Andoni Iraola raves about attacking stars clicking at Brentford, gives latest update on injury news
· Yahoo Sports
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola shared his reaction after their important comeback win at Brentford on Saturday, and he was delighted with his key forwards stepping up when he needed them most.
Iraola saw his side waste some big chances in the first half and then they fell behind.
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But Brentford had Yehor Yarmoliuk sent off in first half stoppage time, and Liverpool smelt their opportunity.
Two fine goals from Victor Munoz and Alexander Isak in the space of eight minutes in the second half turned the game on its head and Liverpool deservedly won as Brentford had Vitaly Janelt sent off late on to end the game with nine players.
Below you find Andoni Iraola's reaction from the Gtech Community Stadium, as Liverpool made it two wins from two on the road this week, but did suffer some unfortunate injuries to both Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong.
Injuries a concern but Liverpool’s new-look attack starts to deliver
Losing both Szoboszlai and Frimpong to injury is a concern for Iraola as Liverpool's squad isn't the biggest, and the Hungarian midfielder will be a huge miss if he's forced out for any period of time.
But Iraola was clearly delighted with the way his new-look attack fired them to victory.
In the first half Bradley Barcola was guilty of wasting big chances but he kept plugging away and set up Alexander Isak for his fine finish for the winning goal.
"It was more about concentration," Isak said of his winner. "I didn't have too many chances and I was waiting for my moment. That was the one. I just tried to get control of the ball and finish as quickly as possible and luckily it went in."
And the much-maligned Florian Wirtz set up Victor Munoz for Liverpool's equalizer. All four of Liverpool's forward players who started the game either had a goal or an assist at Brentford.
That is very promising given their struggles as a quartet at the start of the season.
It wasn't the most fluid display from Liverpool but you could see things starting to click in attack. That is a big positive for Iraola to take away from a very busy week as they won 6-3 at LASK in the Champions League in midweek.
Andoni Iraola reaction
His reaction to the comeback win during an eventful match: "A lot of things happened during the game, the first half was quite level. I think we had the clear chances, with Bradley especially. We missed it but after they scored, the second half, we need the comeback. Against 10 players, you have 45 minutes and I think we played really well until the 2-1. And then when we scored the 2-1 we started to like protect something. Until the 2-1 we were playing well and needed to go and we were arriving and keeping good positions. After we scored the 2-1 I think we didn't manage well the last minutes."
On not managing the last minutes well and if there was hesitancy from the players: "No I think some of the players were seeing quite clear chances to finish the game because we had two or three super clear chances, like three against one, two against the keeper, that we haven't been able to finish. And we lacked some composure on the ball. Sometimes it is just about keeping the ball more and don't go for the goal with the first chance because it is what they want. With 10 players every throw in, every free kick against Brentford can be a danger."
On the head butt on Jeremy Jacquet and if he spoke to him about it: "No I haven't spoken to him and I think it was two decisions I need to see both of them. I think the penalty that they took out, I think it is probably not a penalty because Dango touches the ball as a result of the contact, no? I remember exactly the word that told us against Forest and it is true that it is not a penalty but there is contact after so VAR can not intervene. Okay. But today it intervened. I haven't talked about it to Jeremy."
On Florian Wirtz and his levels picking up with an assist today and his display in midweek: "I think yes with Florian. Bradley today had two very clear chances. He didn't score but he has been a lot of time with the chances we want him to have. It is good also from Alex to score the goal, to help us in this situation. They are intelligent situations. We are coming from playing away in Europe. You don't have almost a recovery, we lose Dom and also lose Jeremie. We are in a situation where we didn't want to risk with Cody at the end because we are in a delicate situation."
On Jeremie Frimpong's injury: "He finished cramping the other day in the Champions League so we knew he wouldn't start the game. The way the game has gone, playing against 10 at half time, I thought he was going to give us more than Ronald going forward. That was the reason I put him in. But he felt something straight away in the muscle and we had to continue the game with Victor and I think he's done a very good job as a right back."
On Szoboszolai's injury and if there's not much to worry about there as he returned and sat on the bench: "No. It's not like another injury. He has tried and trained the last few days but we didn't know the minutes he has. Sometimes we get affected even by the red card the last week. Because probably if not we put Ryan Gravenberch in and nothing happens because we don't need to risk with Dom. He has felt not like the same injury, we have probably put him in a little bit early. It's not like another injury it's just still not healed."