Liverpool’s summer transfer window may have surprised many observers by surpassing the previous year’s outlay, with the club committing more than an additional £200 million to the squad. Yet, despite this financial firepower, new manager Andoni Iraola is left with a roster that raises more questions than it answers. Former Liverpool stalwart Jamie Carragher summed up the situation succinctly for Sky Sports: “The squad doesn’t appear balanced. There are clear deficiencies at full‑back and, likely, in midfield as well.” His observation rings true even after the club’s record £123 million acquisition of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint‑Germain.
While the French winger brings undeniable talent, his arrival highlights a deeper structural issue – the lack of equilibrium across the team’s positional groups. The most glaring imbalance stems from Liverpool’s right‑wing situation. The Reds lost Mohamed Salah, arguably the best left‑footed right‑winger in Premier League history, and have attempted to replace his output by bolstering the opposite side of the pitch. Carragher noted, “Liverpool have no genuine out‑and‑out right‑sided attacker.
We lack a left‑footed player on the right wing like Mo Salah. I’m disappointed and uncertain about what we’ll do there.” Barcola is a versatile attacker capable of operating on either flank, yet the size of his fee suggests the club expects him to feature in his natural position – primarily on the left.
Deploying him on the right would be a stretch and could compromise his effectiveness. Meanwhile, Cody Gakpo has been used predominantly on the left, a slot previously occupied by Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike at other clubs.
Rio Ngumoha, who broke through on the left side last season, was trialled on the opposite wing during pre‑season, and Victor Muñoz, signed after a single top‑flight season as a left winger, appears a likely candidate for the right‑hand role. The lack of a clear, specialised right‑wing solution remains a strategic blind spot. These positional quirks do not, on their own, condemn Liverpool’s recruitment policy. They are more a curiosity than a catastrophe, yet they underscore a broader pattern: the squad is heavily weighted in certain areas while conspicuously thin in others.
When Jeremie Frimpong arrived last summer, the club stressed that he was not intended to replace Trent Alexander‑Arnold at right‑back. Ironically, Frimpong has been deployed in that very position in the opening two league matches, filling in for the injured Conor Bradley.
While Frimpong is arguably the most natural fit for the role, alternatives such as Dominik Szoboszlai feel like compromises, and shifting a centre‑back into the full‑back slot would undermine the high‑pressing, width‑driven system that Iraola favours. The importance of dynamic full‑backs in Iraola’s philosophy cannot be overstated. Both Frimpong and Milos Kerkez rank among the Premier League’s top three sprint performers this season, trailing only Adrien Truffert of Bournemouth – Iraola’s former club. Their relentless up‑and‑down runs are a cornerstone of the tactical approach, demanding that midfielders cover the space left behind when the full‑backs push high.
In Liverpool’s first two games, the average positions of the players mirrored those of the title‑winning Bournemouth side under Iraola, with full‑backs often overlapping and creating numerical superiority in wide areas. However, this aggressive full‑back deployment places a heavy burden on the midfield.
Ryan Gravenberch, who was instrumental in Bournemouth’s title charge, now faces a midfield that has lost some of its physical presence. Alexis Mac Allister’s athletic decline over the past 18 months raises doubts about whether Liverpool possess the necessary balance to shield against counter‑attacks. The question arises: does Iraola intend to employ a true holding midfielder, or does he expect his midfielders to engage aggressively higher up the pitch? At Bournemouth, Iraola instructed his players to “engage” and be “very aggressive” out of possession, a philosophy echoed by Tyler Adams, who said the squad believes they will win the ball high up the field.
Carragher has already voiced concerns about the midfield’s capability: “I don’t think the midfield can function with the personnel we have. It’s not just about the players; it’s the structure the manager is asking for.” The opening Premier League fixture illustrated this vulnerability.
Within five minutes, Liverpool’s defensive shape was exposed – the full‑backs surged forward while the centre‑backs sat deep, leaving a vast gap between them. Newcastle capitalised on the space and scored, exposing a structural flaw that could become a recurring issue, especially as Virgil van Dijk shows a growing tendency to sit back rather than cover the space left by the advancing full‑backs. Thus, Iraola inherits the most expensive squad in Liverpool’s history, but also arguably the most unbalanced one in a decade.
Finding a solution may not lie solely in the transfer market. Compromises will be required on the pitch. Carragher suggested, “You don’t want to lose the offensive fluidity and the numbers in attack, but we were punished, especially for the first goal.
We didn’t lock down properly.” He emphasised the need for a tactical equilibrium – not an all‑out attack nor a defensive shell, but a nuanced blend where players recognise when to stay back and when to surge forward. Recognising danger is a skill that some players possess instinctively. As Carragher noted, “There are players who can smell the danger and decide to stay, rather than constantly pushing forward.” Developing that awareness across the squad will be essential if Liverpool hopes to avoid conceding easy goals while maintaining their attacking threat. In the short term, a series of high‑scoring draws may be an appropriate outcome for this Liverpool side.
Their strengths – pace, width, and creative firepower – could overwhelm opponents, yet their structural weaknesses risk being exploited. The team is undeniably exciting, but it remains imperfect and imbalanced.
Whether the positives outweigh the negatives will become clearer as the season progresses, and fans will be watching closely to see if Iraola can fine‑tune the squad’s composition without sacrificing the attacking identity that defines Liverpool’s brand of football.