- 1 day ago
Andoni Iraola took charge of his first Liverpool game over the weekend in a 4-2 win against Sunderland. And sure, it's the first pre-season game of the summer, but that doesn't stop Archie Corbett from breaking down how Iraola will set up tactically and pose the ultimate question - will he be a success?
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Right, hello everybody and welcome back to the Archie Corbett football channel.
00:05That's right, this is a hostile takeover.
00:08I have temporarily renamed the channel, at least in my mind, until Adam returns.
00:13But more on that at the end of the video because we seem to have missed some things.
00:18There was a fairly notable international tournament that took place over the summer
00:22and because of that, we've got some catching up to do.
00:25And one of those slightly larger things is Liverpool's appointment of one Mr. Andoni Irreola.
00:31So let's look at how he'll set up, first of all.
00:35And then secondly, will he be a quote-unquote success?
00:38And in answering the first question, I'm hoping that together, me and you,
00:44can answer the second question as to, yeah, whether this will work.
00:51OK, so straight off the bat, I think it's important that we delve into what Irreola is
00:57tactically and what his tactical identity looks like.
01:00And then in turn, how it can be replicated with this Liverpool squad after that.
01:05And if there's one word I want you all to just hold on to and remember throughout this video,
01:10it's the word intensity, right?
01:12Because very few managers are able to implement such intensity both in and out of possession.
01:19Every action is done with a degree of intensity that very few other managers can recreate or at least implement.
01:26Now, specifically, this shows itself in three ways, I'd say.
01:30It shows itself in high pressing.
01:32Naturally, that's a very intense thing to do.
01:34The second one of those is attacking using the wide areas, including overlapping fullbacks.
01:40And the third is ambitious and often quite direct passing when trying to play through the lines.
01:47And again, these three things specifically were real identifiers of how his teams played,
01:54particularly at Bournemouth, where he got them to their first ever European campaign.
01:58And also prior to that, when he was at Real Vallecano.
02:01These three things here are what we're going to keep coming back to in this video,
02:05because they are Andoni Irreola to a tee.
02:08So Liverpool played their opening pre-season friendly of the summer,
02:12and they beat Sunderland 4-2, which, on the face of it, is a really positive result.
02:17And hey, I bet Andoni Irreola's really happy with how his first ever game as Liverpool manager went.
02:22But if you watched his post-match press conference, he was really unhappy with a number of things.
02:28But the main thing he was unhappy with his Liverpool side for was, yep, you guessed it, intensity.
02:35But there were patterns of play in this game that sort of show that Irreola is starting to already get
02:41his tactical ideas across to his team on the training pitch.
02:45And let's start with the number one point that we looked at, and that's pressing.
02:49On two separate occasions, just a few minutes into this game, and Liverpool were on the front foot early doors,
02:55aggressively closing down the ball in Sunderland's own third and trying to force an error.
03:00On the first occasion, the keeper is bailed out by a relatively soft foul.
03:04And in the second time, again, Liverpool are trying to cut off these central options here.
03:10They force the ball back to the goalkeeper once again.
03:13And if the Liverpool striker's run was out to in, sort of around this angle, rather than straight head-on,
03:19they'd have been forced to play a really low percentage long ball.
03:23He runs straight on, like I say, so the Sunderland goalkeeper is just able to play out to that right
03:28-hand side,
03:28and suddenly they're able to progress the ball further up the pitch.
03:31And again, you can see the idea, you can see Irreola's principles all over this press,
03:37but you can also see where his frustrations come from at the lack of organisation of it,
03:42at the lack of nuance to it.
03:43And that's natural, because he's not been in the job very long.
03:47But again, again, let's just stick a lovely huge asterisk over all of this,
03:53because it's pre-season.
03:54In fact, the opening pre-season game of the summer.
03:57So let's take everything we see with this huge asterisk and a massive pinch of salt.
04:03Now, the second thing we highlighted as being very Irreola was these wide attacks,
04:08specifically getting the fullbacks on their bike to overlap the wingers and create wide overload.
04:15So that's really typical of an Irreola team.
