Liverpool under Andoni Iraola compared with Arne Slot’s first 10 Premier League games, Digi Mart USA News: The jury should still be out on whether Liverpool have improved at all after replacing Arne Slot with Andoni Iraola over the summer. Slot was sacked despite leading the Reds to the Premier League title in 2025, with his follow-up season falling well short of expectations at Anfield.
While there were good arguments for the Dutchman to be removed, and Iraola was an obvious choice to come in, things have yet to really improve for Liverpool after 10 games of the Premier League season. Iraola has the same number of points after 10 games as Slot did last season, 18.
Having beaten Crystal Palace 3-1 on Sunday, the Reds head into the November international break in fourth position with 18 points. That is not bad, but it is not exactly good, given they trail leaders Arsenal by nine points.
Liverpool have already lost to Arsenal and Manchester City this season.
Liverpool lurched from one extreme to the other during the first 10 games of last season, winning the first five before losing four in a row. They did win their 10th match, beating Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield, but their 18-point total was seen as underwhelming for the reigning champions.
By most basic measures, however, Liverpool were better off a year ago than they are now. They sat one place higher in the table, were seven points behind Arsenal rather than nine, and had scored more goals, 18 to 14.
Slot’s team had also beaten Arsenal at Anfield, a result that was reversed at a similar stage this time around.
The one area in which Liverpool have seemingly improved under Iraola is goals conceded. The Reds have been suspect defensively in Europe but better in the Premier League, conceding 10 goals this year compared with 14 at the same stage last season.
They have also been harder to beat, losing only twice while Slot’s team lost four of its opening 10 games. Iraola’s side has won one fewer match, but turning two defeats into draws could be read as a sign of some progress.
What is clear is that anyone who believed Slot was the sole problem at Liverpool last year has been proven wrong by the Reds’ start under Iraola. The 48-year-old could have done many things differently during his second season in charge.
Obviously, the first 10 games do not tell the story of a whole season, and things got much worse for Slot over the course of the next 28 games. Iraola will hope things go in the opposite direction, and they well might.
But we can only judge on what we have seen so far, and that suggests that if there has been improvement at Liverpool under Iraola, it has been marginal at best. It is worth asking whether Liverpool would have been better or worse off under Slot.
Things could have plummeted further under the former head coach, but it could also be that the 2025/26 season was simply an anomaly and the Reds would have returned to their usual form under his leadership. That question will never be answered, but Slot should feel even more annoyed at having the rug pulled from under him at Anfield after seeing how things have gone since.
