Dominik Szoboszlai laments the 12:30 kick-off time as Liverpool open the new season with a 2-0 away win at Ipswich Town, despite the match being one of former manager Jürgen Klopp's least favourites.

Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai lamented Liverpool's early kick-off in their season opener against Ipswich Town.

Arne Slot's debut as a Premier League coach could not have gone better. His side overcame a difficult match to win 2-0 thanks to goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah.

But Liverpool, like last season, had to kick off its games at lunchtime on Saturday, a time that often frustrated former manager Jürgen Klopp.

And it seems that their Hungarian midfielder is also not a fan of the 12:30 kick-off time.

However, he was quick to point out that their opponents were also facing the same problem and that he did not want to use it as an excuse for their slow start.

Dominik Szoboszlai was not exactly happy with the early kick-off and joked that it was “still morning”.

After the win, Szoboszlai told Optus Sport: “I think we are at peak fitness, we just need to use it.”

“That's no excuse, but 12:30 am is still morning, but it is morning for them too, so that's no excuse.”

But from next week we have to be ready from the first minute. Sometimes it goes like that and sometimes you concede a goal and it's already too late.'

The 12:30 kick-off time was something that annoyed former manager Jürgen Klopp throughout his time as Liverpool boss and especially during his final season.

In his penultimate season as coach, the German team failed to win any of its six early kickoffs.

Jürgen Klopp often complained about his team’s early kick-off time

And when he was given two early kick-offs for the first time after last season's international breaks, when Klopp asked reporters if his team was struggling at that particular part of the game, “are you serious?” he replied:

He added: “What do you mean, what's the difference if you played in Bolivia 30 hours ago? What do you think is the reason? I don't understand.

“Is it the time or the lack of recovery in between? It's not a problem if you have a normal week, that's what we've always said. The only problem is the lack of recovery time.”

“We have four international breaks until March and two of them kick off at 12.30pm. If I say one more word about it, the whole world will say, 'He's starting to moan again', but that's a joke – we have players in South America that I haven't seen yet and we're playing in 24 hours. That's a joke.”

And his problems with the kick-off time of a game go back even further than last season: in 2020, he apparently blamed BT Sport for an injury to James Milner.

During the post-match interview with the broadcaster, he congratulated Des Kelly and continued: “Well, you work for them. Ask Chris Wilder how we can work on it. I don't know how many times I have to say it, but you choose the 12:30 kick-off.

“Between now and December there is a Wednesday and a Saturday. These are difficult times. I'm just telling it like it is. Wednesday to Saturday 12:30 is really dangerous.”

Kick-off at lunchtime can often lead to a somewhat depressed atmosphere, but there was no danger of that happening here.

The visitors got off to a slow start, but the same could not be said for the fans, as Portman Road was already bustling with activity before kick-off.

And who could blame them, as it had been 22 years since their last Premier League appearance and they were clearly ready for this moment.

This energy was definitely transferred to the players, who attacked Liverpool with particularly physical effort.

Diogo Jota opened the scoring and rounded off a spectacular move by Liverpool

Mohamed Salah secured the points with his ninth goal on the first matchday of the Premier League

For referee Tim Robinson, it was clearly too physical, as the Tractor Boys received three warnings in the first 25 minutes.

Liverpool were never able to find their rhythm with this physical style of play and went into half-time with a 0-0 scoreline, with Kieran McKenna clearly the happier of the two coaches.

In the second half, the visitors took control of the game and were rewarded 15 minutes after the restart when Diogo Jota finished off a flowing move and fired the ball into the goal after a pass from Salah.

And the Egyptian superstar also scored the second goal for Liverpool, securing the three points with a clean finish.