Next Liverpool Head Coach

The Albert
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Here are two articles

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/05/30/why-richard-hughes-changed-mind-sacked-arne-slot/

Slot was convinced he was adding Etienne Reijnen, with whom he had worked in Feyenoord, to his group as recently as May 22. Reijnen had said his goodbyes to people in Rotterdam and was all set for a switch to Anfield, with his contractual work progressing.

Things were progressing with Reijnen to such an extent that Slot had no reason to suspect that such an enormous decision was about to be made. Even at 5:30pm on Friday evening, the message was the same about the Dutchman: Liverpoolā€™s plan was not changing. But then, dramatically, it did.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/05/30/liverpool-sack-arne-slot-andoni-iraola/

ā€œHis departure will now have to be negotiated in what will be one of the most short-lived appointments in Anfield historyā€

I think we may have, or at least to the point he was about to sign on the dotted line.

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There is not a single announcement anywhere on the internet that he was hired or even that he left Feyenoord. The Feyenoord official site has news posted from this week of coaching changes but mentions nothing about him leaving and still has him listed as part of the staff.

Itā€™s just a hysterical game of Chinese whispers. The contradictions in the reporting on what happened with the clubā€™s perspective on Slot are incredible right now and lots of people are running with some seemingly bad information even still

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Dunno what the big deal is. Weā€™ll have been working on his appointment for a while on the basis of Slot being here next season. Now Slot wonā€™t be nor will this bloke.

Nothing else to worry about really, Iā€™m sure heā€™ll rock up somewhere else with Arne in the near future.

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According to brave AI..

No, Etiƫnne Reijnen is no longer employed by Feyenoord as of late May 2026.

Although he started the 2025ā€“2026 season as an assistant coach under Robin van Persie, his departure was confirmed in mid-May 2026. Feyenoordā€™s technical director, Dennis te Kloese, stated that Reijnen would leave the club to take a role abroad. Reijnen officially left his post on Sunday, May 24, 2026, to reunite with former manager Arne Slot at Liverpool FC, where he is set to serve as a set-piece and technical coach.

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https://x.com/RIAnfield4EVER/status/2061084916419383513

A little bit of Iraola as a player

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A compilation of various statements about Liverpool.

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I canā€™t fuckin believe the club let Xabi opportunity go, just to fire Slot at the end of the Season.

I donā€™t see Areola being the winning option, hope I am wrong

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Iā€™ve been offline for a few days out bush which is quite therapeutic.

Get back into the online world and discover Slots gone and Arsenal lose. Happy enough with that.

Now for all the speculation and more opinions and it appears the decision is imminent but Iā€™m not convinced.

I understand Iraola and Glasner deserve a crack at higher honours, but I canā€™t help but think about Frank, Potter, BR, Howe (maybe unfair) etc that look promising at over achieving mid table teams but canā€™t handle the big time.

Whatever, I will trust the suits to make the right decision but in any event it will provide optimism.

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Rodgers and Howe I have some knowledge of having been in Swansea at the time of promotion and in Bournemouth at University when he started out.

Howe seemed to suit Bournemouth and his tenure in Burnley was rather disappointing, I was surprised he went up north again to Newcastle and it hasnā€™t been bad but it hasnā€™t been great. I donā€™t think he would be bad in the right circumstances but he had total respect in Bournemouth and I feel itā€™s been hard for him to replicate.

Rodgers meanwhile it was often said made his name off the back of Martinez at Swansea and there was a set up built there that he was able to copy.

Problem with Brendan and itā€™s demonstrated almost everywhere he has gone once a tough patches hit he canā€™t ride through it. Heā€™s not the only one to suffer this and Iā€™m surprised Silva has finally been able to finally avoid this.

Rodgers didnā€™t massively impress over large periods anywhere prior to us and also lacked experience of Europe. He has also shown that at Leicester and Celtic would probably be similar if left enough.

My concern on Iraola will be whether his set up can deal with the 3 day thing. I have to say in my gut I would go with Hoeness and that would be before even Alonso, however I do think Iraola and Hoeness have that set back and go again experience. Iā€™m not sure Alonso does and Slot didnā€™t.

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They lost the Champions League final only the year before Rafa joined

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I was at Anfield for the first match of the season. I mentioned in my post match comments here that I was impressed by Ekitikeā€™s fighting spirit and bloody mindedness to hunt the ball down and eagerness to go into 50-50s.

He definitely has it in him.

