Liverpool Match Posts

05 Sep 2026 06:58:53
Great performance last night and good to see them gel together properly for the first time.
Gakpo has been pure class so far this season - twice the player he was last year, and he seems to be enjoying his football more.
Isak looked exactly like the player he was at Newcastle, and those goals will have erased his demons.
Araujo looks solid, and a very good move, not just a back-up man.


Jaquet was great and so far is proving an upgrade to Konate.
Barcola will be perfect for us with some real glimpses of his pace and skill.
The others all played well too, with some great overlapping play, and lots of chasing down.
Nice not to find any real negatives for a while!
Looking forward to the next game.

05 Sep 2026 04:54:37
couldn't watch the game but it seems iraola has arrived.

Also gackpo incident why wasn't that a penalty and Ali was given. This irks me every decision keeps going against us. A bunch of idiots the officials in this country.

05 Sep 2026 03:01:57
I really thought that Araujo was excellent lad. What an astute signing he could well turn out to be 🙏

{Ed666's Note - He’s definitely a no frills type of player but did well today and let’s hope can build on this performance.

05 Sep 2026 01:45:42
That was a very encouraging performance. The team looked fitter, the players ran more, and the passing looked more incisive. Ignore any “it’s only Ipswich” - Ipswich look a far more capable team than 24/25, and Enciso, Fatawu and Maeda give them genuine pace, workrate and trickery in attack. They’ll beat plenty of teams at home this season.

Alisson - dealt with anything he faced. He wasn’t peppered with shots but did everything needed without fuss.

Araujo - really encouraging. Other than shinning one out for a silly corner, he did a lot well. As people have said, he showed real, old-school aggressive defending. Opponents pick up on that and gradually lose heart when they constantly lose duels.

Jacquet - looked a bit flustered when being run at, but overall he defended well - 19 is incredibly young to be a starting CB in the PL. Looks such a prospect.

VVD - much better today. Led the defence and team as he should. Ipswich simply didn’t fancy facing him.

Kerkez - his best performance for us for a long time. Tackled aggressively, remained switched on against a tricky Fatawu.

Does need to close down crosses better.

Szoboszlai - Finally, he shows some positional discipline. An excellent performance from Dom. I was so happy seeing him covering for Araujo when the latter was venturing further up the pitch in the second half. Unlucky with the offside, as he did very well to win that penalty.

MacAllister - barely took much notice because he was doing everything with far less fuss than usual. Got in some great positions and kept things ticking.

Munoz - he’s exactly what this team needed - a tricky speedster who helps the team. He’ll be a really useful player for us.

Wirtz - most people criticizing him simply aren’t watching him play. Though I thought he tired rapidly in the second half, in the first half he was sharp, incisive and fluid. His would-be assist to Isak was world class.

Isak - did exactly what we bought him for. He moved better, ran more and got his just rewards with two well-taken goals. Worries over his suitability for this team are well-founded, but coaches like Iraola don’t ignore world class players when they have them.

05 Sep 2026 02:19:28
Did Gakpo not play, Lowe?

05 Sep 2026 02:40:16
Missed that, John. Gakpo was excellent - had a really strong start to the season.

05 Sep 2026 07:03:14
Isak looked more like the player we thought we were getting, two good finishes. Defensively better overall. A valuable 3 points and a confidence builder.

05 Sep 2026 00:08:31
That was really good. Some notable things:

1- RW dropping into fullback to make a back 5 off the ball.

It left a bit of a gap to cover if Ipswich were able to get the ball to that side quick enough, but on the few occasions they tried Araujo or Jacquet were there to mop up. Also helped to have an additional body in central areas. Not sure it's sustainable for the season but was a cute adjustment from the coaches.

2- Macca still has legs left in him!

Enciso is no mug and Macca managed to make the recovery run to shut down the counter attack opportunity. He's not at his best, but when he is at it he is always up for a battle, can control the middle of the field. Thought him and Dom together were fine, especially with the protection of 3 CBs behind them perhaps.



