Iraola's Liverpool Debut: Key Decisions for Newcastle Clash

Andoni Iraola walks into the Premier League glare on Sunday with no soft launch, no gentle easing-in period. His first game as Liverpool manager is a trip to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United – one of the most unforgiving opening assignments English football can throw at you.

Liverpool arrive from a season that fell short. Fifth place, no title race, and too many questions about where the club is heading. This campaign is supposed to change that tone. Not necessarily with a trophy in May, but with a clear sense that the club is moving back towards that level. The complication? Iraola inherits a thin squad and a demanding fixture list.

Jeremy Jacquet is the big-money symbol of that new era, a £60million signing from Rennes whose deal was wrapped up last year. Ronald Araujo and Victor Munoz have come in as depth pieces from Barcelona and Osasuna. It’s not enough to fully rebuild an attack that still looks light if Liverpool want to compete on several fronts, but the season starts now, ready or not.

So the new manager’s first big test is not tactical theory or long-term planning. It’s a team sheet in the St James’ Park dressing room. Get it wrong and Liverpool could walk into a storm that lingers over Anfield for weeks. Get it right and he buys himself time, authority and belief.

Three calls stand out.

Araujo over Jacquet at centre-back

Jacquet may be the marquee arrival, but this is the wrong stage for a Premier League debut. St James’ Park is a cauldron on an ordinary day; on opening weekend, with Liverpool in town, it becomes something else entirely.

Jacquet hasn’t played competitive football since early February. His pre-season amounted to just 45 minutes because of injury. Throwing him straight into a game of this intensity would not be bold, it would be reckless.

Iraola is short at centre-back with Joe Gomez injured, but he does have Ronald Araujo. The Barcelona loanee also only managed a half of football in pre-season, yet he finished last season as a regular and knows all about high-pressure occasions. Seven years at the Nou Camp brings a certain calm in hostile environments.

Starting Jacquet would make a statement. It just wouldn’t be the right one. Araujo’s experience and rhythm, even if not perfect, give Liverpool a far better chance of surviving the early onslaught Newcastle are likely to unleash.

Ngumoha’s moment on the right

If centre-back is about caution, the right wing is about trust.

Rio Ngumoha is 17. He is raw, inexperienced, and every coaching instinct usually screams to protect players like him from nights like this. But here, Iraola’s options run out quickly.

He could shift Victor Munoz out of position to plug the gap, yet that would feel like a compromise. Ngumoha has earned something more than that. He impressed all summer, catching the eye throughout pre-season with his energy and fearlessness.

And he already has history in this fixture. Last season, he scored the winner at St James’ Park, slipping the ball past Nick Pope at the Leazes End in the 100th minute. That kind of memory doesn’t just live with supporters; it lives with the player. It tells him he belongs.

Newcastle will be even more charged this time, with Alexander Isak back on familiar ground and the home crowd ready to roar. Liverpool need someone on that flank who isn’t intimidated by noise or narrative. Ngumoha has already shown he can handle both.

Mac Allister on the bench, midfield reset

If there is one area where Iraola does not need to improvise, it is central midfield. Even with Curtis Jones expected to depart for Inter Milan, the options are stacked: Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz, Wataru Endo, Harvey Elliott, Trey Nyoni, Stefan Bajcetic.

That depth gives the new manager freedom to be ruthless.

Mac Allister should be the one to miss out at St James’ Park. The reasoning is twofold. First, fitness and rhythm: he played only 54 minutes in total during pre-season after an extended break following his World Cup exertions. Second, form and hierarchy: he struggled through large stretches of the 2025/26 campaign and should not walk into this season as an automatic starter.

A midfield of Szoboszlai, Gravenberch and Wirtz offers a different balance – more dynamism, more vertical threat, and a fresher feel for a team trying to rebrand itself under a new coach. It is a trio that fits Iraola’s need for intensity and quick transitions.

Sunday will not define his Liverpool tenure, but it will set the tone. The choices he makes – Araujo’s authority, Ngumoha’s fearlessness, Mac Allister’s demotion – will tell everyone how he intends to run this team.

Is this the start of a slow rebuild, or the opening move of a genuine title challenge? We’ll get the first real clues when that team sheet drops on Tyneside.