04:17And in this game, Liverpool were really intent on progressing the ball into these zones
04:22by using both the winger and the fullback.
04:25But they also did this by dragging across one of the central midfielders into these wide zones here
04:30to give them quite often a 3v2.
04:33And let's just quickly overlay the average position map of the Liverpool players in this game.
04:38Now, there's a few slightly lighter ones, particularly Joe Gomez, who went off after 10 minutes.
04:43But the principle is still the same.
04:44You can see these sort of wide triangles that are beginning to form.
04:48And this is really important because it means that whoever has the ball has the option to
04:53either go down the touchline, they have an option to play it centrally back into the midfield,
04:57but they always have a bailout backwards option, say if it's a centre-back coming across
05:01or if it's back to one of the fullbacks.
05:03They've always got all three of those options.
05:06And this was shown very early on in this game.
05:08Again, Liverpool's focus on progressing the ball wide, starting with this centre-back,
05:13using the central midfield option, dragged across to this side here
05:17to find the onrushing winger in Rio and Gamora.
05:20And you can see what Areola's trying to do with this.
05:23He's trying to quickly get the ball out wide into one of their biggest 1v1 threats.
05:27But another thing that I mentioned about Areola when they get the ball wide
05:31is they like to get overloads there.
05:33And on this occasion, Simakas, who's the left-back, doesn't get up with Rio and Gamora anywhere near
05:38quickly enough.
05:39And suddenly Sunderland have recovered in serious numbers and the attack just fizzled out.
05:43But again, the idea is there.
05:46It's just the execution isn't quite there.
05:49But fear not, because Liverpool's second goal in this game, we're now in the second half,
05:53comes from this exact principle, working perfectly.
05:56And about a minute prior to this goal going in, the ball is being worked around down this right-hand
06:01side.
06:01And there's a very clear triangle of players who are all rotating and trying to force an opening.
06:06You've got a full-back in Jeremy Frimpong.
06:09You've got a central midfielder in McConnell.
06:11And you've got a winger in Morrison.
06:13He was the goal-scorer in the first half.
06:15And they're all rotating in these positions, all taking up a different area of this triangle.
06:19But it doesn't quite come off.
06:20They can't work an opening.
06:22So instead of trying to force it, they work the ball back round to the other side really quickly as
06:27well,
06:27where you'll find full-back, Milos Kerkes, midfielder, Dominic Shaboslai, and winger, Luis Kumas.
06:34Again, those same profile of players.
06:36A full-back, a winger, and a central midfielder on both sides trying to do the same thing.
06:41And this time, it's a 1-2.
06:43And finally, Liverpool get Milos Kerkes on the overlap down this wide area.
06:48It's a neat turn from Kumas, who again finds Milos Kerkes.
06:52And now they're in this situation here.
06:55And if you're Iriola in your first Liverpool game, this is like the perfect scenario.
07:00It's a scenario that worked so well when both Iriola and Kerkes were at Bournemouth for two seasons.
07:05It's just such an ideal position for you to be in.
07:09Getting him down to the touchline and having several goal-scoring options for him to cut it back to,
07:14for me, it was the most promising moment Liverpool had all game.
07:17And it was the moment in this match where I went,
07:20yeah, that's an Iriola team, isn't it?
07:22Now, none of these players actually score because it's cut out quite well by the Sunderland defender.
07:27But it's only as far as Saboslai, who just scores one of the most casual, absolute bangers you may ever
07:33see in your life.
07:34But like I say, this situation here isn't just promising because they scored the goal.
07:38That's a nice added bonus.
07:40It's promising because it represents what Iriola wants to get out of this team in the long term,
07:45rather than just in this pre-season match, which of course gives you a big old asterisk over it.
07:51And just very quickly, because I'm aware how long I'm taking analysing a pre-season match that's happening in literally
07:58July.
07:59But the third and last principle I mentioned of Iriola's play is being ambitious and often quite direct when playing
08:06through the lines.
08:06And for the first goal, this is really obvious.
08:09It starts in this deep area and then, bam, two very forward and quite brave passes, particularly that first one
08:15opening up the midfield.
