It was Andoni Iraola’s humility that made the biggest impression at his unveiling as Liverpool’s new head coach on Monday. Without fanfare or bombast the 44-year-old promised not to change as a result of landing the biggest job of his coaching career and also to connect with club and city alike. “The magic of being the Liverpool manager,” as he nicely described the opportunity. And without being asked directly, it was Iraola who insisted he must prove himself at Anfield.
For all the magic he produced during three years at Bournemouth, ending with European qualification for the first time in the club’s history and approaches from Crystal Palace and Milan, the Basque coach knows the move to Liverpool represents a considerable leap. It is a leap he feels ready to take.
Iraola, appointed six days after Arne Slot’s sacking on 30 May, said: “I feel I have a lot of things to prove in terms of I’ve never coached a club as big as Liverpool. It’s a big challenge for me. But there always has to be that first moment. My career has been slowly, slowly: going to a better club, to a better club, then you get a promotion, La Liga, then the Premier League, then you get to a better club. I’ve experienced this kind of change of goals or coaching in a bigger club, and there is always a time where I say: ‘You have to prove that you belong.’ And this is the first month for me now.
“I need to prove myself and get everyone to know that I belong here, that I have the level to stay here, that I have the level to coach Liverpool. That’s my challenge short term. Once you’ve gone through this process and everyone understands that you belong, everything gets easier – from the players, the supporters, the media and the opposition. But you have to go through this process. I trust myself a lot and I think I’m ready for the challenge that I know is very big. When I came here, the owners told me everything is not perfect. They said we would have some challenges, we would have to replace important players leaving, we have some injuries, but we are here to solve these problems and to maximise what we have. In my opinion, we have a very good squad.”
Iraola may be humble but there is clearly an edge to a coach who has arrived at one of the biggest destinations in the world game eight years after starting out at AEK Larnaca. The scrutiny and demands at Liverpool will be greater than he has ever encountered before, although he will not alter the approach that has brought him this far.
“You have to be very aware of the mistakes but I wouldn’t like to be too careful,” he admitted. “I would like to act quite normal. I’m not going to live in my bubble – just training ground, stadium, home. I would also like to go to the city, experience the city. I know some places I will have to take some pictures. But it’s part of the magic of being the Liverpool manager and I would not like to change too much.”
Iraola’s predecessor was criticised for not immersing himself in the city when things started to unravel last season, although that was never a problem when Slot was delivering the Premier League title in his first. It was losing the connection with the Anfield crowd and the identity from his title-winning team that ultimately cost Slot his job, however. Rebuilding both are top of Iraola’s agenda.
The Liverpool head coach explained: “I always talk about energy. I want my team to be energetic, to be dynamic, to play in the opposition half as much as we can, sometimes on the ball, sometimes without the ball, try to suffocate the opposition, especially at Anfield. We have to make Anfield a very uncomfortable place to come. Sometimes I’ve been and it’s a lovely stadium, lovely atmosphere, and you try to enjoy it. No. We have to make it so it’s nice for us but the opposition is going to have a hard time. This requires also the connection with the supporters.
“One of our biggest advantages is if we get this connection from the team to the supporters, from the supporters to the team, it will be very difficult to stop us, especially at home, because I felt it from the other side. That is probably one of the first things to do and achieve. Get this connection because this will help us. I think it’s something that has to come from the team. I know if the team gives what we want, we’ll have everyone behind us. And this is something that I would like also the players to acknowledge and to accept.”
With Michael Edwards departing last week as chief executive of football at Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owner, and doubts surrounding Richard Hughes’s future as sporting director once the transfer window closes, Iraola could soon find himself operating without the two executives who were instrumental in his appointment. The upheaval, or the threat of it, does not overly concern him.
Iraola insisted: “I have to be honest, I’m focused on my job which is a massive one in terms of getting ready to start working with the players, trying to find the best spot for a player, trying to create a collective atmosphere where they can perform, and in my normal day I’m more worried about [getting] transfers [done]. I talk to Richard, I talk to [the FSG president] Mike Gordon, I talked to Michael Edwards – he seems super-smart so it is unfortunate he’s not going to continue with us but he’s explained very well his decision and his reasons. I think it’s more at ownership level than something that is going to affect the coach.”
