Three Majro Decisions Iraola Has To Make Ahead Of Newcastle vs Liverpool

Andoni Iraola's era as Liverpool boss commences on Sunday afternoon when he and his team travel to the north-east to take on Newcastle United at St James' Park.

The Merseysiders will be looking to bounce back from last season's disappointing fifth-place finish by mounting a title charge this term. That said, Iraola's first season will be more about showing signs of progression towards winning major silverware in the future, particularly as the Spaniard looks to cope with an extremely thin squad.

Jeremy Jacquet arrived as the marquee signing from Rennes for £60million, having been agreed last year, while Ronald Araujo and Victor Munoz have joined as squad players from Barcelona and Osasuna respectively.

Significantly more work needs to be done on the Reds' attack to ensure they have the quality and depth to fight on multiple fronts.

In the immediate short-term, Iraola needs to make sure he gets his team selection spot on for the trip to Tyneside, so that he avoids a negative result, which would damage the atmosphere around Anfield heading into the opening few weeks of the season.

With that said, here are three key decisions the tactician must make ahead of the Newcastle encounter.

Ronald Araujo must start vs Newcastle

As promising as Jacquet is, handing him a Premier League debut in the St James' Park cauldron would be throwing him in at the deep end. Add in the fact that he hasn't played a minute of competitive football since early February, and played just 45 minutes throughout pre-season due to injury, and starting him against Newcastle might actually be something of a reckless decision.

While Iraola is short on options at the centre of defence, with Joe Gomez out injured, he does have the experienced Araujo to call upon. The Barcelona loanee also only enjoyed a half of football during pre-season, but he was playing regularly until the end of last season and is accustomed to featuring in high-stakes games in hostile atmospheres, having plied his trade at the Nou Camp for seven years.

Picking Jacquet from the outset would be a brave choice, but not necessarily the correct one.

Rio Ngumoha should be trusted on the right

The inexperienced Jacquet might not be the right choice at centre-back, but the youthful Rio Ngumoha is the right choice on the right wing.

While picking the 17-year-old has all the potential pitfalls of picking Jacquet, Iraola genuinely has no choice in this position. He could move Victor Munoz out of position and start him on the right, but Ngumoha has arguably merited his manager's trust in this one, having impressed throughout pre-season.

The teenager also scored the winning goal in this fixture last season, expertly tucking the ball past Nick Pope at the Leazers End in the 100th-minute. He has the fearlessness required to stand up and perform in an intense atmosphere, which will be made more fierce by Alexander Isak's return to his former stomping ground.

Alexis Mac Allister must be left out

One area of the pitch Liverpool aren't seriously short on options in is in the middle of the park. While Curtis Jones is expected to join Inter Milan, Iraola still has Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz, Wataru Endo, Harvey Elliott, Trey Nyoni and Stefan Bajcetic at his disposal.

The ex-Bournemouth manager can therefore afford to tinker in this position, and he should experiment without Mac Allister at St. James' Park. This decision should be made partly because the Argentine only played 54 minutes in total throughout Liverpool's pre-season after enjoying an extended rest following his World Cup endeavours, and partly because he simply shouldn't be viewed as a first choice option heading into the new season.

Mac Allister struggled for large portions of the 2025/26 season, and the balance is likely to work better with a trio of Szoboszlai, Gravenberch and Wirtz. Iraola should push forward with this midfield from the outset.

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