Eamonn MacFheoras

Andoni Iraola to Liverpool? The schedule with Europe and Premier League, intensity of his style of play, injury record & player profile at Liverpool is raising a number of concerns Ahead of the Arne Slot Reaction Show we recorded on Sunday for @TheAnfieldWrap I took a deeper look at the injuries, 1st vs 2nd half of season records & approach taken at Bournemouth to understand whether concerns are matched by the data and whether there are any positive signs to ease concerns…… Graphic below is the xG rolling trendline 01/01/26 to end of season @Statsbomb for Bournemouth 1)INTENSITY The data backs up the eyes 22/23 Iraola's Rayo Vallecano forced more high turnovers which led to a shot (68) than any side in the top five European leagues except Bayern Munich (73) In the past 2 seasons at Bournemouth Iraola’s side are -99th percentile and 98th percentile for high press shots -100th and 96th percentile for aggression 2)INJURIES Up until July 2025 Iraola at every club – every season – had a negative trend …. Iraola had NEVER overseen a second half of a campaign that outperformed the first in terms of points gained He had a reputation for burning his squad out during the first half of the season and tailing off with injury issues even without European football In 2024/25 season they lost over 1100 days to injury 3)2025/26 – JANUARY CHANGE IN APPROACH & POSITIVE RESULTS 2025/26 Bournemouth A) Post their best injury numbers as an aggregate of injuries and illness suffered in the past 8 seasons B)153 games missed due to injury ranked 8th in league C)Post a huge improvement January 2026 to end of season D)End the season going 18 games unbeaten E) Iraola’s side end the season performing well during the 2nd half of the season with a budget that should result in a lower bottom half finish   Quite remarkable when they start the season absolutely flying - 2nd place after matchday 9 Then suffer significant injury crisis and go 11 games without a win between Matchweeks 10 to 20 WHY? WHAT CHANGED JANUARY ONWARDS? A lot. A)NEW PERFORMANCE CENTRE Bournemouth had invested over £30m in a new sports science and medical performance centre. This was functioning fully January 2026 onwards B)DR ROBERT MARSHALL Recruited in summer 2025 he arrived from RB Leipzig in July last year as Bournemouth’s Director of Medical and Performance. Iraola raves about him His role was in part to ensure all the departments within the performance centre worked in harmony in conjunction with Iraola. C)SQUAD AGE 2nd youngest squad in the league I am sure helps D)IRAOLA Iraola made tweaks in line with the performance centre recommendations Training and in game set up changes reportedly helped Rotation Strategic substitutes Arguably had the performance centre been in place July 2025 Bournemouth may have posted even better improvements in their injury data at the end of the 2025/26 season as it’s skewed by first half of season data There is a lot more to delve in to in respect of his tactics, in and out of possession set up, authority, leadership and training methods Based on the work done at Bournemouth January 2026 onwards it would suggest that Iraola can work positively complementing the performance staff at Liverpool He will also have even greater resources in all areas at Liverpool He has also ended the trend of his sides physically and results wise blowing up during the 2nd half of a season There is a lot he needs to prove – and managing European campaign and Premier League is an obvious one – but he can point to the lack of performance centre (up until recently at Bournemouth) and the results since the integration of the performance centre / Dr Robert Marshall, positively as evidence of how he could work with the performance staff at Liverpool to balance intensity and the schedule