“We haven’t been lucky” – Iraola claims Liverpool have already been hit with ‘worst scenario’

Andoni Iraola has said that Liverpool ‘haven’t been lucky’ with how the fixture calendar has fallen for them in September.

On Tuesday night, the Reds will play at Anfield for the third time in seven days across three different competitions, having beaten Atletico Madrd in their Champions League opener last Wednesday and then drawn at home to Fulham at the weekend.

The Merseysiders host Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the Carabao Cup tomorrow night, a fixture which was brought forward by 24 hours as part of a rescheduling domino effect which forced Everton’s home game against Wolves to be moved to this coming Wednesday.

Iraola bemoans tight fixture turnarounds

Iraola is likely to make wholesale changes to his starting XI for that game (he’s already confirmed that Giorgi Mamardashvili will come in for Alisson Becker), and the 44-year-old has admitted that the tight turnaround between matches hasn’t been ideal.

He said at today’s pre-match press conference (via Liverpool Echo): “It’s the third game [in seven days]. It’s the worst scenario in terms of schedule. We haven’t been lucky.

“After this one we have a little bit more [time] before we play Bournemouth and you noticed the gap between Ipswich and Atletico, and Atletico and Fulham. It’s a big difference. We have to get used to it.”

A taste of what’s to come for Iraola and Liverpool this season

Had Liverpool’s match against Atletico last week been played on the Tuesday night, and the Spurs game remained on Wednesday of this week, they would’ve had all five of their September matches spaced four days apart prior to the international window.

That would’ve been far more manageable for the head coach and his squad than playing three times in seven days, even with the Carabao Cup tie likely to have brought numerous line-up changes in any case and the Reds having each part of that triple header at Anfield.

This has been Iraola’s first taste of having short turnaround periods between games, and he’ll face an even more intense spell next month when Liverpool have four matches between the 11th and 20th of October, with a trip to Austria included in that.

Thankfully we haven’t been hit with any new major injury issues since the start of the season, but with the fixture calendar getting busier in the autumn and players’ bodies naturally feeling the workload, squad depth is likely to face a rigorous test over the next few weeks and months.

The quirk of the schedule is that, after playing three times in seven days, the Reds will then have only one more game in the subsequent 25 because of the international window, and at least there’ll be four free days before Iraola’s return to Bournemouth in the Premier League next Sunday.