Many of Iraola’s attacking principles resemble those of one of his long-time managerial inspirations, the former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa.
The Argentine coached Iraola at Athletic Club between 2011 and 2013 and, speaking to Sky Sports in 2023, the Liverpool boss acknowledged this influence.
“I use a lot of exercises from Marcelo that I learned from him, especially with the ball,” Iraola said.
“Offensively, his teams are very dynamic, willing to make all the runs to the space, he is ready to accept this kind of disorder offensively.”
Like Bielsa’s sides, Iraola already has the Reds playing in a busy manner. When attacking, it is rare to see Liverpool‘s players filling specific areas in a rigid style.
Another tactic Bielsa leans on is the use of wide pairings or trios to break teams down. Iraola experienced this at first hand when playing as a right-back for him.
The full-back and winger would regularly combine on the outside, but the relationship was never as simple as one holding the width and the other supporting underneath statically.
Bielsa, like Iraola now, encouraged players to change their positions in relation to each other.
The winger could come inside, opening the outside lane for the full-back, while a midfielder would move towards the pair to create a third passing option.
On other occasions, the full-back could move inside himself, allowing the winger to remain high and wide.
Liverpool are already showing similar patterns under Iraola, especially on the left, where full-backs have pushed into the final third alongside Rio Ngumoha or Cody Gakpo on the left wing.
Florian Wirtz, playing primarily as Liverpool‘s number 10 under Iraola, has drifted to that flank to provide a third option capable of playing centrally, deep or out wide.
The rotations of these wide triangles make it hard for opponents to know who they should be picking up.
By simplifying the attacking game into two-v-two or three-v-three situations, Liverpool are hoping to have a repeatable and dynamic solution, resulting in crosses from dangerous positions close to goal.
