Andoni Iraola gets down to work at Liverpool as key task set to dominate first week
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The Andoni Iraola era really begins at Liverpool this weekThe Andoni Iraola era really begins at Liverpool this week as the new head coach welcomes back the majority of the pre-season contingent to the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday.It'll be the first time Iraola introduces himself to some big names in his Reds' squad as the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Milos Kerkez all report for duty at the Kirkby training base.The likes of Kostas Tsimikas, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Federico Chiesa are all expected back too alongside those who have already clocked in for assessment, like Harvey Elliott, Wataru Endo and Conor Bradley.That comes 24 hours after the man who succeeded Arne Slot last month meets and greets the media for the first time in his new role too.Iraola will be speaking to the press from 11am onwards at the club's training ground, a week before they fly out to the United States for the pre-season tour.Liverpool will be based in Chicago for the duration and will fly into Nashville and New York for friendlies with Sunderland and Wrexham, respectively, before concluding their trip with a game at Soldier Field against Leeds United.Before that lucrative tour, however, is a week of the hard yards back at base and Iraola will be attempting to introduce a more front-footed and aggressive style of football into a group of players who drifted through last season en route to a limp, fifth-place finish on the final day.For a number of reasons, last season, as defending champions, was a bitterly disappointing campaign for Liverpool but the decisive - and somewhat surprise - sacking of Slot on May 30, and the subsequent speed at which Iraola was appointed, has shown the club are looking to move forward.The speculation of the future of sporting director Richard Hughes will go on as he reportedly closes in on a move to Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal. And the departure of the influential Michael Edwards, as Fenway Sports Group's CEO of football, is also another wrinkle that is far from ideal this juncture.But FSG are privately insistent the building blocks are in place and all the work that is needed to supply Iraola with what he needs has been done.
It's now up to Hughes to carry out those plans and build the sort of squad that will allow the club to move away from the troubled 25/26 term.Supporters, however, will need to see some evidence of that on the pitch and in the transfer market.Close to £100m has already been spent on £34.5m Victor Munoz and £60m Jeremy Jacquet but the feeling that the surface has only been scratched remains prevalent. A replacement for Mohamed Salah is the most pressing concern, even if the club is seeking a different profile of winger in the market.Slot was far from perfect in his follow-up campaign at Anfield and the indifference towards a prosaic, ordinary style of football was ultimately what cost the Dutchman his job.Liverpool were not an inconsistent side on his watch, unable to reach the occasional sublime as often as they would wish.If anything the Reds were in fact too consistent last time out, winning, losing or drawing with a familiar level of display that didn't set pulses racing on the terraces.Key decision makers believe Iraola's hard-running, intense style will be the antidote to that.
It all starts this week but patience will be required.The hangover of Slot's difficult sophomore season cannot linger and that has to mean fresh starts and clean slates for so many.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page