Liverpool's New Attack Without Salah: Iraola's Bold Strategy
Just over two months after Mohamed Salah walked away from Anfield, Liverpool are still learning how to live without the man who defined their right flank for a generation. The solution under new manager Andoni Iraola is not to copy the past, but to redraw the map entirely.
Barcola flips the script
Instead of hunting for a like-for-like, left-footed winger to hug the right touchline and curl shots into the far corner, Liverpool have gone in a different, bolder direction. They’ve shifted the weight of their attack.
Bradley Barcola is the statement. One of the most expensive signings in the club’s history, the Frenchman arrives from Paris Saint-Germain carrying the weight of expectation and the numbers to justify it: 13 goals and seven assists last season.
He is not Salah. He is not even trying to be.
Barcola is right-footed and lives off the opposite side, cutting in from the left, reversing the old pattern that became so familiar under Jürgen Klopp. Where Salah once darted infield from the right, Barcola now drives in from the left, changing the angles, changing the passing lanes, changing where defenders have to look.
Liverpool’s attack hasn’t just lost a star. It has been turned inside out.
A hole on the right
That shift, though, has left a glaring issue. With the summer window closed, Liverpool have four players who prefer the left and not a single natural right winger in the senior squad.
The early experiments have been rough.
Teenager Rio Ngumoha was thrown in on the right against Newcastle and struggled to impose himself. Cody Gakpo, asked to do a similar job against Nottingham Forest, offered marginally more but still looked like a player operating against his instincts, not with them.
Iraola, though, sees an answer in a new face.
Víctor Munoz, another summer addition, has quickly emerged as a potential specialist for that vacant flank.
“Víctor has played more games on the left in his career but has maybe been even better on the right,” Iraola said ahead of Friday’s Premier League trip to Ipswich Town.
It is a crucial detail. Munoz may not be the headline signing, but in this new structure he could be the piece that makes the rest of the puzzle click.
Munoz now, Ngumoha later
Even with Munoz looking tailor-made for the role, Iraola refuses to abandon the development of his younger options on that side. Ngumoha, in particular, remains central to his long-term thinking.
“We know Rio can play on the left and showed his qualities,” Iraola insisted. “He needs to develop on the right so it gives him more options to play. He is so young. [But] because he wasn't incredible in the first game on the right, we can't say he will never play on the right anymore.”
That is not the language of a coach searching for quick fixes. It is the voice of someone trying to build a squad that can adapt, not just survive one season.
The plan is clear: Munoz offers the immediate solution, Ngumoha the project. The right wing is no longer just a vacancy; it is a proving ground.
Isak’s service line
All of this experimentation is not just about aesthetics. It directly affects the man in the middle.
Alexander Isak, the focal point of Iraola’s attack, is a striker who thrives when the ball arrives early and often in the box. Tall, powerful, and ruthless from close range, he does his best work when the service is direct and the delivery comes from wide areas.
A more traditional winger on the right could transform his output. Instead of drifting deep or wide to find the ball, Isak can live where he is most dangerous: between the posts, waiting for crosses, cut-backs and quick passes into the penalty area.
The right-sided role, then, is not just about replacing Salah’s goals. It is about unlocking Isak’s.
Gakpo’s fight for relevance
In the middle of this reshaping, Cody Gakpo remains a key figure. Manchester City and Tottenham tested Liverpool’s resolve late in the window, but the club held firm. Iraola still sees value in a versatile forward who can operate across the front line.
Gakpo now finds himself battling for minutes in a front line that looks nothing like the one he joined. Barcola has taken command of the left. Munoz is pushing for the right. Ngumoha is being groomed for both.
For Gakpo, adaptation is no longer optional. It is the price of staying central to this new era.
Ipswich as an early verdict
Ipswich Town away will not decide Liverpool’s season, but it will offer a sharp snapshot of where Iraola’s ideas stand. The shape of the front three, the balance between Barcola and whoever starts on the right, the supply line into Isak – all of it will be under the microscope.
Salah’s shadow still stretches over Anfield, but Liverpool have stopped trying to stand inside it. The question now is simple: can this inverted, reimagined attack find its own identity quickly enough to keep them in the hunt at the top end of the Premier League?
