Carra meets Iraola! Liverpool boss chats playing style, transfers and facing Newcastle.

0:04Every Premier League manager has a different story and in this new series, Boss, I'm interviewing someone. And today we're starting with Liverpool's Andoni Iraola.

0:19From his high-pressing revolution at Bournemouth to stepping into the hot seat at Anfield, this is my first chat with the new manager.

0:30Okay, Andoni. Okay, how are you? Yes, very good. Good to see you. All good? Andoni, first of all, I want to say welcome to Liverpool, the new manager of my club, our club, right now. How's the first couple of months been?

0:49Andoni Iraola:I think lovely, lovely. Always before a start, everyone is happy. There are no complaints. We'll see now, now, when we start the competition. but it's been a good period for me. I arrived quite early in the summer and I did my homework in terms of schools, the house and this before we started and it's been a good period, yeah. You always say when you talk about players coming to the club, we talk about maybe not being in a hotel, making sure the family's right. We don't seem to say as much about managers. Is that really important, making sure the family is set and gives you a greater opportunity to do the job that you want?

1:27Andoni Iraola:For me, it's very important. And I used the month of June. I still had the kids in Bournemouth at school. But I came two, three times so I could solve everything before we moved, definitely, as a family. And I go with my family everywhere. You know, and I always say I can live almost everywhere. Because, you know, it's basically work, you go home, you go training ground again, you go home. But it's important. My wife, my kids, they are happy. and I think they will be really fine here. Have you found the football side of it in these first couple of months? Pre-season, obviously going on tour, probably a lot different from what you're used to at Bournemouth.

2:06Andoni Iraola:Yeah, I think I was lucky because we went to Chicago a couple of weeks. I had experience just the year before with Bournemouth, the same place. And obviously it's different in terms of Liverpool is a global club. Everywhere you go, it's full of supporters. you go with the bus and you don't see the end of people waiting for you it's overwhelming but it's really nice what's been the big thing that's stood out that's different you know the size of the club, one of the biggest clubs in the world is there something that maybe is a little bit unexpected the size of the club the demand for your time you know more or less where you are coming for me it's about being efficient because we have a lot of resources here, a lot of people working, so it's about how can we use them so we have an advantage against other clubs it's okay, we have an incredible data department or the analyst, how can we use all this so they give us a whatever 2%, 3 % advantage against the other teams.

3:14How pleased have you been with pre-season, how it's gone things you want to look at, work on, there's been some obviously bright spots in other games where it hasn't gone as well?

3:21Andoni Iraola:Yes, I think we've had a little bit of everything. Overall, I think we've been like much better first half than second half. But preseason is always, you are never sure where you are, because preseason is a lot of changes in the starting line-up. You don't really know if the opposition has gone full gas, if they've been working a lot before, where you are. So I think it's like a lot of question marks until this starts, no? And now it's going going to start soon so we will know it's where we are. And only you've had a little sample of Anfield in the pre-season games when you sort of this is what we think of Liverpool it's obviously the football but in terms of the supporters the cop Anfield that crowd getting behind us isn't it and that's going to make such a difference for you?

4:06Andoni Iraola:Yes I think every time I get into the building you feel something inside and I think probably because I'm new I don't know it happens when you've been here working for a lot of years but you need to feel something inside like, oof, this is an important place, this is, you know, I have to be at the level because the top things are expected here when you work for Liverpool and I think everyone that works here in this building has to feel the same when we get in every day. Well, obviously I'm the one doing the interviewing, so the supporters obviously would want me to ask certain questions as well.

4:42At the moment, Liverpool supporters are getting a little bit nervous because of the lack of activity in the transfer market. I think it was something you mentioned a few weeks ago, saying, you know, we need players. Can I get an exclusive for you, that Liverpool will sign a player before the end of the transfer window?

4:58Andoni Iraola:Another one? No, we'll definitely sign players, yes, yes, yes. I hope more than one, yes, yes. The thing is, me as a coach, selfishly, I want the players for the first day of pre-season, you know, so everyone is ready to go and we can make the mistake in pre-season. But also I understand how this works. Some deals you have to wait until the end. At the end, the important picture is the one we have the 1st of September. And I hope, because it's true that we are still quite thin, we can have more help from here until the end of the market. For yourself, does it work differently at Liverpool than it did at Bournemouth?

5:38On that type of thing, you've worked with the sporting director Richard Hughes before, but are there any differences when you're trying to get a player over the line for Liverpool rather than Bournemouth?

