Iraola Faces Selection Dilemma as Liverpool Seek Cup Success
Andoni Iraola is only a few weeks into life at Anfield, but the calendar has already started asking hard questions of his squad – and of his selection nerve.
Liverpool host Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night. On paper, it’s a third-round tie. In reality, it’s a test of priorities.
Asked if he can simply go full strength every game, Iraola didn’t pretend.
“You can decide and put the same players in every game,” he said. “The problem is there’ll be a moment when they’re really tired. And there is more risk of injury.
“There are players who play every three days with no issues. They are very robust, their performances don’t change too much.
“There are other players where the risk is bigger and the performances are different. I have to learn who is ready to play games every three days and who needs a rest so their performance level isn’t affected.
“I thought I had it quite clear in my mind with some, but with others, it’s new, even for them, because they haven’t played as many games. We are learning.”
That learning curve just steepened after a flat 0-0 at home to Fulham – Liverpool’s second straight league draw at Anfield and a jarring contrast to the midweek surge against Atletico Madrid.
Heavy Legs, Heavy Schedule
Two home games. Two points. For only the third time in 63 years, Liverpool have failed to win either of their opening two league fixtures at Anfield.
This is not the launch Iraola imagined.
After the high-tempo, front-foot win over Atletico in the Champions League, Fulham’s visit looked like a chance to ride that wave. Instead, Liverpool sagged. The intensity dipped, the spark vanished, and a side that had shredded a Diego Simeone team looked, in the words of those watching on, physically and mentally tired.
The numbers back up the sense of drift. Six points from four league matches: one win at Ipswich, draws at Newcastle, at home to Nottingham Forest and now Fulham. Four points dropped already at Anfield. For a club that measures itself against title standards, that stings.
The spotlight inevitably falls on the new-look attack. The £364m trio of Alexander Isak, Bradley Barcola and Florian Wirtz started a league game together for the first time. It never quite clicked.
Isak had just 16 touches in 90 minutes – the second-fewest on record for a Liverpool outfield player, having set the low mark himself with 14 touches against Forest a fortnight earlier. Wirtz, so bright and inventive against Atletico, struggled to impose himself. Barcola flashed moments, but the collective rhythm wasn’t there. It will take time; the fixture list isn’t granting much.
With at least seven more Champions League matches guaranteed and Tottenham arriving in the Carabao Cup, the reality is clear: Liverpool must learn to win while managing fatigue, not waiting for it to disappear.
Fulham Dig In, Liverpool Run Short
Alvaro Arbeloa arrived back at Anfield under pressure, his Fulham side having lost all three league games since his summer appointment. He left with his first Premier League point and a performance that steadied his own narrative.
He tweaked his team, handing Austrian centre-back David Affengruber a debut in place of Joachim Andersen and bringing Sander Berge in for Cesar Palacios. Iraola, mindful of the schedule, made three changes of his own: Kostas Tsimikas, Ryan Gravenberch and Victor Munoz came in for Milos Kerkez, Alexis Mac Allister and Rio Ngumoha.
The early drama was almost self-inflicted. A mix-up between Alisson and Gravenberch gifted Gonzalo Garcia a chance that should have put Fulham ahead, Jeremy Jacquet forced to hook the ball off the line. Liverpool had invited trouble; Fulham gladly accepted the encouragement.
The visitors carried the greater threat before the break. Josh King saw an effort from inside the box saved by Alisson, Antonee Robinson headed wide, and the Kop grew restless.
Liverpool did carve openings. Munoz’s header drew a strong save from Bernd Leno. Barcola’s volley was deflected behind by Timothy Castagne. But there was no sustained siege, no sense of inevitability.
Tsimikas, who had struggled, made way for Kerkez at half-time. By the hour, Iraola had turned again to his core, sending on Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo for Gravenberch and Munoz in a bid to tilt the game.
Isak finally found a pocket of space, only for Leno to gather his effort comfortably. Dominik Szoboszlai unleashed a powerful strike that the Fulham keeper beat away. The pattern was familiar: Liverpool pushing, Fulham bending, but never breaking.
On 72 minutes Iraola threw on Ngumoha and Jeremie Frimpong. Fresh legs, fresh ideas. The breakthrough still refused to come. Deep into stoppage time, Isak headed wide from a corner and that was that.
Fulham, who fashioned late chances through King and Kevin, left with a point that felt like a small step forward. For Liverpool, it felt like a warning.
Cup Pedigree Meets Present Tension
If there is a competition Liverpool know how to navigate, it is this one. The League Cup has long been a red thread through the club’s modern history.
They first lifted it in 1980-81, the start of an extraordinary run of four consecutive triumphs that ended in 1984. A fifth arrived in 1995, Steve McManaman’s brace against Bolton at Wembley breaking a decade-long wait.
The new millennium brought another surge. Under Gerard Houllier, Liverpool claimed the trophy in 2001 and again in 2003, beating Manchester United in the final to make it seven.
Kenny Dalglish, in his second spell in charge, added an eighth in 2012 after a penalty shootout win over Cardiff City. Then came the long gap, finally snapped in 2022 with that remarkable 11-10 shootout victory over Chelsea under Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp delivered number 10 in 2024, again against Chelsea, to extend Liverpool’s status as the competition’s most successful club.
Now the question hangs over Iraola: can he guide Liverpool to number 11 while juggling a brutal schedule and a squad still finding its patterns?
Selection Dilemma Against Spurs
Tottenham’s start to the season has been rough, but this is no gentle early-round tie against lower-league opposition. The usual Carabao Cup template – fringe players, academy minutes, low jeopardy – doesn’t quite fit.
One argument says Liverpool should go strong, use the game to restore rhythm and confidence after back-to-back home draws. Another points to the calendar, to the heavy legs on Saturday, to the Champions League commitments, and insists rotation has to come first.
Iraola has already admitted he is still working out who can play every three days and who cannot. The Fulham stalemate underlined the cost of getting that calculation wrong.
Tottenham at Anfield in the cup will provide an early verdict. Does he lean into Liverpool’s history in this competition, or into the hard reality of a squad stretched by expectation and games piling up?
The answer will tell plenty about how Liverpool plan to chase trophies this season – and about which players he truly trusts to be “very robust” when the matches refuse to stop.
