J\u00fcrgen Klopp\u2019s final words on the microphone were recycled as the first Anfield chant for Arne Slot. That affectionate handover masks a blunt truth Slot himself flagged last season \u2014 a template that thrives on turnovers can be dismantled when opponents stop offering the ball.<\/p>\n
Andoni Iraola arrives from Bournemouth with a reputation for relentless pressing. The former Rayo Vallecano coach transformed the Cherries into one of the Premier League\u2019s most potent high-pressing teams, but their output collapsed when they were denied the chance to press. The financial gulf between Bournemouth and England\u2019s elite only sharpens the question of how Iraola will adapt to a club operating on a far larger stage.<\/p>\n
Klopp accepted that Liverpool had to marry their counter-pressing with control in possession. \u201cThe high individual quality of our players allows us to control games in possession now,\u201d Klopp\u2019s assistant Peter Krawietz told The Athletic after Liverpool won the Premier League title in 2020, \u201cand to take up positions close to the ball\u2014to be able to win it back again quickly if we do lose it.\u201d Slot inherited a side that combined possession and pressing, but opponents altered the contest and Liverpool suffered as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we do things different, I do see teams doing a lot of different things against us,\u201d Slot explained in October after three straight defeats. \u201cTeams played in a completely different way against us in the first half of last season than they did when we were top of the league and the Champions League after half the season. And I can see this going now into this part of this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iraola captured the same dilemma: \u201cPlaying against elite sides gives you opportunities other teams don\u2019t,\u201d Iraola has admitted. \u201cWhat you have to do is stay on top of them as they bring the ball out and make them so uncomfortable that you can maneuver them into losing the ball.\u201d That worked infrequently when Bournemouth had at least 55% possession in 2025\u201326 \u2014 one win from 13 games, 14 goals for and 13 points \u2014 versus 12 wins, 44 goals and 44 points in the 25 matches where they had less than 55% possession.<\/p>\n
Slot also highlighted a short-term answer: \u201cWe have to find answers to that,\u201d he explained. \u201cLast season, one of the answers was set pieces\u2014like many teams unlock low blocks with set pieces\u2014and this season we haven’t done that, yet.\u201d Set-piece data underlines the shared vulnerability: Liverpool conceded a league-high 20 set-piece goals; Bournemouth conceded 18 and faced the highest set-piece xG in the division. Stats via Opta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iraola faces a tactical gamble: Bournemouth pressing thrives on turnovers, falters without them. end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[739,175,969],"tags":[1162,1615,299],"class_list":["post-14194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bournemouth","category-liverpool","category-premier-league","tag-analytics","tag-andoni-iraola","tag-arne-slot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}