5:46Andoni Iraola:I think probably the money, the level of the player is different, but the issues normally are very similar. I think some deals you cannot do in the beginning. You have to wait. You have your hopes of, okay, let's think that this is possible. It's not possible today. Maybe it's going to be possible later, and you have to be patient as a manager. I think you learn with experience. probably the first summers are very hard because you want your team ready to go straight away but at the end for me the key is once the market is finished we are happy with the team that we have so if the manager has got to be patient the supporters have got to be patient yes?

6:28Andoni Iraola:yes no more solutions right now

6:35and don't worry obviously we've finished pre-season now we're into the sort of the big league but you're a new manager for Liverpool but you're not a new manager for the Premier League and something that really fascinated me a couple of years ago about your team was a quote from Pep Guardiola talking about your team and other teams in the Premier League saying this is the future of football this is the way the game's going in terms of your style of play I mean do you concur with that? Do you agree with that? I don't think

7:07Andoni Iraola:the future of football is just one style I think football evolves very quickly. But it's true that we are seeing more and more the teams. Basically, every goal kick is a man-to-man situation. Now, 80-90 % of the situations. It was difficult to think, like maybe three, four years ago. And this means that football evolves very quickly. But it will change again. And then we will start playing a little bit lower and leaving the opposition more the ball. and someone will win that will do something different and everyone will try to copy the same thing. I think you have to read the moments and for me the key is to believe in the things that you are doing.

7:50Andoni Iraola:I think I'm here because the way we want to play is quite clear and you can identify it. And as you said, I'm not new in the league, more or less even players when you arrive, they suspect what you are going to demand from them and I think this cannot change too much. I think I will need to adapt to be in Liverpool and to sometimes control a little bit more the games if you want. But now I prefer to make mistakes probably going more towards the other side than to more control situations because I know that's easier to fix than opposite. I've seen you say that what you've just said you don't want to lose what's special about your teams but you're going to have to learn to have maybe more control do you have to alter your training around that do things slightly differently because you are managing one of the big boys rather than someone coming up against the bigger teams that's mandatory because the same exercise with the Liverpool players it evolves differently you know, without me giving any different instruction because they play it in a different way because there is more control naturally in the exercises so I have to be they are used the teams have certain tempos with the ball and this is very difficult to change you know I think I have to be the one changing a little bit we are used to do these things let's say the positive things about this but we need something also different and that's what we are trying to do, yes.

9:42It was interesting what you said and I agree with you where it feels like in the last four or five years teams in the Premier League there's been an obsession just to make the games move to man-to-man marking and then the spare man becomes the goalkeeper really in a lot of ways but what I find interesting about your team because you're very famous for pressing and how your teams are off the ball and you have a mixture, like a hybrid sort of system of at times man-to-man marking, at times zonal marking.

10:09Andoni Iraola:Yeah, no, it's true. It's true. I always say, if you go straight away man-to-man, most of the teams will play long and then it's a matter of winning the second balls and I want, if they go long, I want to have one more than them. So I want sometimes to keep the plus one, but also you have to be aggressive enough to sometimes arrive to man-to-man situations and there is a lot of interpretation there in between. Some players have to leave in between opposition players. When it's worth it to risk and jump, when it's not worth it, it's not going to be the same against all the opposition. Some opposition you have to invite them to play more, others they will play, so you have to be even more aggressive.

10:51Andoni Iraola:And this is the cat and mouse game we always play, no? And the more we play, the more the players understand what we are trying to do. I think it's going to get better, but we have to go through these processes. Your system at Bournemouth was fantastic. Obviously, we've seen the results each year getting better, but you had a difficult start when you first went into Bournemouth. Does that show that your way of playing is, or in terms of without the ball, is it a lot of training work? Is it a lot to get into the players? Is it almost going to take time for that to come to fruition with Liverpool?

11:29Andoni Iraola:I think it's not just me. I think you can feel straight away the teams that have been with the same manager for three, four, five seasons you know they do the basics you know already very well and then they add certain things from season to season but there is a structure there is a floor in that team that always the performance will be there will be a minimum and that's the advantage when you are in a place first year you have to change a lot of things second year you already have a base of players that already know it they will help the ones adding the third year and my last two projects have been three years in Radio Vatican or three years in Bournemouth so normally you go improving but I know also what you are going to tell me now is that this is Liverpool, they are not going to wait for you 10 games until this gets going, no?

12:16Andoni Iraola:No, we'll wait, we'll wait, don't worry we'll pay, we'll wait, don't worry I know I know these demands and I want to think we are going to be probably not 100 % on Sunday but good enough to get results.

