With the start of pre-season training at Kirkby just a month away, there’s no time to lose for Liverpool’s new head coach Andoni Iraola.There are relationships to form, a schedule to map out and key decisions to be made about players’ futures. The former Bournemouth manager inherits a squad with some glaring gaps that need addressing in the transfer market this summer.Iraola will be tasked with reviving the fortunes of a talented but under-performing group who alarmingly lost their way under Arne Slot.There are some crucial lessons that the Spaniard must learn from how Slot’s reign unravelled if he is going to be a success at Anfield.Identity matters“The way they played with real front-foot, attacking football, intelligence and passion, those are all attributes we welcome here at Liverpool.”Those were the words of Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes when he sat alongside Slot at his first press conference at Kirkby in July 2024. Hughes was referring to Slot’s body of work at Feyenoord.The Dutchman lived up to that billing in his first season at Anfield as Liverpool blew their rivals away en route to winning the Premier League title. It was a more controlled and possession-based approach than Jurgen Klopp’s brand of football, but it was both effective and entertaining for most of 2024-25.The problem was that Liverpool subsequently lost their identity as a team. Results will always be paramount but style also matters at Anfield. Supporters can accept setbacks if they see a team playing with aggression, tempo, intensity and bravery.What they won’t tolerate is a lack of fight or ambition. One of the biggest reasons why Slot haemorrhaged support over the course of 2025-26 was that Liverpool games so often had to be endured rather than enjoyed. Their attacking output declined dramatically. They didn’t press as a unit, they were far too easy to play through and horribly vulnerable defensively.“We were a bit surprised to have time and space to play,” Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris told reporters after leaving Anfield with a point last December.After scoring twice in a 4-2 win over Liverpool last month, Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins said: “Liverpool play a high line and don’t play offside so they’re disjointed at the back.”Andoni Iraola lifted Bournemouth to European qualification (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)Game after game, Liverpool dominated possession but did so little with it because their build-up play was far too slow and predictable. The most damning verdict from Anfield regulars was that they were frequently bored.Slot felt the fans’ wrath during what proved to be his penultimate home game in charge against struggling Chelsea when his team backed off after going ahead and allowed the visitors to seize the initiative, resulting in another two points being carelessly frittered away.If there had been more of a coherent plan and excitement on the field, then Slot would have been afforded greater patience. Iraola has got the job on the basis of the bold, offensive style of football Bournemouth played. That’s what Liverpool expect to see replicated. If you’re going to energise the Anfield crowd, you’ve got to give them something to believe in.There might be some teething troubles as Iraola tries to impart his vision over the coming months, but he needs to have the courage of his convictions and stick to his principles.Be ruthless on the big issuesToo often last season, Slot stuck to the same approach that simply wasn’t working.Cody Gakpo, Alexis Mac Allister and Ibrahima Konate all kept their places at various points of last season when their error-strewn performances simply didn’t justify their ongoing inclusion in the team. It sent the wrong message to those on the fringes who craved greater game time.The right-back position was a headache for Slot due to Conor Bradley’s serious knee injury, as well as Jeremie Frimpong’s issues with both form and fitness. However, he made a tough situation worse by frequently playing Dominik Szoboszlai there with the knock-on effect that the midfield was weakened.Liverpool’s record defending set-pieces in 2025-26 was appalling with 20 league goals conceded (excluding penalties) — their highest figure of the Premier League era.Iraola and his staff will need to devote some serious time in pre-season to addressing that weakness because a lack of organisation and communication repeatedly cost them as Liverpool limped home in fifth place.Slot was never able to fully tap into the potential of the two most expensive signings in the club’s history, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.Even when fit, Isak looked out of sync with the players around him and remained on the periphery of matches. Getting the Swedish striker more involved as a focal point of Liverpool’s attack is going to be vital for Iraola. Can Isak set the tone in terms of the high press the new head coach intends to restore? It requires a leap of faith based on his stop-start first year at Anfield.Arne Slot lost the support of senior players like Mohamed Salah (Jack Thomas/Getty Images)Wirtz kicked on after a difficult adaptation to English football and showed flashes of his undoubted talent but remained inconsistent. He wasn’t helped by being shifted around to different roles. Iraola has to get the right team structure around the Germany international to enable him to flourish as a creative force.The sight of Liverpool conceding so many late goals in 2025-26 sparked inevitable concerns over both fitness levels and mentality. Iraola will undoubtedly get them running harder and for longer, but he must also restore morale in the dressing room after confidence levels took such a battering. Too often when faced with adversity, they crumbled.Following the departures of Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson, Iraola needs to empower new leaders to step up and ease the burden on captain Virgil van Dijk.Create a close bond with the fansThis was something Slot struggled with.It’s not a problem when you’re winning, like he did so often in his first season at the helm, but it became an issue when the team’s fortunes nosedived.Slot was always going to be unfairly compared to Klopp, who was in a class of his own when it came to inspiring devotion among the fanbase and carrying people with him.However, Slot didn’t help himself at times by coming across as cold and distant. Some of his comments to the media alienated supporters who grew weary of hearing about the difficulties of facing long balls, low blocks and “negative set-piece balances”.Fans don’t want to hear that scoring twice at Villa Park is “not bad” when you’ve just been hammered 4-2. They also don’t want Paris Saint-Germain to be constantly placed on a pedestal as if being able to compete with them is some crazy pipedream.Slot found himself ridiculed for suggesting in January that going out of the Champions League to PSG in the last 16 the previous season had “maybe” helped Liverpool win the Premier League title – despite the fact they were 15 points clear at the time with nine games to go. Club legend Steven Gerrard described that suggestion as “a body blow for the fans”.Many Liverpool fans had lost faith with Arne Slot by the end of last season (Carl Recine/Getty Images)Iraola will discover that every word he utters publicly is scrutinised in a way that he’s not experienced previously. It’s not easy getting the message right in your second language, but Liverpool supporters will expect him to fight the club’s corner on every issue.For example, at the Emirates back in January, after Bradley had been dragged off the pitch by Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli when he lay in agony on the turf, there was anger when Slot defended the Brazilian winger. “He comes across as a nice guy,” he told reporters post-match. “You cannot ask Martinelli to think so clear in the 94th minute.”Strangely, it was left to former Manchester United defender Gary Neville, working for Sky Sports as a pundit, to describe Martinelli’s antics as “absolutely disgraceful”.The sheer number of defeats and lifeless performances ultimately did for Slot, but there’s no doubt that the disconnect between him and the fanbase contributed to the scale of dissent he faced at Anfield.Iraola must immerse himself in Liverpool’s history, the rivalries, the tragedies and the glory. He has to embrace the city as well as the club and build bridges with those who will provide the soundtrack to his Anfield reign.