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Liverpool's Andoni Iraola on latest ahead of Crystal Palace trip

06/11/2026

AXA training centre, Liverpool, UK

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Transcript
00:02Andoli, first of all, I know you were asked the other day whether you had an explanation
00:06of the penalty incident with Alexander against Arsenal. Has that prompted any contact since
00:12then? And if not, how disappointing that you've not received any kind of explanation around it?
00:18No, we haven't received an explanation, but this is how it works. I've just received the
00:23conclusion of the panel that I think you also see from the previous gameweek, I think it's
00:28the first time against Brighton, that nothing happened in our game, and we will have to wait.
00:32I think it's ten days before they give whatever they think, but no news.
00:40To build up to the Arsenal game, the outside talk was at least of emerging as the major threat to
00:45Arsenal
00:45in the title race, but for the penalty shower, I suppose that might still be the case, or might still
00:49be the case.
00:50Ahead of Palace, though, the talk seems to be more that you're fighting for Champions League spots,
00:54so what's the feeling in here? How do you deal as well with those kind of fluctuations?
00:59I think that's the challenge, especially in a club like Liverpool. One week ago,
01:03in this press conference, we were on a run, everything was in a good place, and we were
01:10in a better mood, and now two defeats it changes, and it has to change, and it has to be
01:15like this
01:15in clubs like ours. And now we have to react after two defeats. We need the win against Palace away,
01:24and we've been, I think, in similar situations against, I remember, Bormut before the international
01:29break, even the Brentford game, so we have to go there and do the job and win the game.
01:33Some of the focus, it seems, after Fenerbahce has been Bradley Barker playing in that central
01:38striking role. How likely are we to see that again, in utilising that kind of role this season?
01:43No, Bradley is a winger. He mostly has played as a left winger, sometimes as a right winger,
01:49but also has played in PSG as a striker, and it's something that I wanted to try. I thought against
01:56the centre-backs he could be a threat, especially in behind, but he's a winger and he will be more
02:03mostly, 90 per cent of the time, but I think it's an alternative that I sometimes want to try.
02:12I tried with Cody against Chelsea, I think, in the Carabao Cup, and not maybe from the beginning,
02:18but it's true that during the games, I think it's options that we can use when Alex is tired,
02:25and we need another type of striker, we can use other strikers that we have, but also wingers that can
02:31do a job there.
02:31Just one other thing I wanted to mention, which is obviously Rio back in the England squad as well,
02:36kind of further endorsements to the way he started the season.
02:39Yes, it's very good news for him and very good news for us. I think he's always a threat when
02:46we can
02:46put him in good positions to go against their opponents, and I think he's growing and he's
02:54helping us a lot, yes. In terms of Palace, in a difficult moment themselves, what do you make
03:01of them, no doubt, you're watching that? Yes, I think even if they change the manager,
03:06there is a continuity in terms of more or less the system is the same, the players are very familiarised
03:11with the things that they are trying to do. I was obviously watching the game yesterday, they fight
03:20until the end, even with ten players, they managed to get a result in the last second. I think it's
03:26a
03:26team that has good quality players inside, they put their box there in the middle. Technically,
03:33Warton, Kamada, Jeremy Pino, all the players that can play there are good on the ball,
03:42and it's also a pitch that is not the biggest pitch, so you feel quickly under pressure in terms of
03:49one
03:49throwing, one long ball, straight away it goes into the boxes, so there is a lot of
03:58situations inside the boxes that you have to be very good offensively and defensively, yes.
04:03You talked about your striking options a moment ago, Alexander Izek is second in the Premier League
04:08scoring charts. We saw his impact again. When you think about Alexander Izek at his very best,
04:15he struggled to get going here due to injuries and so on. How far is he off that level and
04:20if he's not
04:21quite there, what more does he need to add to his game today? Alex is a top goal scorer. If
04:28we cannot
04:30put him in the position to score, he will deliver. It's not a guarantee, but it's the closest thing of
04:36a
04:36guarantee. I think he can, like every player, he can add more things to his game. We want to use
04:46the things that he has. He's very good also attacking the spaces, attacking the channels,
04:50coming to the safe. I think he's technically clean also, and we are trying to use him in the best
04:56way.
04:56And just finally, injuries, Ryan back available, anyone else further along the line?
05:01No, it's going to be just the only doubt we will have is Ryan. The other thing will be the
05:06same as
05:07we've been, because the Ryan Gravenberg thing is a day-to-day thing. It's a matter of pain,
05:14and let's see if he can deal with the pain and he can help us, yes.
05:19Mike?
05:19And the only different competition down in midweek, and it'll be a different line-up, I know, but
05:25given the defensive issues that you had over in Turkey, what's it going to take to put that right?
05:32And I know you mentioned the stadium noise, but there were some non-negotiables that were
05:38an action for all of the goals really, and what's it going to take to sort of put that right
05:44and to
05:44make sure responsibility is taken individually and collectively?
05:49Yeah, I agree with you in terms that it's true that the three goals come from set pieces,
05:56but it's not an isolated thing in terms that, especially in the Champions League, I think
06:00defensively in the league we've been very good, very good, but in the Champions League we are coming
