Relief for Iraola but Liverpool have work to do after snatching draw at Newcastle — BBC Sport

RESOLVING THE LEDGER

Relief for Iraola but Liverpool have work to do after snatching draw at Newcastle — BBC Sport | AIPROPX

Football reporter Published 22 minutes ago When Liverpool came to Newcastle last August, there was utter jubilation as Rio Ngumoha scored a remarkable 100th-minute winner.

They scored late again this time around, through Dominik Szoboszlai's 99th-minute penalty, but it felt more like a sense of relief than joy as they rescued a point.

Andoni Iraola said afterwards that his side did not deserve to lose and, to their credit, they never gave up as they earned a 2-2 draw .

A defeat would have been Liverpool 's first on the opening weekend since 2012-13. A draw will do wonders for their spirit but it will certainly not mask their concerns.

"It's probably not the result you want when you come in before the game but we definitely deserve this point and even more," Iraola told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"The team has never given up and we've recovered one point and probably the taste is better because we score in the last minute."

Iraola will be content with the outcome, given his side trailed twice at a raucous St James' Park.

But on the flight back to Merseyside on Sunday evening, he would have had time to consider the performance, which highlighted why his squad needs more depth.

"You're expecting Liverpool to get top four this season at least but they didn't look like a top four team today," former Scotland winger Pat Nevin told 5 Live.

"There are more players to come in, so you can't make a real decision on how their season is going to go.

"There's a definite lack of creativity and somehow they must get the best out of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak because you certainly didn't get the best out of them today."

All eyes were on Wirtz and Isak - the Sweden striker, signed from Newcastle in a drawn-out saga last September, was booed relentlessly whenever he touched the ball. Wirtz did start positively, but was replaced just after the hour mark after Newcastle went 2-1 up.

Isak had 28 touches and looked fired up but wasted a brilliant opportunity in the second half - the kind of which he would take regularly when he was at Newcastle .

Both of them, signed for nine-figure fees last summer, will know that their overall output and connection must improve over the coming weeks and months.

This remains a Liverpool side offering more questions than answers.

One significant question is the Cody Gakpo conundrum, which will roll into the final week of the transfer window.

If Liverpool do bring in two more attacking players then Gakpo may leave.

The club have been linked with Paris St-Germain's Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye and have had two bids rejected for Brighton 's Yankuba Minteh.

Yet Dutchman Gakpo was Liverpool 's best player at Newcastle and took his goal brilliantly - while there was another positive in the performance of Spanish forward Victor Munoz on his Liverpool debut from the bench.

Munoz won the late penalty after replacing Ngumoha but Iraola's decision to take off the English teenager off after just over an hour summed up how much he struggled down the right.

Ngumoha will turn 18 next week and has preferred to play down the left throughout his youth career but failed to have an impact on the other side.

With Iraola determined to have his wingers able to play on both sides, it remains to be seen if that experiment persists once Liverpool get more attackers in.

What is for certain is that Iraola needs more options. Once Munoz and Alexis Mac Allister came on in the 63rd minute, Iraola's remaining bench options were: Giorgi Mamardashvili, Ronald Araujo, Wataru Endo, Kostas Tsimikas, Trey Nyoni, James McConnell and Lewis Koumas.

Defensively, both Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong had poor games at full-back and Liverpool were undone on the counter attack for both of the goals they conceded.

The lack of a defensive midfielder showed and it was revealing to see Iraola use Mac Allister just ahead of the back four after Joe Willock put Newcastle 2-1 up.

Liverpool have now conceded more goals via fast breaks in all competitions than any other Premier League team since the start of last season - nine.

All that and more will be food for thought for the new Liverpool boss but this was a relatively positive start to life under Iraola - who prefers to wait until the day after the match for a debrief.

"I've liked a lot of the things I've seen from the team," he said. "There's definitely things to improve like the goals but I've seen a lot of things I've liked from the team. I've liked the energy, especially the players coming from the bench. I think we finished the game quite strong physically."

"We will never give up. I can guarantee you that," Szoboszlai told Sky Sports. "We have to fight every time - all day long during the 90 minutes. Everybody who came off the bench also made an impact as well. We need the whole squad and we need to be ready."

That desire was never a cause for concern on Tyneside. But this Liverpool squad must improve, both in terms of quality and quantity.

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