If Andoni Iraola was not fully convinced as to the true size of the club he has joined in Liverpool, then the next fortnight will prove to be an eye opener. So too will the enormity of his task at Anfield as the new head coach prepares to follow the man who followed the Man.
From Slot to Iraola: A New Era
Two years ago, it was Arne Slot's deft tweaks that turned a squad bequeathed to him by Jurgen Klopp into a champion team, with work beginning on a pre-season tour of the United States. “Kill them with passes” was the inescapable phrase heard by those at Lincoln Financial Field as Slot put his charges to work in an open training session in Philadelphia. No such activity is planned for Liverpool's Stateside trip this time around as things stand, but death by transition might be the demands of Iraola this time around as the new man goes about installing an entirely different brand of football to the stodgy strategy that limped to fifth last time out.
Reconnecting with the Fans
Slot admitted he felt saddened that his team could be called 'boring' at one point last season, and if there was no doubt that the consistently ordinary displays were not what he was trying to achieve during a chastening campaign, the prosaic approach did not mesh well with a fanbase reared in more recent times on a diet of organised chaos. If teams are made in their manager's image, then Iraola bucks the trend. The Basque coach said all the right things in his maiden press conference last week, but his hard running and heavy pressing chimes with his unassuming, mild-mannered nature. Iraola does not immediately strike as the type of character to whip the Main Stand up behind his Anfield technical area if the mood ever dictated, but his teams have always performed better than the sum of their parts and have done so in a stylish and hard-working way.
Proving Himself at Anfield
If the Liverpool support needs to be reconnected to the team who graces the turf, then it will arrive through an unrelenting shift from the players rather than any force of personality from the man in the hotseat. That, you suspect, is how Iraola would prefer it too. He accepts he needs to prove himself at this stratospheric level, but the former Bournemouth boss was also canny enough to know that he is the new head coach of the Reds because of what he has done previously. There is no need to rip up the blueprint now. If anything, the quality of player now at his disposal should enable him to reinforce the traits needed to inspire the match-going support.
Tour Schedule and Squad
It all begins on Tuesday in Chicago when Iraola meets the press. Games in Nashville and New York will follow against Sunderland and Wrexham, respectively, before a final match in Illinois, against Leeds United at Soldier Field. The decision has been taken to have Hugo Ekitike, Stefan Bajcetic, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley as part of the travelling contingent, with the quartet set to continue their respective rehabs from long-term injuries. The star power is in short supply given the World Cup exertions of many in the squad, but American supporters will still get to savour the likes of Curtis Jones, Milos Kerkez and Dominik Szoboszlai in action. It's a vitally important period for the likes of Harvey Elliott, Jeremie Frimpong and Federico Chiesa as they look to put a forgettable season behind them. It's also a critical couple of weeks for Jeremy Jacquet, the new £60m capture, who is likely to start alongside Virgil van Dijk when the Premier League season begins at Newcastle United on August 23.
Commercial Importance
Commercially, the tour is as important as ever, with Liverpool posting revenues north of £700m for the first time in their history earlier this year. Partnerships with blue-chip companies like Google Pixel, UPS and Expedia, to name just three, remain vital to the club's attempts to diversify their revenue streams, and pre-season jaunts like this are as much about the business as they are the football. That is the reality of the modern game. The Reds will launch their brand new away kit on the New York leg of their tour, with an Adidas event planned in Brooklyn, and it would be no surprise if the advertisements for fashion giants Tommy Hilfiger, one of the more recent agreements, were not ramped up Stateside either. The club will hope the success of the World Cup in North America will have a beneficial impact on the trip too as they look to get closer to their swelling fanbase on the other side of the pond. For Liverpool, such fanfare in this part of the world is nothing new. For Iraola, however, it might just lead to a dawning realisation as to the magnitude of his new role.
