Andoni Iraola has already heard Anfield. On Saturday, he wants to feel it.
Nottingham Forest arrive as the first Premier League visitors to L4 of the 2026-27 season, a fixture that does far more than simply open Liverpool’s home campaign. For Iraola, it marks the true beginning of a relationship he has been building in theory since June and in friendlies since July. Now the points count. Now the noise must follow.
Anfield, for real this time
The new head coach has already walked the touchline, already watched his team face AS Monaco and Como 1907 under the Anfield lights. Those games, though, were a dress rehearsal – a chance to sample the surroundings, hear the songs, feel the curiosity that always greets a new era.
Pre-season, he admits, gave everyone a taste. The “Anfield experience” was there, whether it was the first visit for some or just another chapter for the regulars. The support impressed him. The welcome moved him. But he has been clear: the real journey starts when there is something at stake.
That moment arrives with Forest.
Iraola knows this is a date supporters circled as soon as the fixtures dropped in June. The first home game of a season always carries its own charge – the colours sharper, the anthem louder, the hope less compromised by reality. He also knows it feels exactly the same for the players and staff trying to shape this new Liverpool.
A pact with the stands
The Spaniard has stood in the opposite technical area here. He has felt Anfield’s weight from the other side. That experience has left a mark.
He is under no illusion: the stadium can change games. But in his eyes, it is on the team to flick the switch.
He talks about responsibility – his and his players’ – to give the crowd something to feed on. Positive energy on the pitch, positive energy in the stands. Simple idea, but the core of his vision. If both sides of that pact hold up, Liverpool gain an edge that cannot be coached on a training pitch.
He does not just want to tap into the passion of Liverpool’s support. He insists they have to. For him, this is not a passive fanbase watching a performance; it is a crowd that participates, that lives the game with “incredible emotion”. The job of the team is to drive that emotion, not wait for it.
That means identifying with the people, the city, the club’s values – and then letting that identity bleed into the football. Get that right and, he believes, Liverpool’s chances of meeting their own expectations rise sharply.
Early days, high demands
Iraola has only been in the job since June. He is realistic enough to know this side is not yet the finished article. The opening weekend at Newcastle underlined both sides of the coin: progress made, and work still to be done.
He does not hide from that. In fact, he leans into it. The sense of a team with quality and potential, still forming, is part of what excites him about the coming weeks and months.
But there is no patience clause when it comes to results. He expects to win now. He frames it as a responsibility in every game, not a long-term ambition to be parked somewhere in the spring. Being “competitive from day one” is non-negotiable, and finding ways to pick up points while everyone adapts to new methods and to each other is a key test of this early period.
Forest bring the test
That test will be sharp on Saturday. Nottingham Forest have turned themselves into awkward, stubborn opponents in recent seasons, the kind of side that relishes spoiling afternoons at big grounds.
This is the Premier League in its purest form: no soft landings, no gentle introductions. Teams arrive at Anfield not to admire the surroundings but to make a statement. Forest will be no different.
Iraola knows it. He talks about being prepared for exactly that kind of challenge. Above all, he talks about Liverpool being ready to make the most of Anfield – not just as a venue, but as a weapon.
The new head coach has heard the stadium in pre-season. On Saturday, with Forest in town and points on the line, he finds out how loud it can get when the journey truly begins.
