Sunday marks the 12-month anniversary of Jürgen Klopp announcing he was standing down as Liverpool manager. The handover, it is safe to say, could not have gone better. Arne Slot’s Premier League leaders maintained their title pursuit with a comfortable stroll against Ipswich, whose only consolation was that a second heavy defeat in succession could have been worse.
Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo, with two, were on the scoresheet as Liverpool racked up a 16th win in 22 league games under Slot. Liverpool continued their title challenge while rarely meeting one worthy of the description from Ipswich. Kieran McKenna accentuated the positives, as a manager must in a relegation fight, but his encouragement at the visitors’ strong finish underlined how much they had been outclassed. Ipswich’s strong finish could be measured in minutes, with the game long gone.
“We were comfortable,” said Slot. “Mostly because we scored an early goal. A few times at home we have conceded first but today is the way you want to start a game. We were aggressive and dominant.
“For 85 minutes they hardly played in our half. We were all disappointed to concede from a corner, the first one this season. But for 85 minutes it was almost a perfect performance.”
McKenna abandoned the five-man defence that shipped six goals at home to Manchester City last Sunday and reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation, but the end result was the same. Liverpool were three goals up and coasting by half-time, as City had been, and Ipswich again made life comfortable for heavyweight opposition. The gulf between the Champions League elite and newly promoted sides may be insurmountable – the quality of the substitutes that Slot introduced confirmed as much – but Ipswich’s fragile resistance meant this was never a contest.
The last thing Ipswich needed after their heaviest defeat of the season was to fall behind early. Another long old afternoon was under way after 11 minutes. Andy Robertson dispossessed Omari Hutchinson on the left, Liverpool worked the ball to Ibrahima Konaté on the right and the central defender threaded a fine pass into Szoboszlai’s run behind Kalvin Phillips. The Liverpool midfielder drilled a low finish inside Christian Walton’s left post from 18 yards. Liverpool exploited the pocket of space behind Ipswich’s central midfielders all afternoon.
Ipswich suffered another blow when Wes Burns was carried off with what appeared a serious knee injury. The winger’s right knee buckled when he tripped Gakpo and he required six minutes of treatment before being carried off with his leg strapped. There was no respite for the struggling visitors.
Salah marked his 400th appearance in English football by scoring his 100th Premier League goal for Liverpool at Anfield. The phenomenon had just had a shot saved at the back post by Walton when Gakpo’s floated cross over Szoboszlai, Jacob Greaves and Leif Davis gave him another try. This time Salah lashed an unstoppable finish into the roof of the net.
Ipswich were again guilty of standing off and admiring Liverpool for the third. Ryan Gravenberch met zero resistance when he strolled out of midfield and swept a cross behind Greaves to Szoboszlai. Walton saved superbly from the first-time shot but with four blue shirts around him Gakpo reacted quickest to convert the follow-up.
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The visitors did improve somewhat after the break. Hutchinson drew the first save from Alisson on the hour and the Brazil international tipped away a late header by substitute George Hirst. Liverpool’s clean sheet was ruined when Jacob Greaves stooped to head home Julio Enciso’s corner in the 90th minute. Enciso, recently arrived on loan from Brighton, had escaped with a yellow card for a high foul on Wataru Endo moments earlier.
But Liverpool’s victory was serene. Gakpo had already headed home his second, Liverpool’s fourth, from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pin-point delivery. The right-back appeared to have a few words for those in the Main Stand after his latest assist. He also struck a post and went close from 25 yards as Liverpool maintained their title charge with ease.
“It was a difficult game on top of another difficult game last week,” McKenna said. “But if we take the lessons in the right way we can be stronger.”
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