Steve Nicol says Andoni Iraola made a big tactical mistake vs Arsenal which cost Liverpool the game
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The new Liverpool boss has only one home league win to his name in four outings, and having now lost to both Man City and Arsenal at Anfield, some onlookers are understandably concerned.Never one to hide his feelings, former Reds full-back turned pundit Steve Nicol is one of those who believes Iraola could have done more to change the results, certainly against Arsenal, where he believes that the coach’s decision to swap Trey Nyoni for Dominik Szoboszlai sealed Liverpool’s fate.Liverpool have a LOT of attacking options and someone has to miss out 👀 What front three would you select? Nicol wanted Dominik Szoboszlai on for Florian Wirtz Iraola’s errant decision to take off Nyoni with Liverpool dominating the midfield was questioned by Daniel Sturridge directly after the match, and the former Reds striker was not the only one to wonder what might have been had Iraola made a different choice.
According to Nicol, that choice should have been to bring Szoboszlai on for Florian Wirtz, keeping the balance in the Liverpool midfield and giving the Reds a long-range goal threat. Then he made the substitution and you take Nyoni off and brought Szoboszlai on, I’m asking myself, ‘why is he not taking Wirtz off and leaving Mac Allister and Nyoni to dominate the way they had been?'” READ MORE: Mikel Arteta shares what he really thinks of Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool having beaten them at Anfield “Absolutely from that point on this game changed and Arsenal actually got a foothold back in the game up until the last 10 minutes when Liverpool were getting balls forward early.
He should’ve taken Wirtz off and put Szoboszlai further up the field and then we might’ve got a shot at goal. “Instead, he left Wirtz on, Szoboszlai comes on, they lose control in the middle of the park and it wasn’t that good from then on.” Nevertheless, Nicol was still generally positive about Liverpool’s overall performance, claiming that the Reds gave a much better account of themselves than during the 3-0 defeat against Manchester City in October.