Iraola set to reverse two Slot family-time policies as Liverpool rebuild begins

Andoni Iraola is poised to revisit two of Arne Slot’s most debated squad policies as he begins reshaping Liverpool’s culture at Anfield, with Christmas Day training and pre-match hotel stays both under review.

Slot had departed from Jurgen Klopp’s stricter approach on both fronts, granting players Christmas Day off and allowing the squad to sleep at home the night before home fixtures rather than checking into a hotel together. While those changes were welcomed by players during Slot’s title-winning debut season, they attracted growing scrutiny as Liverpool’s form dipped in his second campaign.

Iraola’s track record at Bournemouth suggests he leans toward the more demanding end of the spectrum. Former Cherries winger Antoine Semenyo recently described the Spaniard’s training schedule as relentless. “The way he structured the weeks, we didn’t really have any days off, nothing,” Semenyo said. “It’s very hard going from having Wednesday and Sunday off to having no days off.”

That profile makes it plausible Iraola will side with Klopp’s original stance on Christmas Day, requiring players to report for training regardless of the festive period. Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk had praised Slot’s decision to grant the day off, calling it “a nice change” and noting it was the first time in his Premier League career he had been free on 25 December. Whether that goodwill survives a return to the old policy remains to be seen.

The pre-match hotel question is similarly loaded. Klopp viewed the overnight stay together as a tool for building unity and sharpening focus before kick-off. Slot scrapped it, letting players remain with their families. Van Dijk acknowledged the shift during Slot’s first season, noting it came down to personal preference under the new rules.

Neither policy alone can explain Liverpool’s subsequent struggles, and it would be reductive to draw a straight line between family-friendly scheduling and a drop in results. But Iraola, known for meticulous preparation and high physical demands, is likely to view small cultural details as meaningful levers — and his early decisions on these two points will signal clearly which direction he intends to take the club.