Slow Start Killer

Why was it so hard to get our boys to play with intensity from the kickoff? Too often, that intensity only
appeared in the last 15 minutes, not the first. It wasn’t just that we didn’t score early enough or that we too often conceded the first goal. We didn’t impose ourselves from the start of so many matches.

READ MORE: The Cost Of Modern Football Success by Mick Daly
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Slow Start Symptoms

At this level, intensity is not just effort. It is a mix of psychology, tactics, energy management, confidence, fear, rhythm, and leadership, and any one of those can be slightly off, even in top footballers.

These players manage risk. They know one mistake can decide a match. So instead of flying in from the first whistle, some start by “feeling” the game: judging the opponent, the referee, the surface, the tempo, the space. That can look passive.

Fear makes players risk-averse. After that awful spell of losing nine in twelve games, Slot may well have told his players to hold shape, stay compact, press on triggers, and not chase blindly. So, intensity became secondary to safety. To some fans, that looked too much like a lack of desire, or simply fear.

Confidence, or the lack of it, also changes everything. A team in form plays forward, challenges early, and reacts instantly. A team lacking confidence and rhythm takes an extra touch, arrives half a second late, and waits for someone else to act. The effort may still be there, but the conviction is missing.

In fairness, physical effort has to be rationed. At the highest level, “full intensity” for 90 minutes is almost impossible (unless you are Dominik Szoboszlai!). We are also hearing that Slot’s “days off” may have stunted fitness – not sure about that one!

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Whatever the reason, too little intensity and you start flat. Too much and you become reckless: fouls, poor decisions, broken shape. Coaches usually want controlled aggression, not chaos. Klopp seemed to relish chaos. “Intensity is our identity!” Slot loathed it. Iraola talked about it recently: “I’m quite conventional. I’m not sure if I like, when they talk about my teams, the use of this word (chaos)”.

Intensity needs to be stimulated. Or initiated. Including before kickoff. Sometimes it takes an incident during the match: a bad tackle, a crowd reaction, conceding a goal, or a big chance. That is frustrating, because it suggests the players can raise the level, but need external pressure to do it.

Leadership matters enormously. The best teams have players who set the emotional temperature right from the off: first duel, first sprint, first tackle, first demand. Think Stevie G his entire career. Think Robbo against Manchester City! Without that, intensity becomes optional rather than contagious. Does Virgil provide that? Who will in future?

For us Reds, this is why slow starts were so frustrating. Liverpool at their best make the opponent feel
pressure from the first breath. When that edge is missing, as it was last season, everything looks slower: the
press, the passing, the second balls, even the crowd. Let’s bring that back!

Will Iraola Change That? There’ll Be Passion, At Least.

Slot was pretty emotionless. Very Dutch. After Klopp, that was always going to feel wrong.

Iraola, on the touchline, seems a mix of calm and occasional chaos. Most of the time he is a patient orchestrator, watching his players put the plan into motion. But when he wants them to press, he lets them
know, often by yelling “go!” And when one of his team wins the ball back high up the pitch, he applauds it
with real excitement. That is a trait he shares with Jürgen Klopp.

Iraola also loves a good goal celebration. At Bournemouth he was often seen running, jumping, and throwing his arms into the air when they scored. He enjoys those moments with the fans. I look forward to that. Fist pumps after a win, please?

What about starting slow versus fast? What about intensity levels? Iraola’s Bournemouth were neither consistently fast nor consistently slow starters. In fact, “slow starting” seemed to correlate with better results over time.

Bournemouth’s Seasons Under Iraola

They often imposed themselves early, especially in 2023-24 and 2024-25. But “starting fast” under Iraola was more about intensity and pressure than simply scoring the first goal.

By his third year, Bournemouth were still a high-tempo side, but not as consistently first on the scoreboard.
Losing four of his starting back five, including Kerkez, before that final season may have had something to do with that.

Nevertheless, Bournemouth players ran further at high intensity than every other team in Europe’s top five
leagues (ref: The Athletic.) So what should we expect next season?

From the coach and the players? More intensity, certainly. More passion, definitely. Faster starts? I think so, but maybe not immediately. Iraola’s first season at Bournemouth started slowly. They were winless in his first nine games. But once his ideas took hold, the team became aggressive, brave, and difficult to play against. That is what we need again.

Not chaos for chaos’ sake. Not reckless pressing all the time. No more nostalgia for Klopp. But a team that
imposes itself early, plays with conviction, and makes Anfield feel like Anfield from the first whistle to the last.

“Fast starts” will come. I believe that. Don’t doubt it!