Andoni Iraola's Premier League Debut at Anfield: Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest

Andoni Iraola walks into his first Premier League game at Anfield with Liverpool still buzzing from late drama, still juggling transfer upheaval, and still trying to fix a midfield that was ripped apart in transitions at Newcastle.

The new head coach spoke at the AXA Training Centre on Thursday with one eye on Nottingham Forest, another on the transfer market, and perhaps a third on the Champions League draw landing later in the day. There was no attempt to play down the noise. He knows exactly where he has landed.

Barcola deal looms over Anfield debut

Liverpool have agreed the structure of a huge deal with Paris Saint-Germain for Bradley Barcola, a transfer worth more than £100m and potentially rising towards £120m with add-ons based on team and individual success. He has been their priority attacking target all summer as they reshape the forward line after Mohamed Salah’s departure.

Iraola, though, stuck rigidly to the party line.

“As you know, we are trying to sign in that position,” he said. “We can’t talk about players who right now aren’t ours. But we are trying to improve and fill that position as we don’t have the numbers. I hope we have good news soon but we are still not there.”

The need is obvious. He made it clear Liverpool are short in the wide areas and that the market, not his wish list, will dictate the final days of the window.

“There are certain things we can do but it’s true we need players in the wide areas,” he admitted. “I’m sure if we can improve other areas we will but I don’t know how the market is going to finish. I have to be patient as well as you. In four or five days we will know what we have and then we can make proper plans.”

For now, everything is provisional. September 2 is the line in the sand.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Then we get to September 2, this is who we have and the options we have, then we can start thinking. For now we don’t know. I have in my head what I want, we’ve been talking since the beginning with the club, they know what we want. It’s about closing the deals.”

Transfers, holes and uncomfortable uncertainty

Liverpool’s recruitment drive has dominated the week. Beyond Barcola, there is ongoing chatter around other wingers, full-backs and midfielders, and whether moves for players such as Ismaila Sarr or Yankuba Minteh are truly dead.

Former defender Stephen Warnock has already called for more – a right-back and a midfielder to follow Barcola through the door – and Iraola did little to disguise where he feels the squad is light.

“It depends on the other positions,” he said when asked if he would be happy with just one or two wingers. “We know from the beginning what we wanted. We are probably down a player in some positions due to long-term injuries and those have been our main issues.”

The constant flux clearly grates.

“It’s very uncomfortable for me as you are dealing with uncertainties all the time,” he admitted. “Even myself I have to be patient. Experience tells us that if there’s an opportunity the last day you can do something.”

That last line hangs over more than just incomings.

Gakpo’s form, and the reality of an open market

Cody Gakpo’s display at Newcastle impressed his new boss, and Iraola was quick to underline the Dutchman’s importance while acknowledging that nobody is completely safe when money moves late in the window.

“After the performance he had in the first game I say the same, he’s playing very well for us,” Iraola said. “He’s been very good since he’s been back from the World Cup. The right attitude and I hope we can keep him at that level. He can be very influential on us.

“When the market is open and we bring in expensive players I cannot guarantee anything. I don’t know. Our players, I cannot guarantee anything about how many we are going to sign or whatever.”

The message: he wants to build around key performers, but he’s working inside a business as much as a dressing room.

Midfield scrutiny and the battle for balance

If transfers are the background noise, the midfield is the fire alarm. Liverpool’s defensive transitions at Newcastle drew fierce criticism, even with Dominik Szoboszlai snatching a late equaliser.

Iraola, though, pushed back on the idea that one chaotic afternoon defined his team.

“Not surprised,” he said of the reaction. “I expected when I came here that everything would be magnified. I’m starting to understand. But it’s just one game where we did a lot of very good things, even the players in midfield did, but there are definitely things we need to improve.”

He pointed to the structure around the first goal as the bigger issue.

“I think the first goal is more to blame than the second in terms of how we positioned when we lost the ball,” he said. “We will soon be talking about something else.”

He doesn’t want to neuter his midfielders. Ryan Gravenberch’s forward thrust is part of the plan, not a problem to be coached out of him.

“We can’t attack with everyone,” Iraola said. “I don’t want to tell Ryan Gravenberch don’t carry the ball as he scored against Monaco, it came from his pass to Alex. But there is a balance, recognising the situation, how we can balance those numbers in those positions.

“Sometimes you have to accept the players go forward, it isn’t always one stays back and one goes forward. If the opposition are defending deep maybe both can go forward.”

The work since Newcastle has focused on that knife-edge.

“We don’t want to lose the offensive side, the fluidity, the arrival of numbers, but we were punished the other day,” he said. “We have been intently working on it. We can’t go from one way where we send a lot of people forward to putting everyone back and it looks stale. It’s a matter of identifying the situation. The players who are very good, they smell whether they can take the risk of going or staying, it’s the quality of the player who takes those decisions.”

“We felt closer to scoring than Newcastle”

Strip away the drama of the late equaliser and Iraola actually liked a lot of what he saw at St James’ Park.

“I thought we controlled the game quite well,” he said. “I felt we had meaningful possession, were quite direct in attack. I was feeling good in the game, I felt we were closer to scoring than Newcastle in most part of the game. I felt good things in the first game.”

One of those positives was young defender Jacquet, who was thrown into the intensity of a Premier League opener and came out with credit.

“He played very well considering it was his first game,” Iraola said. “It’s true he was tired, we had to sub him as you could feel he was tired in the last five minutes. He is very confident on the ball and good without the ball. Very young, we have to accept he will make mistakes.”

Selection calls: no Chiesa, no Elliott

Team news brought its own talking points. Fede Chiesa will not feature after a setback.

“Fede is not available, in the game against Como he felt something in his back,” Iraola revealed.

Harvey Elliott, meanwhile, is again on the wrong side of the numbers game.

“With Harvey and some of the players I can only choose 20,” Iraola said. “Harvey is trying and improving every week but I still prefer other options, about the balance on the bench. That’s why James McConnell was in the squad, but it’s now another new week and new chances for everyone. They have to keep that mentality.”

The message is blunt but clear: the door isn’t closed, but nobody is guaranteed a place.

Forest, Glasner and a painful recent history

Now comes Anfield. And with it, a very specific ghost.

Nottingham Forest have taken a perverse delight in their recent visits to this ground. Under Arne Slot, they won 1-0 in September 2024, just his second home league game, then returned last November to inflict a 3-0 defeat on a side already sliding badly. The aggregate across those two games: 4-0 to Forest.

Oliver Glasner brings a team that Iraola clearly respects.

“He has been very successful,” the Liverpool boss said. “You can see straight away the shape. They don’t concede many chances, against Leeds it was a very tight game which was won with a free-kick in the last minute. We will have to earn every chance, win our duels, nothing is for free.

“We have to be good on the ball and patient because defensively they are very solid and good and have very good players. In transitions they are good threats on the counter.”

The “Tricky Trees” nickname has rarely felt more appropriate at Anfield than over the last two seasons. Iraola knows it.

Anfield awaits

For all the tactical talk and transfer tension, Saturday is about something simpler: a first Premier League game at Anfield for a new head coach who understands the stage he’s stepping onto.

“It’s going to be a special moment for me to have first PL game at Anfield,” he said. “I already felt it in pre-season. I will be thinking of the game but it’s also going to be emotional, it has to be like this as it’s a special place. I hope everything goes well and I enjoy the game.”

Forest have spoiled this fixture twice in a row. The market is still open. The squad is still shifting. The midfield is still under the microscope.

How quickly Iraola can turn all that noise into a controlled Anfield performance will tell plenty about where Liverpool are really heading this season.