Iraola out to get balance right but trusts Reds to ‘smell’ danger

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola and his players at the final whistle. Pic: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola will not curb his players’ attacking instincts as they try to execute his gameplan but he trusts them to “smell” danger when it arises.

Both goals in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Newcastle came from counter-attacks when they were left wide open with the entire midfield and both full-backs pushing up.

It was all-too similar to last season when, under predecessor Arne Slot, the two centre-backs were left exposed on too many occasions which contributed to them conceding 52 goals, their highest in a 38-game Premier League campaign.

Iraola is still trying to instil his methods and find the right combinations on the pitch but he will not be instructing the team to put on the brakes at home to Nottingham Forest.

“You don’t want to lose the offensive side, the fluidity, the arrivals with numbers, but obviously we were punished the other day, especially in the first goal. We didn’t do a proper lockdown,” he said.

“But there is a balance. We cannot go from one way where we send a lot of people forward to keeping everyone back so we don’t arrive with numbers.

“I don’t want to tell Ryan Gravenberch, ‘Don’t carry the ball and don’t arrive to the box’.

“It’s a matter of identifying the situation. You cannot be with the joystick every time (controlling) the player.

“There are players that are very good, they’re smelling, ‘OK, there is real danger, I can’t take the risk of going. Now I think I have to stay’.

“Recognising those situations is the job we have to do now.” Iraola will be in charge of his first competitive match at Anfield following his move from Bournemouth in the summer.

But Forest may not be the easiest opposition, having won their last two visits without conceding a goal.

“We will have to earn every chance. They don’t give you (anything) for free. You have to be very good on the ball, be patient sometimes because they defensively are very solid,” he added.

“They have also very good players up front and we have to control those situations, especially in the transitions because they also have good threats on the counter.

“But it’s definitely a special moment for me to play your first Premier League game at Anfield.

“I think it’s going to be emotional and I think it has to be like this. It is a special place. I’ve had to fight a lot to arrive to this place and I hope everything goes well and I can enjoy also the game.”