Andoni Iraola has arrived at Liverpool’s AXA Training Centre, with most of the first-team players and staff due to report back to Merseyside next week. The Spaniard will have just over a month with his squad before Liverpool’s first Premier League game, away at Newcastle on 23 August.
Iraola’s first press conference is scheduled for 13 July. The key focus will be playing a front-foot and aggressive style of football. He will be joined by Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper, who were with him at Bournemouth, as his first-team coaches. If their time at Bournemouth is anything to go by, there will be intense running in the early days and the Spaniard is known to play an active part in drills.
“New Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola has arrived at the training ground, with intense running drills and a revamped staff ahead of the Premier League season.”
He often referees in mini-training games. A clip on Bournemouth’s YouTube channel shows Iraola wearing a microphone during a training session in Marbella. “Get really aggressive. Get used to this, because we will do this every week…” is one of many lines that stands out. “Andoni likes to take all of the sessions and be in the thick of it as opposed to leaving it to others,” a Bournemouth source told BBC Sport last month.
Pablo de la Torre will join as an assistant coach. He has worked with Iraola previously in Cyprus, at Rayo Vallecano and at Bournemouth. De La Torre told Spanish publication AS: “Iraola is incredibly intelligent, leads by example, and has a rare emotional stability in such a visceral sport. From day one, you sense he’s different – his ability to read the game and its needs is almost unique. He filters information so players can digest it easily and apply it every week.”
New to both of them will be the challenge of dealing with midweek Champions League matches alongside Premier League games. “The key is building a game model and team identity where players truly believe in the coach’s idea,” added De La Torre. That much is imperative after Mohamed Salah’s public comments calling out Liverpool’s style of play under Arne Slot at the end of last season.
While the World Cup is still going on, many Premier League clubs are already returning to pre-season training and friendly matches. The Premier League officially returns on 21 August but some clubs are in pre-season match action before the World Cup final. The games are spread across the globe, from Hong Kong and New York to York and Bristol.