For a moment in their 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, we saw a picture of what Liverpool want to be under Andoni Iraola. Receiving a ball in space, Florian Wirtz found new signing Victor Munoz, and he was able to spin on a dime, beating the keeper. That goal rescued a point for Liverpool for the second week in a row. The issue is that two points in two games is not nearly enough for Liverpool.
Defensively, Liverpool weren't able to protect their wings, allowing Forest to generate easy chances in the center of the box and still look like last season's team that doesn't know how to fit their excellent parts into a team. It may be early, but with the Champions League looming in a week and a half, time isn't on their side, and adding another expensive winger in Bradley Barcola isn't the fix to everything. While Liverpool need to recover from this match, waiting for them on the horizon is a league match with Ipswich Town, followed by quite a Champions League tie with Atletico Madrid (which you can catch on Paramount+). Iraola's job came with pressure, and with two draws in two matches while allowing two goals, he's not doing what's needed to improve this defense even with new signing Jeremy Jacquet at the center of it all.
In attack, Liverpool did create enough to win the game, but it came in spells with Forest consistently creating chances. And the moment that looked like it might decide the match, an Alisson penalty that might have been a little soft after Neco Williams lost the ball and the Liverpool keeper clattered him, when you're a team like Liverpool, these aren't the things that should decide a game.
Since signing before the 2025-26 season, fullbacks Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have struggled to adjust to their new team's back four, and this game was no different, with them struggling both in and out of possession. Kerkez, especially, couldn't place passes accurately, giving Forest easy chances going the opposite way, leaving the defense out to dry. With Andrew Robertson departing, there's a clear need at fullback; despite that, the fact that the Reds are only linked to attackers is a concern.
Dominik Szoboszlai is their best midfielder and their best fullback at the same time, and it's not an accident that Liverpool looked their most dangerous late in the match when he took up the right back position. Unless we develop cloning technology quickly, something's gotta give, but the Reds also offloaded Curtis Jones to Inter, which makes it hard to take Szoboszlai out of midfield and leads to this strange, unbalanced setup. Florian Wirtz has to drop deeper than he'd like, Alexander Isak is isolated despite being a striker who needs support, and Cody Gakpo is there until he's able to get into space and make something happen.
Is Ronald Araujo the answer?
Moving to a back three with Ronald Araujo stepping into the XI is something that could help the squad, but then the issue of center-back depth comes in. So where they could go when he's up to speed is leaning into the unbalanced lineup with Araujo at right-back. Doing that allows the team to still operate out of a back three going forward. And when cover is needed Szoboszlai can still come back to provide that, giving Iraola the best of both worlds.
With the transfer window still open, there's time to add another defender or two, but squad numbers will also become a concern if Barcola gets over the line. He'd offer an upgrade to the wingers currently on the team, but then there's how to balance Gakpo and Munoz since Wirtz and Isak are locked into the XI.
These are issues that have been building, but they were covered by the excellence of Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. But now they're 33 and 35, respectively, and not able to hold down a defense alone. While the Liverpool attack may have been well prepared for the departure of Mohamed Salah to Turkiye, the Liverpool defense isn't well prepared for the post-peak era of their own stars, which is only made harder by their fullback struggles.
Liverpool are a club with high expectations, and they've been given a UCL league phase draw that will raise expectations that the Reds can finish in the top eight, avoiding additional games in the knockouts. But if last season's issues continue to persist, it won't matter because the Reds will be in for a slog of their own making. The front office changes have led to strange priorities in the transfer market, where despite spending plenty of money, Liverpool are still flawed. It'll be a true test of Iraola's management to fix this, but if deadline day doesn't bring new bodies, these struggles will continue.
