Liverpool's New Era Begins in Nashville
In Nashville’s heat, Liverpool step into the unknown.
Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool.
On Saturday at Geodis Park, against Sunderland, supporters finally get something more tangible than training clips and soundbites. They get a first look at what this new era might actually feel like.
Kick-off is 5pm local time, 11pm back in the UK, in a 30,000-seat stadium that, for now, doesn’t quite look like it’s hosting one of Europe’s giants. There are still plenty of tickets on sale. No sea of red on every street corner. No sense of a city brought to a standstill.
Inside, though, the tone will be very different.
A tribute before a new beginning
Before anyone talks tactics or pressing triggers, there will be a pause. The death of Kevin Keegan earlier this week has cut deeply at both clubs, and the players of Liverpool and Sunderland will wear black armbands, with a minute’s applause before kick-off.
It will be a poignant moment: a shared salute to a man who lit up both shirts, before the focus snaps back to the future and a manager trying to imprint his identity on a club that demands instant clarity.
Iraola knows exactly what he’s walked into.
“For me, now, it is about creating a very good team to beat, a very difficult team to beat,” he has said. “The team that I envision now - that I see and think of - if we become that team, I think we are going to be successful.
“The most important thing that we can deliver is our performances. It doesn't matter if I speak well, if I don't speak well, if I say the right things or if I don't say the right things. At the end people just want to see the team play well and deliver good results. I know this is 90% of my job.”
He understands the job description. At Liverpool, there’s nowhere to hide.
From Bournemouth to the big time
Iraola arrives from Bournemouth with a clear reputation: aggressive, front-foot football, a coach who asks his players to run, and then run some more. The jump to Anfield is enormous, but inside the club there’s a belief that his style fits.
Ian Rush, who knows a thing or two about what Liverpool should look like, has no doubts about the scale of the step – or the opportunity.
“It's a big step up from Bournemouth but he deserves it. He's got all the credentials to be a top Liverpool manager and I'm pretty certain he could be,” Rush tells BBC Sport.
“His style of football fits with Liverpool. It will help with the supporters too. Perhaps with Slot, they were a bit more defensive but supporters want to get behind the team. They'll only get behind a team if you're attacking or high pressing. The atmosphere was subdued at stages last season. This is Liverpool and we want to play a high pressing game and we'll know in the next few days what that looks like.”
That’s the crux of this tour. The results in Nashville, New York and Chicago will be footnotes. The manner of them will not.
With Arne Slot gone before he truly began, Iraola walks into a fanbase that has already been jolted once this summer. He doesn’t get a grace period. He gets a spotlight.
A 32-man squad and a youthful edge
Liverpool have brought 32 players to the United States. Not all of them are ready to play; some are here simply because the club decided it was better to continue their rehabilitation within the group than leave them working alone at Kirkby.
The World Cup has stretched the summer and staggered returns. Key names are still absent, though the picture will change in the second week of the camp when Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch arrive. Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz are due to join even later. Cody Gakpo, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson will not travel at all.
For now, the mood in camp has been described as light, energetic, youthful. Hungry.
“Szoboszlai and Kerkez haven't been to the World Cup and I can tell you this from experience because I never went to the World Cup,” Rush says. “Those players have had a long rest and they'll be desperate to get back into it.”
Harvey Elliott is back involved. Stefan Bajcetic, whose progress has been stalled by injury, has rejoined full team training and is edging towards his first appearance of 2024. For a manager who thrives on intensity, having a fit, mobile midfield to work with is non-negotiable. Bajcetic’s return will not be rushed, but it is significant.
Iraola wants to see everyone. He will use these games to assess, to test, to push. Yet even as he does, the reality is obvious: this squad still needs work before the Premier League kicks off.
Life after Salah
The biggest question has been looming since March. Liverpool knew then, if not earlier, that Mohamed Salah was leaving. He still hasn’t been replaced.
You don’t just plug that hole with a like-for-like. You reshape, you rethink, you recruit smartly. The club want a winger, and Bradley Barcola is currently the most prominent name in that conversation, but nothing is done yet.
In the meantime, the door is wide open for youth.
Seventeen-year-old Rio Ngumoha has been training across both flanks, comfortable on the right as well as his preferred left. His versatility gives Iraola options; his talent gives the fanbase something to be excited about.
There’s no doubt inside the club about Ngumoha’s ability. The expectation, though, is that Liverpool will still move in the market for a senior wide player.
“He's still young but as the manager has said, we need someone to replace Salah and that won't be easy at all,” Rush says. “We've got Isak, who played well in the World Cup, and I hope he comes back as a new player and looking to prove a thing or two after last season.”
Isak’s role, once he joins up with the squad, will be watched closely. So will the blend between established internationals and a crop of teenagers who suddenly find themselves on a major stage.
Kids on a big stage
Across the next week, Iraola is expected to lean into that youth. Kieran Morrison, 19, who made his debut last season, should see more minutes. So should 18-year-olds Will Wright and Josh Sonni-Lambie.
Then there is Josh Abe. Just 16, already widely regarded as one of the hottest prospects in English football, and now sharing a dressing room with senior Liverpool players in the United States.
These games against Sunderland, Wrexham in New York and Leeds in Chicago will not define their careers. They might, though, fast-track a few of them. A sharp cameo here, a fearless performance there, and Iraola’s depth chart could look very different by the time the squad flies home.
For the manager, the equation is simple. He must weld together a group missing some of its biggest names, integrate new faces, accelerate the development of others and, all the while, show supporters what “his” Liverpool looks like.
The Music City may not yet feel like it’s hosting a football event of huge significance. Inside Geodis Park, for Iraola and Liverpool, it already is.