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You might want to rewatch the first game Isak played for us (v Atletico Madrid). He was very effective at pressing, how he closed down passing lane and his timing with the wingers was good. After 1-2 matches ā€˜somehowā€™ he became a basic wait and run striker.

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If they can bang the ball in the back of the net often enough, Im not that arsed to be honest.

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We also need to remember that if the new coach/manager tells these players to press like crazy, then that is what we should expect from them. Any indecision or lack of effort by the player, should render his arse onto the substitutes bench.. Simple really

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Sean Rogers Analysis on Andoni Iraola:

The schedule with Europe and Premier League, intensity of his style of play, injury record & player profile at Liverpool is raising a number of concerns

Ahead of the Arne Slot Reaction Show we recorded on Sunday for @TheAnfieldWrap I took a deeper look at the injuries, 1st vs 2nd half of season records & approach taken at Bournemouth to understand whether concerns are matched by the data and whether there are any positive signs to ease concernsā€¦ā€¦

Graphic below is the xG rolling trendline 01/01/26 to end of season @Statsbomb for Bournemouth

1)INTENSITY

The data backs up the eyes

22/23 Iraolaā€™s Rayo Vallecano forced more high turnovers which led to a shot (68) than any side in the top five European leagues except Bayern Munich (73)

In the past 2 seasons at Bournemouth Iraolaā€™s side are

-99th percentile and 98th percentile for high press shots

-100th and 96th percentile for aggression

2)INJURIES

Up until July 2025 Iraola at every club ā€“ every season ā€“ had a negative trend ā€¦.

Iraola had NEVER overseen a second half of a campaign that outperformed the first in terms of points gained

He had a reputation for burning his squad out during the first half of the season and tailing off with injury issues even without European football

In 2024/25 season they lost over 1100 days to injury

3)2025/26 ā€“ JANUARY CHANGE IN APPROACH & POSITIVE RESULTS

2025/26 Bournemouth

A) Post their best injury numbers as an aggregate of injuries and illness suffered in the past 8 seasons

B)153 games missed due to injury ranked 8th in league

C)Post a huge improvement January 2026 to end of season

D)End the season going 18 games unbeaten

E) Iraolaā€™s side end the season performing well during the 2nd half of the season with a budget that should result in a lower bottom half finish

Quite remarkable when they start the season absolutely flying - 2nd place after matchday 9

Then suffer significant injury crisis and go 11 games without a win between Matchweeks 10 to 20

WHY? WHAT CHANGED JANUARY ONWARDS?

A lot.

A)NEW PERFORMANCE CENTRE

Bournemouth had invested over Ā£30m in a new sports science and medical performance centre.

This was functioning fully January 2026 onwards

B)DR ROBERT MARSHALL

Recruited in summer 2025 he arrived from RB Leipzig in July last year as Bournemouthā€™s Director of Medical and Performance.

Iraola raves about him

His role was in part to ensure all the departments within the performance centre worked in harmony in conjunction with Iraola.

C)SQUAD AGE

2nd youngest squad in the league I am sure helps

D)IRAOLA

Iraola made tweaks in line with the performance centre recommendations

Training and in game set up changes reportedly helped

Rotation

Strategic substitutes

Arguably had the performance centre been in place July 2025 Bournemouth may have posted even better improvements in their injury data at the end of the 2025/26 season as itā€™s skewed by first half of season data

There is a lot more to delve in to in respect of his tactics, in and out of possession set up, authority, leadership and training methods

Based on the work done at Bournemouth January 2026 onwards it would suggest that Iraola can work positively complementing the performance staff at Liverpool

He will also have even greater resources in all areas at Liverpool

He has also ended the trend of his sides physically and results wise blowing up during the 2nd half of a season

There is a lot he needs to prove ā€“ and managing European campaign and Premier League is an obvious one ā€“ but he can point to the lack of performance centre (up until recently at Bournemouth) and the results since the integration of the performance centre / Dr Robert Marshall, positively as evidence of how he could work with the performance staff at Liverpool to balance intensity and the schedule

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A rival fan has just said this guy is perfect for usā€¦ :0))

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I see people saying Slot is very bad at pressing. I am quite surprised by that, thought he would have learnt alot since he attended many press conferences.

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Wow! Should VVD, Jacquet and Leoni get excited over this???:rofl::rofl:

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https://x.com/i/status/2061158554711531526

Indy reckons that it is Iraola!