Winless and an ‘easy touch’ – what’s happened to the Anfield fear factor?

It is early days but Andoni Iraola will know that if his time at Liverpool is going to be a success, then he must make Anfield a fortress again.

Right now, the struggle is real.

Liverpool were impressive for the most part against a Manchester City side that arrived on Merseyside with a 100 per cent record.

However, once Ryan Gravenberch was sent off in the 62nd minute, they capitulated to a 3-0 defeat.

As Iraola said post-match to Match of the Day: “We played two different games. One until the red card, and then after.

“For 60 minutes, the players were very good. The second game from the red card was where City were better than us.”

His unbeaten start is now over. This was actually his first Premier League defeat in 24 games (W10, D13) since January, including his time at Bournemouth.

The Reds, though, are now winless in three Premier League home matches this season – although they have won at Anfield in the Champions League and Carabao Cup – for just the second time ever.

That winless run in the league at Anfield stretches back to last season with Liverpool now winless in five successive Premier League home games (D4 L1).

Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock told BBC Radio 5 Live: “The best teams in the world are also horrible to play against. Liverpool aren’t horrible.

“They’re an easy touch at the moment. They have too many players that are nice and they have to change that part of things.

“Liverpool have got a lot of work to do.

“They don’t have enough leaders at the moment, apart from Virgil van Dijk barking orders.”

Virgil van Dijk and Ronald Araujo for Liverpool — Liverpool are winless in three Premier League home matches [Getty Images]

Is there an Anfield problem?

Going back to the start of the year, Liverpool have won just four games in 13 Anfield Premier League matches.

In fact, they have won more matches away from home than at home during this period.

A closer look at the stats clearly shows Liverpool’s home form has dropped off season by season since 2023-2024, although it is important to note this season is still a very small sample size.

Away sides have a lower win percentage at Anfield (12.5 per cent) than at any other stadium in Premier League history.

However, is this reputation starting to dwindle?

Ex-Man Utd midfielder Paul Scholes told The Good, the Bad and the Football podcast in September: “When you go to Liverpool, especially when Jurgen Klopp was there, the crowd played such a major part. It feels like that’s gone… I don’t think the fans are quite on board at the minute with what’s happening there.

“When we used to go there, I’d think, ‘how are we going to get the ball?’, because they were on top of you. Teams seem to have a lot more possession and look a bit more comfortable than they ever have.”

And Scholes’ former team-mate Nicky Butt added: “The likes of Fulham five years ago are going to Anfield and they’re beaten before they even go up the steps.”

City’s class highlights Liverpool’s concerns

The Kop — This was Liverpool’s joint-biggest defeat at Anfield in the Premier League [Getty Images]

While Liverpool have won twice on their travels this season, they now sit ninth in the league – and their main issue seems fairly clear.

They have scored just seven goals this season – just twice at Anfield – and only seven teams have managed fewer.

It was early on in the first half when the cameras panned to Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai in the Main Stand at Anfield – all three of them were out with injuries.

Among them, the trio have scored six of Liverpool’s seven league goals this season and on a day when Man City’s attack showed their class, Liverpool didn’t show any quality in the final third.

City (16) have scored more than double the goals Liverpool (7) have scored this season in the top flight.

Across three league games at Anfield this season, Liverpool have failed to score in two of them. That must improve.

In Isak’s absence, Lewis Koumas put in a great shift. However, the 21-year-old lacks that killer edge in front of goal at this level.

The focus must fall on Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola. It is this kind of game where you need a match-winning moment and neither showed anywhere near the quality that is expected when you have a price tag of over £100m.

There was one moment at 0-0 in the 55th minute when Wirtz had Milos Kerkez and Barcola in acres of space to his left, but chose to shoot and fired wide.

“You learn a lot in games like today,” Iraola said. “I am very proud of my players. They put the work rate and everything in today. It’s a loss and we didn’t get anything from the performance but I liked it a lot.”

But deep down, Iraola will know there is a lot of work to do and getting the big money signings to deliver will be high on his agenda.

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