Tale of two halves leaves Iraola with plenty to ponder
Tale of two halves leaves Iraola with plenty to ponder
Liverpool leave their USA pre-season tour with two wins and one defeat
- Published
On the flight home from Chicago, as he reflects on the 4-2 loss to Leeds that ended Liverpool's United States tour, manager Andoni Iraola will have plenty to think about.
The first-half display was arguably the best since the Spaniard took charge, but the second was categorically their worst as they conceded four times without reply inside 25 minutes.
Iraola did make a raft of changes at the break and in the second half but that is no excuse for the way they capitulated against Daniel Farke's side.
Their lack of squad depth and physicality was alarmingly exposed and Iraola will be concerned with the ease with which Leeds scored, albeit against an inexperienced backline that finished with Calvin Ramsay, Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Mor Talla Ndiaye.
With Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz making their return, Liverpool were excellent in the first half and it is important not to be too critical but perhaps Iraola will be glad in the long-run that he saw this second-half display, where Liverpool's set-piece deficiencies were evident too.
"We conceded two goals from set-pieces. We have to fix that and make sure we deal with them better," said midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai.
The intensity Iraola demands on the training pitch was evident in the first half but seemed non-existent after the break. Senior figures like Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa did not cover themselves in glory.
"I particularly hate this month of August because you start the competitions and you still don't know if some of the players are going to leave and who's going to come - there is a lot of uncertainty," said Iraola, earlier in the week.
Iraola will meet Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Alisson Becker and new signing Victor Munoz over the coming days at the AXA Training Centre.
By then, the only first-team player he will have yet to meet will be Alexis Mac Allister, who has been granted extra time off following Argentina's run to the World Cup final. Munoz, who did not play a minute in Spain's successful World Cup campaign, will return earlier to aid his integration into the squad.
However, over the course of a fortnight in America, Liverpool have had no incomings. That was in part because Iraola wanted to see the squad at his disposal before making decisions.
What he saw in this defeat will play into those decisions.
Wirtz and Isak impress on their return
Wirtz scored seven goals for Liverpool last season
Even before the second-half troubles, Iraola would have known that there was no time to waste as he plans for the start of the season, his starting 11 reflecting this with Isak and Wirtz in against Leeds - even if the state of the pitch suggested that could be a risk.
The inclusion of a pair who cost a combined £225m last summer also gave the teamsheet the star quality befitting the host city of Chicago, home to both the Lollapalooza Festival and Major League Baseball series between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs over the weekend.
And in what was Liverpool's best half of the tour, Isak looked sharp and Wirtz scored as they suffocated Leeds with their press and moved the ball around with confidence.
Their early breakthrough came from an unlikely source. Luke Chambers spent the second half of last season on loan at Charlton Athletic but, given Liverpool's centre-half crisis, the left-back moved inside against Wrexham in Liverpool's previous friendly and kept his place.
Fresh from impressing Iraola in New York, Chambers hammered home from inside the box in the seventh minute after Milos Kerkez got a touch on Szoboszlai's corner.
Rio Ngumoha caused havoc down his preferred left flank while 19-year-old Trey Nyoni continued his excellent pre-season with another solid showing. In the 40th minute, he floated a ball across to Jeremie Frimpong, who cut it back to Wirtz and the German did the rest. It was a wonderful team goal that involved Isak too.
Nyoni has been linked with a loan move this summer but on these showings, the midfielder will surely stay and get more minutes for Liverpool this season.
He only played 229 minutes in 2025-26 but Iraola has spoken glowingly about his attributes, not least his confidence on the ball and his desire to go direct.