08:17And they end up in this scenario here.
08:19And like I say, they get the opening goal from it.
08:22And this was something that Liverpool lacked quite a bit, especially in Arnest Slott's second season.
08:27This ability to progress the ball quickly and urgently when they needed to.
08:32They didn't have the ball progressives for it in the middle of the park.
08:35They were a little bit risk averse.
08:36And they also didn't really have the intelligent off-ball runners to create those openings like Ngomoa did in this
08:42scenario.
08:43But with Iriola coming in, and say it quite quietly,
08:47but there's a real optimism that this should really change for Liverpool going into next season.
08:52Now, it's all very well and good me saying that this pre-season game in July is a really good
08:57indicator that things will go well for Iriola.
09:00He'll be a guaranteed success. He'll hit the ground running.
09:02You just can't guarantee those things, let alone expect them.
09:06But there is another reason to get pretty excited about this appointment.
09:10And it's that both Bournemouth and Liverpool, last season at least, weren't actually that different teams.
09:16The jump isn't that huge purely from a tactical perspective.
09:20Sure, Liverpool averaged nearly 10% more possession in each game.
09:24And yes, that is a big swing.
09:26But the numbers that made Bournemouth so good and made Iriola so good were matched and sometimes bettered by Liverpool
09:33last season.
09:34So again, going back to our first point, pressing.
09:37That's really important for an Iriola team.
09:39And if we look at the PPDA numbers, which is passes per defensive action,
09:43essentially the lower the number, the better the team is at pressing.
09:47They're split by nearly a fraction.
09:49And let's look at press sequences.
09:52The amount of times a team presses another team successfully, incredibly similar,
09:57which is actually even more impressive considering that Liverpool average more possession.
10:01So naturally, they have less opportunities to press the other team because they've got the ball.
10:07And lastly, total high turnovers, fairly self-explanatory.
10:10But again, really similar for both teams.
10:14And they're both right at the top of the Premier League rankings for this metric.
10:17And yes, I know what you're saying.
10:19It's all well and good having these similar numbers off the ball.
10:22But on the ball, those numbers must be pretty wildly different, mustn't they?
10:27Because they were such different teams in possession.
10:29And in some metrics, yes, you're completely right about that.
10:33But what did I say makes an Iriola team so potent in possession right at the top of the video?
10:40And yes, it's that direct, ambitious, forward passing,
10:43playing through the lines that makes an Iriola team so good on the ball.
10:48So let's look at the numbers that represent those qualities.
10:51And yeah, direct speed, they're pretty similar and that's nice to look at.
10:55But the key one I want you to focus on is the number of direct attacks per 90.
11:01Both Bournemouth and Liverpool are top of the Premier League for this statistic.
11:06A very similar rate of being ambitious and direct on the ball.
11:11They're not that different in possession despite Liverpool having 10% more of the ball
11:16in every game last season on average.
11:18So will this appointment take time?
11:21Yes, undoubtedly.
11:23You're coming into a club the size of Liverpool
11:25that have also just lost maybe their greatest player ever despite how poor he was last season.
11:31So I'd imagine it will take time.
11:33Because in the earliest of early assessments,
11:35he's implementing his style already and he's getting these patterns to work.
11:40And like I showed you, the numbers from the games that actually do matter,
11:44the Premier League games, both sides are pretty similar.
11:47The jump from Bournemouth to Liverpool tactically isn't that big a jump.
11:51And just lastly, on top of all of this,
11:54Andoni Iriola is an extremely adaptable manager.
11:57He will adapt to availability of his squad,
11:59but he also adapted very regularly to the opposition that he was coming up against.
12:04Against the top teams, they'd often be in this 3-2-5 when in possession.
12:08And that provides a little bit more of a sort of stable five-man base here.
12:12But it also relies on the sort of physical nature of the attackers that he had in his squad
12:17to be effective when recovering.
12:19And this system led to them beating Arsenal at the Emirates right towards the end of the season
12:24and then subsequently getting a point at home to Man City.
12:27Two really big results.
