Iraola's Liverpool: Foundations Being Laid in Chicago
Robert Lewandowski was the first thing you saw. Not Andoni Iraola. Not the Liverpool crest. Lewandowski, 37 years old now, in Chicago Fire colours, thundering penalties under a grey Midwestern sky.
One of them sailed over the bar as Liverpool’s first open training session of the Iraola era began on the adjacent pitch at the MLS club’s performance centre. A European great misfiring in the background, while a new project quietly took shape in the foreground. Symbolic? Maybe. What mattered to Liverpool was what was happening on their side of the fence.
Szoboszlai, Jones and a storm in a social-media teacup
Earlier in the week, the narrative around Liverpool had not been about tactics or fitness, but about a clip. Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones, face to face, visibly irritated at the end of the win over Wrexham in New York. Kostas Tsimikas hovering nearby. A flash of anger, slowed down and replayed a thousand times.
By Friday in Chicago, the picture was very different.
Szoboszlai, Jones and Tsimikas strolled out together, laughing, juggling the ball between them, performing keepy-uppies in front of the cameras that had feasted on their disagreement. No tension, no distance. Just three players leaning into the theatre of it all.
The argument is understood to have stemmed from Szoboszlai handing the captain’s armband to Tsimikas rather than Jones. A small detail, magnified by the modern lens of instant footage and online outrage. Szoboszlai had already played it down on Thursday, insisting everyone was “in the same boat”, all pushing for the same thing.
Still, the incident offered Iraola an early reminder of one practical issue: the vice-captaincy remains vacant after Andy Robertson’s departure. In a dressing room full of strong personalities and ambitious players, that hierarchy matters. Passion is useful; public flashpoints are less so in an age when anyone in the stands can broadcast a moment in seconds.
Big names back on the grass
Beyond the minor drama, there was more significant news: Liverpool’s record signing Alexander Isak returned to training this week. He had missed the trip to New York, as had Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch, while Liverpool edged past Wrexham 1-0 in their second pre-season outing.
All three were involved in Chicago and are expected to feature on Sunday against Leeds at Soldier Field. For Iraola, still only a few sessions into his reign, that means his attacking options are finally beginning to resemble something close to full strength.
Not everyone made it onto the pitch. Young centre-back Jeremy Jacquet, recovering from the shoulder injury he suffered in February, stayed indoors, working in the gym as the club continue to manage his return carefully. He remains a doubt for the weekend, despite Iraola having suggested earlier that he might play a part.
Joe Gomez, already ruled out for the start of the Premier League season, was also confined to the gym, another reminder that the new manager’s first competitive line-up will be shaped as much by medical reports as by whiteboard plans.
Iraola’s voice, Iraola’s tempo
Once the warm-up ended, the tone changed. The session snapped into focus.
Iraola was loud, present, and demanding. He did not stand back with folded arms. He stepped into drills, barked instructions, corrected positions. His voice cut across the pitches: “Play in possession.” “Quicker, quicker.” The words were simple, the message relentless.
The drills themselves carried that same intensity. Small-sided games, tight spaces, sharp transitions. Players celebrated goals in the mini-games with genuine enthusiasm, a sign that competition is already being baked into the daily routine. The mood stayed light, but the work was serious.
At one point, the squad split. On a smaller pitch, a nine-a-side game unfolded, with all the usual chaos and quick decisions Iraola wants to see. On another, set-piece work took centre stage. Assistants Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper took charge there, with Elphick even pulling on a bib to join in. Wirtz stood over corners, delivering repeatedly as staff fine-tuned movements and roles.
Overlooking it all, quietly, was Mike Gordon. The Fenway Sports Group president has re-established his close involvement in Liverpool’s day-to-day operations and watched from the sidelines as Iraola’s methods played out. He is expected to be at Soldier Field on Sunday, another sign of how closely the hierarchy is tracking this new chapter.
Old legends, new era
The work on the grass is only part of the story when a new manager walks into a club like Liverpool. The past hangs in the air here, and Iraola seems to understand that.
On Thursday night, the squad and staff shared a team dinner. Afterward, Iraola took time for a beer with Phil Thompson and Robbie Fowler, two figures who carry decades of Liverpool history between them. Thompson, a three-time European Cup winner with the club, later said they spoke about everything from the coming season to family life.
It is a striking image: a coach who was not even born when Thompson lifted his third European Cup, sitting with him in Chicago, listening, talking, acknowledging what came before. This is not nostalgia for its own sake; it is a manager recognising the weight of the badge he now represents.
Seeds in the Windy City
Three weeks remain until Iraola walks out for his first Premier League match as Liverpool manager. That is no time at all in coaching terms, yet these early days in Chicago already carry the feel of foundations being laid.
The players are learning his language: possession with purpose, speed as a non-negotiable, clarity in roles. The staff are embedding their routines. The club’s leadership is watching, present, engaged. Even the minor controversies are offering useful lessons about leadership structures and dressing-room dynamics.
On one pitch, Lewandowski’s penalties marked the end of one session. On the next, Iraola’s Liverpool quietly began something else.
The real judgement will come when the clouds are gone, the stadiums are full, and the points matter. But here, in the Windy City, the first outlines of his Liverpool are already visible.
