Andoni Iraola: What’s on the to-do list for the new Liverpool head coach at Anfield after the Reds’ disappointing season? | football news

Andoni Irraola has been appointed Liverpool head coach following the sudden departure of Arne Slott from Anfield and has a number of problems to find answers for before the start of the next campaign.

Iraola inherits a team that has made a limp title defence, finishing the season 24 points worse than winning the Premier League in Slott’s debut season in charge 12 months ago. They were closer to the relegation zone than eventual champions Arsenal.

That their goal difference was less than 35 also speaks volumes about the comparative struggles at both ends of the pitch between the two campaigns in the slot at the club, while 20 defeats in all competitions in 2025/26 – the most since a disappointing season under Graeme Souness in 1992/93 – paints a damaging picture and also belies the lack of group play.

Erraola therefore has a lot to juggle between now and the start of the new league season on August 22 – just 33 days after this summer’s World Cup final, leaving little time for the new Liverpool boss to work with his players and implement his ideas.

Chief among the problems Iraola faces if he wants to convince fans, not skeptics, are the following…

Set up efficient defenses

Incredibly, the slot title winners scored 53 goals last season, their most in a 38-game Premier League season.

A total of 20 set-piece goals (excluding penalties), second-most among Europe’s top-five leagues and joint-highest in the Premier League, perhaps worryingly, is Bournemouth, who Iraola coached from 2023-26.

And when Iraola finally gets to work with his defensive unit at the AXA Training Center after the World Cup, he will do so without Ibrahim Konate As part of his back line following the French central defender’s departure from the club on a free transfer.

Jeremy Jaquet, currently sidelined with a shoulder problem, is set to replace his compatriot as centre-back partner to captain Virgil van Dijk, while Giovanni Leoni will also compete for the role after recovering from a long-term ACL injury suffered on debut last September.

Assimilating these two young defenders into a new-look Liverpool defence, making them less vulnerable at the back, will be one of Irrola’s most important challenges, although he showed when he lost his entire back four and goalkeeper at Bournemouth last summer that he can manage such an integration.

Pick the futures of Allison, Jones and Gomez

Iraola will be desperately hoping that Alisson Becker will be part of his defense next season as reports in Italy claim that Juventus want the experienced goalkeeper this summer.

However, the club signed a contract extension in March to keep the Brazil international at Anfield until 2027 and are understood to have told the 33-year-old they expect him to honor that commitment.

Whether the same is the case for Curtis Jones and Joe Gomez, however, remains to be seen with the duo’s futures at Anfield in doubt.

Jones is wanted by Inter Milan, who tried to sign him in January, and with both players out of contract within 12 months, the new boss will want to sit down with the Englishman immediately to gauge their thinking.

Back to Klopp’s chaos and rocking Anfield again

When Liverpool were relegated to the Anfield section after struggling draws with Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at the end of last season, despite many protests to the contrary, the writing seemed very much on the wall for the slot.

The home faithful grew fed up with what they were served up to see, while many grew weary of the Dutchman’s various excuses for his side’s struggles, whether it was the low blocks of the opposition or the long ball tactics that increasingly tried to nullify the then champions.

The slot that was seemingly unable to find a solution to the curve balls thrown his way during the campaign ultimately counted against him the most when sporting director Richard Hughes conducted his end-of-season review and determined his fate.

Hughes brought Irrola from Rayo Vallecano to Bournemouth in the summer of 2023 following the eyebrow-raising managerial departure of Gary O’Neil – who had just kept the south-coast club in the top flight – and hopes the decision will be just as famous.

And it was revealing that in Liverpool’s statement explaining Slott’s departure, the club said: “We have come to the conclusion that the team now needs to evolve again. Already recruited and more structured, the feeling is that the next level of football requires a more front-footed, attacking and urgent style.”

That Iraola is known for favoring “chaos over organization,” according to an interview The Sunday TimesWith former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp as his coaching inspiration rather than Pep Guardiola, Ken Hughes will be a bigger factor in selecting him in the slot.

Now the 43-year-old must get his new charge “heavy-metal football” as Mohamed Salah referred to in his final parting shot in the slot.

Get the £320m raiders jolt while reviving fading stars

One way to help them return to the ‘front-footed’ football that was missing last season is for Iraola to finally bring in Aleksandar Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ektic together.

The trio cost a fraction of £320.5m as part of the club’s record-breaking transfer spending last summer, but due to injury, they were on the pitch together for just 119 minutes.

There will be huge sympathy for Slott in this regard and his successor must hope for more luck when his players are available next season, especially those big-money attackers.

Because if he does, Liverpool’s owners will surely be hoping for a return in excess of the 19 league goals the trio scored between them in their debut campaign at Anfield, 11 of which came from Ektic before his season-ending Achilles injury in March.

In particular, Irrola must find a way to get the best out of the Premier League’s most expensive player, although he won’t have much time on the training ground to work with Issac and co in pre-season.

Coaching is the Basque’s favorite and Hughes will now hope his skills here translate to bringing the best out of last summer’s other new signings Milos Kerkez, who excelled under him at Bournemouth while making the PFA Team of the Year in 2024-25, and Jeremy Frimpong.

Along with those new charges, Iraola will have to revive Cody Gakpo and Alexis McAllister and, to a lesser extent, Ryan Gravenburch, who struggled to reach the heights of the previous year’s title-winning campaign.

And finally, nurturing the fledgling career of exciting forward Rio Ngumoha and transforming the 17-year-old from an attacking sub to a regular starter on the left side of attack will be on the agenda for the new Liverpool boss.

Find Salah replacements as part of summer transfer strategy

Iraola is not someone who likes to get involved in recruitment, preferring instead to focus on coaching while the sporting director finds the right players to fit the system, which is luckily how Fenway Sports Group (FSG) works.

So, while the new man won’t be expected to find himself replacing Salah – and in any case Hughes and Michael Edwards, CEO of football at FSG, have already identified RB Leipzig’s Ian Diomande for that formidable role – he will certainly have some input into the club’s summer transfer strategy.

Slott’s departure is said to include “further recruitment planned this summer”, along with Jamie Carragher. Sky Sports His former club need at least three new signings for next season: “They don’t need to bring in six or seven players, because it’s more of a change, but for me three players need to go straight into the team.

“Replace Mo Salah with a right winger, a right-back and a central midfielder, then the players you bought last summer like Ektic, Isak, Wirtz will become better players.”

Expect Irrawola and Liverpool’s once-prominent recruitment team to pour data together this summer to help build a much more balanced squad for him than he left in the slot last season.