When Liverpool announced on Saturday that the club was moving on from head coach Arne Slot, attention almost immediately turned to Andoni Iraola as the most likely replacement, with the 43-year-old Basque trainer on the market after announcing six weeks ago that he would depart Bournemouth at the end of the season.
It took less than 24 hours for that speculation to turn into something far more certain as widespread reports today have emerged setting out Iraola not just as the most likely next head
coach of the club but with formal talks set to begin with the goal of appointing the protege of legendary Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa this week.
From The Times’ Paul Joyce to The Telegraph’s Dominic King to TalkSport’s Ben Jacobs, the briefing has gone out from the club and the briefing is that Iraola is their man and that they’re ready to talk contract with their next head coach—because, let’s be clear, the club wouldn’t have put this briefing out if they weren’t confident.
In fact, it would hardly be surprising if talks are already well underway with Iraola, who it should be noted has a slighter resume than Slot—or previous Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers—with little experience in Europe or playing more than a game a week. Tactically and personality-wise, though, he does seem a perfect fit.
Iraola spent most of his career with Atheltic Bilbao, and he has credit the years he played there as captain under Bielsa for forming his tactical foundations and convincing him to continue in football as a manager. He favours a heavy pressing system and demands a work rate from his players that can at times border on extreme.
His preferred system is a 4-3-3 with a heavy workload placed on the fullbacks to dominate their entire flanks and uses a defensive midfielder dropping between the centre halves both for buildup and as part of a defensive trio in a high line tasked with doing the bulk of the work when an opponent does manage to get past the press.
Quick transitions and a fondness for going over the top or quickly switching play to stretch defences are another hallmark, and if this all sounds a little like heavy metal football, well, it bascially is. He is, after all, a protege of Marcelo Bielsa, and it was Bielsa’s ideals that were embraced in Germany and became gegenpressing.
A social consciousness is also a hallmark of Bielsa, and Iraola looks to have a little of that as well, managing Rayo Vallecano—La Liga’s most overtly left wing club—for three years before joining Bournemouth. All of which is to say that while his resume may be thin, what’s there seems a perfect fit for Liverpool and the club’s fans.
