Second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah have allowed new Liverpool coach Arne Slot to get off to a 2-0 winning start at newly-promoted Ipswich Town in the English Premier League.
Ipswich, cheered by new minority shareholder and pop star Ed Sheeran, went toe-to-toe with Liverpool in the first half but failed to take their chances.
Slot’s new side improved markedly after the break, taking the lead on the hour mark through Jota, before a fine move was finished off by Egyptian forward Salah five minutes later to effectively kill off Ipswich, for whom former Socceroos star Massimo Luongo came on as a second-half substitute.
Liverpool had a host of chances to make the result even more emphatic, but two goals were enough to navigate Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp’s replacement Slot past a tricky first game of the campaign.
“Hopefully I keep going like this for the whole season,” Salah told TNT Sports.
“It’s quite different for all of us (playing under Slot), we need to adapt. We just need to know his way of playing and enjoy the football. We don’t need to put more pressure on him, we just need to play football and enjoy our games.”
A quiet pre-season, with Liverpool yet to sign a single player during the close-season transfer window had some supporters worried ahead of the new campaign.
Their side’s first-half performance where the visitors could not muster a single shot on target, added to those concerns.
Slot’s side clicked into gear after the break, though, opening the scoring through Jota after being set up by Salah.
And with Ipswich still regrouping, Salah, in his 350th appearance for the club in all competitions, netted superbly after being played in by Dominik Szoboszlai to seal the victory.
The 32-year-old now has more goals in the opening rounds of Premier League seasons than anyone else, and he looks set to play a major part in another Liverpool title tilt this term.
There were five more games to come later on Saturday, including last season’s runners-up Arsenal hosting Wolves, while reigning champions Manchester City beginning their defence at Chelsea on Sunday.