What Can We Conclude From Iraola’s Style of Play at Liverpool So Far? | OneFootball

The end of the 2024/25 season left Liverpool with several open questions. Particularly toward the close of the campaign, uncertainty around Alisson Becker’s future at Anfield created real concern among supporters. With Goal’s report on the Martínez links circulating widely, the goalkeeper’s situation felt genuinely unsettled until Alisson reached an agreement with the club on a fresh one-year extension, putting those conversations to rest.

Beyond the goalkeeping situation, Andoni Iraola spent the entire summer rebuilding the squad and reorganising Liverpool’s structure, with a clear intention of returning the club to genuine title contention. The way he has gone about that process tells us a great deal about the kind of football he wants to play, and this is what we can conclude so far from his style at Liverpool.

A Vertical, Direct Approach in Possession

One of the first things Iraola made clear upon his arrival at Anfield was his expectation that Liverpool would play forward quickly. The word he used was simple: vertical. Rather than recycling possession sideways or inviting the opposition to organise, his team is instructed to move the ball up the pitch at pace, exploiting gaps before they close. This is a sharp departure from the more measured, positional approach that defined much of the previous regime.

The intent behind this philosophy is to create chances through speed of transition rather than patient build-up. When Liverpool win the ball, even in their own half, the expectation is to look forward immediately.

Players in advanced positions are asked to make intelligent runs into the spaces between opposition defensive lines, and the ball is expected to find them quickly. That demands technical quality, sharp decision-making, and a willingness to take risks, all of which Iraola actively encourages from his squad.

This vertical tendency also reshapes how Liverpool’s attacking players interact. The striker is no longer a lone reference point waiting to receive a long ball. Instead, there is a fluid interchange between the forwards, with the number nine involved in build-up and the attacking midfielder given freedom to arrive late into dangerous areas. It makes Liverpool harder to defend against because the movement is unpredictable and the threat comes from multiple angles at once.

High Press and Intensity Without the Ball

Iraola’s Liverpool press high, press early, and press together. The two other words he used to define his approach (intense and aggressive) are reflected in the way the team behaves when they lose possession. The expectation is that every player, regardless of position, contributes to winning the ball back as quickly as possible. That includes full-backs following wingers into midfield and centre-backs stepping out to support the press rather than dropping into a passive defensive shape.

What makes this press effective when it works is the coordination across the whole team. The front line applies pressure, the midfield provides cover and support, and the defensive line holds a higher position to compress space.

When it clicks, opposition teams are forced into errors in dangerous areas, and Liverpool can quickly turn those mistakes into goals. The connection between winning possession high up the pitch and scoring is direct under Iraola; there is no slow build-up phase that allows the opposition to recover.

The risk, as with any high press, is what happens when the opponent plays through it successfully. If the press is beaten, central midfielders can be caught out of position, leaving space in behind. Managing that vulnerability requires pace in recovery, strong communication between the defensive line and the central midfielders, and central midfielders with the athleticism to get back into shape rapidly.

It is an area Iraola is clearly working on, and the quality of pressing will only improve as the squad becomes more familiar with his demands.

Full-Backs as Key Attacking Weapons

Perhaps the most visible shift in Liverpool’s identity under Iraola is the role of the full-backs. Both wide defenders are given significant licence to get forward, contribute to attacks, and create overloads in wide areas. This is not a subtle adjustment; it fundamentally changes the shape of the team when in possession and adds a layer of unpredictability that is very difficult to defend against at the top level.

The full-backs are encouraged to overlap and underlap depending on the situation, which means they are regularly arriving in the opposition box as genuine goal threats. That kind of movement stretches opposition defensive structures and creates space for the central attackers to exploit.

When both full-backs push forward simultaneously, the width and depth they provide gives Liverpool’s attack a completely different dimension compared to recent seasons.

This freedom does carry responsibility. Both wide defenders must be capable of recovering quickly when possession is lost, because their advanced positions can leave space in behind. Iraola addresses this by demanding strong counter-pressing from the front players to delay opposition transitions, buying the full-backs time to recover. The balance between attack and defensive cover is something the team is clearly building, and the potential when it functions properly is significant.

A Squad Built to Fit the System

Iraola did not simply inherit a squad and tweak it around the edges. His summer work at Liverpool was deliberate and structured around the specific demands of his style. He needed players who could press with energy, move the ball quickly under pressure, and handle the physical demands of a high-intensity system over the course of a long season. The recruitment and reshaping of the squad reflects that thinking throughout.

The midfield setup in particular suits the way he wants to operate. A double pivot gives Liverpool stability when the full-backs push forward, with one midfielder providing defensive cover while the other is free to connect play and press aggressively.

Players with the technical quality to operate under pressure and the athletic capacity to press and recover are central to everything Iraola is building.

Iraola’s Liverpool is a work in progress, but the direction is clear. Vertical football, relentless pressing, attacking full-backs, and a squad shaped to handle the physical demands of that system; these are the foundations he has laid.