Iraola's Call for Control as Fulham Reunion Approaches
Andoni Iraola has seen enough of the heroic comebacks. What he wants now is something far more mundane, far more decisive: control from the first whistle.
Liverpool remain unbeaten under their new manager, but they have made a habit of flirting with trouble. In three of Iraola’s first four games in charge, the Reds have conceded the opening goal. The resilience has been impressive; the pattern is driving him mad.
They clawed back draws against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest. They then beat Ipswich 2-0, a game ripped away from any tension by Alexander Isak’s stunning early double inside 10 minutes, before another comeback – this time a 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid. The spirit is not in doubt. The timing is.
“I think the team has goals in it,” Iraola said, pointing to the consistent threat his side has carried. Liverpool have scored twice in every game under him and could easily have had more. The issue, as he sees it, is not about creativity. It is about efficiency and control.
Not conceding two against Newcastle. Not allowing Forest back in. And, crucially, not waiting until the second half to come alive.
The numbers underline his irritation. Liverpool failed to score a first-half goal in their opening two league fixtures. That changed only at Ipswich, where Isak’s quick-fire brace gave them the kind of platform every coach craves. The difference in comfort levels was obvious.
“The other games, we started losing and then you have to do a lot of effort to come back,” Iraola explained. He wants his side to flip that script, to be the ones dictating the terms instead of chasing them. Score first, and the whole landscape of a match shifts.
Atletico offered a glimpse of what he’s demanding. Within about 15 seconds, Alexis Mac Allister had a clear chance to open the scoring. Missed. The narrative of the game could have been written right there. “You score and it changes,” Iraola reflected. He knows the margins are fine, but his message is blunt: Liverpool must sharpen their edge from the outset.
“In the second half we’ve normally been better,” he admitted, “but I want to try and impose ourselves from the beginning because it becomes easier, everything.” It is not just about fast starts for the sake of spectacle. It is about energy management across a long season, about avoiding the emotional and physical drain of constant fightbacks.
Across the technical area at Anfield will stand a familiar face. Alvaro Arbeloa, now in charge of Fulham, once shared a Spain dressing room with Iraola and, more awkwardly, the same position. The Liverpool manager smiled as he recalled those days, conceding that Arbeloa generally got the nod more often than he did.
Their coaching paths have taken very different routes. Arbeloa stepped into the Real Madrid job in January, only to leave at the end of a trophyless campaign as Jose Mourinho returned to the Bernabeu. His start at Fulham has been no gentler. Three Premier League games, three defeats – by a single goal each time – against Chelsea, Sunderland, and Crystal Palace.
On paper, it looks grim. On the pitch, Iraola sees something else.
“We have played just three Premier League games and to make big conclusions about any team, I think it’s too early,” he warned. Fulham, he believes, are the perfect example of how the table can lie in September. “I think they have played well in the three games, honestly. They’ve lost the three games by one goal.”
He leans on the data to back up his instinct. The performances, the control, the underlying numbers – they do not resemble a side that should be pointless. “If you see a lot of the stats they have and you don’t know the points they have, you will think they have five points at least because they’ve been controlling the games.”
So there will be no complacency at Anfield. Not from a manager who has already seen how dangerous slow starts can be, and not against a coach he knows well enough to respect.
The reunion between Iraola and Arbeloa adds a personal twist to an already intriguing fixture: one former Spain right-back trying to build a new Liverpool era, the other fighting to plant his flag in English football at Craven Cottage. They once battled for minutes on the international stage. Now they scrap for momentum in the Premier League.
For Iraola, the demand is clear. The comebacks have thrilled the crowd and padded the early narrative of his tenure. But if Liverpool are serious about sustaining this unbeaten run and turning it into something more substantial, the drama needs to start earlier – and on their terms.
