Anoni Iraola is on the verge of becoming Liverpool's next manager after the departure of Arne Slot, and many supporters are excited about what that could mean in terms of football, and if his arrival would mean the return of the iconic high-pressure football.
Why Liverpool Turned to Andoni Iraola
Perhaps the ghosts of Jürgen Klopp’s era have not yet been laid to rest. Organised chaos is making a return. The heavy-metal football called for by Mohammed Salah is another comeback. And they do love their comebacks over at Liverpool. This, supporters will hope, is the feast after the famine should Andoni Iraola be confirmed as the new Head Coach at the club.
Virgil Van Dijk sits crestfallen at the end of a draining league seasonThe departure of Arne Slot was the slow swing of the axe that may not have fallen had the club persisted with the notion that he deserved time due to encountering a set of extremely difficult circumstances. But the football was dire. Liverpool reeked of passivity with and without the ball. It was a jarring contrast to the past decade of lung-busting runs, colliding tackles, sweat, grit and solidarity that shaped so much at the club.
And so, in comes, very likely, Iraola. The young Basque coach performed near miracles at Bournemouth, guiding them to sixth in the table. Football is a results-based business, and that stood out, yet what glowed the brightest was the clear style of play.
Iraola favours chaos, thunder, intensity, and aggression; direct running, quick play, relentless, suffocating pressure. Close your eyes, and you could be describing any Liverpool match under Klopp.
It would be a disservice to pretend that Arne Slot left the club in the same situation as Brendan Rodgers did. Time will be deservedly kind to the legacy of the man who delivered the club its greatest moment outside of Istanbul in the 21st century, and then weeks later, guided them through one of their darkest and most emotionally poignant moments with immense humanity.
How Iraola's High-Pressing System Could Transform Liverpool
But it was clear that the team was in disarray. The intensity had gone. And that is what Iraola will seek to restore. What are the immediate changes that supporters could see?
The emphasis is on high-pressing and swift, direct play. Since he came to the league, Bournemouth have sat second for shots from fast breaks with 128, ironically eclipsed only by Liverpool with 155.
Reuters/Craig BroughHis team have the highest speed of breakaway attacks too, recording 1.95 metres per second. The statistics show that across his time at Bournemouth, his team have ranked fifth for high turnovers (which means recovering possession within forty metres of the opposition’s goal), third for high turnovers that end in a shot, and fourth for goals scored from them.
Ironically, once again, Liverpool have scored the most from these counterattacking positions in that period. A final crucial metric that would surely sit well with Virgil Van Dijk is that only three other teams have a lower PPDA (Passes allowed Per Defensive Action) than Iraola’s Bournemouth.
A recurring issue at Liverpool was that they passively sought to block off lines rather than recover possession, and their opponents were able to web together patterns of play to progress upfield against tame resistance.
And while most supporters previously admired Slot’s shift away from relentless pressing to a more energy-conserving, measured approach, it’s also been apparent that this has now stopped yielding the results Slot sought, as Liverpool have lacked creativity against low-block defences.
What Liverpool Supporters Can Expect Under Iraola
The first thing Iraola will restore will be this: the energy and aggression. Klopp did something similar by making Liverpool a relentless ball-hunting unit during his first couple of seasons. This requires major tactical tweaks, including an emphasis on vertical and lateral compactness, especially in midfield.
Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY SportsLiverpool’s biggest successes under Klopp were when the team was defensively cohesive in the middle, with Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, and Fabinho moving everywhere as a unified line.
And just as Klopp found in his first couple of seasons, this could spell success for Iraola in big games where there is space to run in behind opponents, where the attacking instincts of the opposition may be undone by the high-energy collectivism.
To enable this, Liverpool will need pace on the wings. Iraola will need his own frontline of Sadio Mane, Mo Salah, and Roberto Firmino. Liverpool are already prowling the market for pacey wingers, with Yan Diomande and Bradley Barcola spotlighted as the main targets. But then will come the next set of challenges that Klopp also encountered.
The Challenges Iraola Could Face at Liverpool
A high-press approach struggles against a low-block defence that bypasses the pressure by playing long. Klopp’s Liverpool regularly suffered against small teams who frustrated them by sitting deep and relying on second balls.
The signing of Virgil Van Dijk and Fabinho fixed much of that by giving Liverpool the speed and physicality to demand with second balls and counterattacks. But the trickery and creativity needed to break low-block defences are something Iraola struggled with at Bournemouth.
He has the tools to fix this at Liverpool with Florian Wirtz, but the German hasn’t yet settled. And assuming Liverpool sign a no.6 and a replacement for Alexis Mac Allister, it will mean Wirtz will have to develop chemistry with a new set of teammates.
The key will be on players who can feed him passes from deep quickly on the transition. Wirtz has the potential to be the definitive face of Iraola’s organised chaos. But he needs the system to have the right players behind him for it.
How Liverpool Could Line Up Under Andoni Iraola
Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton would be the perfect upgrade on McAllister for how quickly he can play a pass into Wirtz’s feet, whilst bringing doubts about his defensive action.
So what could a Liverpool XI under Iraola look like? Something that reads Alisson, Frimpong, Leoni, Van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Wharton, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Diomande, and one of Isak or Eketike.
Liverpool would need depth defensively, but assuming Iraola finds a place for Wataro Endo and Harvey Elliot, alongside Curtis Jones, Cody Gapko, and Rio Ngumoha, that immediately looks like a team better equipped for the forthcoming season.
People will have their doubts. But Liverpool is the place where doubters become believers. And as a special German once said, it doesn’t really matter what people think when you arrive. It’s far more important what they have to say when you leave.
