Liverpool kicked off their 2024/25 Premier League season with an away win at Ipswich Town Liverpool kickstarted their season in the best way possible on Saturday afternoon after securing a 2-0 away win over newly-promoted Ipswich Town. Arne Slot's side struggled during the opening 45 minutes at Portman Road, though were far superior after the interval and punished the hosts with quickfire strikes from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah . Slot had a full squad to choose from heading into this encounter, a luxury Jurgen Klopp was not afforded all that often during his nine-year Anfield reign, and opted to hand starts to the likes of Jarell Quansah, Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota, ensuring there was no place for Ibrahima Konate, Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo as a result.
The Reds' boss now faces the difficult task of deciding what his first-choice starting eleven should be, a process set to be made harder by players pushing to force their way into contention and having everyone available to pick from. There were fears the withdrawal of Quansah at half-time of Saturday's match was injury-related, though Slot later confirmed this was a tactical call influenced by the number of duels the English centre-back was failing to win. Speaking after the game, the Liverpool head coach said: "We as a team made a big change at half-time because we came out totally different to how we had come out in the first half.
"I have to give credit to Ipswich as well because I think they were aggressive, they were not afraid, they were playing one-v-one all over the pitch to defend us. Then it is about winning your duels and winning your second balls. I think they won more than us and that's why it was absolutely an equal game in the first half.
"Second half, we won more duels, we won more second balls and we played more balls in behind because if the other team takes the risk of playing one-v-one and you have the likes of Luis Diaz, Mo Salah and Diogo Jota then use them, play the balls in behind. That's what we did better in the second half and from there on gaps opened up and you could see how good and how well we could play in possession." Joe Gomez was another individual whose absence was not linked to a fitness issue , having been omitted from the matchday squad as he considers his future at the club.
It recently emerged Gomez was offered to Newcastle United as part of a deal to sign Anthony Gordon, which later fell through after the Magpies pulled out..
