Iraola Urges Liverpool to Start Strong Ahead of Fulham Clash
Andoni Iraola has seen enough of the chase.
Liverpool’s new manager has watched his side scrap and claw their way back into games since the season began, turning deficits into points and anxiety into applause. The resilience is obvious. The pattern is worrying.
Three times in his first four matches in charge, Liverpool have conceded the opening goal. Three times they have had to burn energy and emotion just to get level. Iraola wants that habit gone.
“I think the team has goals in it,” he said ahead of Fulham’s visit to Anfield. He is right: Liverpool have scored at least twice in every game under him. “We’ve been dangerous, we’ve created chances… but now it’s about being more efficient.”
The numbers back his irritation. No first-half goal in their opening two league fixtures. Always the chasers, never the early controllers. The mood shifted only at Ipswich last Friday, when Alexander Isak struck twice inside the first 10 minutes in a 2-0 win that finally allowed Liverpool to manage a game on their own terms.
The contrast could not be clearer. Against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, Liverpool had to fight back to draw. Against Atletico Madrid, they trailed again before turning it around for a 2-1 victory. The spirit is not in question; the timing is.
“The other games, we started losing and then you have to do a lot of effort to come back,” Iraola explained. He does not hide what he wants. “I would like obviously to score the first goal and then everything looks easier, but we need to have the right mentality.”
The Atletico match underlined the fine margins. Within about 15 seconds, Alex Mac Allister had a clear chance to score. Take it, and the narrative is about a blistering start. Miss it, and the familiar uphill climb returns.
“You score and it changes,” Iraola said. “But I think the start of the games is probably one of the parts where we can be a little bit better. In the second half we’ve normally been better, but I want to try and impose ourselves from the beginning because it becomes easier, everything.”
That is the demand now: authority from the first whistle, not just from the hour mark.
Arbeloa’s harsh introduction
Waiting for Liverpool at Anfield is a familiar face in an unfamiliar role.
Alvaro Arbeloa, once a dependable right-back for Real Madrid and Liverpool, now stands in the opposite technical area as Fulham head coach, only in the second senior job of his managerial career.
His step into the Real Madrid hot seat in January ended without silverware and without a second season, as the club turned back to Jose Mourinho. The restart at Craven Cottage has been no gentler. Three Premier League games, three defeats: Chelsea, Sunderland, Crystal Palace. No points, no breathing space.
The scorelines, though, tell a more nuanced story. All three losses came by a single goal. Fulham have competed, just not converted that into anything tangible.
Iraola has noticed.
“We have played just three Premier League games and to make big conclusions about any team, I think it’s too early, and I think Fulham is a great example,” the Liverpool manager said. “I think they have played well in the three games, honestly. They’ve lost the three games by one goal.”
Look at the underlying numbers, he argued, and you would not think Fulham were pointless. “If you see a lot of the stats they have and you don’t know the points they have, you will think they have five points at least because they’ve been controlling the games.”
It is a warning as much as a compliment. A reminder that a wounded side with decent performances behind them can be more dangerous than a comfortable mid-table one.
Old teammates, new stakes
There is a personal thread running through this fixture too. Iraola and Arbeloa once shared a dressing room for Spain, vying for the same spot on the right side of defence.
“I think we played maybe very few times together in the national team,” Iraola admitted. “We were fighting more or less for the same position, but I think he was more successful in that he played more games than me!”
The rivalry then was friendly but real, two full-backs pushing each other for minutes. Now it stretches across the technical areas at Anfield, with one trying to preserve an unbeaten start and the other desperate for a first point.
For Iraola, the message to his players is clear: the comebacks have been impressive, the character unquestionable. But this Liverpool cannot live off reaction alone.
He wants them to strike first, and for once, make the rest of the afternoon feel straightforward.
