Andoni Iraola has not had long to settle in, but his first week at Liverpool is already being shaped by absence rather than bedding in. Twelve players will miss Saturday's first friendly against Sunderland in Nashville, and the new manager has been blunt about where the problem is most obvious, saying the squad is “very thin” in the centre-back and right-back areas.

The defensive shortage

“With the centre-back, with the right-back situation, in terms of defensive depth, we are, I think, very thin right now, so I think it's a solution that we are trying to find,” Iraola told mirror.co.uk.

That is the practical issue facing Liverpool before the season has even started. He is not talking about a minor gap in numbers, he is talking about the areas that usually decide whether a side can cope with injuries, rotation and the first run of fixtures. Virgil van Dijk and Alisson are among the names whose World Cup workload is part of the same picture, while Ryan Gravenberch is another senior player the squad wants back in better shape.

Iraola’s public message is not subtle. Liverpool are short, and the shortage is at the back.

Rest, recruitment and the first test

The manager has also defended the decision to give some senior players time off. “We cannot only think in the short term and the first game against Newcastle; we have to also understand, especially in the case of Alexis, who played a lot of minutes during the season and a lot of minutes in the World Cup, that they deserve this rest,” he said.

He added: “All the others should be fine to arrive in perfect conditions to the first game.”

That sits alongside the club's wider transfer pressure. The £60million signing of Jeremy Jacquet was completed in January, but the brief on Liverpool's ownership situation is still one of negotiation rather than certainty, with a consortium led by ex-Queens Park Rangers co-owner Amit Bhatia discussing a 30 per cent stake for £1.35billion and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said to have held initial talks about joining.

Liverpool do not need a drama package here, they need defenders. Twelve absences for the first friendly and a manager already calling the back line thin is enough to tell you where the focus has gone before the first whistle in Nashville.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →