Iraola's Liverpool Debut: Squad Challenges Ahead of Newcastle Match

Andoni Iraola’s first real taste of life in the Liverpool dugout comes on Sunday – and he walks into it with a squad already patched up.

The Premier League opener against Newcastle United at Anfield will be played without several long‑term absentees, limiting how bold the new head coach can be with his early selections. Liverpool’s summer has been quiet in the transfer market, so the same core group have carried most of the pre-season load. That continuity helps. The injury list does not.

At the heart of it all sits Alexander Isak.

Isak to carry the load

Since returning from the World Cup with Sweden, Isak has been heavily involved in pre-season, starting Liverpool’s last three friendlies and looking sharp. The staff are wary of overloading him, given the fitness issues that dogged his first campaign at Anfield, but Iraola made it clear on Friday he sees the 26‑year‑old as central to the early months of the season.

“I think the same as others, an important player for us, in a very good place. Training every day, adding minutes, played a good World Cup with Sweden, fitness levels,” Iraola said, underlining both his importance and his condition.

With Hugo Ekitike ruled out for months after an Achilles rupture, the reliance on Isak is obvious. One competitive game roughly every week should help manage his workload, and Iraola’s challenge now is to squeeze more out of the striker without running him into the ground.

“I want to keep him there as much as we can. We know his level, he will score the goals. He will give us a lot of things. My fight with him, the instructions, is off the ball. He wants to score but I try not to judge the strikers if they have or haven't scored.”

The message is clear: Isak is fit, firing, and about to become the reference point of Liverpool’s attack.

Gomez blow complicates defensive plans

At the other end of the pitch, Iraola’s plans have already been ripped up once. Joe Gomez lasted only 10 minutes of last month’s pre-season friendly against Sunderland before pulling up with a muscle problem, a setback that removes a versatile defensive option just as a new system beds in.

“Joe will be some weeks off. It's a muscle injury... it is difficult to say [how long], but normally, I always put myself as one month,” Iraola explained. “It's not massive, it's a normal muscle injury, [but] I think it's going to be impossible to have him for the start of the season because we are not so far [away]. It shouldn't be a lot more.”

Liverpool are working towards a return around the trip to Ipswich Town on Friday, September 4, but the timing leaves Iraola short of depth for the opening stretch. With Conor Bradley also out, the full-back and centre-back rotations are already under strain before a ball has been kicked in anger.

Long road back for Ekitike and Bradley

The most serious concerns sit with Ekitike and Bradley. Both are on the same long, lonely road back.

Ekitike’s Achilles rupture in April was always going to cost him months, and Iraola’s July update did nothing to soften that reality. The French forward is not close, and Liverpool are braced to be without him until at least November or December.

“In terms of order, I think the closest one to returning is Leoni. After will be Conor and Hugo, but especially the last two are still way off. We are talking about months and still a lot of time out,” Iraola said.

Bradley, who suffered his major knee injury even before Ekitike’s blow, is pencilled in for a similar timeframe. For a player who had been pushing hard for a bigger role, it is a brutal pause. For Iraola, it removes a dynamic, aggressive option on the right at exactly the moment he is trying to stamp his style onto the side.

Both are effectively write-offs for the opening third of the campaign. Their eventual return, if on schedule, could feel like a winter reinforcement drive without a fee attached.

Leoni the nearest light on the horizon

If there is a sliver of good news, it comes in the shape of Giovanni Leoni. The defender has been out for close to a year with an ACL injury, a brutal lay-off that has stalled his momentum just as he was breaking through.

Leoni is, though, the closest of the long-term absentees to rejoining full training.

“In terms of order, I think the closest one to returning is Leoni. After will be Conor and Hugo, but especially the last two are still way off. We are talking about months and still a lot of time out,” Iraola reiterated.

Even so, his comeback will need careful handling after such a long spell on the sidelines. Rushing an ACL return is not an option, particularly in a season that will demand intensity and aggression from every defender.

So Iraola steps into his first competitive game as Liverpool boss with his options already trimmed: Gomez out until early September, Ekitike and Bradley not expected before late autumn, Leoni edging closer but still on the recovery trail, and Isak carrying the attacking expectation.

The new era begins with a test of depth and resilience. How quickly this patched-up squad adapts to Iraola’s demands may define far more than just opening day against Newcastle.