Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola (Image: Glyn KIRK / AFP via Getty Images)
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It was only a throwaway comment at the end of an emotional day for Andoni Iraola. But it revealed both the attention to detail of the Liverpool head coach and the reality that is now facing his embryonic tenure.
Speaking to the media after a narrow 1-0 win on his first return to former club Bournemouth last Sunday, Iraola wasted no time in focusing on what was around the corner after the ongoing international break.
“We have to get ready as the schedule we have now is very difficult," he said. "We are playing against the top four teams, and in between the Champions League and Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, every two or three days."
At first, it seemed Iraola had made a mistake. While home games against Manchester City and Arsenal are looming, the Reds don't play either Manchester United or Aston Villa - who both finished above Liverpool last season - until much later in the year.
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The penny, though, soon dropped. And the keen-eyed Iraola was referencing the fact among the next batch of fixtures until the November international break are clashes against the other two teams who make up the current top four - away at Brentford and at home to Brighton.
It underlined why the group of games between the two autumn international breaks will go a long way to both shaping Liverpool's season and revealing what still needs to be done for Iraola's methods to take hold.
When the Reds resume a fortnight on Sunday, they start a run of nine games in 29 days with the visit of a revamped Man City, the last of their opening six Premier League matches all of which will have been against teams who have changed their manager during the summer.
Three days later they are in Austria to take on LASK Linz - who humiliated Celtic with a remarkable recovery in their final qualifying play-off tie - in their first Champions League away fixture of the campaign, before a trek to London to take on fourth-placed Brentford on the Saturday.
Then come a run of four games at home in three competitions. First up is Villarreal in the Champions League on the Tuesday, then a Sunday Premier League visit of Brighton and the Carabao Cup fourth-round tie at home to Chelsea three days later. The sequence concludes with the showdown against Champions League final losers Arsenal on Sunday, November 1.
The hectic spell then concludes with two tough away trips, first at Fenerbahce in the Champions League on the Wednesday followed by a Sunday afternoon clash at Crystal Palace.
In the five respective Premier League games last season, Liverpool took just six points with defeats against City, Brentford and Palace.
The dire goalless draw at home to Fulham - which came after the Champions League comeback win against Atletico Madrid - was the first real evidence of how Iraola will have to manage squad rotation as he discovers which players are best suited to successive appearances.
And that result also underlined why Liverpool are going to have to make more of home advantage over the coming period having won just four of their last 12 Premier League games at Anfield, taking just 19 points in the process.
True, the cup record at home during the same period is more impressive, with the only failure to win in seven games being the 2-0 reverse to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in April.
Fortress Anfield, though, needs hastily rebuilding in the Premier League if Liverpool are to keep touch with the pacesetters during the next batch of games.
And in general, Iraola will soon learn much more about what he is working with and what can realistically be achieved this season.
Liverpool fixtures before next international break
Sunday, October 11: Manchester City (H), 4.30pm, Premier League
Wednesday, October 14: LASK (A), 5.45pm, Champions League
Saturday, October 17: Brentford (A), 3pm, Premier League
Tuesday, October 20: Villarreal (H), 8pm, Champions League
Sunday, October 25: Brighton & Hove Albion (H), 2pm, Premier League
Wednesday, October 28: Chelsea (H), 8pm, Carabao Cup
Sunday, November 1: Arsenal (H), 4.30pm, Premier League
Wednesday, November 4: Fenerbahce (A), 5.45pm, Champions League
Sunday, November 8: Crystal Palace (A), 2pm, Premier League