Andoni Iraola described Joe Gomez's early exit as the "worst news" on his opening day as Liverpool manager. The Spanish tactician had only just arrived from Bournemouth to take over the reins following Arne Slot's departure.
Gomez limped off in the eighth minute of Liverpool's 4-2 friendly win against Sunderland in Nashville on Saturday. The centre-back, who wore the captain's armband, couldn't continue despite starting the match.
Kieran Morrison, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas scored in the victory that opened Liverpool's United States tour. But the injury to Gomez immediately compounded Iraola's existing defensive headaches.
Jeremy Jacquet, a recent addition to the squad, is still being carefully managed following shoulder problems that sidelined him for months. Giovanni Leoni is also working his way back from a prolonged absence.
Iraola had already flagged concerns about his defensive depth this week, calling the unit "very thin." "Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe," he told reporters after the match.
"We were happy because we were kind of going through all the training without losing any player," he continued. "Unluckily for us, straight away we've lost Joe."
On Jacquet's management, Iraola explained the club won't rush the defender back. "With Jeremy, we decided to take it easy with him given his shoulder injury," the manager said.
"He will play probably the last game of this US tour and he will have time to have minutes," according to Iraola.
Despite the setback, Iraola believes the victory provides solid foundation for improvement. Upcoming fixtures against Wrexham in New York and Leeds in Chicago will test his team's progress.
"A lot of things to correct, obviously, it's the first day," he noted. "You could feel the heavy legs, the players have been training, so we lacked some freshness."
Virgil van Dijk has been granted additional rest after the Netherlands' World Cup involvement. However, Iraola confirmed that Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch are already in Chicago following their post-tournament breaks and will rejoin training shortly.
