Liverpool's summer transfer activity may come as a surprise to many, as the club actually outspent its previous campaign by over £200 million. Despite this substantial financial outlay, new manager Andoni Iraola ends the window with more questions than answers about the balance of his roster.

Jamie Carragher summed up the situation succinctly on Sky Sports, noting, "It does not look like a balanced squad. Liverpool are short in the full‑back areas and probably a midfield player as well." This observation rings true even after the £123 million acquisition of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint‑Germain. Barcola’s arrival highlights the same structural issue that has plagued the Reds: a lack of equilibrium across the pitch. The club lost Mohamed Salah, arguably the best left‑footed right‑winger in Premier League history, and has responded by stacking the opposite flank with a seemingly one‑sided attack.

Carragher pointed out the deficiency, saying, "Liverpool have not got a real out‑and‑out right‑sided attacker. We have not got anybody with a left foot on that right side, like Mo Salah.

I am disappointed. I am not quite sure what we are going to do on that right wing right now." Barcola is a versatile player, but the size of his fee suggests he should be deployed in his most natural role, which is not on the right. So far, Cody Gakpo has been the primary left‑flank option, a position also occupied in the past by Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike.

Rio Ngumoha, who broke through on the left last season, has been trialled on the opposite wing in pre‑season, while Victor Muñoz—signed after a single top‑flight season as a left winger—seems the most plausible candidate to fill the void, yet he too is a left‑footed player. These positional mismatches do not, on their own, condemn Liverpool's recruitment policy. They are more a curiosity than a catastrophe. The real worry for supporters lies in the holes that appear elsewhere in the squad, creating a picture of a team heavily loaded in certain areas while glaringly thin in others.

When Jeremie Frimpong arrived last summer, the club made it clear he was not intended to replace Trent Alexander‑Arnold at right‑back. Ironically, the Dutch international has been deployed in that very role in the opening two league fixtures.

With Conor Bradley sidelined, Frimpong has become the closest thing to a specialist right‑back, while some fans have suggested using Dominik Szoboszlai as a stop‑gap—a compromise that would see a midfielder shifted to a defensive position, something Iraola’s system does not favour. The importance of full‑backs in Iraola’s philosophy cannot be overstated.

Both Frimpong and Milos Kerkez rank among the Premier League’s top three players for sprint distance this season, a statistic only surpassed by Adrien Truffert of Iraola’s former club Bournemouth. This high‑intensity wing play is a cornerstone of the manager’s approach, as illustrated by the average positions of Liverpool’s players in the first two matches compared with the title‑winning season under Arne Slot. The full‑backs frequently surge forward, often simultaneously, placing a heavy burden on the midfield to cover the space they vacate. That burden may expose a critical weakness.

Ryan Gravenberch was instrumental in Slot’s title triumph, but Alexis Mac Allister’s physical decline over the past 18 months raises doubts about whether Iraola has the personnel to shield against swift counter‑attacks. It is unclear whether Iraola intends to employ a traditional holding midfielder; at Bournemouth he preferred his midfielders to engage aggressively high up the pitch, a philosophy echoed by Tyler Adams, who said the players believe they will win the ball “high up the field.” Carragher has already warned that the current midfield composition may not function under the manager’s demands: "I do not believe that midfield can function with the personnel in there.

For me, it does not work. And it is not just about personnel, it is the structure the manager is asking for." This concern was evident within five minutes of Liverpool’s opening Premier League game, when Newcastle exploited the space left between high‑pushing full‑backs and deep‑lying centre‑backs, scoring the opening goal.

Virgil van Dijk’s tendency to sit deeper, combined with the full‑backs’ relentless forward runs, creates a persistent vulnerability that is unlikely to disappear without tactical adjustments. Consequently, Iraola inherits the most expensive squad in the club’s history, but also arguably the most unbalanced one in a decade. Finding a remedy may require compromises beyond the transfer market.

Carragher suggested a middle ground: "You do not want to lose the offensive side, the fluidity, the arrivals with numbers, but obviously we were punished the other day, especially in the first goal. We did not do a proper lockdown. But there is a balance. We cannot go from one way where we send a lot of people forward to keeping everyone back so we do not arrive with numbers.

I do not want to tell Ryan Gravenberch not to carry the ball or arrive in the box." He added that players must learn to read the game and recognise danger: "It is a matter of identifying the situation. You cannot be with the joystick every time controlling the player.

There are players that are very good at smelling the danger. 'I cannot risk going now. I think I have to stay.' Recognising those situations is the job." At present, a couple of high‑scoring draws may be a realistic expectation for this Liverpool side. Whether their attacking strengths will outweigh the defensive frailties remains to be seen.

The squad is undeniably imperfect and imbalanced, yet it also promises an exciting brand of football that could still surprise opponents and delight fans alike.