Andoni Iraola reacts to Liverpool 2-3 AS Monaco: "we can’t sustain that level we want"

Liverpool's mixed results during pre-season continue.

Andoni Iraola enjoyed victories over Sunderland and Wrexham in his first two matches in charge of the Reds, but it has all been down hill from there.

Last Sunday, despite leading 2-0 at half time, a second half collapse saw them beaten 4-2 by Leeds United in Chicago.

Well, this seems to have started a concerning trend. On Sunday afternoon, as the Reds returned to Anfield for the first time this summer, they led 2-0 again but were beaten. Goals from Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz had Iraola's team flying by the hour mark.

However, Monaco halved the deficit on the cusp of half time, before a pair of second half goals, the second of which came two minutes from time, saw les Monégasques leave 3-2 winners. Speaking after full time, Iraola was magnanimous in defeat, it is only a friendly after all, while acknowledging his team's shortcomings:

"I think quite similar to the game we played against Leeds, we played really good in the first half, especially the first 30 minutes, but right now probably we don’t have much more in terms of the level required to play like this... We cannot sustain the level that we want for all the game. As soon as we have made some changes they [the players] start to get tired, we cannot sustain that level, so we have work to do."

Andoni Iraola

One of the biggest criticisms of Arne Slot's team last season, which ultimately led to him being sacked, was a lack of intensity. Liverpool conceded countless late equalisers and winners, with the manager shouldering the blame, while players cited low-intensity training sessions as the cause.

Well, Iraola was specifically hired to solve this issue. His Bournemouth teams ranked among the highest in the Premier League when it came to pressing and sprints, but he clearly requires more time to instil this style into his new squad.

The Spaniard though is very much aware of this issue, and puts a lot of it down to the fact that many of his senior players have only just begun their pre-season preparations, following the World Cup:

"Mostly they were in a good place. I think the ones that it was their first game, or even the ones that it was their second game, they had energy. The problem is right now probably they don’t have the energy for 90 minutes and they start to get tired. It will take time with them, we need more training with them, but we can take a lot of positives."

Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch were among those featuring in a second pre-season friendly, after seeing their first post-World Cup minutes at Soldier Field a week ago. Meantime, despite having only returned to AXA Training Centre earlier this week, Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo were all thrown in from the start against Monaco. The goalkeeper was replaced by Giorgi Mamardashvili at the interval, with the Dutch duo lasting an hour.

There were though a couple of surprise absentees, with Iraola clarifying their respective statuses:

"Jérémy Jacquet we were in doubt whether to put him in today, we decided not but he should be fine for the next one. It is taking a little bit of time, as we expected. Curtis Jones has trained every day but yesterday finished with issues in the hip. It doesn’t look anything big but it didn’t make any sense to risk."

Curtis Jones' absence fuelled transfer speculation, amid strong interest from Inter Milan. Meantime, Jérémy Jacquet is still yet to feature in pre-season, following a serious shoulder injury in February. Supporters will hope that, as Iraola suggests, the Frenchman will make his first appearance in Liverpool red next Sunday when Como visit Anfield.

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