It might be surprising to discover that Liverpool’s net spend this summer was actually bigger than it was last summer. Another £200m plus invested. But Andoni Iraola finishes the transfer window with more questions than answers surrounding his squad.
“It does not look like a balanced squad,” Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports. “Liverpool are short in the full-back areas and probably a midfield player as well.” A succinct summary of the concerns despite the £123m signing of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain.
Even that acquisition touches upon that same issue of balance. Liverpool lost the best right-footed left-winger in Premier League history in Mohamed Salah and have responded by loading up on the mirror opposite for what looks like a lop-sided attack.
Mohamed Salah’s Premier League goal map for Liverpool shows what has been lost
“Liverpool have not got a real out-and-out right-sided attacker,” Carragher explained. “We have not got anybody with a left foot on that right side, like Mo Salah. I am disappointed. I am not quite sure what we are going to do on that right wing right now.”
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Thierry Henry explains why Liverpool supporters should be excited about Bradley Barcola
In truth, Barcola is versatile. But the fee surely demands him in his best position and it would be a stretch to suggest that is on the right. Cody Gakpo has been on the left flank thus far, a slot that Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike have previously been deployed in too.
There is Rio Ngumoha who enjoyed his breakthrough season on the left but has been used on the other wing in pre-season. Victor Munoz seems the most likely but he was signed off the back of one season playing in the top flight as, you guessed it, a left winger.
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Highlights from Liverpool against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League
Liverpool’s heat maps show that their wingers are used to playing on the left
None of this alone is enough to damn Liverpool’s recruitment strategy. It is more curiosity than catastrophe. But the worry for the supporters is that there are holes elsewhere. As a result, this seems like a squad loaded in some areas while sorely lacking in others.
When Jeremie Frimpong was signed last summer, the club were keen to stress that he was not seen as a replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back. And yet, that is precisely where the Netherlands international has been played in the first two games.
Liverpool’s flank attacks in the Premier League so far this season under Andoni Iraola
Frimpong is the closest thing to a fit specialist in the role with Conor Bradley injured. Some make the case for Dominik Szoboszlai but that feels like a compromise. Shifting a centre-back out there is not ideal given the importance of the full-backs in Iraola’s system.
That is shown by Frimpong and Milos Kerkez both ranking among the top three players in the Premier League this season for sprints. The one man above them, tellingly, is Adrien Truffert of Iraola’s former club Bournemouth. This is fundamental to Iraola’s approach.
Liverpool’s passing networks in their title-winning season compared to under Andoni Iraola
Look at the average positions of Liverpool’s players in their opening two matches of the campaign compared to that title-winning season under Arne Slot. The full-backs bomb on, often simultaneously, and that puts an onus on the midfielders to cover.
For Liverpool, that really could be a problem. Ryan Gravenberch famously stepped up to help Slot win that title but with Alexis Mac Allister’s diminished physicality evident over the past 18 months, does Iraola have the players available to stop the counter-attacks?
Is it even his plan to use a true holding midfielder? At Bournemouth, Iraola wanted them to engage. Alex Scott talked of being “very aggressive” out of possession. “The players really believe that we are going to win the ball high up the field,” said Tyler Adams.
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Jamie Carragher on why 2025 could be the worst transfer window ever for Liverpool
There have already been signs that this could be a problem. “I do not believe that midfield can function with the personnel in there,” said Carragher. “For me, it does not work. And it is not just about personnel, it is the structure the manager is asking for.”
Within five minutes of the first Premier League game of the season, Liverpool’s rest defence was exposed. With the full-backs high and the centre-backs deep, there was no midfielder in the space between them. Newcastle were able to exploit that to score.
Liverpool’s centre-backs were deep and their full-backs high for Newcastle’s opener
Given the nature of Liverpool’s full-backs and Virgil van Dijk’s increasing inclination to retreat, it is an issue that is unlikely to go away. All of which leaves Iraola with the club’s most expensively assembled squad ever – and its most obviously flawed in a decade.
Is there a solution outside of the market? To do that, compromises will be required. “You do not want to lose the offensive side, the fluidity, the arrivals with numbers, but obviously we were punished the other day, especially in the first goal,” said Carragher.
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“We did not do a proper lockdown. But there is a balance. We cannot go from one way where we send a lot of people forward to keeping everyone back so we do not arrive with numbers. I do not want to tell Ryan Gravenberch not to carry the ball or arrive in the box.
“It is a matter of identifying the situation. You cannot be with the joystick every time [controlling] the player. There are players that are very good at smelling the danger. ‘I cannot risk going now. I think I have to stay.’ Recognising those situations is the job.”
For now, a couple of high-scoring draws feels about right for this Liverpool team. It remains to be seen whether their strengths will see them overpower opponents or their weaknesses will undermine them. An imbalanced, imperfect team, then. But an exciting one.
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