moving there I’m not sure anyone is sorting their feet out when they’re moving that quickly like seriously Victor Muñoz is rapid.
Anyone Hoping Ipwsich Could Survive in the Premier League
On the negative side of the ledger and as a note of caution for those looking to read positives into tonight’s game from a Liverpool point of view can be found in the fact Ipswich kicked off the season second favourites to end up relegated and really did look relegation favourites here. And maybe the most obvious sign they are in fact ready for the rigours of the Premier League could be seen in how much time Dominik Szoboszlai had to line up his many shots from distance.
He wasn’t the only one taking on-target pop-shots from way out, either. The Reds peppered Kjell Scherpen’s goal with long-range efforts that were consistently on the frame of goal—and that was in large part because Ipswich’s defenders simply weren’t willing or able to consistently close down the attackers. Having that kind of time to line things up and take aim isn’t something that happens often, and Liverpool made good use of the space. But yeah, having that kind of time to line things up isn’t something that happens often.
Dissecting the Narrative
Alexander Isak looks worth the £125M paid for him. Honestly not sure we’ve said that before. Let’s ignore the part where it’s Ipswich and they look very bad and enjoy that this can plausibly be The Narrative for the next few days at least.
Oh, and when he came off it was for £123M brand new signing Bradley Barcola, who we’re mostly mentioning since if we don’t people will all be wondering what about Bradley Barcola? so I mean he was fine he ran around for thirty minutes and didn’t do a lot more than that but also didn’t really need to given the game state.
Talking Tactics
Ahead of the match when news dropped that Jeremie Frimpong was out at right back and Ronal Araujo was in, most people expected a lopsided backline that could almost be described as a back three.
Instead, they got Araujo (who was very good) regularly pushing high up the pitch and attacking the end line while Dominik Szoboszlai rotated into the vacated spaces behind him to screen and build up play. So that was a touch unexpected, and never mind any thoughts of Araujo hanging back while Milos Kerkez pushed higher on the left.
It looks, then, as though the basically balanced 4-4-2 approach (you could probably call it 4-4-1-1 or even 4-2-3-1 if you wanted to squint and/or not call a modern football formation a 4-4-2 because that’s Sam Allardyce coded) seen to start the season is very much set to be the foundation for Iraola’s Reds this year, and if a player is going to fill in out of position they’re still going to be asked to basically play to the system’s demands.
What Happens Next
The first international break falls unusually late this season, with four more games to play before players head off with their national teams from September 21 to October 6. First up is the start of Liverpool’s Champions League campaign on Wednesday when they welcome Atletico Madrid to Anfield. Then it’s Fulham next Saturday, Spurs in the League Cup on Tuesday, September 15th, and Bournemouth on September 20th.
For Liverpool and Iraola, getting to keep all his players around for a longer stretch as well as to integrate a new signing like Bradley Barcola before he heads off with France is a bonus after a summer that saw most of the stars coming back late due to the World Cup, and hopefully we’ll see some good results because of it.
