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At the Kirkby training base, the players spent the first few days going through the usual individual tests before taking to the field with the ball on Thursday and Friday.
Iraola is heavily involved in these sessions and often says “Bravo” when he sees something he likes. Its intensity is especially evident in uploaded training videos LiverpoolIts official channel.
Iraola and his coaching staff spend most of their day at the training ground – with a major emphasis on assessing the current squad’s capabilities.
The new head coach has told the players that he sees them as new signings. Harvey Elliott is back a week earlier than expected while Curtis Jones looks like he’s “had a great summer”, according to a source. Jeremy Jacket, who has been given the number five shirt, is settling in nicely and recovering from a shoulder injury.
Overall, the players are back in “good nick,” the medical staff is impressed. When it comes to endurance, players under Jurgen Klopp used to test lactate when it was a six-minute race test under the slot.
The Iraola fitness test is slightly different – players move onto a pitch with diagonals and cones to replicate changes of direction with high intensity.
“It’s deceiving because your legs are gone,” defender Joe Gomez could be heard saying to Jones.
Those on the training ground say there is certainly a youthful vibe in the squad, with eight World Cup-bound players yet to join. As one source put it: “It’s really an opportunity for a new group to emerge before more seniors come back.”
“There is definitely going to be change,” Iraola told Stan Sports in an interview. “A lot of senior players, players who have won everything here have left and we need other players not to replace them but to take (more responsibility) on and off the pitch.”
Coming in the shape of a club Liverpool It was certainly different for Iraola but there is a general respect around the building for the 44-year-old and the work he has done Bournemouth.
If his first week is anything to go by, Iraola is confident and certainly comfortable but not necessarily at the box office. Perhaps a way to put it for now is that his presence will still not be felt as it was with a bigger character like Klopp.
Those who know him well believe that he will not change his ways and Iraola said as much in his introductory press conference.
Come Monday afternoon, Liverpool will fly across the Atlantic to Chicago, where they will base themselves for their pre-season tour which includes fixtures in Nashville and New York.
The trip will give Iraola his first real chance to work with an extended group of players, with most of the rest of the first-team squad expected to join, and a number of academy players also traveling, including 15-year-old Josh Abe.
In either side of the three scheduled friendlies, where most will get playing time, double training sessions are scheduled in the summer. Both Iraola and his squad will know that from now on, the pressure will also heat up.
