How are Liverpool preparing to face six new managers in their first six games?

This has been a summer of more change than usual in the Premier League, with a record nine clubs appointing new managers.

For Liverpool and Andoni Iraola, the schedule means they will face six teams with new managers in their first six games in the top flight, something that has never happened before in the Premier League era.

In fact, when BBC Sport asked Opta, it could not find an example of this having happened in England’s top flight.

Iraola himself is also making a fresh start, having taken over at Anfield in June after leaving Bournemouth.

So how does a team prepare to face a new coach and, in all likelihood, a team set up in a new way?

“We’re facing a lot of new coaches, so there’s an extra bit of work to do,” Iraola said. “Analyze how they played at previous clubs, certain situations they can use against us, things they have been doing.

“We had six games in the preseason to try to get to this first game of the season in the best shape, so now we are ready.

“The group of analysts is very important in the clubs. I have come with an analyst [from Bournemouth, Tom Webber] That has helped me with integration.”

For Iraola, who cut and edited his own videos when he started at Bournemouth, the analytics department is a crucial part of his training.

“I’m going to be the one to make the decisions, but they give me the starting point,” he told The Athletic last year.,external.

Liverpool’s analysis department is made up of Jansen Moreno (first team head of analysis), Webber (first team tactical analyst), Joel Bonner (first team post-match analyst) and Lewis Mahoney (first team set piece analyst).

Set-piece duties will be handled by Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper, Iraola’s first-team coaches, who will work alongside Mahoney.

Looking at Liverpool’s first six opponents, Oliver Glasner (Nottingham Forest), Gary O’Neil (Ipswich) and Enzo Maresca (Manchester City) have faced them before with other Premier League clubs.

Newcastle’s Matthias Jaissle, Fulham’s Álvaro Arbeloa and Bournemouth’s Marco Rose are the other coaches who will face them. They have all played pre-season matches at their new clubs to get used to their new surroundings.

A new coach offers the possibility of surprising the rival.

Analysts can prepare for that as much as possible, but they may still need to provide more information on short notice when team sheets are exchanged.

For example, they may need to inform the coach so they can make the necessary tactical adjustments or speak to an individual player.

Ian Graham, former Liverpool research director, explains it in his book How to Win the Premier League. He writes that since 2016, there has been an agreement for all Premier League teams to share tracking data to improve performance analysis and aid tactical preparation.

Studying images is a way to control the opposition. The Hudl Wyscout platform is popular among clubs due to its access to a large number of videos.

“The first thing I want to do is learn the basics, so I look at their formation and how it changes when they win or lose,” said one current international coach.

“Then you dig into how they play in different states of the game, who they pass to, where they look to progress balls and how they take risks, and how they change all these things.

“In international football [like in pre-season]”It’s a little difficult, but you try to see the patterns.”

Another source with knowledge of the high-level analysis added: “Pre-season footage is analyzed as it is the most recent available, but it is rare that too much footage is put into it.

“Instead, there is more focus on the manager’s football at his previous club or clubs and a reasoned look at how they might be set up.”

It’s worth noting that there is an element of curiosity around the league about how Liverpool will operate with Iraola as well.

Much of the focus during the preseason has been on fitness, and Iraola is looking for intensity. For now, there are fewer fixtures than they had with Arne Slot, although that could change as the season progresses and Liverpool have two games a week.

Inevitably, as the season progresses, clubs will have more games to evaluate, so the element of surprise will be reduced even further. But there’s still guesswork involved.

Listening to press conferences and interviews is also part of their powers to check if the opposition leader reveals anything.

At St James’ Park on Sunday, when Iraola takes on Jaissle, something may have to give. Jaissle won his first game in charge at each of his three previous clubs: Liefring, Red Bull Salzburg and Al-Ahli. And his Al-Ahli team was undefeated at home in the Saudi Pro League last season, winning its last 13 games in a row.

But Iraola is on the longest unbeaten run of any manager in the Premier League, having not lost any of his final 18 games last season for Bournemouth. The Liverpool coach has also not lost any of his six games (W3 D3) against Newcastle in the top flight.

“We still have a week until Liverpool. I can’t show my cards at the moment,” Jaissle told reporters last Saturday.

This weekend, all nine new managers will show their hand when the Premier League returns.