3- direct and early.
Perfect goals for Isak. We need more from him outside the box, if we can keep that kind of quality delivery into his feet in the box then we will bag a hatful of goals for us.

4- Gakpo, like a new signing :D

Nice to see Barcola come straight on for his debut. Nice touches early and then as we sat back the game didn't flow his way. Moving forward, I think we have to treat him the same as Wirtz and Isak, just keep feeding them ball.

Nice work lads.

Side note - been a bit understated, but that is game one down out of 5 in 16 days. Iraola's first proper test coaching a team expected to win all of those games.

Good start!

04 Sep 2026 23:17:19
I really have no idea what some people watch.
All away games are tricky. We more or less bossed that one all while still getting used to new tactics and bringing a good few subs on, including a signed on for 5 minutes, Barcola.
It was quicker. The pressing was much more intense. Players are clearly finding good link ups on the pitch and, 2nd half, we obviously took our foot off the gas a bit.
Upsides: Munoz is a breath of fresh air, Gakpo looked committed, Isak looked sharp, Jacquet is gaining a good partnership with VVD, Araujo is clearly a beast and we looked much more solid with him at fb, also the amount of shots at goal went up considerably.


Downsides: we started looking backwards when Grav came on, Kerkez did ok but is still a worry, Wirtz is starting to look lightweight, you can see how sharp his brain is but he's not bossing it, he's shoved off far too easy, the midfield would deffo benefit from a 6 or Nyoni playing for me.
Overall I thought it was much more positive, 3 points and a clean sheet and signs of progression. I'll take it.
YNWA

05 Sep 2026 03:26:27
I think for some people, the expectation is always the perfect performance.

{Ed666's Note - I think Klopp spoiled us Faith

04 Sep 2026 22:07:24
Backline looked improved with Arojouh. No33 could be our best defender this season. I'd actually like to see him starting alongside Virg when Bradley's available again.
Jacquet a bit too laid back at times and clumsy. Kerkez still has a lot to improve on.
Midfield did ok first half. Sobosli simply doesn't look like a no 8 in any regard. Positionally all over the place and energy wasted. Maybe Andoni can work wonders. I'm not so sure. Macca did well with what he was asked to do.

He doesn't have the legs to do any more.
Grav did nothing when he came on. We'll see what position Andoni puts him in long term and what he can offer. We needed two midfielders this summer to go straight in. A proper 6 and a quality passer knitting everything together. We got neither so we're relying on kids with such a long season.
Up front everyone did well bar Wirtz. A few moments isn't good enough. Far too passive in losing the ball. I don't know how you're going to get this lad firing.

05 Sep 2026 00:08:54
Is that all you can do? Find fault?

We won 2-0.

05 Sep 2026 03:27:14
Glad we managed to escape with a 2 goal victory.

05 Sep 2026 07:01:21
Please take the time to get the names of our players right.

04 Sep 2026 22:03:10
Definite progress, we are getting better. Nice to see Isak looking a lot more switched on. Biggest player concern for me was Wirtz. He just looks so lightweight.

{Ed025's Note - first half was good for me Snoots, second half was basically pathetic mate..

04 Sep 2026 22:28:52
Yeah, second half wasn't great, I agree. Overall there is improvement tho. Will take time.

04 Sep 2026 22:36:19
We reverted back to slow, sideways and backwards passing in the second half, which meant Ipswich could get set and Isak and Wirtz had no space to play.

Virgil played the entire half in his own half, which not only gave the opposition space but encouraged the midfielders to play backwards to him rather than look to play forward.

First half was much better, especially the first 25 minutes. Virgil and Jacquet camped in their half, much more aggressive, front-footed defending, which gave us the chance to win the ball high and get Wirtz and Isak on the ball in space.

04 Sep 2026 23:05:51
We ran out of steam. It's all a work in progress hopefully. Step in the right direction tonight. Keep improving from here hopefully.

04 Sep 2026 23:10:36
I said similar in the match thread over at Liverpool FC free forums and got banned instantly. They seem very ban happy over there if you say anything negative.

I just pointed out that Gakpo was so tired when he went up top he should have probably been subbed, as he looked dead on his feet.

