Andoni Iraola pictured on the touchline during Liverpool's Premier League match against Arsenal at Anfield
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Liverpool cemented their terrific away form in the Premier League on Sunday as they beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park.
The Reds have won four consecutive matches on the road, winning at some difficult grounds and seeing off Ipswich Town, Bournemouth, Brentford and now Palace.
While it is pleasing to see Liverpool pick up points away from home, things have been much more difficult for them at Anfield, where they have managed just one win, and collected only five points, from five matches. This obviously has to improve, and Reds legend Steve Nicol has now explained that he thinks Liverpool’s vulnerabilities in defence are making it hard for Andoni Iraola to win in front of his own fans.
Liverpool bounce back with an impressive 3-1 win over Palace! What did you make of that performance? 👇
@aryansurajc Do you think Alisson should stay beyond the summer? Hasn't been great at times this season but showed he can still win us points. Tricky one
Happy they atleast recorded a win but not their best performance out there. Thank Allison😏
Yeah gutted, a soft penalty of all things too!
Liverpool’s defence is causing them problems at Anfield
Liverpool have not been especially good defensively under Iraola no matter where they have been playing, but according to Nicol, this is more of an issue at home, where the Reds are forced to go forward more, thus leaving bigger gaps for opposition teams to exploit.
“I think to be honest, they’ve managed to get results away. It’s not that they’ve been performing completely differently at home than they have been away, it just so happens that they’ve got results away,” he said on ESPN.
“When you’re vulnerable defensively and you’re at home and you’re Liverpool, you have to go forward, and so when you go forward you can leave holes and leave yourself a little exposed at times. And so when you’re not defending well as individuals and as a group, that’s why.”
If the Premier League table were adjusted for home matches only, Liverpool would be sitting in the relegation zone, in 18th position. Meanwhile, they top the table away from home. Unbeaten with four wins and one draw, the Reds have been even better than Arsenal on the road.
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Even worse, Liverpool have only scored four times in the Premier League at Anfield this season, failing to find the net against Fulham, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Although Nicol’s argument is based on deficiencies at the back for Iraola, it has also been very clear that Liverpool need to be much better going forward as well.
Nevertheless, his reasoning makes sense. Away from home, Liverpool can afford to take fewer risks in possession, keeping more solid and structured as a result. At Anfield, the energy of the crowd can sometimes make this impossible, especially if the Reds find themselves behind or level in a game they should be winning.
Iraola will certainly hope his team’s fortunes improve after the international break, when Liverpool face a poor Manchester United team at Anfield. For now, the form book is skewed slightly by the Reds having faced the best two teams in the Premier League at home. But if they lose or draw again with their biggest rivals coming to town, this will start to become a really serious problem.