Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola shared his reaction to their disappointing draw against Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Saturday.
It’s safe to say Liverpool are very much a work in progress under their new Spanish coach as they’ve now drawn their opening two games of the Premier League season 2-2.
Here’s the latest Andoni Iraola reaction from Anfield.
Andoni Iraola reaction
On his assessment of the draw: “Obviously not the result you want,” Iraola told TNT Sports in the UK. “Two very different halves today. I think we were poor in the first half. Even being poor we were also unlucky as their goal was slightly VAR onside. The goal was score is slightly offside. But I think we’ve been very poor in the first half. We’ve been much, much better in the second half. The intensity was different. I think if you are going to lose you have to lose like in the second half, no? A lot more intensity, a lot more threatening. I finished happy with the second half but it was too late for winning the game.”
On if there were improvements from the draw vs Newcastle: “I think different. The first half the goal comes from us not defending well two long throws, but overall the feeling I have is that the first half has been poor. It is definitely not good enough. We’ve improved in the second half when we go to 1-1 the momentum is for you, you think okay but then you concede another one and then it becomes difficult. After the 2-2 we still had some minutes but we couldn’t finish the comeback.”
On Forest’s penalty kick and wanting to make a triple sub at that time: “I don’t want to analyze the penalty but yes, it cannot be a professional fourth official take three minutes to be given the subs. I was already angry because in the previous stop we couldn’t make it and before the throw I thought ‘okay we do it now’ and I don’t know. They will have to explain it but it has taken ages to prepare two boards.”
On Victor Munoz and his impressive displays: “I think he’s been very good today. Finished the game quite strong, scored his goal, has been a threat both sides. Also defensively he has done a very good job. He is one of the positives today.”
On Cody Gakpo and his future depending on adding players in wide areas: “It’s what we said before the game. We have two or three days and we will see what happens with everyone. I am looking forward to arriving to the 2nd of September and knowing what squad we have. It’s true that we created both goals from the right side and they were very good goals.”
