Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has accepted that supporters have every reason to feel uneasy after a mixed start to his time at Anfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand the frustration the other day because we were also frustrated,\u201d Iraola said in response.<\/p>\n
He pointed to the contrast between two promising performances and the dip against Fulham, stressing that the team have already shown the level they want to reach. \u201cI think we were coming from two good games and we were considering it as a step forward, then we had a step backwards. The performance level is not like the two other days. This happens in football.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to accept it in terms of … there are going to be up and downs in this process, but we are clear that where we want to go is more towards where we have been against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid and Ipswich, that\u2019s the kind of style, that\u2019s the kind of football we want. The key now is the consistency to perform like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
After five matches, it would be premature to expect complete fluency from a side adapting to a new manager and operating without Mohamed Salah. Such changes take time, and Liverpool\u2019s early weeks have already shown how uneven that process can be.<\/p>\n
Fatigue has become a clear thread in their recent struggles. Following the Fulham match, Iraola highlighted a lack of \u201cfreshness\u201d and suggested physical issues were more damaging than tactical ones.<\/p>\n
The schedule has played its part. Liverpool\u2019s first week with more than one match of the Iraola tenure included a win over Atl\u00e9tico Madrid on Wednesday before the trip to Fulham on Saturday. That sort of turnaround makes it difficult for any manager to keep every player fresh.<\/p>\n
To ease the load, Iraola would have to alter training methods and prioritise recovery, even if that slows the team\u2019s understanding of his run-first approach. There is rarely a clean solution.<\/p>\n
The fixtures keep coming. Liverpool face Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, then host Bournemouth, Iraola\u2019s former employers, in the Premier League on Sunday before the international break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iraola says Liverpool must turn promising signs into consistency after fatigue and Fulham setbac<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[713,175],"tags":[1836,1066,180],"class_list":["post-19411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fulham","category-liverpool","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-carabao-cup","tag-player-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19411","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=19411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}