Jamie Carragher believes Andoni Iraola must challenge for the Premier League title in his first season as Liverpool manager.
The Liverpool legend is excited by the style of football the former Bournemouth boss is expected to bring to Anfield, while also paying tribute to his predecessor, Arne Slot.
The Dutchman guided Liverpool to a fifth-place finish last season, securing Champions League qualification on the final day. However, a run of 20 defeats in all competitions led to his dismissal following an end-of-season review on May 30.
Andoni Iraola, who led Bournemouth to a sixth-place finish, was swiftly appointed as Slot’s successor, signing a two-year contract after leaving the Vitality Stadium at the end of the campaign.
Carragher, who made 737 appearances for Liverpool and won the Champions League in 2005, is optimistic about the Spaniard’s prospects at Anfield.
Iraola is set to begin his Premier League reign with Liverpool away to Newcastle United on Sunday, August 23.
“Listen, he’s done an amazing job since he’s come into the Premier League to Bournemouth and I don’t think anyone doesn’t watch them and isn’t excited when they watch them,” Carragher told Sky Sports at Royal Ascot this week.
“Or if I’ve got a game for Sky and it’s Bournemouth, I think: ‘OK, I’ll look forward to that.’ It’s that all-action style, probably a little bit what we saw from England (against Croatia on Wednesday night), really aggressive, getting the ball forward really early.
“It’s maybe a bit of a throwback to Jurgen Klopp’s days at Liverpool and a slightly different style than Arne Slot.
“But as I say, I always want to say this with any Liverpool manager and yes, Arne Slot got a lot of criticism last season and I can’t argue and I don’t think he can too much with the change because it was so poor last season.
“But we shouldn’t forget: he won Liverpool the Premier League last season and I’ll never forget that, so a big thank you to him. And hopefully that’s the goal [next season].
“Can they challenge? Yes. Those days are gone from when I played when managers came in and it was like a four or five-year project to try and win the league or come close to winning the league.
“Those days are gone and I said that when Arne Slot came in. You know, Jurgen Klopp’s team finished third, you’ve got to go for the league and he won the league, and it’s the same with Iraola.
“Liverpool finished fifth last season, nowhere near good enough.
“So, I’m not expecting Liverpool to win the league next season, but we are Liverpool, we’re going to spend big in the summer, we’ve got a lot of great players and yeah, we’re gonna challenge.”
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