06:04from conceding three against last, even if we were winning 6-1, kind of you can see those goals
06:09against Villarreal, they haven't punished us before, but there are signs that we have to see there,
06:16in the last Champions League games we conceded three goals, and especially these ones coming from
06:21three set plays, different, I think situations like the first goal, you turn in the wall, that a ball can
06:31never
06:31go through the wall, second goal I think we can definitely defend much better, and maybe the last
06:40one is the most difficult one in terms of we have the numbers to jump against Morici, we don't beat
06:45the
06:46header, but especially first two goals, I think cheap goals that cost us, because after to score I think
06:53we have to control a lot the game, arrive well, good plays, good crosses, good finishes, and after to concede,
07:00no, those cheap goals, it has punished us, yes.
07:04And at the other end of the pitch, what do you think it's going to be able to get the
07:09very best in terms
07:11of creativity in the final fair, and not just with Alexander Isak, his goalscone record is very good,
07:17but still not overly productive in terms of goals overall in the league, and still not overly productive in terms
07:24of raising chances. Yeah, I agree, I think it's been a strange season in terms of in the Champions League
07:32we
07:32are scoring a lot, considering a lot, in the Premier League we are scoring less, considering less, no?
07:37Obviously we want to score a lot and consider less, so that's the challenge we have.
07:44I think it's a matter of controlling the games, but also sometimes we, for example the other day against
07:52Fenerbahce, I think we were controlling the game, sometimes too much. Sometimes we are in possession,
07:57we are having good positions arriving, but sometimes we have to throw numbers inside the box, arrive with
08:06more players, will take us a little bit of control, yes, but will give us no more threat, the times
08:12we arrive,
08:14and I think especially against Arsenal, the way we attack the box has to be better.
08:21You mentioned the change in mood over the past week, it does feel like there is a big reaction to
08:29one way or another,
08:30so how important is it for you guys, and for the fans as well, to remember, is it the start
08:35of a process,
08:36you've not been here for very long, and how easy is it to keep that money away from the squad?
08:43Yeah, I agree, and it's not easy in the moment, no, because we react the same way, no?
08:47When we lose a game, everyone is angry and we want to, but we have to have some perspective,
08:53and we know in the process we'll go up and down, we'll be, and we have to get through these
08:59moments,
09:01we would love to have good performances, wins, good results, but normally it doesn't happen,
09:07there are moments where you are in a good run, like we were before Arsenal, now you lose two games,
09:12and there are always dubs, but we have to, I understand, as a supporter I would do the same,
09:18it's normal, but the ones that are here, and we work every day, and we know what we are doing,
09:28we are not as bad as we look today, we were not as good as we looked one week ago,
09:32and we have to have some perspective, and this is part of my challenge also in terms of mood for
09:37the group,
09:38you know, like obviously we need to correct things, especially the other day that cost us the goals
09:43of unsaid plays, but we still are doing good things.
10:04I don't want to talk too much about referees, I think we are quite an honest group, sometimes too
10:13honest sometimes, and even the other day after the game, I think the referee congratulated us,
10:20but I don't know if I liked a lot or not, but he said like our behaviour has been very
10:24good,
10:25overall from the players, from the staff, I think it has to be genuine, you cannot fake things,
10:34when we complain has to be genuine complaints, because I think it's a penalty, it's a yellow card,
10:39whatever is whatever, and I feel we are willing, obviously we are a team that wants to press,
10:48wants to be intense, but I think the balance there is, there is a big difference, yes.
11:11Yes, that's it, that's it, that's it, I wonder how much of that is down to players not necessarily
11:21understanding the process, and how much of that is just decision-making between knowing when to shoot
11:26and knowing when to maybe look for a better shot?
11:29Yes, I agree completely, because if you see, we are one of the teams that arrives more
11:34to the last third, even in terms of volume of shots, of crosses, so we are there very high,
11:40but we are, if you analyse the quality level of every chance, because also we have quite a lot,
11:47the quality level is low, no, it's a matter of, sometimes we are, especially when we start losing
11:53games, attacking against a lot of positions, so it's not going to be, sometimes the quality of the
12:01chance, if you have players around, is always lower, but still, I think we have to do more,
12:08with the number of times we arrive to a position box, I think we have to arrive better inside the
12:15box,
12:15I think, that's why I said sometimes even if we lose some control, we have to, there is a reward
12:24there,
12:27but we have to arrive sometimes to the six-year box, because we arrive to the box, but not to
12:31the,
12:33so we have more kind of this statistically more clear shots, I think.
12:37Is that part of the reason why you're so emphasising the stats of games, because once you're in the lead,
12:43you're maybe a little bit calmer, you're able to make those decisions?
12:46Yes, yes, yes, for me everything is a lot easier when you start winning games,
12:51because you are ahead, there is normally more spaces, you can attack, that's why the other day we went
12:59twice ahead and we had, because I've been analysing, I think we had one possession after the first goal
13:05and two possessions of the ball only after the second goal, so we didn't have time to play with
13:12the advantage of going ahead, straight away, it's two free kicks, they score from two free kicks,
13:18one free kick and then the free kick goes to the corner, but we haven't been ahead as much.
13:29Okay.
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