NEW MANGER, SAME PROBLEMS! Liverpool show familiar concern as three players shine in Monaco defeat - 5 talking points

Liverpool suffered a 3-2 defeat to Monaco in Andoni Iraola’s first match as manager at Anfield. The Reds boss will have plenty to ponder after the latest pre-season outing for the club as the Premier League campaign nears.

Alexander Isak opened the scoring for Liverpool in the first half, before Florian Wirtz doubled the home side’s advantage with a finish almost on the goalline.

Monaco then responded with a penalty from Aleksandr Golovin, before Mika Biereth equalised for the Ligue 1 club in the second half and Paris Brunner got the winner in the closing minutes.

Here, Mirror Football takes a look at some of the key talking points from Liverpool’s pre-season friendly against Monaco.

Alexander Isak wouldn’t have wanted to wait long before getting his first goal at Anfield, and it took the Sweden international just 16 minutes to find the back of the net.

Isak had plenty of good link-up play with Florian Wirtz throughout his appearance, and it’s easy to see from the start how important Iraola views the two players.

Liverpool will be hoping that Isak’s goal marks the start of the striker showing the form that earned him his move to Anfield 12 months ago.

Anfield got its first chance to see an Iraola-Liverpool team, and it wouldn’t have taken long to see the message the 44-year-old is sending to his players.

From the very first kick-off, Liverpool made their intentions clear to get the ball up the pitch as soon as possible to try and attack. While it left the defence open at times, it led to several opportunities, including the goals from Isak and Wirtz.

Wirtz showed before his move to Liverpool why he is regarded as one of the most talented youngsters in Europe, and there was a glimpse of that once again against Monaco.

Most of Liverpool’s attacks went through the Germany international, and he can find himself unlucky not to have found the back of the net on more than one occasion.

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Liverpool certainly have a talented youngster on their hands with Ifeanyi Ndukwe, who once again put in an impressive performance during pre-season.

The defender made several important blocks in the first half and looked like he belonged at the heart of the Reds defence alongside club captain Virgil van Dijk.

The teenager will be expected to be loaned out this summer due to not having a work permit to feature for Liverpool, but the Reds definitely have a gem on their hands.

Just like they did against Leeds United last week, Liverpool seemed to run out of steam as the game went on and Monaco capitalised.

After scoring twice in the first half, Monaco managed to respond and take the lead after Liverpool began making changes with various substitutions.