Andoni Iraola collected his first home win in the Premier League with Liverpool over the weekend and there are multiple signs that things are heading down the right path

It had been six months exactly — a full 184 days — since Liverpool had won a Premier League game at Anfield. That it hadn't felt that long was an indicator of the promising signs under Andoni Iraola.

"If I'm honest, we would have loved a bit more control of the ball," Virgil van Dijk admitted. "But against Brighton, that is sometimes asking for problems because they are so good at pressing. So we had to be a little bit more direct than we would have loved, because they go one-vs-one."

It would be fair to say that a pragmatic second half followed a clinical second, but against perhaps the most in-form team in Europe heading into this weekend, it was a ploy that made sense.

It paid off for Iraola, and was another significant step in the right direction. His front four seemed to click together, and his defense — led by Ronald Araujo — was a solid base.

Stylistically, Liverpool is starting to look more like an Iraola side. It has helped, of course, that he has picked up results in Europe and away from home, but a consistent run at home now looks possible too.

Iraola has used young players like Lewis Koumas and Trey Nyoni to bolster his ranks, which has helped gain buy-in from fans, and some big-money additions have begun to deliver.

There is a bigger difference-maker than any of that, though, that has been instructive: in $96 million (£72 million) duo Cody Gakpo and Alexis Mac Allister, he has almost found two completely new players.

In neither case was it like Florian Wirtz or Alexander Isak last term — new signings with plenty of context for their toiling. Instead, the duo inexplicably struggled, their form falling off a cliff.

A few months on, however, while Gakpo made some poor decisions in the final third against Brighton, he has started this season in an excellent vein of form. He could, don't forget, now be playing for Manchester City, but how relieved Iraola will be that he isn't.

Mac Allister has arguably had even more of a U-turn in his form. For months of last season, it looked like his legs had gone and that the volume of minutes he had played had taken its toll.

Get LFC's 2025/26 season home and away kits

Liverpool's home and away strips for the 2025/26 season are the first in their new partnership with adidas.

Fans can order jerseys in the US at Fanatics.com or via the LFC Online Store in both the US and across the world.

Now, though, he is a nailed-on starter. While he ideally wants to be more advanced, the Argentine appears to have ousted Ryan Gravenberch as the best option at number six and was superb against his former club on Sunday, snapping into tackles with a real vigor.

Gakpo has seven goal contributions in eight appearances this season and appears to be in the strongest starting XI that Liverpool can name, which includes far more expensive players who are yet to be as decisive.

Mac Allister, meanwhile, for whatever reason — and it could feasibly be his desperation for a new contract — could not be further from the player who looked physically incapable only a short time ago.

Iraola has benefitted from having a fit Isak, renewed pace in the form of Bradley Barcola, and an improving Wirtz. But the biggest change from last season is the form of Gakpo and Mac Allister. By design or coincidence, they are performing as well as any new signing.