Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola has pointed to a problem Arne Slot found impossible to address last season
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola at full-time after the pre-season friendly against Monaco at Anfield on August 9 2026
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola at full-time after the pre-season friendly against Monaco at Anfield on August 9 2026(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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Analysing pre-season is always fraught with danger. Players are often at different stages of their preparations, new arrivals are trying to bed in and there is a rare opportunity for experimentation from the coaching staff.
Some trends, though, become impossible to ignore. And for good reason will Liverpool supporters have noted one particular observation of Andoni Iraola after Liverpool's disappointing friendly reverse at home to Monaco on Sunday afternoon.
"I think we played really good 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," said the new Reds head coach.
"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."
For the second weekend in succession, Liverpool let slip a two-goal lead earned during an impressive first-half performance to fall to an avoidable and deserved defeat.
Given the raft of substitutions during the second half, the initial - and understandable - take from events was that it exposed the lack of strength of depth in a Reds squad missing a host of players, particularly in defence, and that still requires one or more attacking reinforcements before the transfer window closes in three weeks.
Iraola's comments, though, highlighted a shortcoming that hampered Liverpool throughout a dismal final campaign under predecessor Arne Slot.
As the Reds struggled to replicate the form of their previous dominant title-winning season, the inability to put together a 90-minute performance was long bemoaned by an increasingly baffled Slot.
True, there was the mitigation of pre-season preparations being affected by the death of Diogo Jota, the effects of which were still being felt long into the season.
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Slot, though, simply couldn't find the answer. Liverpool were regularly being outrun by their opponents, a stark contrast to their energetic, heavy-pressing approach that proved so effective under Jurgen Klopp, and significantly different to their lively play under Slot's debut season in charge.
With Iraola very much in the Klopp mould of how he believes the game should be played - his appointment was with the brief of bringing back a front-footed, aggressive and urgent style of play - fitness and squad rotation plays a key part in realising those aims.
Of course, the Premier League season remains almost two weeks away and, with the World Cup contingent several weeks behind their team-mates and Alexis Mac Allister having only returned to the AXA Training Centre on Monday, there will, as Iraola pointed out, be obvious discrepancies.
The arrival of any further new signings - Roland Araujo is coming on loan and interest remains in Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola - will be far nearer transfer deadline day than would be ideal. When Liverpool's season is up and running, there will be little time to work on fitness and tactical fine-tuning amid the relentless fixture schedule. That will have to come from the games themselves.
With a long campaign in the offing, no player at any club will be anywhere near top fitness right now. They are conditioned to peak during the closing months, the precise time when Liverpool last season fell off dramatically.
Nevertheless, unlocking the full physical potential of his squad is becoming a priority for Iraola and his coaching and conditioning staff.
And until Liverpool can start performing nearer a full 90 minutes at the level demanded, there will be a nagging suspicion more players of a different profile will be required to help achieve that.