Iraola furious after substitution delay leads to Forest penalty in 2-2 Anfield draw

On 29 August 2026 Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola accused match officials of delaying substitutions that he says contributed to Nottingham Forest's penalty in a 2-2 Premier League draw at Anfield, the first home game of his reign.

Forest twice took the lead in the match before Víctor Muñoz's emphatic 82nd-minute equaliser restored parity for Liverpool. The visitors' second goal came from a penalty converted by Morgan Gibbs-White after a quick throw-in from Liam Delap, an incident that occurred while Iraola was attempting a triple substitution that he could not complete because the fourth official's electronic board malfunctioned. "I cannot explain because I don't have an explanation," Iraola said, adding: "I wanted to make those substitutions about three minutes before."

Iraola described multiple stoppages before the decisive moment and blamed the board failure for preventing his changes. "It was two, three, four times the ball had gone out. He [the fourth official] was having some problems with the board. The penalty wouldn't have happened if I had made the subs," he said. He also recounted previous complaints and supporters' reactions: "I had complained the previous time. The supporters were shouting and they were aware of the situation. I’ll leave you to decide whether it was a penalty or not."

Beyond the controversy over the substitutions, Iraola criticised his side's overall first-half performance and praised the second-half response. "The first half was poor, it was not good enough. We haven't controlled the game and after we improved a lot in the second half. We were much more intense, quicker on the ball and had more urgency, but it hasn't been enough to win the game and we have to blame the first half," he said.

Iraola expressed clear disappointment at the result at Anfield and reflected on the team's inability to complete a comeback. "I am frustrated because we want to win, especially at home. It’s not a good result. We have come back from two results where we were losing and I like what we have done in the second half, but we haven’t been able to complete the comeback," he said.

He highlighted specific issues from the opening period that he felt cost Liverpool control of the match, including problems with how the team defended throw-ins. "In the first half we were too passive without the ball. Afterwards we improved this and intensity gives you the chance to win duels and attack quicker and better. But in the first half there was a lack of intensity and we had issues with throw-ins today."