Liverpool's New Attack Strategy After Salah

Two months on from Mohamed Salah’s exit and Anfield still feels different. The banners are the same, the noise is the same, but the attack is not.

Andoni Iraola hasn’t tried to copy what he’s lost. He’s tried to reinvent it.

Barcola flips the picture

Instead of hunting for a like-for-like, left‑footed right winger to mimic Salah’s trademark angles, Liverpool went in a completely different direction. They bet big on Bradley Barcola, one of the most expensive signings in the club’s history, and handed him the keys to the left.

Barcola arrives from Paris Saint-Germain with numbers that demand attention: 13 goals and seven assists last season. He is right-footed, but he lives on the left, driving inside, turning full-backs the wrong way and inverting the shape that once revolved around Salah cutting in from the right.

Liverpool’s entire attacking balance has been flipped. Salah’s old corridor is no longer the natural danger zone. Barcola now stretches and slices teams from the opposite side, and the rest of the frontline has to adjust around that new gravity.

A lopsided squad and a clear problem

That shift has exposed a brutal reality on the other flank.

Liverpool go into the season with four players who prefer the left wing and not a single natural right winger. The transfer window is shut. The solutions have to come from within.

Teenager Rio Ngumoha was first to audition. Thrown in on the right against Newcastle, he struggled to find rhythm or the angles that come so naturally to him on his favoured side. Cody Gakpo offered a touch more control when used there against Nottingham Forest, but he looked like what he is in that role: a makeshift option, not a specialist.

Iraola sees the same issues everyone else does. He just thinks he already has an answer.

Munoz the wildcard

Víctor Munoz, another of the summer additions, is the name the manager keeps coming back to.

“Víctor has played more games on the left in his career but has maybe been even better on the right,” Iraola said before Liverpool’s Premier League trip to Ipswich Town.

It’s a telling line. Munoz, like Barcola, is comfortable drifting in off the flank, but Iraola believes the new signing can give Liverpool something closer to a traditional wide presence on that right side when needed — someone who can stretch the pitch, hit early balls and offer a more direct route into the box.

That matters for one man in particular.

Building for Isak

With the system tilting towards Barcola on the left, the right flank now has to serve Alexander Isak.

The Sweden striker is at his most ruthless in the penalty area. He wants crosses, cut-backs, quick deliveries flashed into dangerous zones. A more orthodox winger on the right, someone who naturally attacks the byline or whips in early service, could transform his output.

The current imbalance has left Isak feeding on moments rather than waves of pressure. Iraola knows that can’t last if Liverpool are to stay sharp in the final third. The right wing isn’t just a tactical puzzle; it’s the supply line to his No 9.

Ngumoha’s education

Even with Munoz ready-made for that side, Iraola refuses to abandon the project of reshaping Ngumoha.

“We know Rio can play on the left and showed his qualities,” he said. “He needs to develop on the right so it gives him more options to play. He is so young. [But] because he wasn't incredible in the first game on the right, we can't say he will never play on the right anymore.”

That is the long game. Ngumoha’s raw talent is obvious, but Liverpool want a forward who can switch sides, press from either wing and still carry a threat. Iraola is prepared to ride out the awkward early steps to get there.

Gakpo stays in the frame

Cody Gakpo, meanwhile, remains right in the middle of this reshuffle. Manchester City and Tottenham tested Liverpool’s resolve late in the window, but the Dutchman stayed put and will continue to fight for minutes across the frontline.

His versatility — able to play wide or centrally — makes him a crucial piece in Iraola’s evolving puzzle, even if he doesn’t perfectly fit the right-wing brief.

Ipswich and the next test

All of this theory now heads into a very real examination. Liverpool travel to face Ipswich Town on Friday with an attack still in transition and a manager trying to settle on the right blend.

Barcola will dominate the left. Isak will wait in the box. Somewhere between Munoz, Ngumoha and Gakpo, Iraola must find the man who makes this new-look Liverpool truly bite from both sides.