Andoni Iraola Prepares for First Premier League Game at Anfield
Andoni Iraola walked into the press room at the AXA Training Centre knowing exactly what was coming. Bradley Barcola. Transfers. Midfield. Nottingham Forest. The new Liverpool head coach has barely unpacked his bags, yet already finds himself at the centre of a club in flux.
His competitive reign began with late chaos at St James’ Park, Dominik Szoboszlai rescuing a point in stoppage time at Newcastle. On Saturday, it gets real at Anfield. Nottingham Forest, the side that tormented Arne Slot twice on his own turf, arrive for a 12.30pm kick-off. Aggregate score under Slot at home to Forest? 0-4. Iraola knows the history. He also knows he has to change it.
Barcola, the market and the waiting game
Liverpool’s morning had already been shaped by one story. The club have reached an outline agreement with Paris Saint-Germain for Bradley Barcola, a deal that would cost a guaranteed fee just over £100m and could rise towards £120m with add-ons based on individual and team success. Barcola has been the marquee target all summer, the chosen figurehead for a remodelled attack after Mohamed Salah’s departure.
Iraola, though, refused to be drawn into specifics.
“As you know, we are trying to sign in that position,” he said. “We can’t talk about players who right now aren’t ours. But we are trying to improve and fill that position as we don’t have the numbers. I hope we have good news soon but we are still not there.”
The deal is not done. The structure is agreed, the detail is not. That uncertainty hangs over everything, and Iraola did not hide how uncomfortable the final days of a window can be.
“There are certain things we can do but it’s true we need players in the wide areas,” he admitted. “I’m sure if we can improve other areas we will but I don’t know how the market is going to finish. I have to be patient as well as you. It’s very uncomfortable for me as you are dealing with uncertainties all the time. In four or five days we will know what we have and then we can make proper plans.”
He knows what he wants. The club knows what he wants. Whether the market lets him have it is another matter.
Holes in the squad and the balance he craves
The conversation kept circling back to balance. Not just tactically, but structurally.
“It depends on the other positions,” Iraola said when asked if one or two wingers would complete his business. “We know from the beginning what we wanted. We are probably down a player in some positions due to long-term injuries and those have been our main issues.”
He is not chasing numbers for the sake of it. He is chasing profiles that allow his aggressive, front-foot football to survive the scrutiny of the Premier League without leaving his team exposed.
“We don’t want to lose the offensive side, the fluidity, the arrival of numbers,” he explained. “But we were punished the other day. We have been intently working on it. It’s nothing new, we always want to control that. But there is a balance, we can’t go from one way where we send a lot of people forward to putting everyone back and it looks stale.
“It’s a matter of identifying the situation. The players who are very good, they smell whether they can take the risk of going or staying. It’s the quality of the player who takes those decisions.”
That line tells you everything about how he sees this Liverpool: structured, yes, but not rigid. He wants players who can read a game as much as follow a plan.
Midfield scrutiny and defensive transitions
The fallout from Newcastle has focused on the midfield. Defensive transitions, gaps, counter-attacks. Iraola knew that would happen the moment he took the job.
“Not surprised,” he said of the reaction. “I expected when I came here that everything would be magnified. I’m starting to understand. But it’s just one game where we did a lot of very good things, even the players in midfield did, but there are definitely things we need to improve.
“Now it’s a matter of myself and coaching staff and players. It’s football. You go to the goals always. If you make exactly the same mistake then it’s normal and I understand we have to talk about the defensive transitions.”
He felt Liverpool grew into that side of the game at St James’ Park.
“I thought we improved during the game in that aspect, were much, much better getting the numbers. I think the first goal is more to blame than the second in terms of how we positioned when we lost the ball. We will soon be talking about something else.”
He will not clip the wings of his more adventurous midfielders, though. Ryan Gravenberch was namechecked as an example of the risk he wants to keep.
“We can’t attack with everyone,” Iraola said. “I don’t want to tell Ryan Gravenberch don’t carry the ball as he scored against Monaco, it came from his pass to Alex. But there is a balance, recognising the situation, how we can balance those numbers in those positions.
“Sometimes you have to accept the players go forward, it isn’t always one stays back and one goes forward. If the opposition are defending deep maybe both can go forward.”
The message is clear: the structure must tighten, but the ambition must remain.
