Why Iraola’s biggest challenge is neither tactical nor technical

Recent setbacks have exposed a lack of leadership and mental strength at Anfield, writes JAMES NALTON

Men’s Football / 6 November 2026 Tuchel hails Bellingham brothers’ ‘incredible’ England story 6 November 2026 Formula One / 6 November 2026 Haas team principal stands by Ocon’s Mexico withdrawal 6 November 2026 Women’s Rugby Sevens / 6 November 2026 Ilona Maher’s influence shines through at Youth Olympic Games 6 November 2026 Men’s Europa League / 6 November 2026 Another Cherry on top for Bournemouth as they continue Europa League streak 6 November 2026 Sparta Prague 1-3 Bournemouthin Pragueby Layth Yousif LIVERPOOL’S Champions League defeat to Fenerbahce was their third since Andoni Iraola took charge. Coming just days after their Premier League loss to Arsenal, it exposed more clearly than any victory could the areas of the team that still need work.

European aways in Turkey are not for the faint-hearted. Many of the country’s teams have the most passionate followings in the European leagues, and the atmospheres are ramped up even further when big teams from other countries visit in Uefa competitions.

Liverpool could have won the game and repeatedly gave themselves chances to do so, but the frequency of the good play was matched by the number of moments where concentration was lacking, and a winning edge was missing.

They didn’t play too badly against the defending Premier League champions, either.

The no shots on target stat doing the rounds after that game against Arsenal was in some ways misleading. Liverpool had good chances to score, they just didn’t take them.

They struggled to find a cutting edge in attack, which is worrying given they have spent over £350 million on their three attackers; Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, and Bradley Barcola.

The trio have looked good in isolated individual moments and Isak is beginning to settle and score more regularly after an injury-interrupted first season, but they are yet to convince anyone they will be difference-makers in the way that Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, and Mohamed Salah were in the club’s successful team under Jurgen Klopp.

Comparing any subsequent manager or players to that team is probably unfair.

Klopp’s Liverpool was arguably the best team the club have ever seen, and Liverpool have seen some pretty good teams throughout their history. 

Though they didn’t win the league as regularly as they might have in other eras, where there wasn’t a Pep Guardiola Manchester City to contend with, they were about as good a football team as you can get. 

Arne Slot was able to harness and fine-tune some of this to win the league in the first post-Klopp season, but since 2025 there has been something missing at Liverpool, and it’s not necessarily to do with the quality of players or coaches.

Klopp regularly spoke of his Liverpool players as “mentality monsters.” The German was a rare manager in that he excelled in all aspects of the job, whether it be media duties, motivating his team, or the psychological, personal side of dealing with players. On top of all of that, he was one of the defining tacticians of modern football.

Tactically, there are similarities between the start of Klopp’s era and the beginning of Iraola’s, in that there are immediately noticeable signs of what the coach is trying to do.

It remains to be seen whether Iraola can foster the mentality to go alongside this, and the games against Arsenal and Fenerbahce proved there is a long way to go in this regard.

Liverpool used to feel like a team of captains, and many players under Klopp wore the armband for their national teams. 

Jordan Henderson wore the armband, but there were key figures throughout the team, from Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, and Andy Robertson at the back, to that famous front three who each brought their own character and different kinds of group leadership skills.

The long-reads that were a media trend of that time would often go into depth on how much time Liverpool’s recruitment team spent scouting a player, not only via the data, an area in which the club were a leader in the field, but also the player’s character and background.

This, combined with Klopp’s motivational skills, tactics, and his mentality monsters ethos, plus the buy-in from the Anfield crowd, played a big part in creating that all-time Liverpool team.

Now it feels like Liverpool’s recruitment focuses mostly on data and performance. 

They have a very good group of players, as shown when they went toe to toe with Arsenal, and a very good manager, as shown when a depleted Liverpool side were performing well against Manchester City until going down to ten men.

But the difference in winning and losing those games is not just quality in the dugout and on the field. An extra desire to win and a mental togetherness are required at that level of sport. It is this side of the game that turns talented teams into winning ones, as seen at Arsenal last season and, as seems likely, this season.

There are some leaders remaining from the Klopp era, but in general, Liverpool no longer have that extra edge throughout the squad. This is one of the reasons that their expensive attack, though full of quality, is not making the difference in key moments. It is lacking in the things that data won’t show.

The loss of the core of that Klopp team, as well as the local presence of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones, means Liverpool are rebuilding a winning ethos as well as a group of quality players and staff.

Part of Iraola’s challenge is to get the team playing in a manner that once inspired Anfield and those playing there to win every trophy available, using the style of football that attracted the club to him as their replacement for Slot.

His biggest challenge, though, isn’t tactical or technical. It is the challenge of reawakening the Mentality Monsters.

Men’s Football / 13 September 2026 Liverpool's stuttering start continues with goalless Fulham draw 13 September 2026 Men’s football / 10 September 2026 Mac Allister fires Liverpool to victory over Atletico Madrid 10 September 2026 Men’s Football / 13 July 2026 Iraola vows not to change as he embraces Liverpool’s ‘magic’ 13 July 2026 Men’s Football / 7 January 2026 Liverpool sweat on Ekitike fitness ahead of Arsenal test 7 January 2026 Slot’s Reds face potential attacking blow with Salah away and Isak injured