Alexander Isak scored a nine-minute brace against Ipswich Town, as Liverpool claimed their first Premier League win under Andoni Iraola. The post Liverpool’s high press crucial for feeding Isak as Iraola reveals ‘fights’ appeared first on SoccerNews.
Similar to Manchester United, but at Manchester United we lost our way and moved away from the game plan, but today the lads were able to get straight back down to business. Ipswich have already conceded eight goals in the Premier League this season, their most after three games of a league campaign since 1964-65 (eight in the second tier). Ipswich are on their longest ever top-flight run without a clean sheet (22 matches).
It was a night that was supposed to belong to Liverpool's latest blockbuster signing, Bradley Barcola, but Alexander Isak had other ideas. The Swede has endured a difficult, injury-hit first 12 months at Anfield, but he used the familiar surroundings of Portman Road to fully launch his Liverpool career. The last time he made the trip to Suffolk to face the Tractor Boys, he left with the match ball after scoring a hat-trick in Newcastle United's thumping 4-0 victory.
Kylian Mbappe missed his fifth penalty for Real Madrid in a loss to Real Betis, inviting comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo. Kylian Mbappe missed his fifth penalty for Real Madrid since arriving at the club, failing to convert from the spot in stoppage time as Real Betis handed Los Blancos their first defeat of the LaLiga season on Friday. Betis goalkeeper Alvaro Valles guessed correctly and saved Mbappe’s effort in the 90+3rd minute, sealing a 1-0 win built on Troy Parrott’s 81st-minute header, after Real Madrid also had a Carlos Espi equalizer ruled out by VAR in the 87th minute. It’s the latest in a growing list of missed spot kicks for the Frenchman since joining Real Madrid, following earlier misses against Liverpool and Athletic Club during the 2024-25 season, another against Barcelona in last season’s first Clasico, and one more in a matchday loss to Real Sociedad, though he converted the rebound on that occasion. The struggles from the spot inevitably invite comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo, the club’s all-time top scorer and long regarded as one of the most reliable penalty takers in the sport. Across nine seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu, Ronaldo missed 13 penalties, roughly matching Mbappe’s current tally in a fraction of the time and attempts. 🚨🚨 KYLIAN MBAPPE MISSES THE OPPORTUNITY TO EQUALIZE FOR REAL MADRID! ❌pic.twitter.com/ob8HaYHDFI— Tekkers Foot (@tekkersfoot) September 4, 2026 The difference lies largely in volume: Ronaldo scored around 79 penalties during his Real Madrid tenure, meaning his misses came against a much larger sample size than Mbappe has faced so far. Mbappe, for his part, has already converted 19 penalties since joining the club in 2024, according to Transfermarkt. Mbappe joins Ronaldo on unwanted list of penalty misses Mbappe is now the fifth player in Real Madrid’s history to miss a penalty in the closing minutes of a LaLiga match with the score tied or the team trailing by a single goal, joining Cristiano Ronaldo on a list first compiled by MisterChip on X (formerly Twitter). The Portuguese forward’s miss came in 2006 against Valencia, when he stepped up late in the match with the score level and failed to convert, a moment that until now stood as the most recent entry on the list before Saturday’s game against Betis. The rest of the group is completed by Alfredo Di Stéfano, who missed twice, along with Paul Breitner and Raul.
LEWIS STEELE AT PORTMAN ROAD: Barcola, all £123million of him, was limited to a watching brief for the first hour and may have been pondering just how he gets in this team.
Gary O'Neil was fully aware of the difficulty of the task at hand before kick-off as he reeled off Liverpool's array of attacking talent. The Ipswich manager will be disappointed with how easily his side conceded the opening goal, with Kjell Scherpen beaten too easily at his near post. There were encouraging flashes from Ipswich's attackers, particularly Julio Enciso and Jack Clarke after he came off the bench in the second half.
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