Iraola: It's a long season and next time things will go our way

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola broke down his side's 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, offering a critical assessment of their sluggish start while praising their response after going behind. The Spaniard maintained that the Reds should have been awarded a stonewall penalty for an incident involving Alexander Isak, highlighting the inconsistency in the referee's reasoning behind two unawarded fouls in the box. He also stressed that fine margins make all the difference in matches of this magnitude, and small moments simply haven't fallen their way this season.

"Overall, I think we have to look primarily at our start to the match and the spell leading up to the goal we conceded. We were simply not at the required level in the opening minutes. However, from the moment we went 1-0 down—around the 15th or 16th minute—I was very pleased with how the team reacted. Even in the first half, we responded well and put Arsenal under severe pressure.

"I felt we did more than enough to score, but we just couldn't find the net. Florian Wirtz hit the post, and Alexis Mac Allister had a header that was a clear-cut chance in my book. We also had a clear penalty shout and plenty of moments inside the box—not just on the edge, but deep inside—where our final touch let us down."

"There were two separate incidents, and they are somewhat connected. For me, the one on Isak is a clear penalty. He is about to head the ball in front of goal and gets pulled so blatantly that everyone can see the shirt tug. It doesn't take much to throw Alex off balance with the ball right there in front of him, and I can't see why it wasn't given. Perhaps because he didn't throw himself to the ground, but that shouldn't be the criteria for not awarding a penalty.

"Then there was the incident with Cody Gakpo, where there was sustained pulling. I understand the argument, and they might be right in saying the ball was overhit and Cody couldn't reach it. But if you take that stance, you are essentially admitting the first one was a penalty. You can't use the same logic in reverse when it suits. That's why I'm convinced Alex's was a penalty."

"It is decisive because we felt the same way against Manchester City, partly due to Ryan Gravenberch's first yellow card. Tiny details matter in games this closely matched. They haven't gone our way so far this season, but it's a long campaign and next time those breaks will fall in our favour."

"I can share my view on those calls, but we can't spend too much energy dwelling on refereeing decisions. We have to speak our minds—I think it was a penalty—but we must focus on what we can control and improve to ensure we end up on the winning side of tight matches. Today, we created more than enough to score. What we must fix is the opening spell before their goal. We conceded after a mix-up playing out from the back, but even before that, it felt like their goal was closer than ours. From that moment on, we took control. Arsenal dropped deeper and didn't need to take risks, but I genuinely felt our equaliser was coming because of the pressure we built."

"From the moment we conceded until the break, we had a very strong 30-minute spell. A goal felt imminent. We penned them inside their box and kept the pressure on, but lacked the clinical edge to finish our chances. Late on, I turned to Rio Ngumoha, Victor Muñoz, and Dom Szoboszlai to see if we could find a goal from distance or unlock them in a different way. We had plenty of set-pieces that we couldn't capitalise on, and Arsenal defended exceptionally well throughout the second half."