Ipswich Town welcomed Liverpool to Portman Road on Saturday, in the opening round of the 2024/25 Premier League season. The Merseysiders walked away with all three points, courtesy of second-half goals from Diogo Jota (60′) and Mohamed Salah (65′).
The teams
It’s been more than two decades since Ipswich last played in the Premier League. Like many promoted clubs tend to do, they’ve done significant transfer business this summer to try and strengthen the squad for the upcoming challenges, the main of which will surely be to stay in the English top flight. Whether it proves enough remains to be seen – losing the opening game to a team like Liverpool can hardly be taken as any kind of a sign.
Coach Kieran McKenna selected Christian Walton, who spent most of last season in the Championship on the bench, to start between the posts ahead of newcomer Arijanet Muric, who didn’t make the squad. Luke Woolfenden, Jacob Greaves and former Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe formed the back-three line. Leif Davies and Wes Burns provided width from the wing-back roles, covering their while the midfield pair of captain Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo played in the middle. Conor Chaplin and Omari Hutchinson supported former Manchester City striker Liam Delap up front.
In stark contrast, Liverpool are yet to make their first signing of the summer, and after their failure to persuade Martin Zubimendi to leave Real Sociedad, it will be interesting to see if they get any business done before the window closes. There have been several outgoing transfers, including the departures of Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara, as well as the sale of Fabio Carvalho to Brentford. The latest story suggests Joe Gomez could leave as well, and the versatile defender was left out of the squad for this game while he ponders his options.
Arne Slot, the newly appointed head coach, unsurprisingly put Alisson Becker between the posts, with captain Virgil van Dijk marshaling the back line. It was interesting to see Jarrel Quansah picked to partner the Dutchman ahead of Ibrahima Konate, though Konate got his chance from the start of the second half. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson were on the defensive flanks. The midfield consisted of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, with the Hungary captain given a bit more freedom to roam than the other two. Jota was chosen to lead the line, which left Darwin Nunez on the bench, with Salah on the right, and Luis Diaz on the left.
A tight first half
The opening 45 minutes showed signs of old problems for Liverpool, who conceded first on many occasions last season and had to roll up their sleeves afterwards. They were rather unconvincing, struggling against the very physical approach of McKenna’s side. Slot himself jokingly admitted as much after the game, referring to the displeasure of his predecessor Jurgen Klopp for his team being frequently picked for early kick-off games in previous seasons, by saying it seemed his players still didn’t like it as they didn’t really show up in the first half.
Though Liverpool dominated possession from the start and spent a lot time in the opposition half, the first real chance came for Ipswich as Greaves rose highest in Liverpool’s box to head on target in the 20th minute, but Alisson managed to smother the ball. The home side threatened again 11 minutes later as Hutchinson broke through on the counterattack, but his subsequent shot from just outside the box was again saved by Alisson. As for Liverpool, their first proper chance happened in the 37th minute when Woolfenden made a poor attempt at a backpass and almost set Diaz up to score, but Walton came out quickly and took the ball in front of the Colombian winger.
There was one more attempt at either end before the break, but neither Tuenzebe with a header nor Alexander-Arnold from range managed to hit the target.
Liverpool step up
Liverpool looked a lot better in the second half, though Ipswich again threatened first with a nicely organized team move, at the end of which they had a penalty claim as Van Dijk clattered Delap from behind inside the box. But as referee Tim Robinson considered whether to give it, the linesman signaled for offside in the buildup. The situation was checked by the VAR and the on-field decision confirmed.
The moment appeared to have given Ipswich some confidence and belief they could actually hurt the visitors, but their desire to do so only created more space for Liverpool to exploit at the other end. Just two minutes later, Alexander-Arnold and Jota set Diaz up for a great chance, but the winger lifted the ball over the bar before going down under contact from Walton.
Nonetheless, Liverpool continued attacking with purpose, and only a minute after missing a great opportunity by sending a free header wide, Jota got on the end of an unselfish ball from Salah to send his team ahead. The attack was properly initiated by a fantastic pass from Alexander-Arnold to Salah, but McKenna will probably have something to say to Davies who gave up on tracking the run of the Egyptian, probably under the impression that Salah was offside.
Liverpool’s lead was doubled just five minutes later, as Salah played a nice one-two with Szoboszlai to get clear of the Ipswich defence, and though Davies managed to get a touch on the return pass, he couldn’t do enough to prevent Salah from poking past Walton from close range.
The Merseysiders came close to adding a third goal soon as Gravenberch found the run of Diaz with a lovely pass through the middle, but as Diaz took the ball around Walton, he went too wide and then couldn’t find Salah with a low pull-back.
Salah wasted a brilliant pass from Szoboszlai with a pale shot from the edge of the box in the 71st minute and fired a volley on target in stoppage time, and substitute Conor Bradley also had a good chance late on, but Walton made three fine saves. before the final whistle sounded. Ipswich threatened one last time through Greaves in the final seconds, but Konate put in a fantastic block to help his team keep a clean sheet.
Another record for Mohamed Salah
Since joining Liverpool from AS Roma back in 2017, Salah has broken many records in the Premier League, and now he’s added another one to the list. The goal he scored at Portman Road was his ninth on the opening day of the season, breaking the record previously held jointly by Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, and Alan Shearer.
Incidentally, this was Salah’s 350th game in a Liverpool shirt in all competitions, and he now has 302 goal contributions for the club to his name, with 212 goals and 90 assists. A truly marvelous achievement for the Egyptian winger, who is obviously going strong still at the age of 32. Liverpool fans still like to remind their rivals about Salah being referred to as a “one-season wonder” after netting 44 times in 2017/18.
Salah remains one of the three key players in the Liverpool squad, along with Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, currently in his last year of contract. Quite apart from the lack of transfer activity this summer, that situation has raised the voices of the fans quick to criticism of the board and the owners even more.
It’s hard to imagine a club as big and successful as Liverpool allowing any of the trio leaving as a free agent next year, but they will obviously need to get something done on that front quickly.
Tough start for Ipswich
It was always going to be difficult for McKenna and his players, facing Liverpool in their first day back in the Premier League after two decades, but it has to be said that they showed plenty of spirit, and proved that they have ways of threatening big teams. The difference in quality between the two sides is quite obvious, but they will surely seek to rack up much needed points against the so-called smaller opponents.
It will arguably get even harder next week as they travel to face reigning champions Manchester City at the Etihad, before taking on AFC Wimbledon in the second round of the Carabao Cup, but after that, they will have to start picking up results against Fulham, Brighton and Southampton.
As for Liverpool, it’s Brentford at Anfield next, and then they go to Old Trafford to take on old rivals, Manchester United.
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