Anfield, Forest and a stubborn opponent
If Iraola needed a gentle introduction to Anfield, he has not got it. Nottingham Forest have turned this fixture into their personal stage over the past two seasons, a 1-0 win in September 2024 followed by a 3-0 dismantling last November that accelerated Slot’s slide.
The Basque coach is under no illusions about Oliver Glasner’s side.
“He has been very successful,” Iraola said of the Forest manager. “You can see straight away the shape. They don’t concede many chances, against Leeds it was a very tight game which was won with a free-kick in the last minute. We will have to earn every chance, win our duels, nothing is for free.
“We have to be good on the ball and patient because defensively they are very solid and good and have very good players. In transitions they are good threats on the counter.”
He expects a fight for every yard. Forest will sit, spring, and test that Liverpool balance that has dominated his week on the training ground.
First Premier League steps at Anfield
For all the talk of systems and signings, Saturday also carries a personal weight. Iraola has already sampled Anfield in pre-season, but this is different. This is his first Premier League game there as Liverpool head coach.
“It’s going to be a special moment for me to have first PL game at Anfield,” he admitted. “I already felt it in pre-season. I will be thinking of the game but it’s also going to be emotional, it has to be like this as it’s a special place. I hope everything goes well and I enjoy the game.”
Enjoyment will depend heavily on his players, and on the squad he can actually select.
Selection calls and early impressions
There was no place for Federico Chiesa or Harvey Elliott this weekend. Chiesa, Iraola revealed, is injured.
“Fede is not available, in the game against Como he felt something in his back,” he said.
Elliott, meanwhile, is a victim of numbers and preference rather than fitness.
“With Harvey and some of the players I can only choose 20. Harvey is trying and improving every week but I still prefer other options, about the balance on the bench. That’s why James McConnell was in the squad, but it’s now another new week and new chances for everyone. They have to keep that mentality.”
One player who did seize his chance was young defender Jacquet, thrown in for his debut at Newcastle.
“He played very well considering it was his first game,” Iraola said. “It’s true he was tired, we had to sub him as you could feel he was tired in the last five minutes. He is very confident on the ball and good without the ball. Very young, we have to accept he will make mistakes.”
The coach sounded encouraged, not indulgent. Mistakes will come. The trust will remain.
Gakpo, big fees and the unknowns of deadline week
Cody Gakpo’s future has drawn inevitable questions in a window where Liverpool are prepared to spend big and reshape their attack. Iraola’s admiration for the Dutchman was obvious, but so was his honesty about the volatility of the market.
“After performance he had in first game I say the same, he’s playing very well for us,” he said. “He’s been very good since he’s been back from World Cup. The right attitude and I hope we can keep him at that level. He can be very influential on us.
“When the market is open and we bring in expensive players I cannot guarantee anything. But I don’t know. Our players, I cannot guarantee anything about how many we are going to sign or whatever. Experience tells us that if there’s an opportunity the last day you can do something.”
That last sentence will linger as deadline day approaches. Liverpool have already pushed towards a nine-figure deal for Barcola. Interest in Ismaila Sarr and Yankuba Minteh has been discussed. The need for a right-back and a midfielder has been loudly voiced outside the club, with former defender Stephen Warnock among those calling for more reinforcements.
Inside the building, Iraola’s focus remains narrower: get through the window, know what he has, then build.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Even myself I have to be patient. Then we get to September 2, this is who we have and the options we have, then we can start thinking. For now we don’t know. I have in my head what I want, we’ve been talking since the beginning with the club, they know what we want. It’s about closing the deals.”
Control, conviction and a test of nerve
Strip away the transfer noise and Iraola’s assessment of his team’s football was quietly bullish. He liked much of what he saw at Newcastle.
“I thought we controlled the game quite well,” he said. “I felt we had meaningful possession, were quite direct in attack. I was feeling good in the game, I felt we were closer to scoring than Newcastle in most part of the game. I felt good things in the first game.”
Control with the ball. Chaos without it. That is the tension he must solve.
Anfield will judge him quickly. Forest will not make it easy. The market may yet jolt his squad again before the window shuts. For now, Iraola stands in the middle of it all, trying to keep his team attacking, his defence protected, and his plans intact.
In four or five days, he will know exactly who he has. On Saturday, he will find out what they are really made of.
