Andoni Iraola believes a new signing will not necessarily provide the answer for Liverpool to the midfield issues that were again exposed by Newcastle United.
The Reds needed a dramatic 99th-minute Dominik Szoboszlai penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw in their Premier League opener at St James' Park on Sunday afternoon.
Both Newcastle goals, scored either side of Cody Gakpo's equaliser, came on the counter-attack with Anthony Elanga and substitute Joe Willock finishing moves prompted by Liverpool losing the ball on the edge of the home penalty area.
The first came when Ryan Gravenberch chose not to shoot when given a clear opening and instead played a wayward pass that was capitalised upon by Newcastle.
Adaptation Over Acquisitions
Liverpool have not yet shown any inclination to bolster their midfield ranks this summer despite Curtis Jones joining Inter Milan on Friday.
And Iraola believes his team will instead benefit from further adapting to the change in playing style he is looking to implement.
“It's not just personnel,” he said. “I understand that Ryan Gravenberch is basically the number six and is on the edge of the box, and if he shoots and scores then we are saying what a play from Ryan Gravenberch.
“I don't want us to take that from his game but we have to adapt as a team to these situations, we have to know these situations can happen.
“The second goal we did better in terms of having the numbers to defend, but we don't make a foul or go to the first challenge. It's not just because one person is playing there. It's something we have to correct between a lot of players.”
Need for Aggression
Iraola has also called on his team to be more aggressive with their defending after pointing the finger at the unwillingness of his players to engage with Yoane Wissa that allowed the striker to run more than 50 yards to set up Newcastle's second goal.
“It's not a big surprise, you face Newcastle, one of the fastest top lines in the league in terms of speed, and there were different reasons why we lost both goals,” said the Reds boss.
“The first one I think we should finish the play, we created a great chance, we are on the edge of the box and have a clear opening to shoot and we decide not to shoot, we don't finish it properly and then you have to give credit to Elanga who wins the race.
“The second one, I think we had the numbers to defend it better, it's not like they caught us by surprise, but we didn't defend it properly.
“We should compete for the first ball and probably make a foul, be a little bit more aggressive as we had the numbers to defend it.”
Iraola added: “You don't want to concede transitions and we'd been preparing them in the week for transitions, but this is football. There's a reason why Newcastle are so good there.
“It's a shame for us as I think we controlled it quite well during the game and we haven't conceded too much (chances). You're always going to concede some against Newcastle here, but they did very well when we gave them open spaces.”
