Photo: AFC Bournemouth / CC BY 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola admitted his side could not maintain their early intensity as AS Monaco came from two goals down to win Sunday's pre-season friendly 3-2 at Anfield.
Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz had put Liverpool in command inside the opening 30 minutes, but Monaco pulled one back from the penalty spot just before half-time, levelled early in the second half and sealed a late winner when Paris Brunner glanced home a front-post header from a corner.
"I think quite similar to the game we played against Leeds. We played really good [in the] 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," Iraola said. "They were much better in the second half and they deserved to turn around the game."
Iraola noted that several senior players featured for the first time in pre-season but struggled to sustain their output over 90 minutes. "The ones that it was their first game, or even 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," he said.
On the fitness of absentees, Iraola confirmed Jeremy Jacquet was a doubt for Sunday but should be available for the next fixture. Curtis Jones has been training daily but finished Saturday's session with a hip problem. "It doesn't look anything big but it didn't make any sense to risk," the head coach said.
Looking at Liverpool's form across four pre-season outings, Iraola acknowledged the squad won the first two matches but has been unable to hold the required level through the full game in the last two. "As soon as we have made some changes they start to get tired — we have work to do," he added.
Iraola described the Anfield atmosphere as "lovely" during the opening half but conceded the second period was difficult when results no longer matched crowd expectation.