Araujo Right-Back Form Solves Pressing Defensive Concern
Andoni Iraola has found an answer to one of Liverpool’s trickiest problems, and it arrived without much fanfare. The Ronald Araujo right-back solution has eased a selection headache that looked far more serious only a few weeks ago. It has done so quietly rather than through any grand tactical reveal.
Araujo arrived at Anfield known as a central defender. Yet it’s his work on the right side that has stood out most. His reading of the game and his willingness to defend one on one have made him Iraola’s first choice there. That wasn’t the original plan when the move was put together.
What makes the switch work is his comfort stepping out of defence rather than sitting deep and waiting. That instinct, built up over years as a centre back, translates well into a role that still asks him to defend crosses and track wide runners.
That shift matters because Liverpool’s next fixture is a serious one. The Reds host Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday, October 11. Iraola will want defensive certainty rather than more guesswork at right-back going into it.
Injury Absences Leave Iraola Thin Ahead of City Test
The reason Araujo has become so important is simple enough. Conor Bradley, the natural option at right-back, remains sidelined and isn’t close to a return. That has left a gap someone had to fill in the meantime.
Giovanni Leoni’s situation is more worrying still. The defender has now been out for a year and has not yet resumed training. That timeline offers little comfort to a defence already managing more than one long-term absence at once.
Those two cases alone explain why Araujo’s versatility has gone from a nice option to something closer to essential. Iraola simply doesn’t have the bodies to rotate through right-back the way he might prefer.
Further forward, Hugo Ekitike remains unavailable through injury, denying Iraola another attacking option during a demanding stretch of fixtures. Federico Chiesa has also been dealing with a back injury, though there’s a chance he returns once the international break ends.
Squad Depth Tested Across Extended International Window
Timing hasn’t made things any easier. FIFA combined the September and October international windows into one three week period featuring four matches. Squads were scattered across the world before a run of tough league games.
Liverpool have felt that squeeze in their own way. Alisson Becker wasn’t called up by Brazil for the break, which at least keeps the captain closer to home. Wataru Endo hasn’t played a single minute this season and was left out of the squad entirely for the win over Bournemouth.
Those absences and omissions have narrowed Iraola’s options just as the schedule intensifies. That’s why Araujo’s adaptability has become so valuable rather than simply convenient. Moving him around the back line feels less like a gamble than it might have done earlier in the season.
At the other end of the pitch there’s better news. Alexander Isak scored the winner in that victory over Bournemouth, taking his tally to four goals in five league games this season. That gives the head coach a reliable focal point up front while the defence sorts itself out.
Selection Questions Face Iraola Ahead of Manchester City
All of this leaves Iraola with a clear defensive plan but a shallow bench behind it. The Ronald Araujo right-back role looks set to continue against City, built on trust earned through recent performances rather than necessity alone.
The recent starting XI against Bournemouth offers a guide to how Iraola might line up again. Araujo looks set to keep that role unless late fitness news changes his thinking before Sunday.
Much of the wider approach traces back to the Iraola tactical blueprint that has shaped Liverpool’s defensive structure this season. His own Andoni Iraola post-match comments after Bournemouth hinted at the balance he’s trying to strike between caution and attacking intent.
City will offer a far sterner examination of that balance than Bournemouth did. As analysis from the Liverpool Echo has noted, Iraola’s options remain limited enough that Araujo’s form at right-back has quietly become the foundation of Liverpool’s defence. That foundation now carries Liverpool into the biggest game of the month.
