Andoni Iraola didn’t just take over a football club this summer.
He walked into a title-winning dressing room while the rebuild was still in progress. Every early result was examined closely for clues about what comes. Six games deep, a shape is beginning to appear even though the table still says little about it.
A Squad in Transition
This team looks different from the one that ended last season. Ronald Araújo came in on loan from Barcelona and went straight into the back line. He’s done enough that Liverpool have already locked in a €55 million option to sign him for good. Milos Kerkez has claimed the left-back spot and hasn’t given it up. Further forward, Mac Allister, Gravenberch and Szoboszlai are still running midfield, much as they have done for a couple of seasons now.
Up top is where it gets crowded. Isak, Ekitiké, Gakpo and Wirtz all want the same handful of positions, and Bradley Barcola, the club’s biggest signing of the summer, is trying to force his way in as well. Ekitiké’s Achilles injury hasn’t helped matters. He made the Champions League squad regardless, but the club is now saying late January before he’s properly back. That left Isak and Gakpo carrying more weight than Iraola probably wanted at this point in the season.
A Season Still Finding Its Feet
The results alone won’t get anyone excited. A draw at home to open the season against Newcastle. Another draw, this time against Nottingham Forest. The first win didn’t come until Ipswich away, 2-0, nothing memorable about it but three points are three points. Things got more telling in the Champions League. Atletico Madrid scored early at Anfield, and instead of the game drifting away from them; something that happened more than a few times last season, Liverpool clawed it back and won 2-1. That match said more about where this squad is than the Ipswich scoreline ever could.
Then came a goalless draw with Fulham. Iraola didn’t try to spin it afterwards; he came out and said his players looked tired. Three days later he proved that again by rotating heavily for the Carabao Cup tie against Tottenham. Liverpool won 3-1. A handful of players who do not get many minutes received a proper run‑out.
It’s still early days, and Iraola knows it. But something is forming here: a manager who’s willing to leave out big names when they need a rest, and a squad with enough depth that doing so doesn’t wreck the team. That wasn’t always the case at Anfield last year.
Why the Squad Matters Beyond the League Table
Forget the table for a second. This is a squad worth watching on its own merits. Isak’s movement, Wirtz pulling the strings behind him, Van Dijk still organising things at the back, there’s real quality running through this side, and it’s the kind of quality that draws attention well outside matchday. Plenty of that carries over into FC 27, where these same names have turned into some of the most wanted Ultimate Team cards of the year. Fans putting together a Liverpool-heavy squad have leaned on FIFA coins to speed things up, because building a front line this good from nothing takes longer than most people want to wait.
What’s Next
The real test lands once Ekitiké is fit and Iraola actually gets to pick from a full attack for the first time. Until then, judging this Liverpool side purely on where they sit in the table doesn’t tell the whole story. The bigger question is whether the Atletico comeback was a one-off or the start of something real, and right now, it looks more like the latter.
