Flying back from Chicago after a 4-2 defeat to Leeds that closed Liverpool‘s US tour, manager Andoni Iraola will have plenty on his mind.
The opening 45 minutes may have been their finest since he took charge of Liverpool, but the second period was undeniably their worst, as they shipped four unanswered goals in a 25-minute spell.
Iraola rotated heavily at half-time and again later, but that does not excuse the manner of their collapse against Daniel Farke’s team.
The squad’s lack of depth and physicality was starkly exposed, and Iraola will be troubled by how easily Leeds scored—albeit against an inexperienced back line that finished with Calvin Ramsay, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, Mor Talla Ndiaye and Kostas Tsimikas.
With Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz returning, Liverpool were outstanding before the interval, and while overreaction would be unfair, perhaps Iraola will, in time, be grateful for a second-half reality check that also underlined Liverpool’s set-piece frailties.
The intensity Iraola demands on the training ground was obvious in the first half but seemed to vanish after the break. Senior figures such as Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa failed to impress.
Earlier in the week, Iraola admitted he dislikes August: competitions begin while uncertainty lingers over who might leave and who might arrive.
Over the coming days at the AXA Training Centre, Iraola will meet Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Alisson Becker and new signing Victor Munoz.
By then, the only first-team player he will still not have met will be Alexis Mac Allister, who has been given extra time off after Argentina’s run to the World Cup final. Munoz, who did not feature in Spain’s title-winning campaign, will return sooner to accelerate his integration.
However, during a fortnight in America, Liverpool made no additions—partly because Iraola wanted to assess the squad at his disposal before deciding. What he witnessed in this defeat will inform those decisions.
Iraola reflected that, although the result was far from ideal, it was probably their most instructive friendly—excellent in the first half, poor in the second—and said they can draw firm conclusions and fix several issues.