Isak Scores Again as Liverpool Win With 36% Possession — Iraola's Plan Finally Clicks
GOATIFYLiverpool needed only four minutes to turn a difficult-looking afternoon into their first home Premier League victory of the season. Florian Wirtz forced Pascal Gross into a 17th-minute own goal against Brighton on October 25; Alexander Isak finished Bradley Barcola's delivery in the 21st. The final score was 2-0, but the more revealing number was Liverpool's 35.6% possession. Andoni Iraola's side did not control the ball. They controlled the moments that mattered.
Brighton arrived at Anfield in third place after four consecutive league wins, a run in which they had scored 15 goals without conceding. Their attack had been one of the division's most productive, and they still finished Sunday with 17 shots. Yet only one found the target. Liverpool combined the speed of their expensive attacking recruits with a defensive effort that turned a low-possession victory into something more convincing than a lucky escape. It was not a complete performance, but it was a persuasive picture of how this version of Liverpool wants to win.
Four minutes exposed the difference between possession and pressure
The afternoon might have followed an entirely different script if Yasin Ayari had finished Brighton's clearest early opportunity. The visitors moved through Liverpool's left side, Pascal Gross delivered a cut-back and Ayari sent the ball over with the goal available. It was a reminder that aggressive football carries risk: when a press is beaten, the defending team can suddenly have large spaces to protect.
Within minutes, Brighton were behind. Ronald Araújo helped keep a half-cleared attack alive, Wirtz reacted to the loose ball and struck toward goal. The decisive touch came off Gross, so the opener went into the records as an own goal rather than a Wirtz strike. That distinction matters for the player's scoring statistics, but not for the tactical sequence. Liverpool's attacking players were close enough to the action to punish a scrambled clearance, and Brighton had no time to reset.
The second goal made the point even more sharply. Olivier Boscagli tried to move the ball away from danger, Barcola intervened high up the pitch and accelerated into the space he had created. His delivery found Isak, who guided the finish beyond Bart Verbruggen. It was a transition made possible by pressure rather than a long spell of possession. Liverpool had transformed one opponent's error into a goal and then another into a two-goal cushion before the game had reached its midpoint in the first half.
That is why the possession figure is not a contradiction. Liverpool had just 35.6% of the ball, their lowest share in an Anfield league victory since 2010, according to match data. Iraola's priorities are not simply to circulate passes until the opposition tires. He wants his team to win useful duels, move forward immediately and attack defenders before their shape is restored. Liverpool still needed some fortune, especially with Ayari's miss, but their two goals came from repeatable actions. They pressed with purpose and were decisive when the ball broke their way.
Isak and Barcola are beginning to look like an actual partnership
Isak's sixth Premier League goal of the campaign was also his third in three consecutive league appearances. Those numbers are significant because his Liverpool career has not yet been a smooth sequence of games and goals. Injury disruption and the pressure attached to a major transfer made his early adaptation more difficult than the price tag suggested. The striker now looks more comfortable judging when to hold his position and when to attack the space between defenders.
Barcola deserves as much attention as the finisher. Playing on the right while Cody Gakpo occupied the left, the French winger gave Liverpool a different kind of threat from a traditional touchline creator. His defensive involvement began the move, his pace carried it forward and his final pass was early enough for Isak to meet it without taking an extra touch. The goal was not merely evidence that Liverpool possess talented individuals. It showed two expensive recruits performing complementary jobs in the same attacking action.
Gakpo also mattered without a goal or assist. His movement down the left forced Brighton to account for attacks from both sides rather than loading their defensive resources against Barcola. He had opportunities he might have finished more cleanly, but his willingness to drive at defenders helped keep Liverpool's front line broad. Wirtz, meanwhile, repeatedly occupied the spaces around the penalty area where loose clearances and second balls become dangerous. The opening goal will not count as his, but the attack depended on him being alert to the rebound.
It would be premature to declare Liverpool's attacking problems solved by a single afternoon. The second half brought promising counterattacking positions that were not converted into a third goal, and Brighton were able to regain territorial control. Yet the pattern is encouraging. Isak can finish moves quickly, Barcola can manufacture them by recovering possession, Gakpo can stretch the opposite side and Wirtz can connect the pieces centrally. Iraola does not need every player to dominate the ball. He needs their movements to arrive in the right order. For two decisive first-half passages, they did.
