Liverpool’s season begins in earnest with a daunting trip to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon as the Reds look to make a strong start to life under Andoni Iraola.
The day will be a mixture of emotions as both clubs pay tribute to the late great Kevin Keegan, a man fondly remembered both on Merseyside and in the North East, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Another man who represented both clubs is John Barnes, with the dazzling winger perhaps best remembered for his Anfield genius, and Dan posed the eight-time major trophy winner some questions as part of a sit-down interview with OLBG this week.
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What are the biggest challenges facing Andoni Iraola at Liverpool? “Of course, the biggest challenge is the fans – for the fans to accept him, for the fans to believe in what he’s doing. Unfortunately, the legacy of Jurgen Klopp still looms large. Look at what happened to Arne Slot, which I think was unfair. Not from the club, because the club had to make that decision – because of the fans, because they lost faith. After winning the league, you saw how quickly the fans lost faith, because it wasn’t what Jurgen would have done. So yes, he has a challenge, and for me that is his biggest challenge. We say winning the fans over, but it’s more about the fans accepting him. We saw it when Kenny Dalglish left Liverpool, when Alex Ferguson left Manchester United, when Arsene Wenger left Arsenal. Arteta finished eighth in his first year, eighth in his second year, fifth in his third year – and then you see what he did. The fans are going to have to accept whatever Iraola wants to do in terms of how he wants to play. So for me, that is the biggest challenge. I don’t think it’s his biggest challenge – it is our biggest challenge as Liverpool fans.”
Should Liverpool be looking for another established star, or giving more opportunities to the younger players? “It’s not a question of the younger players. They’ve got experienced players who are in the squad. If you look at the squad Liverpool have, yes, they’ve got young players, but you look at the first eleven, and you look underneath the first eleven, and they’ve got experienced players there. So the solution to the problem is never just to sign players. How many players did we sign last year? How much money did we spend? The year before, we signed Endo and Chiesa, and we won the league. The whole idea of just spending money, when our squad is big enough and our squad is strong enough. We don’t need eleven superstar players on the pitch and eight superstar players on the bench to have superstar players. And if you want an example of why that is not necessary, look at Spain when they won the World Cup. Go through their team. You need to have a good team, a good system, a good belief, and good humility. When you have too many superstars in the team, as France did, you saw what happened to France. So for me, it’s not about signing more superstar players, or trying to replace Mo Salah with a superstar player. It’s about having the right balance, the right blend, and I think that at the moment we have it. Yes, if you can always get good players to improve the squad, that’s fine. But that for me is not the issue. That’s not why we’re going to do well in the league – if we sign a superstar player, or sign more players.”
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John, you’ve played for Liverpool, you’ve seen different generations of the club, and you’ve experienced what it takes to compete at the very top — when you look at this Liverpool team now, what do you think they’re missing? “Absolutely, they’re not missing anything in transfers; they’re not missing anything in players. What they’re missing is that togetherness and that belief from the Liverpool family – which is the fans, which is the hierarchy, which is the players. The players have to say: we forget about Jurgen Klopp, we love him, but we forget about him. You’re now in charge, so we are responsible for performances as well as you. We’re all in this together. The problem you have, as I mentioned with Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool to a certain extent, is that when a new manager comes in, a lot of the players subconsciously drop off. Because the question is: if we lose today, who are the fans going to boo? And as long as the answer is the manager, the players subconsciously absolve themselves of responsibility. I’m not accusing any player. I’m not talking about Liverpool, Man United or Arsenal – I’m talking generally. Subconsciously, if we lose and we don’t perform, and we come off the pitch and we’re not going to be held accountable, then we just go through the motions. Arsenal went through it, Man United went through it, Chelsea went through it straight after Mourinho. So what they need to do is everybody needs to take accountability for the performances.”
Redmen Reacts
Although there is little doubt that the current make-up of the Liverpool squad is capable of competing under Iraola, a manager with a proven track record of getting the best out of players both individually and collectively, there is certainly still room for at least two more additions between now and the transfer deadline.
That’s particularly true when you factor in Curtis Jones’ exit, plus the potential for further high-profile departures such as Federico Chiesa, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.
