{"id":761562,"date":"2026-09-06T05:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T05:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/761562\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T05:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T05:36:12","slug":"bradley-barcola-tests-andoni-iraola-resolve-as-liverpool-star-dropped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/761562\/","title":{"rendered":"Bradley Barcola tests Andoni Iraola resolve as Liverpool star dropped"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andoni Iraola has a number of selection decisions to make as Liverpool prepare to open their Champions League campaign against Atletico Madrid\"IPSWICH,<\/p>\n

Bradley Barcola made his debut for Liverpool against Ipswich(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Liverpool are up and running! The Reds tasted victory for the first time under Andoni Iraola on Friday night as they won 2-0 away at Ipswich Town.<\/p>\n

Following successive 2-2 draws against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, Alexander Isak<\/a>\u2019s quick-fire early brace was enough to clinch the win for Iraola\u2019s men at Portman Road.<\/p>\n

Iraola<\/a> made one change for the trip to East Anglia as Ronald Araujo came in at right-back for Jeremie Frimpong. Meanwhile, new signing Bradley Barcola <\/a>was handed his Liverpool <\/a>debut off the bench in the 64th minute.<\/p>\n

The Reds return to action at home to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night as their Champions League<\/a> campaign gets underway. And the ECHO <\/a>has taken a look at what changes Iraola could make for his European debut in charge of Liverpool\u2026<\/p>\n

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Retain Ronald<\/p>\n

Araujo was certainly impressive against Ipswich after being handed his full Reds debut and will feel he has done enough to retain his place. The Uruguayan could continue at right-back, or, alternatively, switch to his favoured centre-back position if Iraola wishes to protect Jeremy Jacquet following three successive starts after a lengthy injury lay-off.<\/p>\n

Should Araujo switch to the middle, then Frimpong would likely return at right-back. On the opposing flank, Kostas Tsimikas is an alternative to Milos Kerkez if Iraola opts to rotate.<\/p>\n

Joe Gomez had been tipped to return to training next week, but can only hope for a place on the bench at best if back fit.<\/p>\n

Midfield rotation<\/p>\n

Iraola has plenty of options in midfield after sticking with the starting trio of Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister against Ipswich.<\/p>\n

Benched for Liverpool\u2019s last two games, Ryan Gravenberch would be hoping for a recall. Should he get the nod, he would likely come in for either Szoboszlai or Wirtz, with the other lining up at number 10.<\/p>\n

Trey Nyoni is also an option after impressing again as a substitute, but Wataru Endo is not eligible after being left out of the Reds\u2019 Champions League squad.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo’s dedicated LFC Facebook page<\/a><\/p>\n

Full debut for Barcola?<\/p>\n

Iraola urged supporters to be patient with Barcola following his debut against Ipswich, offering a reminder that the forward was making his first appearance since France\u2019s World Cup third-place play-off loss to England back in July.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old completed roughly 25 minutes against Ipswich, so it is debatable whether he would yet be considered ready to start as Liverpool manage him carefully.<\/p>\n

If he does get the nod, the in-form Cody Gakpo will likely switch to the right flank with Isak again leading the line.<\/p>\n

But if Barcola has to make do with bench duty, Rio Ngumoha could earn a recall as he vies with Victor Munoz for the final starting berth in the Reds’ attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andoni Iraola has a number of selection decisions to make as Liverpool prepare to open their Champions League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[27268,59,134,101,397,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-761562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bradley-barcola","tag-gb","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-sports","tag-uefa-champions-league","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}