12:29And the latter, ironically, gave the former the league title.
12:33Not that anyone's counting.
12:34But they're two really big wins for Iriola.
12:37But then against the teams they were more level with or even likely to beat,
12:40they'd go to this super aggressive 2-4-4 in possession.
12:44The examples I'm going to show you are from wins against Crystal Palace and Wolves.
12:48And this setup allows them to have overloads of three, sometimes four players in these wide areas,
12:54as well as having enough players in the box to provide even more attacking threat.
12:59But also, again, due to their really good physical profiles,
13:03they had enough numbers to be able to recover and stop any potential counterattacks.
13:07And sure, they'll almost certainly bring in some new players.
13:11And I think it'll be really interesting to see what sort of profiles Iriola is prioritizing here.
13:17If you want my two cents, I'd say you need a right winger to fill that Salah-shaped hole.
13:22And you probably need another centre-back.
13:25But hey, I'm no Richard Hughes, so who knows?
13:29So, do I think Andoni Iriola will be a success at Liverpool?
13:33And I think that question comes in two parts.
13:35I think initially, there might be a little bit of a transitional period.
13:39But like I showed you, he's already getting his tactical ideas across to his team.
13:43So, maybe that'll be quicker than I think.
13:45And the second part of that question is, will I think he'll be successful long-term?
13:49100%.
13:49I personally think he's an unbelievably tactically astute manager,
13:54an incredibly adaptable manager that will work at this level.
13:58Like I said, the jump from Bournemouth to Liverpool tactically isn't massive.
14:02But I've obviously avoided the big elephant in the room that is.
14:05The clubs are quite different sizes.
14:09Look at the stadiums, the fan, everything.
14:11They're quite massively different.
14:14There's a huge sort of chasm between the two of them.
14:16So, that could be an issue.
14:17But I think if he's backed properly with his recruitment, with the spending on the squad,
14:22then I think he's got every chance of succeeding as Liverpool manager.
14:26But Liverpool fans, what do you see as success under Iriola?
14:31Do you judge him in this first season?
14:33For me, European qualification and a steady rise up the table with some big wins would be a success.
14:39Maybe a little cup run thrown in there.
14:41But this feels like a project.
14:43This doesn't feel like someone like Slott coming in and taking over an already complete squad.
14:48This is a transitional period.
14:50No Salah, Van Dijk could be going soon.
14:51You've got a lot of change in this team.
14:54So, I feel like he needs time.
14:55But like I say, Liverpool fans, let me know your thoughts in the comments.
14:59You can subscribe to the Archie Corbett football channel.
15:02Clicking the button below, it's obviously the Adam Cleary football channel.
15:05But for these two weeks, it's just me.
15:07He's on holiday.
15:08So, please subscribe so by the time he's back, I don't lose my job.
15:12You can get me across all the socials.
15:13I sometimes do little football videos on there.
15:15But like I say, these two weeks, I'll be slammed doing this stuff for you guys.
15:20If you're wondering what these are, we were at Latitude Festival over the weekend.
15:24It was brilliant.
15:24Adam put on a fantastic football quiz.
15:27This is what it looked like.
15:28It was really cool.
15:29There was actually loads of people there.
15:31If you were one of the people there, thank you for coming.
15:33It was brilliant and the whole video of it will be available, but to members only.
15:39You can become a member in the channel description.
15:41We put it everywhere.
15:43It's a really decent price and we're going to start giving you more membership offerings.
15:47So, please become a member.
15:48You'll be able to take part and see the whole England heartbreak quiz that we did at Latitude Festival.
15:54So, be sure to do that.
15:55I'll take these off eventually once they start smelling, but I quite like how they look for now.
15:59So, tough.
16:00They're a bit annoying though, the sort of tassels.
16:02I'm going to go, but thank you very much for watching this video.
16:05Like I say, subscribe, like, all that fun stuff and we'll see you in the next one.
16:08Let me know what you want to see while Adam's off between now and the start of next season
16:13because I don't know what to do, but this was a start.
16:16So, I hope you enjoyed it and goodbye.