Liverpool have a new manager. Just over a year after Arne Slot led the Reds to a record-equalling 20th English championship, the Dutchman has been replaced in the dugout by Andoni Iraola. The change of coach has already lifted spirits around Anfield after a disastrous Premier League title defense that featured 12 defeats, while Liverpool were also hammered at home by Crystal Palace in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, humiliated by Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals and swept aside by Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight of the Champions League.
Slot certainly wasn’t solely responsible for the Reds’ remarkable regression, and he probably would have been forgiven a trophy-less campaign had his side played with any great intensity. However, Liverpool looked mentally and physically frail for the majority of the season, so it was not in the least bit surprising that the supporters grew weary of watching their side struggle to score goals and keep clean sheets on a weekly basis.
Sporting director Richard Hughes has, thus, tasked Iraola with once again fixing a broken team, having previously hired him at Bournemouth back in 2023. The Basque did a remarkable job with very little money to spend at the Vitality Stadium and, after losing nearly his entire defense last summer, somehow led the Cherries to a historic sixth-placed finish in last season’s Premier League. The fact that he pulled off that remarkable feat by playing ‘front-foot football’ is the main reason why Hughes & Co. believe Iraola is the ideal man to turn things around at Anfield.
However, it’s not going to be easy for Iraola. As the Spaniard sits down to start work in his new role, he has an awful lot of problems to address before the new season begins in August. Here, GOAL looks at the most pressing items in Iraola’s in-tray:
Usually, the last thing a manager wants is to see an important player heading off to a major international tournament. However, Slot argued shortly before he was sacked that Alexander Isak’s participation in the World Cup might actually be a good thing for Liverpool.
After all, it’s not as if the Sweden international was at the risk of burnout. He only started 13 times during his first, injury-plagued campaign on Merseyside. So, one could easily understand why Slot thought it would be “very helpful” for Isak to play “a lot of games” at the World Cup.
Of course, the obvious risk is that he breaks down again in North America, but Isak unquestionably needs minutes more than any other player in the Liverpool squad.
Indeed, it would be a massive boost for Iraola if the British-record buy were to come out of the tournament unscathed and with his confidence restored after stringing together some starts and maybe even scoring a couple of goals. The early signs are encouraging, too, with Isak having come off the bench to score a stunner in Sweden’s friendly against Norway on Monday.
Given Iraola joined Bournemouth three years ago, he’s obviously familiar with the Newcastle version of Isak – and that’s the version Liverpool need next season. Another four-goal campaign is utterly unthinkable for a £125 m
