Andoni Iraola has dismissed the idea that Liverpool\u2019s problem can be solved simply by signing a specialist defensive midfielder. After Newcastle United repeatedly exposed the space through the middle on Sunday, the new boss insisted the issue runs deeper than one position.<\/p>\n
The warning signs were plain in the 2-2 draw. Ryan Gravenberch and Florian Wirtz were both caught ahead of the ball before Newcastle\u2019s second goal, while Dominik Szoboszlai was in place but unable to prevent Yoane Wissa moving forward. Former defender Jamie Carragher called the situation \u201cmadness,\u201d saying: \u201cThis midfield cannot work, I said it before a competitive ball was kicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iraola took a different view. \u201cIt\u2019s not just personnel,\u201d he said after the match. \u201cThere were different reasons for both the goals which happened in transition.<\/p>\n
\u201c… It\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 concern is not new. Since the start of last season, only Sunderland have conceded more Premier League goals on the counterattack than Liverpool, who have shipped seven. By comparison, defending champions Arsenal have allowed just one over the same period.<\/p>\n
One route is behavioural rather than structural. As Carlo Ancelotti has argued, defenders need a more pessimistic mindset than forwards. In Liverpool\u2019s case, Gravenberch and Szoboszlai have too much attacking instinct for a midfield shield, and both rushed into Newcastle\u2019s box early on Sunday. Gravenberch, in particular, has increasingly ventured forward over the past year after excelling in a deeper role during Liverpool\u2019s title-winning campaign.<\/p>\n
Iraola\u2019s own Bournemouth side showed industry last season but were also exposed in transition, so a positional tweak may not be his instinct. Instead, he appears to want the team to \u201cfinish the action\u201d before counterattacks begin. On Newcastle\u2019s first goal, he felt Liverpool should have taken the chance themselves rather than allow the move to break down. \u201cFor the first one [goal] I think we should just finish the great chance we created,\u201d he said. \u201cWe 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
The second goal pointed to another missed chance to stop the break earlier. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like they caught us by surprise,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should compete for the first ball and probably make a foul–be a bit more aggressive against the ball carrier.\u201d<\/p>\n
That leaves Alexis Mac Allister as a possible internal answer. He began on the bench, with Wirtz alongside Gravenberch and Szoboszlai, but soon after Newcastle\u2019s second goal Iraola introduced Mac Allister and adjusted the midfield triangle with the Argentine at its base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iraola sees Liverpool’s midfield issue as collective, not one player’s fault, and may turn to Mac Allister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,194,172],"tags":[1836,1162],"class_list":["post-18718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-newcastle-united","category-epl","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-analytics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}