Bradley Barcola's Premier League Debut and Tactical Flexibility
Bradley Barcola has barely unpacked his bags, but Andoni Iraola is already asking him to learn the whole map of the pitch.
Having sparkled off the right in midweek during a European win, the French winger found himself starting on the opposite flank for his full Premier League debut at Anfield. Different wing, same demand: be unpredictable, be dangerous.
Iraola has no interest in fixing anyone to a touchline.
“I think I said it a lot of times, we have four wingers and probably before the season everyone would say we had more left wingers than right wingers because they've played more there,” he said. “All the wingers will play on the right and play on the left, depending on the match-ups, depending where we think they are going to be more dangerous, depending sometimes on the defensive demands, depending what we feel, what we analyse.”
Then he made it crystal clear: this is not a one-off experiment.
“I think Bradley, I think everyone – the four of them – have already played both sides and it is going to be all the season like this.”
The goalless draw at Anfield did not deliver the attacking statement many expected, but it did offer something else: a first real glimpse of what Barcola might become in English football.
The former PSG winger, signed with big expectations and bigger scrutiny, showed flickers of that reputation on the left. He drove at defenders, hunted space at the back post and, for a player still catching up physically, refused to hide.
Iraola knows why the engine is not yet roaring.
“I think with Bradley we are also building his physical condition because he hasn't had any minutes in pre-season,” he explained. “And I think there is a good part where today he played, I think, a little bit more even than three days ago against Atletico Madrid.”
The chance was there. Arriving late at the far post, Barcola saw a promising effort blocked, a small moment that still felt like a sign of things to come.
“He had a good chance [at the] second post; they blocked the shot but he arrived well,” Iraola said. “Probably we know he has more but now it's about giving him the minutes, keep building his confidence and he's a player that is going to give us more.”
While Barcola grows into the league, another story is unfolding quietly behind him in midfield.
Wataru Endo, once a regular presence, now looks up at a crowded depth chart. Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai are all jostling for those central roles, and Iraola has been keen to test each of them as the season settles.
Endo has paid the price for a disrupted summer.
“I think Wata lost quite a lot of the pre-season. I think he's still not at his best but he's training very well,” Iraola said. “The problem is, in front of him in his position I have a lot of players. He's competing against a lot of players because we are also giving minutes to try Ryan, Alexis, Dom, players that I am selecting right now.”
That does not mean the door is closed.
“But Wata is definitely a player that I like and for sure he will have his moments,” he added, hinting at the fixture pile-up that always comes and always tests every squad’s depth.
If the performance on the pitch raised questions, the mood in the stands did not. Anfield has seen better days and bigger wins, but Iraola refused to pin any frustration on the crowd.
He trusts the stadium. He turns the spotlight back on his players.
“I haven't felt it, I didn't feel it three days ago against Atletico Madrid. I prefer to play at home, definitely. I prefer to be at home,” he insisted. “We cannot find the reasons outside, we have to find the reasons inside the pitch, in us. We know that if we push, the people will be with us. This is 100 per cent.”
The message is blunt: the answers lie in rotation, rhythm and the evolution of players like Barcola and Endo. The question now is whether that fluid, flexible vision can turn flashes into results before the season’s demands start to bite even harder.
