How Liverpool are shaping up under Andoni Iraola
Andoni Iraola has taken charge at Liverpool after signing a two-year contract and has overseen the club’s pre-season matches as the team prepares for the coming campaign. In four friendlies so far, Liverpool beat Sunderland and Wrexham but surrendered two-goal leads in defeats by Leeds and Monaco.
Iraola replaced Arne Slot as Liverpool head coach a season after Slot won the Premier League with the Reds. While winning remains the priority, the style of play has been a major topic for supporters, with many viewing Iraola’s approach as closer to the high-intensity, attacking football associated with Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
Across the small pre-season sample, Liverpool averaged 60.6% possession, a 12.9% increase on Bournemouth’s average possession under Iraola in the league last season. Facing sides that are more likely to sit deep presents a fresh challenge for his team, and Iraola has sought to retain the intense, chaotic traits that defined his previous sides while adapting to longer spells on the ball.
In possession, the Reds have often built from the back with the goalkeeper, four defenders and one or two central midfielders playing short. Dominik Szoboszlai and Trey Nyoni have been used as the deeper midfield pair, dropping to receive and shifting play toward wide players before the team accelerates into forward passes or counter-attacks. When opponents press early, Liverpool have also shown a readiness to bypass short build-up by going long from keepers Alisson or Giorgi Mamardashvili to contest second balls and attack central spaces.
Iraola’s methods show a clear influence from Marcelo Bielsa, under whom he worked at Athletic Club between 2011 and 2013; reflecting that connection, Iraola told Sky Sports in 2023: "I use a lot of exercises from Marcelo that I learned from him, especially with the ball," and added: "Offensively, his teams are very dynamic, willing to make all the runs to the space, he is ready to accept this kind of disorder offensively." Liverpool are using wide pairings and rotating triangles on the left in ways that mirror those Bielsa ideas, with full-backs pushing into the final third alongside Rio Ngumoha or Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz drifting from the number 10 role to provide a third option. In one sequence against Leeds, Ngumoha recycled the ball to left-back Milos Kerkez, Wirtz moved across to support and that rotation created a three-against-three mini-game that produced a one-against-one in space for Ngumoha.
That attacking fluidity can leave the side top-heavy: early displays have shown both full-backs joining attacks with two of the midfield three and the front three, sometimes leaving only two centre-backs and one holding midfielder behind. Slot’s Liverpool were also noted as vulnerable to fast counter-attacks last season, and Iraola has acknowledged the need for greater control while retaining his team’s attacking disorder, saying after the Monaco defeat that his side "can't sustain the level we want, we have work to do." When Liverpool lost possession in midfield against Sunderland, only three players remained behind the ball and seven outfielders were committed high, creating space exploited in the build-up to Sunderland’s opening goal.
Defensively, Iraola has implemented a high press with specific positional roles; Szoboszlai has mainly occupied the second central midfield role and the team has frequently pressed in a 4-4-2 diamond shape, coaxing opponents into short build-up before launching more aggressive pressing sequences. One principle carried over from Iraola’s Bournemouth side is keeping a spare defender against an opponent’s attack: if an opponent leaves three forwards high, Liverpool will often keep four defenders back, relying on intensity and covering to compensate for having one fewer player higher up the pitch. On the pressing plane Szoboszlai’s contribution has been notable: "He is very good," the Hungary captain said of his new manager. "The intensity we need is here now, what we have been missing is back." Match examples show Alexander Isak angling a press to cut passing lanes while Wirtz and Szoboszlai adjust their positions to disrupt Leeds’ attempts to play out.
Four pre-season games remain a limited dataset, but Iraola’s tactical imprint is evident and draws heavily on the instructions that defined his Bournemouth tenure. How he balances the high-risk, high-intensity attacking patterns with a squad described as lacking depth and a requirement to dominate the ball for longer periods is likely to shape his first season in charge.
