Iraola's Liverpool: A New Era Begins Against Sunderland
In the thick Nashville heat, Liverpool are about to find out what Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool actually looks like.
The new head coach steps into the technical area for the first time on Saturday against Sunderland at Geodis Park, home of MLS side Nashville SC, with kick-off at 5pm local time (11pm BST). It is only a pre-season friendly in name. For Iraola, it is an opening statement.
A new face, the same old demands
Liverpool fans do not tend to offer long honeymoons. Iraola knows it.
Arne Slot has gone. The reset button has been hit again at Anfield, and the 42-year-old Basque coach walks into a club that expects both style and steel from day one.
“For me, now, it is about creating a very good team to beat, a very difficult team to beat,” he said this week. “The team that I envision now - that I see and think of - if we become that team, I think we are going to be successful.
“The most important thing that we can deliver is our performances. It doesn't matter if I speak well, if I don't speak well, if I say the right things or if I don't say the right things. At the end people just want to see the team play well and deliver good results. I know this is 90% of my job.”
The results will be judged when the Premier League starts. Right now, every touch, press and passing pattern will be scrutinised for clues about what “Iraola’s Liverpool” means.
Ian Rush, who knows a thing or two about what pleases the Kop, believes the fit is natural.
“It's a big step up from Bournemouth but he deserves it. He's got all the credentials to be a top Liverpool manager and I'm pretty certain he could be,” Rush told BBC Sport.
“His style of football fits with Liverpool. It will help with the supporters too. Perhaps with Slot, they were a bit more defensive but supporters want to get behind the team. They'll only get behind a team if you're attacking or high pressing. The atmosphere was subdued at stages last season. This is Liverpool and we want to play a high pressing game and we'll know in the next few days what that looks like.”
High pressing, front-foot, aggressive. Those are not tactical buzzwords here; they are non-negotiables.
A sombre start in Music City
Before any of that, there will be a pause.
Both Liverpool and Sunderland will wear black armbands and observe a minute’s applause in memory of Kevin Keegan, whose death earlier this week has been felt deeply by both clubs. Keegan’s legacy stretches from Anfield glory to Wearside and beyond; Nashville will offer a transatlantic tribute.
Inside the city, there is no great sense of a European giant descending. There are still plenty of tickets available for a ground that holds around 30,000. The streets do not scream “Liverpool in town”.
Inside Iraola’s camp, though, the noise matters more than the numbers. This is where he needs his players “singing from the same hymn sheet” from the very first whistle.
A big squad, a youthful edge
Liverpool have brought 32 players to the United States. Not all are here to play heavy minutes. Some are simply better served rehabbing with the group than sweating alone on an empty training pitch back on Merseyside.
The World Cup has scattered the calendar and the squad list. Several key names are still absent, with Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch due to join for the second week of the camp. Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz will be the last to report. Cody Gakpo, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson have not travelled at all.
Those who have been on the ground speak of a positive, youthful energy around the group. That matters in July, when reputations are parked and coaches look for hunger.
“Szoboszlai and Kerkez haven't been to the World Cup and I can tell you this from experience because I never went to the World Cup,” Rush said. “Those players have had a long rest and they'll be desperate to get back into it.”
Harvey Elliott is back in the fold. Stefan Bajcetic, whose last appearance for the club came in 2024, has rejoined full team training, a significant step after a frustrating spell on the sidelines. For Iraola, these are not just names on a team sheet; they are pieces in a new puzzle he is still learning to assemble.
The Salah-sized hole
For all the optimism, the squad is not complete. Everyone at Liverpool has known since at least March that Mohamed Salah was leaving. He still has not been replaced.
Iraola wants a winger. Bradley Barcola is currently the most likely candidate, but until any deal is done, Liverpool must look inwards.
That is where 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha comes in. Highly rated and comfortable off either flank, he has been working on his versatility across both wings and could be used on the right as well as his preferred left.
There is no doubt about Ngumoha’s talent, but nobody inside the club is pretending he alone can fill the void.
“He's still young but as the manager has said, we need someone to replace Salah and that won't be easy at all,” Rush said. “We've got Isak, who played well in the World Cup, and I hope he comes back as a new player and looking to prove a thing or two after last season.”
The message is clear: the future is exciting, but the present still needs proven firepower.
Kids on the runway
Pre-season tours always throw up new names. This one will be no different.
Over the next week, supporters should see more of Kieran Morrison, 19, who made his debut last season, as well as 18-year-olds Will Wright and Josh Sonni-Lambie. All three have impressed enough to earn a closer look under Iraola.
Then there is 16-year-old Josh Abe, widely regarded as one of the hottest young prospects in English football. Nashville, New York, Chicago – these are big stages for a teenager, but Liverpool have never been shy about fast-tracking elite talent.
With Sunderland in Nashville, Wrexham in New York and Leeds in Chicago to come, Iraola’s first tour offers a compressed glimpse of Liverpool’s future: a new manager, a shifting core, and a cluster of teenagers trying to force their way into his plans.
The results will be forgotten. The impressions, for some of these players and for Iraola himself, will not.
