Liverpool Appoint Iraola After Title Collapse
Liverpool walked into last season as reigning champions, chasing a third Premier League crown in four years and the aura of a team built to dominate an era. They walked out of it 25 points behind Arsenal, bruised, drifting and minus a manager.
Arne Slot paid the price. The club moved quickly, but not safely. Andoni Iraola, fresh from his spell at Bournemouth, now carries the weight of Anfield’s expectations without ever having led a genuine European superclub.
It is a bold call. It might be a brilliant one. It might also blow up.
A summer of churn and uncomfortable goodbyes
The squad that failed so badly to defend the title has been reshaped, but not rebuilt.
Jeremy Jacquet has arrived from Rennes for £60 million, Victor Munoz from Osasuna for £34.5m, with Samuel Martinez joining from Atletico Nacional and Ronald Araujo loaned in from Barcelona. It is serious money again, serious intent again.
Going out the door tells a different, more emotional story.
Andy Robertson has left for Tottenham Hotspur on a free. Ibrahima Konate has walked to Real Madrid, also for nothing. Mohamed Salah, the defining attacker of Liverpool’s modern era, has been released after an increasingly messy sideshow overshadowed last season’s run-in. A string of younger and fringe players have departed too, some released, others moved on for undisclosed fees or on loan.
The Salah saga had hung over the club for too long. In the end, Liverpool needed clarity more than they needed nostalgia. His exit, harsh as it feels, was unavoidable.
Picking up the pieces from a dismal defence
Seventeen wins from 38 league games. For a squad assembled at such cost, it was a damning return.
They scraped into the Champions League, but the numbers behind that finish never looked like those of a genuine title contender. Performances sagged, belief frayed and the identity that once made Liverpool suffocating to face slipped away.
Iraola steps into that vacuum with a clear idea of what he wants. His football is aggressive, front-foot, demanding. It asks for intensity without the ball and bravery with it. For a group that has grown used to a different rhythm, that adjustment will not be simple.
He knows it. The players know it.
"We need every player, every time, every minute, every action – and that's the commitment," Iraola said. "I'm very happy with the attitude of the players.
"They are training really well. I am asking them to do things that are a little bit different – especially without the ball – and I think they are trying to get it.
"Obviously, we are still not perfect. We have things to improve, but I'm very happy with their attitude and their willingness to be on the same page. We will get there."
The words are bullish. The reality on the pitch will decide how long that confidence lasts.
Van Dijk, time and the system problem
One of Iraola’s biggest tactical puzzles sits right at the heart of his defence.
Virgil van Dijk remains a giant presence at Liverpool, but time has started to win its battle. His decline has been evident over the past couple of seasons, yet the club still stretched themselves financially to keep him.
At 35, the prospect of him rediscovering his peak form feels remote. That does not mean he is finished; it does mean he must be protected.
Iraola has to build a structure that hides Van Dijk’s diminishing pace while still allowing his leadership and reading of the game to matter. Get that balance wrong and Liverpool’s title hopes will sag under the strain of transition at the back.
There are still glimpses of what he can offer. He helped the Reds keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 friendly win over Como yesterday, a reminder that his brain and presence can still steady a back line. His role may shift, but it is not yet redundant.
Pre-season flickers and the hard road ahead
Pre-season has been uneven. Some good spells, some flat ones, nothing yet to suggest a finished product. Iraola, though, has been consistent in his message: the players are buying in, the understanding will come.
That conviction will be tested quickly once the Premier League fixtures begin to bite. The new signings must settle fast. The dressing room has to absorb the loss of long-serving figures without losing its edge. The squad, on paper, still looks short of the depth and top-end quality usually required to chase down a title over 38 games.
If Liverpool can avoid injuries to their core players, a top-four finish is firmly within reach. The Champions League spot they clung onto last season should be a realistic minimum, not a dramatic escape.
But this is a club that measures itself in titles, not near-misses and respectable resets. Iraola has been handed a volatile mix: ageing pillars, expensive newcomers, tactical upheaval and the shadow of recent glory.
He has the job he wanted. Now comes the question that will define Liverpool’s season – and perhaps his career: can his ideas bend this squad back towards the top, or is Anfield braced for another year of watching someone else lift the trophy?