Wirtz I usually defend but was very poor tonight.

Kerkez wasn't great either.

We dropped off too much in the second half for me. The team still looks unfit but may take a while for the manager to change this.

Araujo was really good but I'd prefer him as a cb as I think he would struggle against a real quick winger.

Hopefully we keep improving and hopefully I don't get banned from this forum for pointing out a few negatives.

Onto the next game. ,:)

05 Sep 2026 00:09:06
Really good first half. Second half maybe we tired while still adjusting to the demands of Iraola's style? I totally agree with Davey Sulls.
Really happy with Ron, I know it's early days but should be our first choice RB.

05 Sep 2026 01:16:04
First 30 minutes was good. Isak's movement was the best I have seen from him in a Liverpool shirt. Munoz started well but faded - needs to get his head up on occasions, but I like his tenacity.

Gakpo - far better already than last season.

The second half was pretty abject. I was hoping we would come out and really put Ipswich to the sword, but we didn't. We allowed them to pick up every second ball and apply pressure.

The midfield, or lack of, is really a concern.

We looked at times as if we were playing a 4 1 5 formation, obviously not by design, but our midfield simply have no positional restraint or concept - play like this against a better team than Ipswich and we will suffer.

Happy with 3 points, but irrespective of what Iraola might say in public interviews, I am sure he isn't totally happy and knows he has a hell of a lot of work to do... not helped by Huhes and the Owners I might add.

04 Sep 2026 22:16:10
Spot on Ed25.
Ed1 can use this for.his match review 🤣

We cannot.perform.like this against better teams.we'll get punished

{Ed025's Note - i liked the first half JLC and the intensity was there, i done the reds to win 4-0 and thought i had under cooked it, why you sat back second half i just dont know mate...old habits die hard i suppose..

04 Sep 2026 21:45:36
Good first 20 min but after that same old Liverpool. Just slow needless passing with no movement. Midfield is slow and so weak it’s unreal. Did we actually win a single battle? Any half decent team is going to walk straight through us. Praying IA can get what he wants from this group of players but at the moment I don’t think he’s got any chance.

{Ed666's Note - it will take time for IA’s instructions to bear fruit

04 Sep 2026 21:56:46
Yay! We won and got a clean sheet!

04 Sep 2026 21:59:33
Yeah not impressed with that massively.

Good to see Isak do well, but damn little to nothing actually came off. Even Ipswich had a few chances.

04 Sep 2026 22:08:24
Midfield is a huge worry with Wirtz in the side. Koumas does more in 5 mins than Wirtz does in 85.

{Ed025's Note - thats fair Dougie..

04 Sep 2026 22:10:20
The grumpies on fire tonight. Great result, two superb goals, and a clean sheet. Time to be happy?

04 Sep 2026 22:10:29
Edd666 andoni can give all the instructions he wants. Macca doesn't have the legs for a 6 in the Premier League especially week in week out and I actually don't think he fancys gravenberch. Then you have dom who doesn't look like a central midfielder.

He's all over the place positionally and rash on the ball. We needed two midfielders and I know andoni will look for two midfielders next summer to go straight into that team

{Ed666's Note - it’s widely recognized that there are some players that aren’t up to scratch and won’t be here next summer. What we can’t do is lament at things we can’t control instead I feel we need to just hope IA can get these players purring and get some average footballers playing above tjeir level like he did at Bournemouth.

04 Sep 2026 22:32:56
Agree about the midfield but the first 20-25 min we were aggressive with some bite which is what we have all been asking for. The rest of it was pointless possession and sitting back for the most part.

I'm encouraged by the first bit because it shows they have it in them even if only for 1/4 of the game. Ed666 think IA can get that midfield playing that way for 90 or just think it's beyond them?

{Ed666's Note - he got inferior players to what he has now doing it at Bournemouth I have every faith he can get a tune out of the midfield players we have at our disposal now

05 Sep 2026 03:28:29
Koumas literally just ran around. Did he even touch the ball?

Proving that the football intelligence of some fans has been harmed by Netflix and YouTube shorts.