Andoni Iraola has already demonstrated the qualities Liverpool were missing as he prepares his side for the trip to Crystal Palace, with the Reds needing a response after back-to-back defeats.
Iraola's Premier League Knowledge
At his press conference on Friday, Iraola's take on going to Selhurst Park may be one of the reasons Liverpool were so keen to hire him in the summer. Although things went south in his second season, in Arne Slot the Basque boss was replacing a Premier League winner, but the Reds have been indebted to Iraola's knowledge of the more recent changes in the English game when it comes to their most impressive results this season.
Indeed, it was Slot's failure to successfully transition his team from serene title winners in the 2024/25 campaign into a side capable of holding their own in the muck and bullets world of the 2025/26 season which ultimately did for his job, but with the arrival of Iraola came someone who had been there on the front line.
Workmanlike Performances
While Slot oversaw defeats to Brentford, Iraola's Bournemouth and Brighton as his Liverpool tenure fell apart, his replacement has already delivered workmanlike performances that were enough to beat all three of those outfits this season.
And it is the tough away victories at Brentford and Bournemouth that are on Iraola's mind ahead of this trip to Crystal Palace, with the need to respond clear after back-to-back losses to Arsenal and Fenerbahce.
"Now we have to react after two defeats," said Iraola, whose team went into the weekend having committed the most fouls in the Premier League this season, many of them of the tactical variety. "We need the win against Palace away and we've been, I think, in similar situations – I remember Bournemouth before the (previous) international break, even the Brentford game. So, we have to go there and do the job and win the game."
Physical Battle Ahead
To win that game, Iraola knows he will need to make his side as physical, durable and Premier League-ready as possible. Palace are by no means one of the division's more robust sides under Pierre Sage, but the Frenchman could face the sack with a defeat and is sure to make Sunday's clash as compact as possible.
"I think it's a team that has good quality players inside," continued Iraola. "They put in their box in the middle - Adam Wharton, Daichi Kamada, Yeremy Pino, Quinten Timber – all the players that can play there are good on the ball. And also, it's a pitch that is not the biggest pitch, so you feel quickly under pressure in terms of one throw-in, one long ball, straight away it goes into the boxes. So, there is a lot of situations inside the boxes that you have to be very good offensively and defensively."
If the game does play out that way then Iraola is surely to be reliant on the battling qualities of Ronald Araujo, who is likely to return after being rested at Fenerbahce. The combative Uruguayan has been quick to win over Reds fans since joining on loan from Barcelona, and was voted the club's player of the month for October.
"I feel grateful for the love without doubt from the first moment I arrived at the club," said Araujo, who has also contributed two goals in the Champions League. "They made me feel like one of them and I tried to back that with hard work, with commitment, by giving the very best of myself in every training session, during every match. Hopefully we can win titles this season to bring them even more joy."
