Andoni Iraola's Frustration After Liverpool's Draw with Nottingham Forest
Andoni Iraola’s first Premier League game at Anfield as Liverpool head coach ended not with a roar, but with a grimace and a jab of the finger towards the fourth official’s equipment.
His team had just clawed back a 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest, Víctor Muñoz thundering in an 82nd‑minute equaliser to deny the visitors a third straight league win on this ground. Yet the dominant emotion for Iraola was not relief. It was frustration – at his own side’s limp opening 45 minutes and at a malfunctioning electronic board that he believes changed the game.
Forest led twice and, for long spells, looked like they might leave Anfield with far more than a point. Their second goal came from the penalty spot, Morgan Gibbs-White converting after a chaotic sequence that left Iraola incensed.
The flashpoint arrived as Liverpool tried to reset. Iraola was preparing a triple substitution, desperate to inject life and energy into a side that had again started slowly. Liam Delap had other ideas. With the Liverpool head coach still locked in discussions on the touchline, the Forest forward took a quick throw-in, the move developing while Iraola’s changes stood waiting.
The reason they were still waiting? The fourth official could not display the substitute numbers. The electronic board had failed.
“I cannot explain because I don’t have an explanation,” Iraola said, still clearly exasperated afterwards. “I wanted to make those substitutions about three minutes before. It was two, three, four times the ball had gone out. He [the fourth official] was having some problems with the board. The penalty wouldn’t have happened if I had made the subs.
“I had complained the previous time. The supporters were shouting and they were aware of the situation. I’ll leave you to decide whether it was a penalty or not.”
The sense of injustice was raw, but Iraola did not hide behind the technical glitch. The real damage, he admitted, had been done much earlier.
Liverpool were slow again. Passive. Second best in too many duels. For the second week running, they handed the initiative to their opponents and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to repair the mess.
“The first half was poor, it was not good enough,” Iraola said. “We haven’t controlled the game and after we improved a lot in the second half. We were much more intense, quicker on the ball and had more urgency, but it hasn’t been enough to win the game and we have to blame the first half.
“I am frustrated because we want to win, especially at home. It’s not a good result. We have come back from two results where we were losing and I like what we have done in the second half, but we haven’t been able to complete the comeback.
“In the first half we were too passive without the ball. Afterwards we improved this and intensity gives you the chance to win duels and attack quicker and better. But in the first half there was a lack of intensity and we had issues with throw-ins today.”
Those “issues with throw-ins” cut to the heart of Liverpool’s problems. Switch-off moments. Slow reactions. Forest sensed hesitation and pounced, turning simple restarts into dangerous situations. One of them led to the penalty that left Anfield seething and Iraola pointing at a dead electronic board.
Muñoz’s late strike saved a point and spared Liverpool from a damaging defeat in the new manager’s first home league game. It did not, though, disguise the pattern that is already emerging: sluggish starts, frantic chases, and an Anfield crowd asked to drag the team back from the brink.
The broken board will be fixed before the next match. The question now is whether Liverpool can repair something far more important – their intensity from the first whistle.
