Andoni Iraola admits he is having to temper the intensity of his training sessions as he adapts to Liverpool’s three-game weeks.
Between September 9 and 15, Liverpool beat Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, drew 0-0 with Fulham in the Premier League and reached the Carabao Cup fourth round with a 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Liverpool players have regularly praised the intensity of Iraola’s sessions since pre-season, with that approach one of the reasons the club wanted him to succeed Arne Slot in June.
However, the Basque coach is having to adapt to a schedule covering multiple competitions, having never previously managed an English side in European competition.
“You have to get used to not being able to train,” Andoni Iraola said. “Obviously when you play every three days, most of it are doing video (work), on the tactics board.
“Sometimes it is just saying what the team needs. We will definitely need more than 12, 13 or 14 players in this schedule. After the international break, we have four games in nine or 10 days or something crazy.
“Even if I want to repeat the same [team], I wouldn’t be able because there is a moment where the players cannot go again.
“For me the demands on the players and positions are the same. I don’t give different instructions to one player because he is more expensive than another player because he has cost us less money.
“The demands are the same. But I also have to adjust to the things that some players can do and others cannot do. The strengths and weaknesses of players are different, so we have to always adapt the team to try and maximise the collective side of this.
“In Bournemouth, we had players who could run forever and other players who could not do it. It was not like everyone in Bournemouth was running.
“Some of them were faster, the others are slower, some of them score more goals, the others score less goals. Some are good at set pieces. There is no standard player.
“All the players want to run and I feel all the players here are doing everything to try to win and to try and get where we want as quickly as possible. But sometimes I need to adapt too to the players that we have.”
Academy graduate Lewis Koumas earned praise and the player-of-the-match award for his hard-working display against Spurs on Tuesday, but Iraola stopped short of suggesting the 20-year-old should set the standard for the rest of the squad.
Iraola added: “I love the desire of Koumas, I love what he gives, but every player has different weaknesses and strengths.
“He is a good example especially for the players coming from the academy, he is grabbing his opportunity and doing everything to try to gain minutes, he is ready to play as a No.7, 11, 10 or a 9 or wherever we put him.
“Everything is very positive but also I have to work with Koumas a lot in other areas. There are things he has to improve.
“His energy is good for the team, it is contagious but he knows also he must improve in other things and we are doing this.”
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