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Liverpool must be difficult to beat - Iraola

Liverpool manager Andoni IraolaGetty Images

Aadam Patel

Football reporter

Andoni Iraola believes that one of his priorities atLiverpool will be to create "a very difficult team to beat" and says that he is well aware that the fans "just want to see the team play well and deliver good results".

Iraola, 44, replaced Arne Slot as Liverpool head coach after the end of last season, when Liverpool finished fifth in the Premier League and lost a club record 20 games across all competitions.

"For me now, it is about creating a very difficult team to beat," Iraola told reporters in Chicago.

"The team that I envisage now, that I see and think of - if we become that team - I think we are going to be successful.

"But you have to do the job. You have to create a team; improve the team. You have to find the best positions for every player - the good combinations for the team - and that is what we're now using the time for."

Liverpool travelled to Chicago on Monday for their pre-season tour of the US, which starts with a friendly against Sunderland in Nashville on Saturday before games against Wrexham in New York and Leeds United in Chicago.

"The most important thing that we can deliver is our performances. It doesn't matter if I speak well or if I don't speak well or if I say the right things or if I don't say the right things," said Iraola.

"At the end, people just want to see the team play well and deliver good results. I know this is 90% of my job."

And the Basque coach revealed that things moved pretty quickly after he announced that he was stepping down from the Bournemouth job after three years on the south coast.

Iraola was Liverpool's main candidate when the decision was made to sack Slot at the end of May.

"It happened quite fast," said Iraola. "Honestly, yes it was true that I was talking with some clubs.

"I think it was the first or second week after the season ended. Liverpool contacted me, and it didn't take a lot [to say yes]."

Similarities with Athletic Bilbao

Iraola's arrival was seen by Liverpool as a means of trying to deliver an attacking brand of football.

In his introductory news conference last week, he spoke about wanting to give Liverpool fans "a team to be proud of".

And the former Spain international, who spent 12 seasons of his playing career at Athletic Club, sees some similarities between his hometown club and his new home.

Athletic Club's Basque-only policy means they can only use players that are born or developed in the Basque country.

"It is a very special club," said Iraola. "You have to maximise every player you have in the squad. You cannot sell him and choose another one a lot of times.

"As a player, you have to give extra. The only way that policy can be successful is if you give 100%. This creates a connection and you see they win things. They have never been relegated.

"I see a lot of things [similar to Liverpool]. This sense of belonging, of being a little bit different. This connection also, with players from the academy. The atmosphere of Anfield.

"This is one of the biggest clubs in the world and in some way the comparison probably isn't fair. But in a lot of ways I see a lot of things similar."

'A sense of collectiveness'

When you include Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Xabi Alonso, four of the coaches of the teams that finished in the top 10 of the Premier League last season all hail from the Basque region.

"They ask me a lot why a lot of Basque managers especially have arrived to this level and why a lot of Spanish teams are winning a lot of things," Iraola said.

"I always say that a sense of collectiveness is very important. Spain has never had the best athletes. If you analyse, in swimming, track and field, they don't normally win medals.

"But in collective sports they are very good. In football, basketball, handball, hockey, normally they have good teams. We always put the team first.

"An example is someone like Rodri. He didn't score or make an assist but at the end they won the World Cup and he won best player of the tournament. Team-first was always integrated in how we're raised.

"There are a lot of different styles in Spanish coaching. With the national team, they always say tiki-taka, passing, but even in the World Cup you could see them pressing very well, pressing high.

"Yes, they controlled the game with the ball, but it's the other part without the ball where everyone was doing their job. It's being pro-active without the ball."