Jamie Carragher has noticed one trait under Andoni Iraola which ‘bodes well’ for Liverpool going forward, even if he feels there is ‘something still missing’ from the Reds.
The Basque was in danger of suffering a second successive home defeat on Tuesday night when his team were 0-2 down to Villarreal after half an hour, but they recovered to win 4-3, opening a two-goal lead before the visitors struck again late on.
It’s already the fifth time in 11 games this season in which LFC have come from behind to either win or draw, having salvage a late point against both Newcastle and Nottingham Forest and completed comebacks to beat Atletico Madrid, Brentford and now Villarreal.
Carragher praises Liverpool’s resilience
That’s already once more than they managed in the whole of 2025/26 under Arne Slot, and while Carragher is pleased at Liverpool’s resilience, he’s still waiting for an ‘outstanding performance’ since Iraola took charge in the summer.
On Tuesday’s win over Villarreal, the pundit said on CBS Sports Golazo (via liverpool.com): “Typical Liverpool all season, really, where there still hasn’t been one outstanding performance where you feel like the attack’s flowed and they’ve been strong defensively. They’ve had times where defensively they’ve looked strong but struggled to score.
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
“The last couple of outings in the Champions League have been lots of goals, so they’re still searching for an almost top performance, really; but what they have done under Iraola so far is they’ve had an ability to come back from behind. They’ve done that a lot. They didn’t do that a lot last season at all.
“They’ve done it again tonight, so that bodes well character-wise, but there’s still something short, something still missing, really, I would say, so far.”
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Encouraging to see, but not what you want too often
Liverpool’s ability to come from behind to either win or draw is an encouraging trend which shows a new-found resilience that was sorely lacking last season, although they must be careful not to find themselves in a losing position too often.
They deserve credit for battling back from 2-0 down to win last night, but if they were to find themselves in a similar hole against Brighton or Arsenal over the next fortnight, it’d be hard to see them pulling off another comeback.
As Carragher says, the Reds have tended to be either free-scoring but brittle defensively (6-3 v LASK, 4-3 v Villarreal, 2-2 v Newcastle and Forest), or resilient at the back but impotent up top (0-0 v Fulham, 1-0 v Bournemouth).
It’s a balance that Iraola is yet to fully get right, but at least Liverpool fans needn’t fear the worst if their team were to fall behind, knowing that they’ve proven their ability to fight back and salvage either one point or three.
It’s good to know that quality is there, but let’s hope the Reds don’t have to exhibit it too many more times over the course of the season!