Premier League: Plenty of reasons to be positive for Ipswich despite defeat

Ipswich Town 0 - 2 Liverpool

Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah found the back of the net as Arne Slot's tenure as Liverpool head coach kicked off with a hard-earned victory against newly promoted Ipswich Town in a lively atmosphere at Portman Road.

Portuguese forward Jota capitalised on a well-executed Liverpool attack that saw Salah and the impressive Trent Alexander-Arnold combine. Just after the hour mark, Jota calmly slotted Salah’s low cross past Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton.

Liverpool doubled their lead just five minutes later when Salah converted a pass from Dominik Szoboszlai, marking his ninth opening-day goal—a new Premier League record.

A closer look at what happened

Playing their first top-flight match in 22 years, Ipswich put up a strong fight in the first half, coming closest to scoring with Jacob Greaves' downward header and Omari Hutchinson's low drive.

However, Liverpool emerged much stronger after the break and nearly took the lead early in the second half when Jota narrowly missed connecting with Alexander-Arnold's precise cross.

The 27-year-old quickly made up for that miss, and Salah’s goal sealed a narrow victory, handing Ipswich their first home defeat in nearly a year.

Liverpool win despite no new signings.

One of the talking points of the summer transfer window has been Liverpool's lack of new signings. Their new manager is wanting to give the current players a chance before bringing in additional new signings. He certainly seemed very positive about their performances after the match.

Ipswich fans are still positive about their chances.

This was only their second home league defeat in 40 matches, and plenty of positives to take from it despite the result. Many of their fans believe they will get better as the signings, particularly the more recent additions, get settled at their new club.

It won’t be games like this - or next Saturday’s visit to Manchester City - that will dictate how Town’s first season back in the Premier League progresses but how they fare when up against more run-of-the-mill top-flight sides over the next ten months.