Andoni Iraola reacts to Bradley Barcola display for Liverpool vs Fulham
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has given his verdict on Bradley Barcola’s performance against Fulham at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Barcola started for Liverpool in their goalless draw with Fulham at home.
The France international winger started against Atletico Madrid at Anfield in the Champions League in midweek, too.
Liverpool boss Iraola decided to deploy Barcola on the right wing against the Spanish club, as the Premier League giants won the game 2-1.
On Saturday, Barcola started on his preferred left wing, with Victor Munoz deployed on the right.
Florian Wirtz played as the number 10, and Alexander Isak started as the number nine.
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Barcola came off after 72 minutes, with Rio Ngumoha replacing the former Paris Saint-Germain winger, who cost Liverpool £123million in transfer fees in the summer transfer window.
During his time on the pitch at Anfield against Fulham, Barcola took one shot, which was not on target, created one chance, had a passing accuracy of 73.7%, and made three tackles.
After the game, Iraola gave his verdict on Barcola and also reflected on Liverpool’s performance against Fulham as a whole.
Andoni Iraola on Liverpool and Bradley Barcola vs Fulham
BBC Sport quotes the Liverpool manager as saying: “When you draw, especially at home, you can’t be happy.
“Today we lacked a bit of freshness and we did not do enough offensively to make the difference.
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“We have been good enough to keep the clean sheet.
“It was slightly better in the second half.
“In the first half we started the game slow, we lacked energy and it was not enough, we have to be offensively better.
“It is less than three days, 60 hours, [since they played Atletico Madrid in the Champions League] and a lot of players had to adapt.
“Most of the changes were for physical reasons because the players were tired, but that is the season and in less than three days we will be here against Spurs [in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday].
“We have to adapt and find ways to win.”
On Barcola, Iraola said: “Bradley is one we are building up physically with games and the games will give him the condition we want.
“But it is not just Bradley, we lack the freshness.
“I only remember one clear chance [for Fulham] and we kept the structure but offensively we need to do much better.”
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