I’m starting to get a familiar feeling watching Liverpool’s injury list grow.
Muscle injuries. Hamstring problems. Players feeling tightness and struggling to recover between games.
And it takes me straight back to the early days of Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool.
Klopp wanted intensity. He wanted pressing, energy and players willing to run themselves into the ground for the team. It took time for the squad to adapt to his demands, and there were concerns about the physical toll of his approach.
Now we have Andoni Iraola, another manager who wants Liverpool to play with intensity, press aggressively and work harder without the ball.
And there is one obvious question I think Liverpool supporters should be asking:
Have we underestimated how long it might take this squad to adapt to Iraola’s training methods?
Slot and Iraola have very different approaches
One of the biggest changes since Arne Slot left Liverpool has been the intensity of training.
Reports from the club’s new era have described sessions as tougher, with Iraola heavily involved in drills and demanding greater intensity from his players. Liverpool’s U21s head coach Rob Page has also spoken about the step up in training demands.
Slot’s approach was different. His sessions were generally longer but less intense, with training loads adjusted around the fixture schedule and the needs of individual players. That approach helped Liverpool maintain an impressive injury record during their title-winning season.
I’m not saying Slot’s methods were better, or that Iraola is doing anything wrong.
They are simply different approaches to preparing a team.
But when you move from one style to another, there is always a question about how quickly players can adapt.
And Liverpool are now dealing with a number of muscle-related problems.
Are the injuries connected to the change?
This is where we need to be careful.
We cannot say that Iraola’s training has caused Liverpool’s injuries. Footballers get injured for all sorts of reasons, including match intensity, accumulated fatigue, previous injuries, international travel and the demands of playing several times a week.
But the timing is certainly worth discussing.
Iraola has made it clear that he wants his team to play with energy and aggression. His football relies on pressing, quick transitions and players repeatedly making high-intensity runs.
That takes physical preparation.
And if a player has spent a long period working under a different training regime, it is reasonable to ask whether the transition needs to be managed carefully.
The challenge is getting players fit enough to play Iraola’s football without asking too much of them too soon.
That balance is crucial.
Klopp’s early Liverpool days offer a reminder
I remember the excitement around Klopp when he first arrived at Anfield.
Suddenly, Liverpool had a manager who wanted to play at full throttle. His teams pressed relentlessly, chased lost causes and tried to overwhelm opponents with energy.
But the famous intensity did not come without its challenges.
Klopp’s Liverpool went through periods when the physical demands of his approach were questioned, and the squad needed time to develop the conditioning required to sustain it.
Iraola is not Klopp, and their methods are not identical. But both managers want their teams to play with a high level of intensity.
That is why I think Liverpool must learn from the past.
The aim cannot simply be to make every training session harder and hope the players catch up.
The club need to ensure the physical work, recovery and rotation are all working together.
The injury list is becoming a concern
Liverpool have already had some frustrating setbacks.
Cody Gakpo suffered an ankle injury while on international duty, while Alexander Isak returned with a thigh problem. Dominik Szoboszlai also missed the Manchester City match after experiencing hamstring tightness and an overload following international duty.
Those cases do not all have the same cause, and it would be wrong to blame them on training intensity.
But they underline the challenge Iraola faces.
Liverpool are competing in the Premier League and Champions League, with cup matches adding to an already demanding schedule. There is little time to recover, never mind complete the kind of intense training sessions a manager might want.
Iraola himself has acknowledged that Liverpool must adapt to the reality of playing every few days. Sometimes, he explained, training has to give way to video analysis and tactical preparation.
That is the difficult part of managing a club like Liverpool.
You need the players to be fit enough to execute your ideas, but you also need them available to play.
More intensity is not automatically better
I like what Iraola is trying to build.
Liverpool needed more energy and aggression, and I want to see a team that presses opponents, moves the ball quickly and makes life uncomfortable for the opposition.
But there is a difference between demanding more from players and making sure they can consistently deliver it.
The medical and performance staff have a huge role to play here. Training loads need to be monitored, recovery needs to be taken seriously, and players must not feel they have to push through every little warning sign.
Sometimes a player needs another day to recover.
Sometimes a lighter session is more valuable than another hard one.
And sometimes the manager has to accept that a player cannot deliver the intensity he wants every three days.
That is not weakness. It is part of managing a modern squad.
Iraola has to find the balance
I don’t want Liverpool abandoning the football Iraola is trying to introduce.
We have seen encouraging signs, and I would much rather watch an energetic, aggressive Liverpool side than a team that looks short of ideas and intensity.
But I also don’t want us to reach December with half the squad struggling with muscle problems.
The answer is not necessarily to reduce every session or return to Slot’s methods. It is to make sure the players are prepared for the demands being placed on them and that those demands are increased sensibly.
Rotation will matter, too. Iraola cannot rely on the same small group to play every competition, especially when the schedule becomes congested.
Liverpool need more than 11 players to make this system work.
And the manager needs to trust his squad enough to give players opportunities before injuries force his hand.
I want Iraola’s Liverpool to succeed – but we need to be sensible
I’m not blaming Iraola for Liverpool’s injuries, because we simply don’t have enough evidence to make that claim.
But I do think the change in training intensity deserves attention.
Slot prioritised a more controlled approach to training loads. Iraola wants greater intensity on the pitch and on the training ground. Both approaches have their reasons, but the transition between them cannot be ignored.
Liverpool have to find a way of getting fitter, pressing harder and playing with more energy without leaving players exhausted or increasing the risk of injury.
That is the challenge.
Klopp’s early days at Liverpool showed what can happen when a manager asks his squad to play a very demanding style of football. Iraola now has to make sure his players are properly prepared for his version of it.
I want the intensity. I want the pressing. I want Liverpool playing on the front foot.
But I also want our best players available when it matters.
Because the most intense training sessions in the world mean very little if the players who are supposed to deliver the football are sitting in the treatment room.
Iraola has the right idea about the way Liverpool should play. Now he has to make sure the squad can sustain it.
Jamie (The Kopite View)
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