Andoni Iraola praised Liverpool’s “more collective” performance after the Reds secured a 1-0 victory over Wrexham in New York.
Liverpool made it two wins from two in pre-season as Rio Ngumoha’s deflected second-half strike proved the difference at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
The 17-year-old saw his effort take a deflection inside the penalty area, looping over the goalkeeper and into the net with 15 minutes remaining to seal the victory.
The result extends Liverpool’s perfect start to their USA tour, following their 4-2 win over Sunderland, with a final fixture against Leeds United in Chicago scheduled for Sunday.
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com after the match, Andoni Iraola expressed his satisfaction with the team’s display, highlighting the improved collective performance as preparations for the new season continue.
On his assessment of the game…
Yeah, I think overall we were more solid than the other day. It was a different kind of game, the pitch is quite narrow and there are not a lot of spaces. But I think we had good spells. And even if the other day maybe you score more goals and it looks nicer, I think today we were more a team and more collective.
On pre-season matches being important to get players physically ready…
I’m happy today because we played a lot of the young players. Some of them had difficult match-ups, [Luke] Chambers playing as a centre-back against big bodies, he covered very well and played very well from the back. The wingers – Josh Abe, Kieran Morrison at the end. Good performances from young players, which I think is always good.
On a learning curve for the younger players against senior professionals…
Yes, I think both [Lewis] Koumas and Will [Wright] have done a very good job today. They were helping us on the press, helping us also attacking the spaces, linking up also with Harvey [Elliott], with Dom [Szoboszlai], with the players behind them. Both of them have done a good job.
On where the squad is at in terms of creating his identity…
I think we’re still not there. We are sometimes arriving late, but I think it’s a step forward, since especially the first half against Sunderland. That is more of a reference than the second half. Slowly, slowly I hope every game we are closer and closer. We start to add new bodies, because now we are playing with a lot of the young players. Slowly, slowly we have to add the senior players that are starting to train with us, so we can arrive to the beginning of the season in a good place.
On the impact of Trey Nyoni…
Trey is very good on the ball, very calm, he reads the situations well. We’re forcing him in the work without the ball, in the press, and he is absolutely doing very well. I think the timings of the jumps are very good. He is always confident on the ball so we encourage him. Sometimes even if he loses the ball, ‘Try to find the No.10, try to find the No.9, even balls in behind, look a little bit further’ because he can do it, because he is so good.
On there being more to come from Nyoni…
At the end, he is a midfielder who, I always say, you have to ask for the ball sometimes with pressure – and he doesn’t feel this pressure. Even when he has one opponent quite close, he asks for that ball and he’s confident, he doesn’t rush. For me, that is very valuable.
On whether the players who remained in Chicago will feature against Leeds United on Sunday…
Yes, my idea is for Ryan [Gravenberch], for Florian [Wirtz], for Alex [Isak], for even Jeremy Jacquet to have their first minutes against Leeds. We’ll see how many minutes they can play but we have to start slowly, slowly integrating more of the senior players that have had less training sessions. I think they should be ready on the weekend to have their first minutes.
On being back at Yankee Stadium, where he used to play for New York City FC…
Lovely. I like this place. It’s a tricky stadium to play in because it’s quite narrow and quite small. It was good for me when I came because I didn’t have legs so I could hide my physical condition in that moment! But you have to be very precise because it’s difficult to find the spaces in this stadium.
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