Unless anything dramatic happens in the coming days, Andoni Iraola looks destined to become the next manager of Liverpool.
The Spaniard has become the overwhelming favourite to take the job from Arne Slot, and there is excitement over how his style of play could translate to Anfield and revamp the Reds.
However, it is certainly not all sunshine and roses where Iraola is concerned. Though he has done enough at Bournemouth to earn a shot at managing a bigger side, Jamie Carragher has admitted that he’s worried about the physical toll his style of football will take on a Liverpool side playing three times per week.
Is Andoni Iraola the best option to replace Arne Slot? If not, who would you appoint?
As he ponders whether to hire the man he put in charge at the Vitality Stadium three years ago, Reds sporting director Richard Hughes would do well to listen to Carragher’s anxieties.
Carragher concerned about intense Iraola style
Part of the reason Iraola has become such an attractive candidate for Liverpool is precisely because his teams play relentless, aggressive football in a style somewhat reminiscent of Jurgen Klopp’s Reds.
Fans have become sick of Slot’s sluggish mode of football and Iraola feels like the antidote to that.
Nevertheless, Liverpool players have had a physicality problem this season, and Carragher has explained that while he is interested to see how Iraola’s off the ball work helps the Reds become better, he is worried that it will be too much for a more intensive fixture calendar to handle.
“He’s [Iraola] done a brilliant job in the Premier League, what Bournemouth have done is absolutely fantastic, but there are still big question marks,” Carragher told Sky Sports on Sunday.
“The way he plays is definitely the way Liverpool want to go back to, high intensity football, we know he’s fantastic at that, but it’s not just all about that when you’re the Liverpool manager.
“Off the ball, and that was a big problem for Arne Slot, that was the thing that really worried me all season. Off the ball Liverpool were so poor, and that’s a big part of Liverpool’s DNA, not just Jurgen Klopp. The reason we talk about the Anfield factor, a lot of that is off the ball not just on it. So, he’s [Iraola] fantastic at that, but then actually with the ball and dealing with low blocks, it’s not about getting the ball off the opposition as much, because you’re supposed to have probably 60 per cent of the ball.
“My worry is, can you play at that intensity when you’re playing every three days?” the pundit added. “That was only getting played once a week at Bournemouth, that is completely different and I think whenever you bring a manager in for a top club in England, you’re thinking ‘can he win me the league? And that’s a big thing, a big question mark around him or any manager coming in.”
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“Liverpool had a manager who’s won the league, so that’s why I was always torn because whoever comes in it’s a risk, of course it is, but Liverpool did have a manager who won the league.”
Iraola will need some time to adapt at Liverpool
Given time, Liverpool players can adapt to the demands placed on them by the kind of football Iraola wants to play. They did it under Klopp playing every three days, and with the right conditioning and a bigger pool of players to pick from, it’s definitely possible.
The problem may arise in that it could take a little while for this group to get used to Iraola’s much more intensive training and playing demands.
Antoine Semenyo admitted that Bournemouth players rarely get days off under the Basque, and that will be in total contrast to Slot’s more hands-off approach which drew plenty of criticism this season.
If it takes Liverpool players too long to get up to speed, and Iraola starts poorly – as he did at Bournemouth – what is to say that the Reds fans and owners will not lose patience again? Liverpool need a new manager to hit the ground running and bring the positivity back.
As he ponders whether to hire Iraola for a second time, Hughes must weigh up whether this is the right way to go about that.
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