Andoni Iraola faced the media for the first time as Liverpool boss on Monday 13 July.
Here are a few lines that might be of interest to Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
On whether the squad needs further reinforcements:
“Obviously we’ve signed two players already but we need more players – we know this. The club is working on this. Me, as a coach, selfishly, you want the players here [on] day one, ready to train from the pre-season, but we understand that football doesn’t work like this. I know the club is working hard to get those signings and I’m trying obviously to help also.”
On whether Iraola has assessed the current Liverpool squad and where things didn’t go right in 2025/26:
“Obviously I talked to the players, I talked to the staff, I talked about the things that were working very well, things that we think we can do differently – I wouldn’t say better, differently. I think it’s different. I have the advantage that probably players already know what we are going to demand in terms of style of play. But we will have time to know each other.
“One thing is to know a player, to talk to a player, to ask him, ‘Okay, where do you feel more comfortable – in this position, in this other one? Where do you see yourself?’ Because I’m [asking] the players this question so I can understand them. But after, I will see them train, I will make some tests during pre-season, I will feel things, and then I will take decisions from there.”
The difficulty of having players come back late from the World Cup:
“I think players deserve a break. The ones that have been in the World Cup deserve their three weeks so they can enjoy their time with friends, family, thinking other things. Even physically, some of them, they need a rest after a very busy season. I’ve had one week to see every training from the Under-21s. We’ve had some of the players from the first team willing to come a little bit [early], so they are already in a better shape to start. Already today, but they didn’t have to come.
“The first part of pre-season, basically, it’s going to be with a lot of players from the Academy, players that in another situation, maybe I wouldn’t know as well, and now I will have the chance to get to know them personally.”
His core coaching principles, such as playing vertically and attacking with speed:
“Yes, I think they have to be our core principles. After we have a lot of games, a lot of questions that you ask me about, ‘What if you face low blocks and this [kind of thing]?’ I always say, I prefer to face low blocks in terms of, ‘Okay, we will be in control of the game, probably we will concede less chances, we will spend a lot of time in the opposition half, and those are the scenarios that we have to find.’
“Some teams, they give you straight away that situation; other teams they don’t give it straight away because they will try also to control the game, to play in your half. I’m looking forward to spending as much time as we can in the opposition half, with the ball, without the ball, because I feel we are closer to scoring than the opposition if it’s that situation.”
The importance of having a large squad to manage both the aggressive playing style and a large workload:
“I think it’s a big challenge for me [to juggle two games a week]. I think it is a big change because here most of the weeks… we will have a midweek game.
“I think it is also a great opportunity for the players because I always loved to have these kinds of seasons as a player. You basically don’t train a lot. You play, recover, play, recover. I think there is a chance to use more players also because it’s impossible to deal with this kind of season with 13, 14, 15 players; you need all of the squad.
“But also we have to get ready because in this kind of hard season, a lot of games, injuries will happen, situations will happen. We have to get ready in terms of squad depth, so we can deal with the demands of the competition and we can go through those months, especially here in England. December, January, February… you know those months are really hard.”
