Digging up this thread.
It’s the most interesting area for me, maybe together with the goalkeeper position, in terms of seeing what type of player Iraola will go for, be it in this window or another.
I’m not sure if we can read anything from which players he mainly used in midfield at Bournemouth: Lewis Cook, Ryan Christie, Tyler Adams, Alex Scott. The first two were already at the club before Iraola arrived, Adams and Scott were bought his first summer there.
Then last season they also bought Alex Toth, a young player from Hungary. I’ve never seen him play, so I had a look at a youtube video, just to get an impression of the player type. Ball carrying and set piece delivery was the most highlighted bits.
The one thing they all seem to have in common is mobility; covering ground relatively quickly, a pretty big work radius, high frequency players if you will; and all being good technical players, without really being expert passers or types that put their foot on the ball and control the tempo of a game. Lewis Cook being the possible exception, not sure about that.
I think Scott was predominantly a more attack minded player when he came to Bournemouth; I’m sure I’ve read he said himself he had to learn the defensive work to play in midfield in the PL - somewhat similarly to Jones under Klopp. Christie was apparently more of a winger/attacking midfielder, before Iraola started using him deeper.
There’s a big difference in circumstances between Bournemouth and Liverpool. That’s one factor that makes it tricky, at least for me, to guess what sort of midfielders he might be looking for. If it translates to the requirements at a top club, or if he thinks differently about some things now that he can buy the best players.
Pressing will probably always be a non-negotiable for him, but I don’t think his defensive scheme requires individual pressing machines, it’s more about the coordinated press. Which will take time to get right. Of course, when it comes to defending big spaces, like a counter attack, it helps having Gravenberch instead of Mac Allister. But I think in a compact shape, centre backs pushing up into midfield to sometimes be the third midfielder - covering the typical DM space - I think it’ll be more about the collective actions than needing a specific type of midfielder to cover that space by himself, because he’ll often be higher up anyway.
Another thing is if what we’re seeing so far is the universal approach, or if we’ll see something different in away games. What are the non-negotiables about his approach, and what are the variables depending on circumstances like opposition and game scenario?
I don’t know if this is a false memory, but I think I read something Iraola once said after an away game, I think it was Man City, where he had tried a more controlled/passive approach that backfired, and he told one of his assistants he’d never do that again.
I’m basically just asking a bunch of questions here. I don’t have any preferences when it comes to the player types in midfield, it’s just about trying to read the room: What we think Iraola wants to do, what we think he’s got, what we think he might want.
