Andoni Iraola must overcome instant 'problem' but new signing points to Liverpool future
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EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool legend Ray Houghton on the pressures Andoni Iraola will face next season and the players that he can get more out of heading into the new campaignLiverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.(Image: Nikki Dyer - Liverpool FC via Getty Images)Liverpool legend Ray Houghton says Andoni Iraola will be under pressure to perform at Anfield from day one after he succeeded Arne Slot this summer.Iraola arrives as a highly-rated coach from Bournemouth, but he has no experience at the top level as a manager and has never overseen a Champions League fixture."There was a big decision to be made at Liverpool after last season, whether to keep Slot," Houghton told Liverpool.com this week. You have to question what the club will regard as success under Iraola."If winning the Premier League title in your first season and finishing fifth in your second isn’t enough, then if Iraola doesn’t make a strong start, there will be a lot of doubts — he’ll be under pressure from day one."The problem Iraola will have is that virtually all of his first-team squad are playing at the World Cup, and won’t return for training until very close to the start of the new Premier League season."The players that do reach the latter stages of the competition — the quarter-finals, semi-finals and even final — they’re going to need a good break, potentially two, three or even four weeks."So that means Iraola won’t be working with his very best players; he’ll be coaching the youngsters and the fringe players.
Their first pre-season friendly is already less than a month away, so Iraola won’t have long to prepare the players and get them focused for the challenges that lie ahead."For any manager, that’s a really tough ask, but especially for a new manager who will want to work with his players as quickly as possible so they begin to understand what he is trying to achieve, how he sees the team playing and how he sees individual players fitting into his system."He may be able to speak with some players on the phone, but there’s nothing that can replicate that face-to-face connection. It’s going to be an interesting first few weeks."New Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola(Image: Robin Jones - AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)Iraola hitting the ground running would be a major boost, but Liverpool knows from last season that a good start doesn't necessarily pave the way for a strong campaign."Last season, Liverpool started well — they won their first five Premier League games," Houghton says."The form then dipped and then Arne Slot couldn’t turn things around and re-find that winning formula.
In setting up his team without Mohamed Salah, Iraola is going to have to play the sort of football that the fans saw under Jurgen Klopp."In Slot’s first season, players started really wide and were running in behind all the time — Salah, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez — they were like Olympic sprinters! Everyone wants to beat the defending champions, and you have to be ready for it — I’m not sure Liverpool were."The players will look back and reflect that they could have done a lot better last season, so they need to think about what they can do differently now."