Will Andoni Iraola make Liverpool likeable and watchable again? | OneFootball

Will Liverpool return to bringing in decent, lower-priced players and move away from their pseudo-galactico approach of last year?

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Could Iraola make Liverpool likeable again?

I suggested/stated the bleedin’ obvious in a recent mail when I said Iraola would wipe the floor with Ickle Mikel from an attacking and entertainment point of view if furnished with similar resources (given he already is on £2.50 and the cunning trick of having ability). Looks like we’re about to see exactly that for real in the prem. Puts me in a tricky position though (not that, I know I’m right here, it’s not exactly a controversial call), no – I’m talking about something else.

I love Iraola, his humility, his warmth, the football he plays, his approach to his contract lengths, his ability to successfully make do and mend when his players are sold from underneath him, basically he is a very likeable and very talented fella.

He might, MIGHT, just be the kind of man who can make Liverpool football club likeable for the first time in living memory for neutrals. I know, I know, BIG statement, but he strikes me as the kind of man who won’t catch the kop entitlement/conspiracy theory virus that 99% of his predecessors succumbed to. Will help that the has-been Egyptian crocodile tears crybaby has finally f***ed off to go be selfish somewhere else too (those U-turn articles are pure Salah – ‘oooh, can I come back now my Insta petulance has got Slot sacked?’ – do it I say, be better off playing a training dummy these days).

Anyway, Mr Iraola, I have faith in you, don’t let me down please. I will settle for it all going badly wrong as a more than satisfactory alternative though. Lastly Andoni, and this is important, remember: you’ll never walk alone until they decide you will. God speed my sweet Basque prince. RHT/TS x

(Thank f**k playing football still trumps Arteta’s filth, nice new outfit mind you Mikel – Matalan?)

Welcome Andoni; get us off our seats again

My dad and I are life long Liverpool fans. As with many fans, I didn’t really have a choice. My dad did a great job of indoctrinating me as a young child. He me out of elementary school for important games, bought me Liverpool merch, talked about it all the time, and so on. And honestly, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Watching Liverpool with my dad is one of my most cherished moments, and it makes it that much better that we get to do it together almost every week during the season (bar those pesky international breaks). As Liverpool fans, there have been many ups and downs. Rafa to Hodgson, the hope that came with Brendan Rodger’s and his ultimate collapse, Jurgen Klopp. But that’s what made it fun and exciting. Ups AND downs. Slot wasn’t that.

Yes, he won us a title. Yes, he got us into the Champions League after an injury-ravaged season. And yes, he never once came out swinging and criticizing everything else like other managers have done in his place. But when was the last time he got you out of your seat?

I for one, can count on my hand how many games I actually enjoyed watching under Slot. Real Madrid, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen in the group stage last season, Spurs (6-3), and Man Utd at the beginning of last season. The talk in the title winning season was always about how the team looked like it was playing with “the handbrake on”. Alyson Rudd aptly compared it to going from “dating a rockstar to a lawyer”. And this how it felt. Drab. Boring.

Liverpool under Klopp was never boring. Through the ups and downs, there was always a connection with the fans, both in the stadium and on the television (for us viewers not in Liverpool). Every moment was magic, sometimes not for the right reasons, but it was always exciting, or the worst thing that could have happened. That’s what kept everyone watching. That’s what kept everyone coming back. But when Slot came in, everything changed. He was more “pragmatic”, and wanted to play a more possession focused game. And that worked when they were winning, but ever since January 2025 when they went out of the Champions League against PSG, it’s been a torrid watch.

There is no speed in their play. The players keep possession for possession’s sake, not to do anything with it. It’s slow and lethargic, and the manager perpetrates that. When Slot had come in, another thing mentioned was his injury record with players, and how he was able to keep his best players healthier during the season with minimal long-term injuries. While this season has been unlucky, he hasn’t helped himself. Training standards have dropped drastically, and it seems as though his way to keep players fit is less intense sessions. And even if that’s only the perception on the outside, that’s not good. But that drop in intensity is clearly shown by the players out on the field.

Slot has had other things against him. His treatment of young players, his tactical mistakes, throwing various players under the bus (even though not in the media), and his unwillingness to take teams on (honestly, the way we sit back against this Man City side drives me mental). But the most egregious, is making me and my dad not bothered to watch.

When times were tough under Klopp, it was a tough watch, but we’d do it. Not just because we hoped he’d turn it around, not just because maybe the players would do something special, but because we supported the team. Because there was a plan in place. Because although it’s not going well now, the players need the fans. And like with everything, that has changed under Slot. I can’t remember a time (bar when I had a terrible concussion and physically couldn’t watch games) when I missed more than one Liverpool game in a row. But under Slot, I honestly hate watching them. For all the reasons above, I can sadly say there have been mornings where I haven’t woken up at 6am to watch the early kick off (Live in Canada). Win or lose, the team just bores me. It had begun feeling like a waste of time.

As a kid, my dad used to force me to sit through bad games. Hodgson was obviously the worst, but as a teen, he was firm in his belief that we should support the team even after the total collapse under Brendan. And he was right. I have never seen my dad blatantly miss Liverpool games. Until Slot. A man who has revered this club for 70-odd years, and under Slot he just couldn’t be bothered. This is what Slot has reduced the club to: a boring mess.

I know this is a long rant, but I was not looking forward to next season. I honestly don’t think I could have handled another season with Slot in charge. And now I don’t need to. He’s not a bad guy and I wish him the best. He’ll land on his feet. But the idea of a new manager is exciting, and I can’t wait to see who it is.

