Andoni Iraola's Frustrations After Liverpool's 2-2 Draw Against Nottingham Forest

Andoni Iraola left Anfield shaking his head at more than just the scoreline.

Liverpool’s new head coach watched his first home Premier League game in charge stutter into a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, a result that owed as much to a malfunctioning electronic board as it did to his team’s slow start. Forest led twice and were closing in on a third straight league win at Anfield before Víctor Muñoz crashed in an 82nd-minute equaliser to salvage a point.

Chaos on the touchline

The flashpoint came with Forest’s second goal. Liverpool were preparing a triple substitution, Iraola ready to change the game from the touchline. Instead, he was left stranded, arms out, waiting.

Liam Delap took a quick throw-in while Iraola tried to get his changes on. The fourth official, unable to operate a broken electronic board, could not display the numbers. Seconds later, Forest had a penalty. Morgan Gibbs-White buried it.

“I cannot explain because I don’t have an explanation,” Iraola said, still visibly irritated afterwards. “I wanted to make those substitutions about three minutes before. It was two, three, four times the ball had gone out. He [the fourth official] was having some problems with the board. The penalty wouldn’t have happened if I had made the subs.

“I had complained the previous time. The supporters were shouting and they were aware of the situation. I’ll leave you to decide whether it was a penalty or not.”

The sense of farce around the touchline only deepened the frustration. Anfield knew what Iraola was trying to do. The home crowd roared at the delay. The change never came in time.

A slow start, again

The technology mishap gave Iraola a clear target, but he did not hide from his team’s own failings. For the second week running, Liverpool laboured badly through the opening 45 minutes and paid for it.

“The first half was poor, it was not good enough,” he admitted. “We haven’t controlled the game and after we improved a lot in the second half. We were much more intense, quicker on the ball and had more urgency, but it hasn’t been enough to win the game and we have to blame the first half.”

That was the theme: a reaction, not a performance from the first whistle. Liverpool chased the game twice, clawed their way back twice, but never imposed themselves early enough to turn Anfield into the force Iraola wants it to be.

“I am frustrated because we want to win, especially at home. It’s not a good result,” he said. “We have come back from two results where we were losing and I like what we have done in the second half, but we haven’t been able to complete the comeback.”

Intensity missing, issues exposed

For Iraola, the diagnosis was blunt. Liverpool did not work hard enough without the ball before the interval and allowed Forest to grow into the contest, capitalising on basic lapses.

“In the first half we were too passive without the ball,” he said. “Afterwards we improved this and intensity gives you the chance to win duels and attack quicker and better. But in the first half there was a lack of intensity and we had issues with throw-ins today.”

Those “issues with throw-ins” cut to the heart of the story. From the quick restart that led to the penalty, to the hesitation on the touchline as the board refused to light up, Liverpool were punished in the margins.

Anfield heard the final whistle with a mix of relief and irritation: relief that Muñoz had rescued a point, irritation that a broken board and a broken first half had cost them two. For Iraola, still at the very start of his reign, the question now is simple: how long can a new Liverpool side afford to keep learning these lessons in real time?