Liverpool must sacrifice control in games in order to fix their creativity problems, Andoni Iraola has demanded ahead of their weekend trip to Crystal Palace, live on Sky Sports. The Reds have created the second-fewest big chances in the Premier League this season and scored only four goals in five home games, their joint-fewest at this stage of a season in their history. They set an unwanted record against Arsenal last weekend, failing to register a shot on target in a home Premier League game for the first time in more than 440 games since Opta records began in 2003.
Iraola arrived at Anfield last summer with a reputation for front-foot, direct football but has had difficulties imposing his philosophy on his new players in the first three months of the season, and now wants them to take more risks to turn their domination into clear-cut opportunities. He said: "Obviously, we want to score more and concede fewer. It's a matter of controlling the games but also sometimes, against Fenerbahce we were controlling the game too much.
"In possession we can have good positions, but sometimes we have to throw numbers inside the box, arrive with more players. "It will take a little bit of control away, but it will give us more threat when we arrive. Especially against Arsenal, the way we attacked the box had to be better.
"We are one of the teams which arrives the most in the final third. In terms of volume of shots and crosses, we are very high - but if you analyse the quality level of chance, it is low. "When we start losing games, attacking against a lot of positions, it's not going to be the quality of the chances.
"The number of times we get to the box, we have to arrive better. Even if that means losing some control, we have to get into the six-yard box more. It will give us more clear shots." Liverpool's 1.05xG in Sunday's 1-0 defeat to Arsenal would have been significantly boosted had they been awarded a clear penalty for a shirt pull by Jurrien Timber on Alexander Isak.
Iraola admitted after the game he felt a spot kick would have been awarded had Isak gone to ground, and after being praised by the officials in Wednesday's Champions League defeat at Fenerbahce feels his side can be "too honest". Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "We are an honest group. Too honest, sometimes," he said.
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