Andoni Iraola Demands Liverpool Start Stronger
Andoni Iraola has seen enough of the heroic comebacks. Now he wants Liverpool to stop making life so hard for themselves.
Unbeaten under their new manager, the Reds have shown character, stamina and a refusal to fold. They have also developed a bad habit: conceding first. Three times in Iraola’s opening four games, Liverpool have handed the initiative to the opposition and then had to claw it back.
They have survived it so far. The Spaniard has no intention of letting it become their identity.
“We’ve been dangerous, we’ve created chances, we scored two goals in every game,” Iraola said ahead of Fulham’s visit to Anfield. “We could have scored more in some of those games, but now it’s about being more efficient… and also when the goals come.”
That timing is the issue. Liverpool failed to score a first-half goal in their first two league matches under Iraola. The pattern finally snapped at Ipswich, where Alexander Isak struck twice inside the opening 10 minutes in a 2-0 win. The contrast was stark. Start fast, control the game. Start slowly, chase it.
“The other games, we started losing and then you have to do a lot of effort to come back,” Iraola explained. “I would like obviously to score the first goal and then everything looks easier, but we need to have the right mentality.”
He has the evidence fresh in his mind. Against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, Liverpool had to rally from behind to salvage draws. Against Atletico Madrid, they turned a deficit into a 2-1 win. The resilience is admirable; the manager wants ruthlessness.
Even in Madrid, the warning signs were there. “Against Atletico I think we had a chance after something like 15 seconds, Alex [Mac Allister] had a very clear chance to score and then everyone says ‘incredible start,’ you score and it changes,” Iraola said. The chance went begging, the tone of the half shifted, and Liverpool were dragged into another scrap.
“I think the start of the games is probably one of the parts where we can be a little bit better,” he added. “In the second half we’ve normally been better, but I want to try and impose ourselves from the beginning because it becomes easier, everything.”
That demand for control from the first whistle will be tested against a Fulham side whose league table position tells only half the story.
Alvaro Arbeloa arrives at Anfield under pressure, at least from the outside. Three Premier League games, three defeats: Chelsea, Sunderland, Crystal Palace. No points, no margin for error. For a coach in just his second senior job, it is a harsh introduction.
The numbers, though, suggest a team far from out of its depth. “We have played just three Premier League games and to make big conclusions about any team, I think it’s too early, and I think Fulham is a great example,” Iraola said. “I think they have played well in the three games, honestly. They’ve lost the three games by one goal.”
Then came the line that will irritate Fulham fans precisely because it rings true. “If you see a lot of the stats they have and you don’t know the points they have, you will think they have five points at least because they’ve been controlling the games.”
So this is not, in Iraola’s eyes, a crisis club rolling into Anfield to be brushed aside. It is a dangerous opponent with bruised confidence and a manager he knows all too well.
The reunion between the two coaches adds a personal subplot. Iraola and Arbeloa once shared a dressing room with Spain, competing directly for the same role on the right side of defence. Old battles, new stakes.
“I think we played maybe very few times together in the national team,” Iraola admitted. “We were fighting more or less for the same position, but I think he was more successful in that he played more games than me!”
There is no bitterness in the remark, only a wry acknowledgement of how careers diverge. Arbeloa went on to become a fixture at Real Madrid and returned there as head coach in January, only to leave at the end of a trophyless campaign as Jose Mourinho came back through the door. Now he stands in the opposite dugout at Anfield, trying to ignite a stuttering Fulham project.
For Iraola, the equation is simpler. Liverpool are unbeaten, scoring freely, and already showing signs of adopting his front-foot mentality. The next step is clear: stop starting at a disadvantage.
If his players can finally land the first punch, Anfield might see what this new Liverpool really looks like when it isn’t busy dragging itself off the canvas.
