{"id":823492,"date":"2026-08-23T20:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T20:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/823492\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T20:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T20:42:26","slug":"andoni-iraola-says-midfield-signing-will-not-fix-liverpools-problems-its-not-just-personnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/823492\/","title":{"rendered":"Andoni Iraola says midfield signing will not fix Liverpool\u2019s problems: \u2018It\u2019s not just personnel\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ryan<\/p>\n

Liverpool fell behind twice in their season opener. Molly Darlington\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Aug. 23, 2026 3:18 pm EDT Updated <\/p>\n

Andoni Iraola says signing a specialist holding midfielder is not the solution to the issues that blighted Liverpool\u2019s 2-2 draw with Newcastle United.<\/p>\n

Dominik Szoboszlai\u2019s stoppage-time penalty salvaged a point at St James\u2019 Park after Iraola\u2019s side had twice fallen behind in their season opener. Both goals were similar with Liverpool exposed far too easily on the counter-attack as Anthony Elanga and Joe Willock took advantage of their vulnerability out of possession.<\/p>\n

A lack of protection for the backline was also a recurring problem last season but Iraola believes they can sort it out on the training pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just personnel,\u201d he said after the match<\/a>. \u201cI understand that Ryan Gravenberch is basically the No. 6 and is on the edge of their box (before Newcastle\u2019s first goal). If he shoots and scores then we are saying what a play from Ryan Gravenberch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want us to take that from his game but we have to adapt as a team to these situations. We have to know these situations can happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first one I think we should just finish the great chance we created. We were on the edge of the box with a clear situation to shoot, but we didn\u2019t and then you have to give credit to Elanga for winning the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iraola said the second goal Liverpool conceded was defended better \u201cin terms of having the numbers\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like they caught us by surprise,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe should compete for the first ball and probably make a foul \u2014 be a bit more aggressive against the ball carrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were different reasons for both the goals which happened in transition. We have been preparing in the week for these transitions but there\u2019s a reason why Newcastle are so good at them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just because one person is playing there (as a holding midfielder). It\u2019s something we have to correct between a lot of players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The head coach felt that Liverpool were good value for a point \u2014 despite trailing for so long at St James\u2019 Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to wait until the end but I think we did more than enough to score that goal,\u201d he added. \u201cThey tell me the stats are for us in terms of creating more. But they could say they were winning so we were the team who needed to push.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have liked a lot of things about my team. In the second half we were more decisive. We had more pressure and created more. It\u2019s only one point but it was deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Aug 23, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool fell behind twice in their season opener. Molly Darlington\/Getty Images Aug. 23, 2026 3:18 pm EDT Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[3450,403,99],"class_list":["post-823492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-liverpool","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}