Sean Dyche has said that Andoni Iraola plays a ‘high-quality’ version of ‘lower league’ football and was struck by one particular attribute of the new Liverpool head coach when coming up against him previously.
The Basque recorded a 4-2 win over Sunderland in his first unofficial game in charge of the Reds in their pre-season friendly last weekend, after which Black Cats defender Dan Ballard spoke of how LFC played a lot more ‘vertically’ and aggressively than they did under Arne Slot last season.
The 44-year-old became renowned at Bournemouth for his intense, high-pressing style of play, a formula which served the Cherries brilliantly as they recorded a best-ever finish of sixth in the Premier League on his watch in 2025/26.
Dyche oversaw a 3-0 win for Everton against Iraola’s Bournemouth in October 2023, with the south coast club avenging that result with a 2-1 victory a few months later, and the former Toffees boss was struck by how cleverly the Basque adapted his tactical approach in between those two games.
Speaking on The Good, the Bad and The Football, the 55-year-old said: “Iraola basically plays lower league football, but at a high level. They turn you and turn you, and force you into submission. High-quality and high-energy version.
“I marvelled at it because we ran all over them at Everton when he was trying to play what you would imagine is the Spanish way. I think he is brilliant at managing, as you could tell he went, ‘This ain’t going to work’.
“The next time we played them, he is bombing it down our throats, getting us turned, full-backs keep turning and having to run back towards their own goal, centre-halves thinking that they never get a break. They looked a different outfit and he’s done a brilliant job.”
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Dyche’s comment about Iraola playing ‘lower league football’ might have been the standout soundbyte and sounded like a swipe at the Liverpool boss, but when viewed in full context, he was quite complimentary of the 44-year-old’s work.
One of the many valid criticisms of the Reds under Slot last season was that they were far too passive and tepid in their play, making it ridiculously easy for teams to set up against them in a low defensive block.
One game under Iraola has been enough to see a discernible change in how LFC press their opponents high and get the ball forward as swiftly as possible – and not in an agricultural, hoof-it-up-to-the-big-man way, either.
It’s telling that, following that win for Everton over Bournemouth three years ago, Dyche lost all four of his subsequent meetings against Iraola, with the Basque consistently working out how to get the better of his peer in the other dugout.
The Liverpool head coach’s willingness to be adaptable and change something which isn’t working also stands out from the 55-year-old’s testimony, with such tactical flexibility undoubtedly being needed to deal with the varying challenges that the Reds will face throughout the season.
The new man in charge will ultimately be judged by results, but there are early signs that he’ll transform LFC into a team that opponents will hate coming up against, in stark contrast to the last 12 months.
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