The chatter around Melwood has been building for weeks. Now it is green for go. GoalZaza has learned that Liverpool will sit down with Andoni Iraola t...
The chatter around Melwood has been building for weeks. Now it is green for go. GoalZaza has learned that Liverpool will sit down with Andoni Iraola this week to open formal talks about succeeding Jurgen Klopp. This is not a scattergun approach. This is a deliberate, calculated move by the hierarchy at Anfield.Make no mistake about it. Iraola is not the romantic choice. He is not Xabi Alonso returning to the fold to orchestrate a new dawn. But he might just be the smart one. His work at Bournemouth has been nothing short of a masterclass in tactical flexibility. He has taken a squad that many wrote off and instilled a relentless pressing system that is part heavy metal, part controlled aggression. It is football that breathes fire. It is football that demands everything from the man in the shirt.What does this mean for the Premier League If Iraola walks through the Anfield doors, expect a shift away from the chaotic transitional play that sometimes defined Klopp's later years. Not a wholesale revolution, but a refinement. Iraola is a student of the low block but he is also a fiend for verticality. He wants to get the ball into the final third quickly, with purpose. He is a coach who forces the opposition to make mistakes through sheer physical intensity. That fits the Kop. That fits the DNA.The real question is whether the board will give him the tools to build. Liverpool need a midfield reboot and a defensive spine that doesn't creak. If they back him, and they look ready to back him this week, then Iraola could be the one to keep the machine humming. The Basque has a point to prove. And he is not afraid to get his kit dirty. It might just be the perfect fit for the new era.
