Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola reflected on the defeat to Arsenal in a home Premier League match. In an interview with Sky Sports, the coach discussed key moments from the game, pointing out both the mistakes of his players and contentious refereeing decisions.
The Spanish coach admitted that the team had a poor start, handing the opposition a goal-scoring opportunity due to negligence in the build-up play.
We need to give them credit. The goal came after we made a mistake from a goal kick. They regained possession, but we still had to defend much better. We had seven or eight players in the box at that moment, but we did not execute properly. We still have a lot to improve. There are things I like about the team in terms of desire and spirit. I can say that our worst part of the match was before we conceded. The reaction afterwards was really good. After that, we turned the game around and were the better team. We put them under pressure, had good chances, but could not find the key to their goal. The players gave everything.
Responding to a question about shot statistics and the absence of efforts on target, Iraola emphasised that the team created enough sharpness to score.
Clearly, we had some excellent moments. We hit the crossbar, and we had really good chances. This is a matter of statistics; obviously, we should have finished better, which is easy to see, but I think we had more than enough chances to score today. We did not do it.
The most emotional moment of the interview came when discussing a controversial incident in the Arsenal penalty area, where Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber grabbed Alexander Isak by his shirt. The referee overlooked the foul, prompting a sharp reaction from Iraola. The manager stated that in the future, he would instruct the striker to go down in such situations.
The incident with Alexander Isak is a clear penalty. The player is being held by his shirt; we can all see that he is being held. The ball goes just a centimetre away from Alex. Alex was about to shoot. The very fact that you even ask me whether he should have gone down says a lot. If he had gone down, they would have given a penalty. They would have given a penalty 100 percent. Yes, next time I will definitely tell him to go down.
