Eight games played. Four wins, three draws and one defeat.
Ninth in the Premier League.
If you only look at Liverpool’s league position, you could be forgiven for thinking things aren’t going particularly well at Anfield.
And after Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, there are certainly questions that need answering.
But I’m going to say something that might not be particularly popular with everyone.
I still think it is far too early to judge Andoni Iraola.
I’m not pretending Liverpool have been brilliant. They haven’t. The attack has looked disjointed at times, there have been frustrating draws and the defeat to City exposed how much work remains to be done.
But what exactly did people expect Iraola to achieve in a few weeks, especially with the squad Richard Hughes left him?
That is the part of this conversation I think gets overlooked far too often.
The league position doesn’t tell the whole story
Liverpool’s record after eight games reads four wins, three draws and one defeat.
That is hardly disastrous, but it isn’t the sort of start supporters expect from Liverpool either.
The draws have been frustrating because there have been opportunities to collect more points. Liverpool have struggled to turn periods of control into convincing victories, and the attacking football we hoped to see under Iraola has not clicked consistently.
I want to see more goals. I want to see better movement in the final third. And I want Liverpool to look more dangerous against teams that sit deep.
Those are fair criticisms.
However, Liverpool have also won both of their Champions League matches and progressed in the League Cup. There have been encouraging signs, particularly defensively, and some of the younger players have given Iraola genuine options.
This isn’t a team that has suddenly forgotten how to win football matches. It’s a team still trying to find its identity under a new manager.
That distinction matters.
Iraola hasn’t inherited a perfect squad
This is where I think Richard Hughes deserves more scrutiny.
Liverpool spent heavily on attacking players, but the squad still has areas that look short of depth. There are questions over the balance of the team, the available full-back options and how Liverpool can cope when several attacking players are unavailable at once.
And we’ve already seen what happens when injuries arrive.
Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo were ruled out of the Manchester City game after picking up injuries on international duty. Hugo Ekitike was also unavailable, leaving Iraola with limited recognised centre-forward options. The manager turned to the players he had rather than using injuries as an excuse.
That is not an easy situation for any manager.
You can have the best tactical plan in the world, but it becomes much harder to implement when the players you need are missing.
Liverpool have spent a fortune, so nobody is suggesting the squad lacks quality. But spending money and building a properly balanced squad are two different things.
For me, Hughes should be part of the discussion when we talk about Liverpool’s problems.
Iraola can only work with the players available to him.
You cannot expect a new manager to fix everything overnight
Iraola arrived with a clear reputation for front-foot, attacking football.
That was one of the reasons I was excited about his appointment.
I wanted Liverpool to press with purpose, move the ball forward quicker and play with the sort of intensity that makes Anfield a difficult place for opponents to visit.
We have seen glimpses of that, but we haven’t seen it consistently enough.
The temptation is to start questioning whether Iraola is the right man for the job.
I think that is premature.
Changing a team’s style takes time. Players need to understand new instructions, learn their roles and develop relationships with teammates. The manager also needs to discover which combinations work and which players are suited to his system.
Liverpool are still going through that process.
Even the defensive improvement we saw earlier in the season took time to develop. The understanding between Virgil van Dijk, Jérémy Jacquet and Ronald Araújo was beginning to look promising before the City defeat reminded us that there is still plenty to do.
One bad result doesn’t erase every positive that came before it.
Equally, two Champions League wins don’t mean every problem has disappeared.
We need to judge Iraola on the direction Liverpool are travelling, not just the league table after eight games.
The Manchester City defeat was a reality check
I’m not going to defend everything about Sunday’s performance.
Liverpool were beaten 3-0 at Anfield, and there is no getting away from that. City were the better side, and Liverpool struggled to impose themselves on the game.
That should concern us.
But I don’t believe the answer is to start writing off the manager after one particularly disappointing afternoon.
City are an established team with a settled way of playing. Liverpool are trying to build something new, and the gap between the two was obvious.
That doesn’t make the defeat acceptable. It simply puts it into context.
Iraola now has to work out how Liverpool respond. Can they improve their pressing? Can they create more chances? Can they become more competitive against the strongest teams?
Those are the questions that matter.
The upcoming run of fixtures will tell us much more than one result, particularly with Liverpool facing a demanding schedule across the Premier League, Champions League and League Cup.
There are still reasons to be optimistic
One thing I don’t want Liverpool supporters to lose sight of is that there are positives here.
Jacquet has shown why the club invested so heavily in him. Araújo has offered defensive flexibility, and the team has had periods when its defensive structure looked considerably better.
Lewis Koumas has also earned trust from Iraola, who backed the young forward ahead of the City match despite Liverpool’s shortage of attacking options.
That matters to me.
I want to see Liverpool develop young players rather than simply throwing money at every problem. I want to see a recognisable style of football emerge, and I want the manager to have the time to build a team that reflects his ideas.
Of course, that patience has to come with progress.
Liverpool cannot spend an entire season looking disjointed and expect supporters to be happy simply because the manager is new.
But eight games? That’s far too soon to reach that conclusion.
Give Iraola time – and hold the right people accountable
I understand why supporters are frustrated.
Ninth in the league isn’t good enough for Liverpool’s ambitions. The draws have cost points, the attack needs to improve and the defeat to City was a serious disappointment.
I’m frustrated too.
But I don’t want Liverpool to fall into the trap of blaming the manager for every problem without examining the squad he inherited and the recruitment decisions that shaped it.
Hughes has to take responsibility for building a balanced squad. The players have to take responsibility for their performances. And Iraola has to show that he can improve the team.
All three things can be true at once.
For now, I want to see Liverpool become more consistent, get injured players back and give Iraola a proper run of games with a stronger group available to him.
The Champions League and League Cup victories show that this team is capable of producing results. The Premier League performances show that there is plenty to improve.
Both sides of the story deserve to be acknowledged.
I’m not asking Liverpool supporters to be happy with ninth place. I’m asking them not to confuse frustration with a final verdict.
Iraola has a huge job on his hands. He needs to get more from the squad, make the attack click and prove that his football can work at Anfield.
But he deserves the opportunity to do that.
Eight games are not a season. One defeat to Manchester City is not the end of a project.
Let’s see where Liverpool are after the next stretch of matches, rather than deciding now that we already know how this story ends.
Because if Liverpool want to build something lasting under Iraola, they need to give him time to do it.
And if the squad Richard Hughes assembled isn’t strong enough in certain areas, that conversation needs to happen too.
Judge the performances. Demand improvement. But give the manager a fair chance.
Jamie (The Kopite View)
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