Liverpool's transfer outlay this summer exceeded even last year's investment, with over £200m committed to reshape the squad. Yet despite the financial firepower deployed, manager Andoni Iraola finds himself navigating a campaign with more structural concerns than solutions.
The headline acquisition of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain for £123m was meant to address the void left by Mohamed Salah's departure. Instead, it has crystallised a deeper problem: the club's attacking setup now tilts heavily toward the left, leaving the right flank exposed and undermanned.
Jamie Carragher articulated the fundamental issue when speaking to Sky Sports:
It does not look like a balanced squad. Liverpool are short in the full-back areas and probably a midfield player as well.This assessment cuts to the heart of Liverpool's predicament despite the substantial investment in attacking talent.
The Barcola signing itself exemplifies the imbalance. Losing the Premier League's finest right-footed left-winger in Salah demanded a strategic response, yet the club has instead stacked resources on the opposite flank. Carragher elaborated:
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.
While Barcola possesses versatility, his £123m price tag demands deployment in his primary position—the left wing—where he has thrived. Cody Gakpo currently occupies that flank, with Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike having previously been stationed there. Rio Ngumoha, who broke through on the left last season, has been trialled on the opposite wing during pre-season. Victor Munoz, signed after a single top-flight campaign as a left winger, represents the most likely alternative on the right.
This clustering of left-sided talent is not inherently catastrophic, but it exposes a troubling gap elsewhere. The squad appears loaded in certain areas while starved in others, creating tactical vulnerabilities that extend beyond attacking play.
The full-back situation exemplifies this shortage. When Jeremie Frimpong arrived last summer, the club publicly resisted framing him as a Trent Alexander-Arnold replacement at right-back. Yet that is precisely where the Netherlands international has been deployed in Liverpool's opening two matches. With Conor Bradley sidelined by injury, Frimpong represents the closest specialist available, though some have suggested Dominik Szoboszlai as a makeshift alternative—a compromise that feels inadequate given the tactical demands.
Shifting a centre-back into the full-back role is far from ideal, particularly under Iraola's system where these players function as attacking engines. Both Frimpong and Milos Kerkez rank among the Premier League's top three players this season for sprints, with only Adrien Truffert of Iraola's former club Bournemouth ahead of them. This intensity is foundational to the manager's approach.
Comparing Liverpool's average player positions across their opening two matches to the title-winning campaign under Arne Slot reveals a stark shift. The full-backs surge forward, often simultaneously, placing enormous responsibility on midfielders to provide defensive cover. This tactical blueprint demands midfield personnel capable of managing the subsequent counter-attacking threat.
That capability is precisely where Liverpool's squad shows its most glaring weakness. Ryan Gravenberch stepped up decisively to help Slot secure the title, but with Alexis Mac Allister's physical output diminished over the past 18 months, does Iraola possess the midfield resources to neutralise opposition breaks?
The question extends beyond personnel to philosophy. At Bournemouth, Iraola demanded aggressive pressing from his midfielders. Alex Scott described the approach as
very aggressiveout of possession, while Tyler Adams reflected:
The players really believe that we are going to win the ball high up the field.This intensity requires midfielders willing to engage rather than sit deep—a structural choice that carries inherent risk.
Early evidence suggests those risks are materialising. Carragher offered a blunt assessment:
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.
Within five minutes of Liverpool's opening Premier League fixture, the vulnerability became apparent. With full-backs positioned high and centre-backs retreating, a void opened between the lines. Newcastle exploited this space to score, exposing a defensive architecture that appears structurally fragile.
Given the attacking inclinations of Liverpool's full-backs and Virgil van Dijk's tendency to drop deep, this exposure is unlikely to diminish without intervention. The paradox is stark: Iraola has assembled Liverpool's most expensively constructed squad in history, yet it remains the most obviously flawed in a decade.
Solutions exist, though they demand compromise. Carragher outlined the dilemma:
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. 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.
Recent developments suggest the club remains active in addressing these gaps. Liverpool completed a transfer for goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans from Genk on 1 September 2026 for a reported £28.3m plus £1.7m in add-ons, though this addition does little to resolve the midfield and attacking balance concerns.
Iraola's appointment came on 4 June 2026 when he signed a two-year contract, and his first match in charge delivered a 2-2 draw at Newcastle on 23 August—a result that masked the structural issues now becoming apparent. The high-scoring stalemate may prove emblematic of this team's trajectory: sufficient attacking prowess to trouble opponents, yet defensive frailties that prevent dominance.
What comes next for Liverpool
Liverpool face Ipswich Town away on 4 September 2026, followed by a home fixture against Fulham on 12 September and an away trip to Bournemouth on 20 September. These matches will test whether Iraola can extract balance from an imbalanced squad, or whether the structural flaws prove too fundamental to overcome through tactical adjustment alone.
For now, high-scoring draws appear the most likely outcome for this Liverpool team. Whether their attacking strengths ultimately overwhelm opponents or their defensive vulnerabilities prove their undoing remains the central question of their season.
