Iraola’s imperfect Liverpool take shape after Alisson raises concern but De Zerbi, Spurs still miles off | OneFootball

Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur was the standout tie of this season’s Carabao Cup third round, mainly because the game had ramifications for both clubs beyond the competition after far-from-ideal starts to the 2026/27 campaign.

The two Big Six sides had the chance to use this extra 90 minutes to build cohesion and/or momentum with their preferred XI, but you rarely get this from the top teams at this stage of the Carabao Cup, and it is hardly surprising that Andoni Iraola and Roberto De Zerbi made wholesale changes.

There were 18 (yes, EIGHTEEN) changes in total from the teams picked by Liverpool (ten) and Tottenham (eight) at the weekend compared to Tuesday night, and the starting XIs made their differing levels of squad depth clear as day.

Spurs, boosted by Mohammed Kudus making his first start since January, largely opted for a mix of new signings and fringe first XI players, while Liverpool started four academy products.

It added fuel to the argument that FSG have left Iraola short in the summer, but there were still far more positives for Liverpool than Tottenham at Anfield to take after the hosts deservedly won 3-1 on Tuesday night.

As they have in most games this season, De Zerbi’s side started well enough and should have scored at least one goal after carving good openings for Lucas Bergvall and Kudus before the break.

Most of Tottenham’s success came via attacking the left flank and the gaps left available by Jeremie Frimpong, who continues to look lost in this Liverpool side, but there were far more examples of the visitors being wasteful in possession, loose with passes and causing their own problems by inviting pressure from inside the box when playing out from the back.

When a manager is at the start of a project at a new club, supporters need to be given a glimpse of the positive direction the club could be heading in with patience; Iraola’s side did that, but Tottenham continue to inspire nothing but gloom.

Simply put, it is hard to put a finger on what Tottenham try to do in possession, with the struggling side badly devoid of ideas, direction and confidence, especially in the final third.

Kudus was one of their brighter performers, and the return to fitness and form of more key players will be welcome in the coming weeks and months as the quality in this Spurs squad *should* start to tell. But for the moment, there is a clear hangover from last season, and any thoughts of them being dark horses for the Champions League, or any European qualification for that matter, should be shut down.

Liverpool are also on a journey under Iraola, who insisted pre-match that the club must accept that there will be “ups and downs in this process”.

Iraola’s team selection opened the door for Tottenham to kickstart their season, but Tuesday night was a step forward for the hosts.

It was not all good, especially because Liverpool were once again far too easy to play through and would have conceded twice in half an hour had they been playing against a team with a stronger attack.

But Liverpool rode their luck and punished Spurs with two sublime finishes by Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo, with the latter player bound to score after nearly joining Tottenham in the summer.

Liverpool looked to be cruising to a very routine 2-0 victory until their corner woes struck again, with No.2 goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili making a weak flap at a Matheus Fernandes delivery before Conor Gallagher headed home.

This made the final 20 minutes unnecessarily uncomfortable, but Spurs failed to capitalise on the Mamardashvili gift despite mounting pressure as substitute Dominik Szoboszlai made it 3-1 in the closing stages with a quite ridiculous strike from range.

Still, despite Liverpool’s clear frailties at the back, there were strong individual performances, particularly from youngsters Rio Ngumoha, Trey Nyoni, Lewis Koumas and James McConnell.

With these back-ups stepping up and proving their worth, Iraola may have more options at his disposal than it seemed on the surface, and it was also promising that they caused Tottenham issues with the head coach’s trademark high press.

Alisson Becker raised concerns at the weekend that Liverpool may not be able to press effectively under Iraola en route to a potential January sacking, but they were on the front foot with Koumas up top and on another day, they would have scored after shutting down Tottenham’s passive play at the back.

As the head coach himself said, there will be lows to come, but there were real signs of Iraola’s Liverpool taking shape at Anfield on Tuesday, while their opponents are still all at sea.