Brighton's 17 shots made Liverpool's defensive performance more revealing
Brighton's numbers make the result unusual. They had scored 23 goals across their first seven league matches and entered Anfield on a four-match winning streak with a 15-0 aggregate score. On Sunday they enjoyed almost two-thirds of possession and took 17 shots, more than Liverpool's 13. But they forced only one save from a shot on target. The gap between volume and danger tells the story of a side that reached promising areas without consistently creating clean finishes.
Ayari embodied the frustration. He missed the early opening that could have changed the rhythm, then struck the post after Liverpool lost possession while playing out from the back. Both chances were serious warnings. Neither became a goal, and Brighton struggled to turn their later territorial advantage into comparable opportunities. Their wide deliveries often found Liverpool defenders set and ready rather than a runner arriving unmarked. Boscagli, involved in the breakdown before Isak's goal, was withdrawn at half-time as Brighton searched for a different balance.
Liverpool's defenders earned their clean sheet through interventions rather than passive retreat. Araújo attacked duels with conviction, Jérémy Jacquet made important blocks and Virgil van Dijk helped organize the penalty area as Brighton increased the pressure. One of the most valuable moments came from substitute Trey Nyoni, who got across to stop Maxim De Cuyper before the Brighton player could shoot from a dangerous position. Those actions will not appear in the goals column, but they preserved the conditions that allowed Liverpool to manage the final stages.
There is still a distinction between an impressive defensive response and complete control. Brighton's early miss and the shot against the woodwork were not products of Liverpool's plan; they were moments the hosts survived. The encouraging element is what happened around them. The back line continued to win individual battles, the midfield worked to protect central spaces and Liverpool did not surrender the kind of repeated clear chances that usually accompany 64% opposition possession. Against a side that had been scoring freely, one shot on target is a meaningful outcome. It also gives Iraola a standard to demand when his attackers are less clinical.
Iraola has his first Anfield league win — now Chelsea will test the depth
The result delivered an important milestone for Iraola: his first Premier League home win as Liverpool manager. It was also a fourth consecutive victory across competitions, a sign that the side's early-season uncertainty is giving way to more recognizable habits. The team began with the urgency its manager has repeatedly requested and showed enough discipline to protect the advantage when the match became less open.
Still, Liverpool's next test arrives quickly. Chelsea visit Anfield in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, October 28, and the manager must decide how much to ask of players who have recently returned from fitness problems. Wirtz left against Brighton after twisting an ankle, with Nyoni replacing him in the second half. The initial assessment was cautiously encouraging rather than definitive: Wirtz indicated the issue did not seem serious, while Iraola said the staff would need to evaluate it. Until a medical update arrives, a firm prediction about his availability would be speculation.
The Brighton game also illustrated why squad depth matters even when the strongest attack starts. Nyoni contributed a vital defensive challenge almost immediately after entering. Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas were available to inject energy late, while Liverpool could rotate their attacking options without abandoning the pressing identity. Those are useful signs for a team trying to compete on several fronts, but they do not eliminate the risk of fatigue. The hosts had chances to finish Brighton off and did not always execute the final pass once the early intensity faded.
Iraola should take more than three points from Sunday, but less than a verdict on an entire season. The high press produced goals, the attackers combined naturally and the defense survived a long period without the ball. Chelsea will pose different problems, and the condition of Wirtz could alter the midfield's shape. What Liverpool have gained is a clear reference performance: aggressive enough to unsettle a confident opponent, ruthless enough to lead by two and disciplined enough to close the match. Repeating that balance, rather than simply chasing more possession, is the next step.
Liverpool's 2-0 win did not prove that 36% possession is a magic formula. It proved that possession is a poor substitute for understanding which team created and defended the decisive moments. Barcola's recovery, Isak's finish, Wirtz's reaction and a succession of committed defensive actions gave Liverpool the match Brighton could not reclaim.
The most encouraging development for Iraola is not the scoreline alone. It is that the performance had a coherent identity. Brighton exposed some vulnerabilities and Wirtz's ankle requires monitoring, but Liverpool finally looked like a team whose attacking investment and coaching instructions were pulling in the same direction. The next challenge is to make that coordination last beyond one strong afternoon at Anfield.
