For fans, a three-week international break five games into the 2026-27 season has been something of a strange experience. For Liverpool in particular, it rather feels as though it’s put a half to any feeling of momentum or new beginnings under new head coach Andoni Iraola.
As Iraola sees it, though—and at the very least for public consumption—there’s potential value for a manager to be able to hit pause on the season after five games. Even if he hasn’t had the chance to train and coach his top stars,
it’s a chance to dive deep and evaluate what’s working.
“I think the international break is a moment to reflect because we have normally a crazier schedule,” Iraola noted as players began to trickle back and attention turns towards the weekend and a clash with recently found guilty of £900M of financial doping Manchester City.
“You go two, three days preparing and then the next game. So then you need I think a break to analyze how the season has gone so far. I think we have had a good amount of games already to analyze and to see the things that we’ve done well—and the things I think can improve.”
As for what the goal will be regarding things potentially needing improvement, the story remains basically the same as the day Iraola signed on. And that’s to keep focusing on aggressive, front-foot football and mixing more verticality in for team focused last year on control.
“I think the goal is clear and I think everyone understands what we are trying to build,” Iraola added. “We try to be more intense, be more vertical—but also want to control the games. You don’t want the games to become like Newcastle [when] we conceded two goals in transition.
“I think lately we’ve been controlling the games but we lacked a little bit this offensive fluidity we had in the first games. So now it’s a matter of balancing a little. Obviously we want to attack well and defend well, but sometimes you have to choose and we are trying to balance this.”
