{"id":753149,"date":"2026-08-29T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T03:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/753149\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T03:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T03:00:16","slug":"andoni-iraola-tells-liverpools-forwards-to-exhaust-themselves-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/753149\/","title":{"rendered":"Andoni Iraola tells Liverpool\u2019s forwards to \u2018exhaust themselves\u2019 | Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andoni Iraola has said it is more important for Liverpool\u2019s forwards to exhaust themselves than perform for 90 minutes as he prepares to make an \u201cemotional\u201d Premier League bow at Anfield.<\/p>\n

The Liverpool head coach hopes his attacking options will be improved by the arrival of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain<\/a> and another winger before Tuesday\u2019s deadline, with only Victor Mu\u00f1oz added to his front line so far. The Basque coach has outlined the demands he will put on his forwards as they adapt to a new era at Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Iraola said: \u201cFor me, wingers, forwards, I always tell them that they don\u2019t need to give us 90 minutes. I tell them it is good news when they are exhausted because then we have taken everything from you and someone else will come in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the situation now with J\u00e9r\u00e9my [Jacquet], who hasn\u2019t had a proper pre-season but he is close to getting there. But normally defenders can last 90 minutes easier. For offensive players, it\u2019s not mandatory that you play the whole game. Once you are done, we can change you. I think it\u2019s the best way, and they all have to understand it like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iraola said Mu\u00f1oz was \u201cready to start games\u201d having missed the opening weeks of pre-season as he recuperated from Spain\u2019s victorious World Cup campaign. The 23-year-old impressed from the bench at Newcastle last weekend<\/a> and was signed for \u00a334.5m from Osasuna on Iraola\u2019s recommendation.<\/p>\n

Quick GuidePlay our football trivia game, On the ballShow<\/p>\n

The Guardian’s\u00a0daily football game<\/a>, On the ball, is now live in the app for both iOS and Android.\u00a0Can you identify the Premier League star from the clues?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI had never coached against Victor because he made his debut in La Liga when I was already here in the Premier League but I had very good references of him,\u201d Iraola said. \u201cThe club put his name [to me] and we started to analyse his game. We all liked what he gives us. It\u2019s early for him in terms of him not being able to speak the language, and he needs to get a better relationship with teammates, but I like his attitude. He works very hard. He is ready to play right side, left side, and he impacted the game the other day. The subs all played very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iraola\u2019s wife and two young children will be at Anfield on Saturday \u2013 as will the club\u2019s new vice-chair, Amit Bhatia \u2013 to witness his first competitive home game, against Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife never normally comes to my games,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now she is starting to go because my kids want to go. The kids are starting to understand football a little bit and they will sometimes go. Not all the time, but they will be there for the first game because the timing is very good.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there will be an emotional part that is going to be probably only for me. I know it\u2019s my first game but I will not be trying to think too much about those things. Probably when the game finishes, and if it finishes well, then I will be more thinking of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andoni Iraola has said it is more important for Liverpool\u2019s forwards to exhaust themselves than perform for 90…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-753149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}