Iraola warns Liverpool need fitness improvement after Anfield friendly defeat
Andoni Iraola's Liverpool conceded a late comeback and lost 3-2 to Monaco at Anfield on Sunday in a pre-season friendly, two weeks before their Premier League opener at Newcastle on August 23. After the defeat the manager said his side had "work to do" because they could not sustain the level he wants for the duration of a game.
Iraola had offered a more measured assessment after a 4-2 friendly loss to Leeds in Chicago on 2 August, saying he "learned a lot of things" from that match. In both games Liverpool produced their strongest spell early on — the first half against Leeds and the first 30 minutes against Monaco — when they moved the ball with pace, were direct and pressed intensely, and Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak looked sharp. Squad rotation was heavy in pre-season, with nine changes made against Leeds and 11 against Monaco.
Those promising openings were followed by extended lapses: Leeds scored four goals in 25 minutes without reply, while Monaco scored three unanswered goals in 44 minutes. Iraola said his side played a good first 30 minutes but "they don't have much more, in terms of the levels required to play like this".
Fitness and availability have been uneven across the squad, with some players still working back to full fitness after time off following the World Cup and others such as Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike and Giovanni Leoni sidelined for lengthy periods. Uruguay defender Ronald Araujo is close to completing a season-long loan move from Barcelona. Captain Virgil van Dijk said: "Let's see what the next couple of weeks are going to bring. Any quality we can add to the team will definitely be welcome so let's see."
Pablo de la Torre, one of Iraola's assistants, has joined Liverpool after previously serving as the fitness coach at Bournemouth. Across four pre-season games there have been signs of high early intensity in matches and in training; at an open session in Chicago Iraola repeatedly urged players "quicker, quicker" and one player told BBC Sport he felt sick after the first few sessions. The reported punishment for losing sides in training has been to sprint to the other end of the pitch and back, and Milos Kerkez said Iraola is asking players to "play one-on-one all over the pitch, to press high and to always be on the front foot".
Iraola's Bournemouth side ranked first in the Premier League season for direct attacks and third for high turnovers, and it took him 10 games to secure his first win at Bournemouth in the 2023-24 season; the reporting noted that a similar run at Liverpool would be unacceptable while also explaining why Iraola persisted with his methods. The manager has had less than a month to work with his players and only a week or so with some of them.
Liverpool's next confirmed fixture is the Premier League opener at Newcastle on August 23, and Iraola acknowledged the transition to his preferred style will take time: "I would like to say, no, on the first day, we are going to be perfect, everyone will be in place, but probably it is not going to be like this," adding, "We will have to do this as quickly as possible."
