Liverpool's New Attack Strategy After Salah's Departure
Two months on from Mohamed Salah’s departure and Liverpool are still learning how to breathe without him. The goals, the angles, the gravity he carried on that right flank – all gone. In his place, a new idea, a new structure, and a manager intent on ripping up the old map rather than tracing over it.
Andoni Iraola has not tried to clone Salah. He’s gone the other way entirely.
Barcola flips the picture
Instead of hunting for another left-footed right winger, Liverpool have redrawn their attack. The headline move was clear: Bradley Barcola, signed from Paris Saint-Germain for a fee that places him among the most expensive players in the club’s history.
Barcola’s numbers last season – 13 goals and seven assists – show why Liverpool pushed so hard. But it’s where, and how, he does his damage that really matters. Right-footed, happiest on the left, he loves to cut inside and drive at the box. In essence, Liverpool have flipped the Salah template: the threat now comes from the opposite wing, on the opposite foot.
With Barcola owning that left channel, the old Anfield picture has been turned on its head. The problem? The other side of the pitch suddenly looks bare.
Four left wingers, no right winger
The summer window closed with Liverpool overloaded on the left and light on the right. Four players can operate off that left flank. None is a natural right winger.
The growing pains have already been visible. Teenage talent Rio Ngumoha was thrown in on the right against Newcastle and struggled to impose himself. Cody Gakpo fared only marginally better in the role against Nottingham Forest, drifting inside without truly stretching the game.
Iraola, though, sees a different answer emerging.
He points to Víctor Munoz, a new arrival who, on paper, looks made for that vacancy.
“Víctor has played more games on the left in his career but has maybe been even better on the right,” Iraola said before Liverpool’s Premier League trip to Ipswich Town.
Munoz offers width, direct running and the ability to operate from the ‘unnatural’ side. He might not be a classic right winger by trade, but his profile fits what Liverpool now need: someone to balance Barcola’s dominance on the opposite flank.
Iraola’s gamble on youth
Even with Munoz ready-made for that side, Iraola is not prepared to abandon his long-term project. He wants Ngumoha to grow into the role, not be judged on a single uncomfortable outing.
“We know Rio can play on the left and showed his qualities,” the manager 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 the tightrope Iraola is walking. He has a team that needs to win now, but a teenager he believes can become a two-sided weapon. The right flank has become both a tactical puzzle and a development pathway.
Isak needs service, not theory
All of this experimentation has a very real consequence in the penalty area.
Alexander Isak lives on service. The powerful Swede is at his best as a penalty-box striker, attacking crosses and sharp cut-backs rather than dropping into midfield to stitch moves together. Without a consistent, traditional wide threat on the right, his supply line risks drying up.
A more natural winger on that side – whether Munoz, a more settled Ngumoha, or even a repurposed Gakpo – could transform Isak’s output. Get the ball wide, deliver early, and let the striker do what he does best. That is the simplest route to making this new-look Liverpool attack feel dangerous again.
Gakpo’s role in the reshuffle
Amid all the reshaping, Cody Gakpo remains a key figure. Manchester City and Tottenham both tested Liverpool’s resolve late in the window, but the Dutchman stayed put and remains central to Iraola’s plans.
He may not have convinced on the right, yet his versatility keeps him in the thick of the rotation across the front line. In a system still in flux, that flexibility is gold.
Liverpool head to Ipswich Town on Friday with a clear question hanging over them: can Iraola’s inverted, Salah-less attack click quickly enough to keep them ruthless in the final third? The structure is bold, the talent is there, and the right flank now holds the answer to how far this new era can really go.
