Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola was left sweating over the fitness of two players despite an important comeback win at Brentford — and said his stricken duo could be out for ‘some time’.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong both limped off during the Reds’ win at Brentford, which saw them fight from behind after the Bees were reduced to 10 men.
Keane Lewis-Potter had put the home side ahead before Yehor Yarmolyuk’s red for a head butt, then Victor Munoz and Alexander Isak scored.
But the win was at a cost and Iraola said: ‘We have a very delicate situation. We came from playing Champions League late, we arrived real late, late at night and probably not a proper chance of recovery.
‘You have doubt between players who have started two games and tired, or players recovering from injuries and not sure. Dominik felt the same injuries, not a new injury so probably not healed enough.
‘Jeremie’s injury is new, he was cramping. I thought playing against 10 he’d give us more heading forward. But it will mean we will lose Dom and Jeremie for some time.’
Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola has admitted two of his players could be out for ‘some time’
Meanwhile, Bees boss Keith Andrews had no problem with the red and said on Yarmolyuk: ‘He’s clearly disappointed. He’s an amazing young man. We need to remember he is young and someone we love working with and want to try and develop.
‘We need to look at ourselves first – we don’t tend to look at what part they play in the incident. I think Liverpool were cute and clever – Yarmo needs to do better, and I can understand why that was a red.’
Brentford later went down to nine when Vitaly Janelt received a late second yellow.
‘I’ve seen both of Vitaly’s yellows back – I like our players playing with emotion and I like us to play on the edge and when you do that and you feel that some decisions aren’t fair, that can be difficult for the players,’ he said.
‘Our players aren’t robots. We have a spirit in our team that’s really special. Could there have been a bit more consistency? Perhaps.’
