Can Andoni Iraola Restore Liverpool to Glory and Make Them Watchable Again?

The Liverpool faithful have reason to feel cautiously optimistic about the future. After enduring a season of pedestrian football under Arne Slot—one that saw the Reds reduced to a possession-obsessed, lethargic outfit bereft of genuine excitement—the appointment of Andoni Iraola offers a glimmer of hope that better days lie ahead.

Slot's tenure, despite delivering a Premier League title and Champions League qualification following an injury-ravaged campaign, ultimately failed to engage supporters. The football was characterised as playing with "the handbrake on"—a descent from "dating a rockstar to a lawyer," as one observer aptly put it. Since Liverpool's Champions League exit to PSG in January 2025, the decline has been stark. The pace has drained from their play, possession has become an end in itself rather than a means to one, and the intensity that once defined the club has evaporated.

Slot's pragmatic, possession-focused approach worked initially but unravelled spectacularly. Training standards reportedly dropped, tactical flexibility disappeared, and an unwillingness to take on opponents—particularly Manchester City—left fans feeling disconnected from their team. For the first time in living memory, some supporters found themselves unable to muster the energy to watch Liverpool play. That represents a fundamental failure at a club of Liverpool's stature.

A Fresh Start with Iraola

Iraola arrives with a reputation built on something Slot struggled to deliver: excitement. At Bournemouth, he has orchestrated a remarkable transformation, playing attacking football without fear, rotating his squad seamlessly, and integrating new players with remarkable efficiency. His system doesn't hinge on individual brilliance but rather on clever pressing from the front and a willingness to take the fight to any opponent, regardless of their pedigree.

Crucially, Iraola possesses the humility and warmth that endeared Jürgen Klopp to supporters. Where Slot came across as smug in victory and appeared incapable of adapting his methods to fresh personnel, Iraola has demonstrated the flexibility to succeed with limited resources. He strikes many as unlikely to fall victim to the entitlement and conspiracy-theory mindset that plagued so many of his predecessors at Anfield.

The Challenge Ahead

Yet significant questions remain. Iraola's system demands intensity and constant pressing—the very approach that saw Klopp's teams occasionally run out of steam late in seasons. At Liverpool, he'll face a compressed schedule with European football and twice-weekly fixtures for much of the campaign, offering little time to drill his tactical ideas into players. Manchester City, by contrast, can rotate an entire second XI of Premier League-standard players. Liverpool cannot.

There's also the matter of recruitment. Slot and the Edwards-Hughes axis pursued a misguided "pseudo-galáctico" strategy, splashing substantial funds on star names without building genuine cohesion. If Liverpool revert to Iraola's proven model—acquiring talented players at reasonable cost and developing them intelligently—results could improve markedly. Hughes's familiarity with Iraola's methods and preferences may prove beneficial here.

Divided Opinion

Not all supporters are convinced. Some worry this appointment mirrors previous gambles—Frank Lampard at Tottenham or even Brendan Rodgers's initial tenure—where ambition exceeded execution. They question why FSG and Hughes didn't pursue Xabi Alonso or Luis Enrique, viewing the Iraola move as a risky reset rather than a natural progression from Klopp's success.

Yet most Liverpool fans simply crave entertainment again. They want a team that competes without fear, that takes calculated risks, and that makes supporters jump from their seats. After a season of drab, joyless football, Andoni Iraola represents the possibility of rediscovering what made supporting Liverpool genuinely thrilling. Whether he can deliver that while competing at the highest level remains to be seen—but at least there's hope again.