Andoni Iraola faces unanswered Liverpool problem and World Cup proves it
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.
Liverpool struggled to break down deep defences last season and it is likely they will have to overcome the same issue again under Andoni IraolaAny Liverpool supporters opting to fill their time between Premier League seasons by watching the World Cup will be forgiven for thinking they've seen it all before.And it has served as a reminder of the shortcoming Andoni Iraola must address if he is to restore the Reds to genuine title contenders rather than once again scrambling around in an attempt to sneak Champions League qualification.One of the recurring features of the World Cup has been what in modern parlance has become known as the low block - in other words, the parking of the bus, the getting everybody behind the ball, the reliance on defending rather than to attack.Not that there is anything inherently wrong with such an approach. After all, Liverpool tried the same at Paris Saint-Germain in April - they just happened to not be very good at it.But an issue arises when too many become overly reliant on the same approach regardless of what it may be, inevitably reducing excitement levels and, in the case of an overly-defensive mindset, sapping the enthusiasm levels of neutral observers.If that's been the case with too many games in the World Cup, it most certainly rings true for Liverpool last season, which goes some way to explaining why Arne Slot lost his job barely 12 months after lifting the Premier League title.The problem for the Reds was their constant inability to break down such defensive resolve, which in turn increased the pressure on their own backline with gradually diminishing returns.
Too often, Liverpool needed to do an awful lot to score while their opponents required comparatively little to find a way through.The worst of both worlds, it also tested the patience of Reds supporters who were becoming bored at the manner in which their team were being increasingly beaten.The irony is Slot and Liverpool's recruitment team had already seen this coming, hence the big-money signings last summer of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz to help unlock low-lying defences. While nobody would suggest champions Arsenal are anything like as negatively-minded as many of the teams Liverpool encountered last season, their emphasis on economical play, set-pieces and physicality is more closely aligned to those happy to rely on grit rather than guile and certainly more easy to replicate, albeit on a downgraded scale, than a more expansive game.Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta saw the direction in which football was heading and successfully tweaked his tactics accordingly.
The Reds and Slot did not, and the Gunners' success will inevitably prompt more to follow their lead.Iraola, then, can expect the same as Slot this coming season. While he will have encountered the occasional deep defence that needed unpicking while in charge at Bournemouth, it won't have been anywhere near as often as he now will at Liverpool.Finding a consistent way through - by both utilising his current squad and augmenting it with the right profile of new signing in the transfer market - represents perhaps the Spaniard's most immediate challenge.And the sooner Iraola finds an answer, the sooner Liverpool will have a better idea of what is realistically possible during his debut season in charge.