LIVERPOOL, England, (Reuters) – Andoni Iraola was pleased his Liverpool side flew out of the blocks to cruise to a 2-0 Premier League win over Brighton & Hove Albion yesterday thanks to a Pascal Gross own goal and a superb finish from striker Alexander Isak.
The two sides came out with the intention of pressing high and countering quickly, and it was Liverpool who got the upper hand with two first-half goals to build a lead they never relinquished to register their first league win at home this term.
“Very happy for today, very happy overall for this win … we needed a strong start, to be aggressive, recover balls, win duels, be dangerous in transitions, and I think we’ve done that,” Iraola told reporters.
Brighton’s Yasin Ayari blazed an early chance over the bar and later hit the woodwork, but that was as close as the visitors came as Liverpool threw off the shackles of a shaky start to the league season to show a glimpse of what they are capable of doing.
With Cody Gakpo to the left, Bradley Barcola to the right and Isak through the centre, Liverpool boast a broad, balanced attack, but they have struggled to find harmony in the opening weeks of the campaign.
On Sunday that began to look like a thing of the past as Gakpo repeatedly attacked down his flank, occasionally cutting inside to keep his marker guessing and causing havoc while trying to either fashion shooting chances or pick out better-placed teammates.
Liverpool’s second goal came from Barcola winning the ball high up the field and squaring to Isak, whose deft first-time finish gave the keeper no chance.
“Alex, I think, as a striker, if we can put him in those positions and we can provide him good crosses, good situations, he will score the goals,” Iraola said.
“It’s a matter of, in this case Bradley, winning the duel, going one against one, being faster than the opposition and finding good spots.”
After an injury-plagued first season, Isak is looking more comfortable in a Liverpool shirt as he netted for the third league game in a row.
“We had a lot of chances in the first half where we won the ball and countered. We could have had more goals, but yeah, Bradley done super, super good, and for me, it was just about being in the right place to finish it off,” he told Sky Sports.
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