Thomas Frank makes prediction about Andoni Iraola at Liverpool after watching them vs Fulham

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Liverpool looked a long way from what Andoni Iraola wants from his teams during Saturday’s lethargic draw against Fulham.Having beaten Atletico Madrid with a fairly swashbuckling performance on Wednesday, fans were perhaps feeling as though they were beginning to see what Iraola was trying to implement with the Reds.But the 0-0 with Fulham looked more like Arne Slot’s Liverpool: slow, sluggish and far too easy to play through. Naturally, with the Reds now failing to beat both Fulham and Nottingham Forest at Anfield, some worries have started to creep in about Iraola, but according to fellow manager Thomas Frank, Liverpool fans do not need to be concerned.

Do you think Andoni Iraola picked the wrong team against Fulham? Liverpool face Fulham at Anfield Frank backs Iraola for success at LiverpoolHaving been out of work since a fairly disastrous spell at Tottenham last season, Frank is now turning his hand to punditry work, appearing on BBC Match of the Day on Saturday night.There he was asked about Liverpool’s somewhat turgid draw with the Cottagers, and though he acknowledged that the Reds were not at their best on the day, Frank did give his full backing to Iraola, predicting that he will be a success at Anfield despite a slow start.“I’m not in doubt that he wants even more from his team, and I know Iraola, I really respect him, I think he’s an excellent coach and I’m not in doubt that he’ll have a successful time with Liverpool,” said the Dane.Frank then pulled up some statistics to highlight the work that still needs to be done by Iraola to get Liverpool playing with the same intensity that he instilled at Bournemouth.READ MORE: Former Liverpool player takes aim at ‘not acceptable’ Reds after disappointing draw vs Fulham“We found some stats in what I know he wanted to look a little bit more into, so for example if you look at the high turnovers in the championship winning season for Liverpool and the shots after high turnovers and the direct attacks, that’s the intensity, that’s what Iraola wants, so I’m not in doubt that they looked at that,” he said.“You look at Bournemouth’s numbers, the high numbers they created under Iraola and it’s gone down, it’s had a little bit of a dip this season.

But that will take time for Iraola to get it into the players. “They’re playing every third day, there’s still a few new players, but he’s a good coach and I’m sure he will get that because it’s very important for him.”Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty ImagesJoining Frank in the Match of the Day studio was former Wales centre-back Ashley Williams, who highlighted that Iraola had a similarly slow start to his time at Bournemouth, where it took him until the end of October to win his first match.“If you remember they didn’t really get the way he wanted to play, it took a while and then they hit the ground running,” Williams said.“When a new manager comes in with a different style, sometimes that just happens.”Iraola has already shaken that particular monkey off his back at Liverpool, but with an Anfield win still eluding him after two attempts, he has some work on to get Reds fans singing from on the same page as Frank.