12:59Andoni Iraola:4 ,500 live matches this season. Search GetSky Sports to find out more. That's not bad, you know. Do you reckon I could get on the telly? Don't push it. Well, there goes that dream.

13:18And Tony, I want to touch on your playing career or your experiences that you've had in the game from other coaches. and I think the first name that comes to mind is Bielsa a lot when people talk about your coaching and maybe the style of football. But I was interested to hear that you said maybe your favourite coach or your biggest influence was actually Valverde.

13:39Andoni Iraola:Yes, yes, for me, I always say when they ask me about one manager that I use as a friend, I think it's Ernesto. Valverde, I've had him also in the academy for Athletic Club. He was the first one who gave me the chance to play for the first team after I had him at the end of my career, the last years in Athletic Club also. And I've learned a lot from him. I agree with the Bielsa information also in terms of two seasons with Marcelo. I think there is an influence there also. but if you ask me the similarities in terms of style or how your teams play I would go more always with Valverde yes so why do you think you link so often with Bielsa with style of players a bit because of the he's really man to man orientated whenever I've sort of watched his team certainly leads in the Premier League yours is slightly different so you're taking what you feel are the real key strengths from Bielsa and added your own twist to it yes people remember me if they remember me as a player.

14:46Andoni Iraola:They remember me normally in those Bielsa years because we played an European final, we played a Copa del Rey final and we beat, I remember beating United, beating so probably English people recognised me as a player more in that moment of my career. But it's true that in terms of similarities, I don't see a lot. I don't see a lot. I would like to have some of the dynamics, especially on the ball because Marcelo asks you a lot in terms of movement without the ball attacks behind double movements a lot of things that make the game quite fluid but it's difficult to replicate honestly his game you have to almost take it everything so I think I've used more from other managers Does it frustrate you and is it something you want to show when you're the manager of Liverpool that when people talk about your team or the teams that you've played for, it always feels like you're talking about that team without the ball.

15:51Andoni Iraola:Yes. Are you sure what you can do with the ball as well? Yes, I think you cannot separate faces in the ball and without the ball. I don't want to be like, in the ball, I'm going to be like this manager, without the ball, like this one. No, because they both are very influenced one by the other. You cannot separate the things. How you attack is going to influence how you are going to defend and opposite. So I think I have quite clear how the team has to play or I want the team to play. After it's adapting small things so our players can feel more comfortable, especially when we have the ball, find the right spaces for each of the players.

16:36Andoni Iraola:But I think there is an identity, there is something that people will demand from me and people will demand from the team that we have to give them. I think right now Spain is a hotbed for producing great players, but also great managers and World Cup winners right now as well. But I think it's fair to say your style of play as a manager and probably a player is different to maybe the Spain team that won the World Cup. Can you give us an insight of that sort of style when you were a player? Because I've seen you sort of reference it like almost you were a right-back putting crosses in for, you know, Llorente or the big centre forward.

17:14Are there a lot of different sort of styles and ways of doing things in Spain?

17:17Andoni Iraola:Yes, even now Spain that has won the World Cup again, I think that this Spain is very different from the Spain of 2010 that won the first World Cup. I think now you can see they even press higher, I would say, more intense without the ball. Before, probably Spain just absolutely dominated the game on the ball, in possession. I think they had the ball almost all the time and they basically defended on the ball. They didn't want to risk it too much and for me it was completely different from what I've been used at my club. It was a big challenge for me but I learned a lot from those situations. Honestly, I didn't play a lot with them.

18:03Andoni Iraola:It was very difficult to play with them. I sometimes went there. I was on the bench most of the times but I use that experience to feel like how much you can control in possession a game and a style that I think is different from what I'm used, but I really love this. Athletic club is a club, I should say, close to my heart and the traditions that they have there. And the reason being is I got an award there last season for being a one-club man. and you were obviously the same with Athletic Club. I've seen a quote from you that I saw it and I thought, that's exactly what I used to think when I was a player at Liverpool, in that you said you didn't enjoy it as much as you should or you were too hard on yourself because it was your club.

18:53That was exactly how I feel about my career. And I look back now and think, I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have and I was too hard on myself, really. I thought it was lovely the fact that you had the same experience at the Athletic Club.