I wrote on Reddit earlier this season (but was swiftly taken down as posts about the manager are apparently forbidden on the LFC subreddit) during our losing streak that I wanted someone new, and that someone was Iraola.

Even though Alonso was free at the time, I firmly believed he would change how I felt. And I believe that now too. I don’t think Iraola will come in and results will immediately turn, and I honestly think we might be shit the first season. But that’s not the point. If Iraola does anything like he did at Bournemouth, we’ll be a force again. A team that plays without fear, that takes on teams, and that backs themselves in difficult moments and situations. We’ll take the fight to City, Arsenal, and Utd. No more sitting back and being protective. No. We’ll play like Liverpool should play.

My formative years as a Liverpool fan have largely been under Brendan and Klopp. Those were times of brave tactics and scintillating play. And while I remember Rafa, I was so young, I tend to look at those years with a rose coloured tint. I want Liverpool to be the club I grew up with. The club I can’t wait for the weekend to watch. The club I jumped up and down with. The club I one time accidentally punched a hole in the wall downstairs for. The club whose results affected my whole week. And under Slot, we were not that. We were an echo of our former selves. And what I hope, is that Iraola (or whoever comes in) can bring that back.

Thank you for listening to my rant.

On behalf of me and my amazing Father Ian, Alec (Liverpool Fan)

…It wasn’t all Slot’s fault that he failed this year, but there way football goes these days, whether the manager or head coach you get paid to be the front man for the club. Take all the glory when they win, and all the flak when things go backwards. So it passes that after a drab season, Yacht Rock to Klopp’s heavy metal, Slot was moved on. Hopefully, if he comes back for a game (with an opponent) he gets the opportunity to be celebrated for what he did achieve. He sat back and allowed Salah and Robbo to take their glory after the last game.

For Slot, it wasn’t just this season but the second half of last season. He had decided that they way to win the league was keep a small core team, ease off on running to save their energy for the duration and it worked – for the league – but lost the cups. They were pathetic against the higher octane teams in the back end of last season and it became the standard this season with the team seemingly incapable of sustaining pressure when needed and ceding goals late on.

Sure, this season also had several good teams with no European commitment to contend with – one of them being Bournemouth. But they also struggled against Palace who were playing a lot of games with a small squad and still overpowered Liverpool.

How much of the hiring decisions were Slot’s or the ‘vaunted’ duo of Edwards and Hughes, who knows. They really need to set the record straight. At least it looks like Slot will get a decent next role at AC Milan – so his reputation hasn’t been muddied as a result of this year. But he does need to tone down his post match work – as it comes across as smug after winning. It appeared he had formulated a strategy around maximizing the team how had inherited but was unable to alter things effectively with the new squad. Perhaps he was now too close to things.

The clamour for Alonso was a heart over head thing. Former player, excellent passer, winner of the Bundesliga but with a style that wouldn’t fit Liverpool or take them back to a level of excitement fans wanted.

Iraola, on the other hand, ticks the boxes for maximizing a squad, playing exciting football, having replacement players slot in seamlessly, and bringing on new players. However, without European football and after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the first game, he had ample time to drill his tactics into the players. Iraola has a system, much like Klopp had when he came in. It took time to get his ideas across, and it often meant players spent several months before he felt they were ready to play. Robbo taking about 3 months is a prime example. At least Klopp had the pedigree of making Dortmund a force and doing it while playing in Europe. So it begs the question of whether Iraola can do this at Liverpool, with a shorter pre-season due to the World Cup and a team that will play twice a week for the bulk of the season. There won’t be a full week to not only train but also prepare for the next opponent.

His system may take its toll in a full 60+ game season. Klopp’s team’s often ran out of steam. City can afford a huge squad with ‘second team’ players who would be first teamers in almost every other team in the league. It’s why Guardiola could push on to the end, where other teams have struggled.

On the positive side, his system doesn’t rely on an individual’s brilliance. It presses cleverly from the front, taking a lot of the pressure off the defence. Something Slot never quite managed. It also doesn’t care who the opponent is. Sure, better opponents will occasionally be able to play through that press, but we saw how effective it was against City recently. It maximizes players, and Liverpool has some decent academy and other talent that are being woefully underused today.

What will be interesting is to see who would thrive in the current squad and whether the Edwards/Hughes axis would change their minds about any new acquisitions as a result. At least Hughes is familiar with Iraola, his style and the type of player he likes. Perhaps Liverpool will return to bringing in decent, lower-priced players and move away from their pseudo-galactico approach of last year.

While the Edwards/Hughes axis haven’t covered themselves in glory this year, at least they didn’t sit on their hands as a way of excusing themselves. By moving as early as they gave they do allow time to sort some things out before the World Cup starts and things go into hibernation mode until it’s over. Paul McDevitt

Not everybody is on the Iraola train

Really hope I am wrong but Iraola to Liverpool feels a bit like Frank to Spurs, or even a revisit to the Brendan Rogers table. Why have FSG seemingly gone all in on Hughes’s strategy?

Iraola has been great at Bournemouth and what they as a club have achieved is phenomenal for their size and they have struck a seemingly perfect strategy for rotating players and incrementally improving their squad, but this is Liverpool we are talking about.

Klopp rebuilt the team, gave the fans renewed belief, he got us to a place where we had a high baseline to build from. Richard Hughes’s did nothing when Klopp left, then chucked the sink at some star names and last season was the result. I just can’t see how Iraola is the answer. Like I say, I hope am wrong and if he can rise to the levels required then great, but it’s a massive gamble and if we are looking again this time next year, having not bothered with Xabi and not doing enough to sway Luis Enrique then Hughes will have to go.