Liverpool have spent pre-season under Andoni Iraola looking more direct, more fluid and more willing to rotate wide players into advanced areas. They have also spent it giving up control too easily. Across the sample, Liverpool averaged 60.6% possession, but two-goal leads were still lost against Leeds and Monaco.
Liverpool's possession and the first warning signs
The possession figure is higher than the one associated with Iraola's Bournemouth side last season by 12.9%. That is a real shift in style, even if four pre-season games is still a small sample. The broader pattern is hard to miss. Liverpool have looked more comfortable on the ball, but that has not yet translated into reliable game management.
The sample also includes a mixed run of results, and the issue is not just possession for possession's sake. Dominik Szoboszlai and Trey Nyoni have been the preferred deeper midfield duo in pre-season, while Alisson has still been asked to deal with moments where the press is beaten and the shape stretches. Iraola said the team “can't sustain the level we want, we have work to do”, which is the honest reading here.
Bielsa's influence in the attacking structure
There is a clear Bielsa line running through this. Iraola said, “I use a lot of exercises from Marcelo that I learned from him, especially with the ball.” He also described his teams as “very dynamic, willing to make all the runs to the space”, and “ready to accept this kind of disorder offensively.”
That shows up in the way Liverpool are attacking. Liverpool are rotating more freely and pushing more numbers ahead of the ball, with Florian Wirtz playing primarily as the number 10 under Iraola. The upside is obvious. The risk is, too. When the press is broken, the team can look too top-heavy and too open to transitions, which is exactly where the two dropped leads matter most.
The early evidence says Iraola is getting the attacking chaos he wants, but not the control to match it. For now, Liverpool's pre-season under him looks like a team learning the hard part of the system, and the next chance to steady it comes with the final pre-season fixture.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
