Why the demands of Liverpool will be too much for Andoni Iraola

While parting ways with a manager is rarely an easy decision, it’s always made much harder if there aren’t suitable replacements out there.

Chelsea went with fellow BlueCo employee Liam Rosenior after Enzo Maresca departed, while Manchester United’s hand was somewhat forced after Michael Carrick’s impressive stint as interim boss.

For Liverpool, keeping Arne Slot wasn’t really an option. His first season was superb, guiding the club to the Premier League title. He brought much needed control to a side after Jurgen Klopp’s much more intense style, but his inability to bed in new signings to finish a distant 25 points behind champions Arsenal would always see the Dutchman pay with his job.

Poor seasons can be excused in certain circumstances – see Liverpool’s first title defence when a litany of injuries saw them limp through the campaign – but there was little accounting for the Reds’ showing this season.

In a World Cup year when so many of the world’s finest tacticians will be employed until the back end of the summer, options are limited.

Liverpool, for whatever reason, seemingly had no interest in Xabi Alonso, despite everyone putting two and two together when the former Reds midfielder was sacked by Real Madrid. Alonso had worked with the likes of Jeremie Frimpong and the misfiring Florian Wirtz and Bayer Leverkusen, and would surely have been able to get more out of them, as well as forwards Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike.

The move to sack Slot shortly Alonso was confirmed as Chelsea’s new head coach can’t have been a coincidence; it can now be passed off as Alonso being unavailable should their next appointment not work out, while deliberately opting against Alonso would have put more pressure on the new manager.

Andoni Iraola therefore is given the task of succeeding Slot and getting Liverpool challenging for titles again.

The Basque manager has earned plaudits from all corners for his work with Bournemouth and rightly so. The initial reaction to the dismissal of Gary O’Neil back in June 2023 was one of shock considering the Cherries’ late-season form that secured their survival, but the immediate appointment of Iraola quickly explained the thinking.

Under Iraola, Bournemouth were extremely slow out of the blocks, failing to win any of their first 10 Premier League games. Things turned around from there, though, taking 22 points from a possible 27, ultimately finishing 12th.

Bournemouth responded to the departure of top scorer Dominic Solanke with an improved ninth-place finish, and the third and final season was perhaps Iraola’s most impressive. Losing three-quarters of his back line, as well as Antoine Semenyo in January, Iraola had the Cherries on the brink of UEFA Champions League football, eventually settling for sixth place and the Europa League.

Bournemouth to Liverpool too big a leap?

Iraola deserves enormous credit for the work he’s done on the south coast, but taking it to Merseyside is an altogether different challenge.

In many ways, Iraola is the more natural Klopp successor.

Salah launched an astonishing broadside at Slot on X, saying that Liverpool needed to go back to its intense style of football, and Iraola will bring that.

There will be glimpses of Klopp’s old Liverpool next season; Iraola will want intensity and directness and there will be periods where it pays off.

But the biggest challenge for Iraola will be implementing that chaotic style of football while juggling European engagements.

At Bournemouth, Iraola oversaw 44, 43 and 40 games, getting plenty of midweeks off to recover and work on tactical plans.

In a season in which they disappointed in every competition, Liverpool played 57 games last term. Aside from the expectation levels being significantly increased, the physical toll will be much greater too, and Iraola is going to have to find a way to balance his philosophy with a much more demanding schedule.

Iraola did a fantastic job at Bournemouth, but we’ve seen nothing to suggest he’ll be able to handle the demands of European football.

Fail to do that, and Liverpool will be looking for a new head coach once again.