Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola shared his reaction after their clash with Fulham at Anfield on Saturday, and he was frustrated by yet another draw.
This time Liverpool were held to a 0-0 draw by Fulham and the hosts only had three shots on target as they barely got going.
They looked tired and jaded from the midweek win against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League and Iraola admitted they ‘lacked freshness’ to their play and didn’t create enough in attack.
Lack of ‘freshness’ set to be a familiar theme for Liverpool this season?
Speaking after the game Iraola talked of wanting ‘confirmation’ after Liverpool beat Ipswich and Atletico over the last week.
This draw against Fulham was their third game in a demanding week and Iraola is one of the most demanding coaches in the league, as he asks his players to put in an incredible amount of running, sprints an effort with his intense style of play.
Liverpool’s lackluster display during their third game in a week is something we will likely see often this season as they get up to speed with Iraola’s demands.
The intensity he demands is difficult to pull off for teams who only play once a week. Let alone three.
Liverpool’s players are still getting used to the right moments to press and push and the physically workload Iraola’s tactics demands. It may take them all season.
He spoke about the lack of fitness in preseason and prefaced this game against Fulham with a warning about the physical demands of their midweek win. Iraola knows this is going to take time for his players to get up to speed.
But there is no time for them to rest. Liverpool have another two games coming up over the next week with a League Cup clash against Spurs on Tuesday before heading to Bournemouth next Sunday before the international break.
Iraola has to find a way to balance the intense football with getting Liverpool’s best attackers in the most dangerous areas of the pitch consistently. The defensive side of things improved against Fulham, but the rest was labored and lackluster.
We get the sense that isn’t the last time you’ll hear those phrases to describe Liverpool this season.
Here’s the full Andoni Iraola reaction from Anfield after the game.
Andoni Iraola reaction
On goalkeeper Alisson saying it wasn’t good enough: “Definitely. Clearly we lacked some freshness, no? We didn’t have the moments to create the differences. One-on-one situations. Everything has cost us a lot today. I think second half we improved slightly. At least we had some chances. But overall it hasn’t been a good performance.”
On still working to put all of the pieces together, but Liverpool are unbeaten and did keep a clean sheet: “I think we haven’t conceded. I think the only clear was when we messed up the goal kick and Jeremy Jacquet saves it. But obviously offensively we need to do more because you keep a clean sheet, normally us playing at home until today we’ve been quite dangerous in every game, score goals in every game, this is the first day we’ve lacked those moments of brilliance up front. I think also the subs have basically been because players have been with some issues, tired and we lacked this freshness definitely today.”
On fatigue from their big win against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday: “That is a part but we cannot use it as an excuse. Because this is going to be the season. You have to find ways to win these games where we play less than 72 hours. It is normally the worst days and the schedule is what it is. But we have to find ways to win, especially after keeping the clean sheet. We have to find moments to score and to make the difference and win these types of games that are quite close.”
On fans still seeing glimpses of what Iraola is doing despite the frustration of the result: “For us today it was the confirmation. The third game of the week, after winning against Ipswich, winning against Atletico Madrid, we wanted to come home and win the third one and to give us this energy to continue for the next ones. We haven’t been able. We had some moments but not enough offensively to win the game.”
On the challenge of Fulham: “They have been playing very well even if they haven’t won the games. They have quality players and they run a lot. It is a team that is a demanding game. Today we lacked a little bit in moments to make the difference. We’ve had situations, one v one, two v two, even in transitions we were not taking good decisions. This is probably because you are not fresh enough.”
🔴🇫🇷 Andoni Iraola on Barcola: “Bradley is one we are building up physically with games and the games will give him the condition we want”.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 12, 2026
“But it is not just Bradley, we lack the freshness”. pic.twitter.com/GEkhkNc9jJ
