The Daredevil
Andoni Iraola meets Liverpool's high press.
So I touched on this topic in my first piece on Andoni Iraola just a few days ago — which you can read here — but I’d like to go deeper in this post.
Arne Slot received tons of criticism for his leaky high press this season. Too often, supporters inside Anfield witnessed Liverpool’s front line get bypassed, with that persistent issue ultimately leading to a lack of belief in his methods.
Now, it’s important to note that Slot’s high press failed so often because of his perspective on risk versus reward. He essentially allowed the likes of Hugo Ekitike, Mohamed Salah and Florian Wirtz to be deliberately outnumbered, accepting that fate as a means of establishing a one-man advantage at the back.
Slot’s forwards often had to cover two players at once. But the Dutchman allowed that to happen to protect Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté, who rarely suffered from being outnumbered at the other end. That was the compromise. An unsound press to establish a stable +1 in defence.
But one thing I always questioned was whether such an approach fostered dominance and control. Like, sure, your press getting beat might not result in your opponents scoring because you’ve got enough players back, but at the same time, your press getting beat isn’t exactly helping you dominate the game, is it?
Time for a change.
So Iraola won’t allow Liverpool’s press to be outnumbered up front. He seems more comfortable with the prospect of risk, encouraging his boys to go as a unit while occasionally sacrificing that +1 advantage at the back.
The clip that I used earlier in the week was from a video with The Redmen TV, which you can watch here. In this post, I’ve used one from a fresh video with The Anfield Wrap.
Just by tampering with that subtle principle, Iraola looks set to be more aggressive and proactive than Slot next season. That, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons why the Spaniard is suited to managing a European giant.
