15x possession lost: Andoni Iraola admits one Liverpool player ‘started the game slowly’ today

Andoni Iraola admitted that one Liverpool player ‘started the game slowly’ in their 1-0 victory over Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon.

It wasn’t a vintage Reds performance at the Vitality Stadium by any means, but Alexander Isak’s 57th-minute goal was enough to secure all three points for Andoni Iraola’s side on the head coach’s return to his former stomping ground.

While one of last summer’s £100m+ signings savoured his match-winning moment, the other endured a more difficult day at the office as Florian Wirtz was substituted with 20 minutes to go, with Jamie Carragher remarking on Sky Sports that he’d have taken off the German at half-time.

Iraola comments on Wirtz’s performance v Bournemouth

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Iraola was asked about the 23-year-old’s performance, and the Basque admitted that Liverpool’s number 7 had a slow start to the game but later became more influential.

The Reds’ head coach said of Wirtz: “He started the game slowly, I agree. The first minute they went quite intense and we were not quite with us, the duels in the middle. After that first phase, I think we improved.

“Florian has helped us also to improve. In the second half he was playing much better; he was finding better spots to receive and turn. Probably we haven’t found the last part or moment to score but I think I’m much more happy with his second half than his first one.”

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Wirtz had good and bad moments in win over Bournemouth

Wirtz has come under fire for his early-season performances, with Steve Nicol even calling for him to be dropped from the starting XI (ESPN), and unfortunately the German didn’t have his best day at the office against Bournemouth either.

He was involved in a somewhat farcical collision with Milos Kerkez during the first half and, going by Sofascore figures, his underlying statistics were something of a mixed bag.

To give the 23-year-old his due, he was involved in the build-up to Isak’s match-winning goal with an attemped flick onto the Swedish marksman, although fans would still be justified in expecting more from an attacker who cost more than £100m to sign and has scored just seven times in 55 appearances for the Reds.

Much like Liverpool in general today, Wirtz was poor in the first half but improved thereafter, as Iraola acknowledged in his post-match words to the media.

The German will now get a few days’ rest before linking up with his country for their UEFA Nations League fixtures in the first week of October, thanks to Jurgen Klopp’s notable decision to split his squad into two for the international window.