'Too nice!' - Steven Gerrard demands Liverpool add ‘nastiness’ to squad as Reds legend slams Andoni Iraola’s soft side following Nottingham Forest draw

Liverpool dropped points for the second consecutive weekend after scraping a hard-fought 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest. Despite dominating possession with 69 per cent of the ball, Iraola’s side managed a mere four shots on target and consistently struggled with the visitors' physicality across the pitch.

The hosts had to fight back from behind twice during the contest. Dan Ndoye opened the scoring for Forest in the 24th minute by latching onto a ball over the top, before Morgan Gibbs-White converted a second-half penalty following Alisson's foul on Neco Williams. Liverpool ultimately relied on a superb Cody Gakpo cross to set up Alexander Isak, alongside a sharp strike from Victor Munoz, to salvage a point.

Speaking to TNT Sports, former Liverpool captain Gerrard did not hold back in his assessment of the team's soft underbelly. He suggested that Iraola must fundamentally alter his side's physical approach if they want to remain competitive at the highest level.

"I think this Liverpool team is a little bit too nice," Gerrard remarked. "They lack a destroyer. They don't make many tackles or win many duels. They're a nice team. That's the next development for this manager to change this team. They have to be more physical and aggressive.

"Last week, they would have won that game if they were more up for the duel, up for the tackle, people wanting to take yellow cards, people being nastier, uglier to play against. Sometimes you win games a different way."

The Reds icon further warned that relying solely on technical ability will cost them silverware. "They've got a load of nice technical players, a load of top talents, but they lack nastiness, and that's what the manager has got to get in this team," he added. "If not, when the big prizes come out at key times of the season, Liverpool won't be there."

Beyond their lack of on-pitch aggression, Liverpool's afternoon was marred by familiar tactical vulnerabilities as they were repeatedly caught out by counter-attacks. However, Iraola directed his post-match frustration toward the match officials, citing a contentious penalty decision and a bizarre substitution delay involving fourth official Tim Robinson.

"With the penalty, the situation has already finished when the contact appears. And it's not an aggressive contact," Iraola said. "But more than this we complained about the subs. We had to wait about three minutes.

"He was having an issue with the board, I don't know if it was not working, but we definitely wanted to do the subs the last two or three stoppages before the goal."

He added: "A professional fourth official cannot take three minutes. We'd already given him the subs two or three minutes before. I was already angry because in the previous stoppage we couldn't make the subs and then before throw-in I thought we could do it."

Gerrard dismissed the managerial complaints as a distraction, saying: "You can understand the frustration - in this day and age, with all the technology, it can't be taking three minutes to make a triple substitution. But I think it's a small problem in the overall problem because it's a goal that can be avoided."

Iraola faces a mounting challenge to instil the missing defensive grit into his squad. With opponents now keenly aware of Liverpool's vulnerability to counter-attacks and their reluctance to engage in physical battles, the manager must quickly strike a balance between technical dominance and tactical resilience to keep their season on track.