Liverpool supporters will no doubt have been swept up in the magic of Cape Verde’s story at the World Cup this summer as they qualified for the knockout rounds at their first attempt.
The African minnows were not given a hope of progression up against Spain, Saudi Arabia and Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay, but after collecting a draw against each opponent, Cape Verde qualified as group runners-up, and will now face world champions Argentina in the round of 32.
Though the story is undoubtedly a good one, the second biggest headline of Group H was the fact that Uruguay crashed out after a dismal showing, registering only two points.
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Why is this relevant to Liverpool? Well, like many managers in the modern era, new Reds boss Andoni Iraola is a disciple of Bielsa.
Having captained the Argentine’s Athletic Bilbao team in the early 2010s, Iraola learnt plenty from Bielsa and has been open about the influence that his former manager has had on his coaching ideals. As he looks to put those into practice at Liverpool, he may be wary that Bielsa’s vision has failed on the big stage once again.
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Obviously, there are reasons for Uruguay’s premature exit that have little to do with Bielsa. He cannot be held solely responsible.
However, having failed to beat two teams they had been expected to dispose of comfortably in Cape Verde and the Saudis, there were clearly failings in how the manager asked his players to play.
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The Premier League has moved towards a much more physical style of play, one in which Bielsa and Iraola’s football is no longer utilised by most teams, but international football is not quite at that same juncture just yet.
But even in that environment, it was clear that Bielsa’s intense, fluid style of play did not wash. Clearly, that does not mean Iraola cannot make it work at Liverpool, he has been doing just fine with Bournemouth in the Premier League after all, but it might concern him slightly nonetheless.
How much influence did Bielsa have on Iraola?
It will be fascinating to hear who the managers of future generations hold up as their stylistic idols, especially those within English football, as the game moves back to a more direct, set-piece driven style of play.
For those like Iraola, luminaries such as Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and, indeed, Bielsa, all showed that a different style of attractive, attacking football was possible.
Of the three, Bielsa is comfortably the least successful, but has arguably had the most influence, something Iraola admitted was the case for him while speaking to Sky Sports in June 2023.
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“I was very lucky to play for him for two seasons as a player,”he said. “I think he has another vision of football. They were two very good seasons for us, and, for me, it was a different knowledge.
“I use a lot of exercises from Marcelo that I learned from him. I use a lot of things, especially with the ball. Offensively, his teams are very dynamic. He is willing to make all the runs to the space, he is ready to accept this kind of disorder, offensively.”
Three years have passed since Iraola’s remarks, and, given the interview was conducted while he was still managing Rayo Vallecano, he has likely learnt and adapted certain things to suit the Premier League in its current guise.
But as he watched his former manager at the World Cup this June, Iraola might deduce that one or two tweaks may need to be made when he begins work with Liverpool.
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