Iraola's Liverpool to-do list: Fix defence, get Isak firing and stop the Anfield boos

Andoni Iraola has been appointed Liverpool head coach after Arne Slot's sudden departure from Anfield and he has a whole host of issues to find answers to before the start of the next campaign.

Iraola inherits a team that produced a limp title defence, finishing the season 24 points worse off than when they won the Premier League in Slot's debut season in charge 12 months earlier. They were nearer to the relegation zone than eventual champions Arsenal.

That their goal difference was down 35 also says a lot about the comparative struggles at both ends of the pitch between Slot's two campaigns at the club, while the 20 defeats suffered in all competitions in 2025/26 - the most since a dismal season under Graeme Souness in 1992/93 - paints a damning picture too of a group of players lacking in confidence and belief.

Iraola therefore has plenty to get stuck into between now and the start of the new league season on August 22 - just 33 days after this summer's World Cup final, giving the new Liverpool boss scant time with which to work with his players and implement his ideas.

Chief among the problems facing Iraola if he wants to make the fans believers, not doubters, again are the following....

Incredibly, Slot's title winners let in a whopping 53 goals last season, their most ever in a 38-game Premier League season.

That total included 20 set-piece goals (excluding penalties), the second most in Europe's top-five leagues and the joint-highest in the Premier League alongside, perhaps worryingly, Bournemouth, who Iraola coached from 2023-26.

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And when Iraola does finally get to work with his defensive unit at the AXA Training Centre after the World Cup, he will be doing so without Ibrahima Konate as part of his back line following the France central defender's departure from the club on a free transfer.

Jeremy Jacquet, currently sidelined with a shoulder problem, is in line to replace his compatriot as captain Virgil van Dijk's centre-back partner, while Giovanni Leoni will also be competing for that role once he recovers from a long-term ACL injury sustained on his debut last September.

Assimilating those two young defenders into a new-look Liverpool defence, while making them less vulnerable at the back, will be one of Iraola's most pressing challenges, although he showed when losing his entire back four and goalkeeper at Bournemouth last summer that he can handle such integration.