The ECHO's Liverpool FC correspondent Paul Gorst previews Sunday's trip to Bournemouth as the unbeaten Reds sign off for the international break
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.(Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
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If adjusting to a three-game-week schedule at Liverpool has given Andoni Iraola no time to reflect, he will at least have some times to do so as of Sunday evening.
A first return to Bournemouth since leaving at the end of May will undoubtedly present Iraola with the chance to assess how far he has come since moving to England in 2023 but any idea that a visit to the Vitality will result in a slipping of the guard was dismissed by Liverpool's head coach on Friday.
Iraola says Sunday will give him the chance to catch up with old friends and colleagues who helped put him on the path to Anfield but all of that will be contained until after the final whistle on Sunday afternoon.
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Instead, Iraola spoke of being "ruthless" on the south coast this weekend as his Reds side go in search of a seventh game unbeaten and a second Premier League victory.
Sunday's game, perhaps, will decide how the Basque's start at Anfield might be viewed over the course of a three-week international break that concludes with a visit from Manchester City on October 11.
Alexander Isak looked sharp with his quick-fire double that put Ipswich to the sword a fortnight ago and the Reds were strong in home victories against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup.
Draws, though, have already been too frequent, particularly at Anfield where both Fulham and Nottingham Forest escaped with a share of the spoils.
It's something Iraola admits is a concern at the level he now finds himself, saying: "That’s totally fair [that draws are treated differently at Liverpool] but it’s something that I knew before coming here.
"When you draw 2-2 at Newcastle with Bournemouth, it is a good result, but I understand that with Liverpool it is not. The goals of the team are different and so are the expectations."
**FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page**Isak, Virgil van Dijk and Florian Wirtz are all expected to return, providing quite the injection of quality on Sunday. There is also a decision to be made on the right side of the back four also with Jeremy Jacquet poised for recall after an impressive substitute cameo against Spurs on Tuesday.
Ronald Araujo is jostling with Jeremie Frimpong and Iraola must decide which of the two very different interpretations of the right-back role he wants to go for on the south coast.
Recent days, by his own admission, have forced Iraola into tempering the famed intensity of his training sessions.
With Liverpool playing three games between September 9 and 15, across three different competitions in the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup, navigating the stacked calendar is something the head coach is having to learn about in real time.
Having not played since Tuesday evening, though, the 2pm kick-off on Sunday gives him the opportunity to step on the gas once more in the build-up, particularly given he is able to recall a number of high-profile figures.
Liverpool made 204 high-intensity pressures in the opposition half in their 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid last week, which was the most of any team on Matchday 1 of the Champions League. They also top the Premier League table for most sprints so far after four games, with a total of 526.
It is these sort of metrics that define his style as a coach but the key now is knowing where and when to turn up the dials, particularly when the fixtures begin to pile up on the side of the impending break.
Iraola revealed that he spoke to his Bournemouth successor Marco Rose, before the German took over. The conversation, which the Reds boss revealed lasted over two hours, will undoubtedly have given Rose an insight into the crop of players he was inheriting.
But the new man at the Cherries' helm will also know there is no one better placed than Iraola to exploit the weaknesses in his squad.
"I think everything was so clean with the club that normally in this process you don’t have the chance to talk to the previous manager," Iraola said. "Everyone knew in this case the situation, everyone knew that Marco was coming.
"I stayed in Bournemouth until the kids finished school at the end of June. We had chance to have a proper meeting and we were talking until they stopped us, over two hours yes. It was good for him and good for me also.
"I asked him about other teams he has previously had and he is a good manager and a good person."
Those niceties, however, will now take a backseat as Iraola plots a way to victory back on his old stamping ground.
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