Liverpool to face six new managers in first six games
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- Liverpool are set to face six teams with new managers in their opening six Premier League matches, which Opta told BBC Sport has never happened in the top flight's history.
- Andoni Iraola, who took charge at Anfield in June after leaving Bournemouth, said analysts at the club are studying how each new opposition boss set up at previous clubs and the tactics they may deploy.
- Iraola brought Tom Webber with him from Bournemouth as first-team tactical analyst; Liverpool's wider analysis team includes Jansen Moreno (head of first-team analysis), Joel Bonner (post-match) and Lewis Mahoney (set-pieces), with coaches Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper also working on dead-ball situations.
- Liverpool's first six opponents are Nottingham Forest (Oliver Glasner), Ipswich (Gary O'Neil), Manchester City (Enzo Maresca), Newcastle (Matthias Jaissle), Fulham (Alvaro Arbeloa) and Bournemouth (Marco Rose) — three of whom Glasner, O'Neil and Maresca have previously faced Liverpool with other Premier League clubs.
- Matthias Jaissle has won his first game in charge at each of his three previous clubs — Liefering, Red Bull Salzburg and Al-Ahli — and his Al-Ahli side finished last season unbeaten at home in the Saudi Pro League, winning their last 13 in a row, per the report.
- Iraola is on the longest current unbeaten run of any Premier League manager, having gone 18 games without defeat at Bournemouth last season, and is unbeaten in six top-flight meetings with Newcastle (W3 D3).
- Since 2016, all Premier League clubs have shared tracking data under a league-wide agreement, according to Ian Graham's book How To Win the Premier League, helping analysts prepare for opposition surprises.
Why it matters: With a record nine Premier League clubs changing managers this summer, Liverpool's analytics department — and Iraola's own eye for opponent tendencies — faces the unusual burden of preparing six brand-new tactical puzzles before Christmas, while the rest of the league will be scouting Iraola's own new-look Liverpool at the same time.
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