Jamie Carragher couldn't believe what Andoni Iraola did during Newcastle vs Liverpool in utter 'madness' claim

Jamie Carragher has questioned Andoni Iraola for one of his tactical decisions during Liverpool's last-gasp draw against Newcastle United.

On Sunday afternoon, Newcastle and Liverpool played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at St James' Park.

In a lightning-fast start to the contest, Anthony Elanga opened the scoring inside five minutes, destroying Iraola's back line with his electric pace in behind before calmly slotting his chance past Alisson Becker.

Cody Gakpo then equalised for the Reds in the 55th minute, but just when it looked as though the visitors were in the ascendancy, they were caught by another fast break as substitute Joe Willock put the Magpies ahead.

As the game reached its conclusion, it looked for all the world like Iraola was going home empty-handed in his first competitive match, but Dominik Szoboszlai rescued a point for his side from the penalty spot with the last kick of the game.

Despite scoring the all-important equaliser with a thunderous penalty, Szoboszlai had arguably one of his 'worst' games in a Liverpool shirt, according to many fans on social media.

The 25-year-old was deployed in a deep-lying midfield role with Ryan Gravenberch, two players who notoriously like to get forward instead of offering protection to their defence.

That is one reason why the Reds were constantly caught on the counter by Newcastle's devastating pace, as both Gravenberch and Szoboszlai drifted forward when Iraola needs his midfielders to be defensively rigid.

Jamie Carragher noticed this issue during pre-season, and as it continued during their opening Premier League match, the former Liverpool defender couldn't help but express his opinion towards Iraola on X.

"LFC Midfield all bombing forward happened all pre-season, madness!" Carragher exclaimed, while also adding: "Again! This midfield cannot work, I said it before a competitive ball was kicked."

Unlike at Bournemouth, where Iraola had a defensively astute midfield duo of Tyler Adams and Alex Scott, he doesn't have that luxury at Anfield currently. As it stands, he will need to add another midfielder to his squad, especially after Curtis Jones joined Inter Milan.

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Liverpool aren't blessed with options for the deep-lying midfield role. Gravenberch and Szoboszlai are joined by Alexis Mac Allister, youngster Trey Nyoni and the out-of-favour Wataru Endo.

In the case of Szoboszlai, his best position is further forward, but with Florian Wirtz occupying number 10, he is forced to play deeper, and this is causing Iraola a tactical problem.

The Reds are crying out to sign a defensive midfielder and arguably have been since Fabinho left Anfield in 2023. But Iraola's post-match interview suggests they aren't in a rush to capture someone in the middle of the park.

“It’s not just personnel,” the Spaniard 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.”

Iraola has also called on his team to be more aggressive in their defending after pointing the finger at the unwillingness of his players to engage with Yoane Wissa, allowing the striker to run more than 50 yards to set up Newcastle’s second goal.

The Merseyside giants are next in action on Saturday, with Nottingham Forest visiting Anfield.