My Heartfelt Congratulations to Barcola/ Iraola: I Took a Risk and We Conceded Three Goals, It Wasn't Good!

Andoni Iraola accepted, after Liverpool's 6-3 win over Lask, that his decision to change the defensive line was not the right call and led to conceding three goals.

According to Sport Se, Andoni Iraola described the performance of his team's offensive line as complete and perfect after Liverpool's 6-3 victory over Austria's Lask in the European Champions League and praised the brilliance of Bradley Barkola and the youth of the academy.

While Liverpool was ahead of the Austrian host by four goals until the 51st minute, they finally won with the result of six to three. A really strange and back-and-forth game, the turning point of which was Bradley Barkola's hat trick. In his post-match press conference at the Raiffeisen Arena, Andoni Iraola said in response to Barkola's brilliance and the first hat-trick of his career: "I'm happy from the bottom of my heart for Bradley. Yesterday the reporters were asking me about him and Florian Wirtz not scoring and not assisting, but tonight both of them were fantastic and made a difference on the pitch. Apart from the three goals he scored, Bradley was a constant threat to the opponent. Both in one-on-one battles and with quick escapes to the depth of Lask's defense. Florian also helped to control the match by finding the empty spaces. This game gave them a lot of confidence and they felt how much the technical staff believes in their abilities. "Enjoying an away game in the Champions League will be decisive for the progress of these two players."

In response to another question from a reporter who asked what message he has for Barkula, the Liverpool coach said: "My message is that he should enjoy this memorable night, because it is very difficult to score a hat-trick in the Champions League. In yesterday's training, I felt how motivated and energetic he is. Sometimes this inner feeling gives you a message. Of course, you can never guarantee what will happen on the day of the game, but his brilliance tonight was not a surprise to us, because we knew that mentally he was fully prepared for this match."

Iraola said about trusting the academy's phenomena such as Luis Coomes and Terry Nyoni, who had their first experience of being a fixer in Europe: "Comes, Nioni and Rio Ngumo, despite their young age and coming from the academy, are the cornerstones of the main team for us, because we believe in their quality and we know that they can solve problems during the season. I am very satisfied with their show. Even for Komes, whose previous two goals were disallowed due to offside, I was very happy that he finally got the reward for his efforts, he opened his foot to score and was able to celebrate with the fans."

"There's a technical reason why no manager changes both of his centre-backs at the same time during a match, because bringing in a whole new defensive pairing disrupts the coordination of the backfield," the Reds manager explained of the three-goal second-half and defensive disarray. But the fact is, when we were 4-0 up, I had to think about the next game. We have to play Brentford in less than three days. "Ronald Araújo and Jeremy Jacque have played a lot of minutes in the club and national camps in the past weeks and I felt it was the right time to rest them, although I know this simultaneous transfer was not a perfect decision in terms of defensive form."

Referring to the tight schedule ahead of Liverpool, Iraola said: "Maybe because we scored six goals, everyone thinks it was an easy game, but if Lask had scored the first goal, everything would have been difficult in this heavy atmosphere. After Brentford, we immediately have to face Villarreal in a very tough European battle. At this tight stage we need more than eleven or twelve players. "The experience that our young people gained in this match makes us feel more comfortable using them in the starting lineup in future games."