19:36Andoni Iraola:I don't want to see anyone. I don't want to... And you don't really enjoy it. And I always say that I've enjoyed more my time as a manager because of this. Because I think when you leave playing, there are one, two, three years when you understand maybe it wasn't as important. You know, if I stop playing, nobody cares. You know, now a lot of people don't recognize you and you regret a little bit, not really like having enjoyed those those moments because they are not going to come again. We cannot play anymore. So now it's probably late and I wouldn't like this to happen when I when I'm a coach.

20:19Andoni Iraola:And that's probably one of the things why I'm ready almost to take risks because I don't feel that pressure that I felt probably when I was playing. And I from the things you say, I think it's a similar feeling with you. when I think of myself as a player I also think because I was so intense and it sounds like you were exactly the same if I'd have played for another club I may have enjoyed it I may have played a little bit freer but would I have been the same player I don't know if I'd have been a better player or a worse player do you sometimes think about that if you could have maybe been a level higher or was what made you the player because of that intensity every day that feeling in your stomach yes we'll never know we'll never know I think when you are a lot of time in a club you finish being the captain you have to kind of be the role model for everything so you always put like the club first you want everyone to feel good you think collectively every time so I don't know how much this helps you or doesn't allow you to evolve yourself now we cannot change it but it's true that in clubs like Liverpool, like Athletic Club, like for me are special clubs, everything feels like a little bit more.

21:40Andoni Iraola:You feel it a little bit more and the feelings are different. You mentioned about being a manager and taking more risk and we know there's a lot of managers, it looks like you're taking over the Premier League, certainly from the Basque region. And you said everybody has their different ways, their own ways, different styles throughout Spain and different managers. Would you class yourself as one of the riskier? Or you'd go for it more on the front foot, more proactive? I don't want also to be a riskier. Riskier sounds like you are not effective. Our approach is because we think it's the best way to win.

22:21Andoni Iraola:I prefer to be a good team and win things than to be entertaining. A lot of people say, no, it's very entertaining to see. I always say, I prefer that you tell me, you are very good. You know, you are solid. You can, and I want to think that our teams and my teams always have been quite organized. They talk a lot about this chaos, about this, like, but for me, there is a lot of organization there. There is a lot, there is a purpose on everything. There is everyone in the team. I want them to know what they are doing, but also what the teammates are supposed to do. So when something doesn't work, everyone looks at the same player like, you should be here, you should be the one.

23:08Andoni Iraola:And there is a matter of they learn from each other. And this is the point where we need to arrive, that everyone understands what everyone is doing, so they can sometimes even solve situations without me intervening. When you say it'll take a time to arrive to that point, can you give us a time scale at any stage? Is this something that you think would take a few months to bed in? It could happen quickly, it could be longer. Wherever we arrive is not like the end point. We will need to keep improving, keep improving, keep improving. And football is always like this. And the things that you are doing are not enough anymore, so you have to do something extra.

23:47Andoni Iraola:And you have to do something better and quicker. and this is the evolution how fast we will arrive to certain points, how I think that the quicker we understand things the most complete as a team we can be in terms of we can change things live in games, we don't want to wait until half time to change things because if you are ready, everyone understands you can just do three things and then we change the approach and we change, but now probably we are A, B, C, we are not in the very far, no? There is a moment where I would like us to be far in, so you can adjust things more quickly and things become almost like, sometimes even I love it when players come to me and they ask me, they come to me so quick in a break and they tell me, no, they are doing this, I think we should do this and this.

24:44Andoni Iraola:that's the moment where you think, OK, now we are getting it, we are there. You said you want your team to be organised. I think every manager would say he wants his team to be organised. But what we've seen sort of in pre-season a little bit is maybe games end to end. Your style of football is probably a little bit more direct or the first pass forward. So it lends itself to maybe a more transitional game. Is that the big challenge for you as a coach, certainly at Liverpool now, is to almost have a little bit more control of the game and be less transitional? For me, it's about having the chances for ourselves.

25:19Andoni Iraola:It's not about the control. It's not about the amount of possession. It's not about I want us to be the team with the chances. You know, I will put you an example of in Monaco. It was a very... We lost it two, three, because we lost that game. And we were very good in the first half. I think we had the same possession, first half and second half. The first half, I think we had like 15 shots or something like this. We were all over them. in the second half we had exactly the same amount of possession 51-52 % but they were all over us so it's not a matter of if we spend more time on the ball it's a matter of arriving and having the chances and you feel it straight away I think there has to be a purpose in possession which sometimes like a lot of teams do we have to rest on the ball I prefer to rest on the ball than rest without the ball because it's you are the one deciding when to start playing faster.