There is a lot of positivity from Andoni Iraola in his first news conference as Liverpool boss.

He will have a lot to get done before the season begins in August, but first his side will jet off to the US for their pre-season games:

25 July: Liverpool v Sunderland (Geodis Park, Nashville, 23:00)

29 July: Liverpool v Wrexham (Yankee Stadium, New York, 00:30)

2 August: Liverpool v Leeds (Soldier Field, Chicago, 21:00)

9 August: Liverpool v Monaco (Anfield, Liverpool, 14:30)

16 August: Liverpool v Como (Anfield, Liverpool 18:00)

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola on why he prefers a two-year deal:

"In terms of coaching contracts - they don't matter a lot. I don't want to be in a place because I have a contract. Because, 'well, we are not sure' - you have a contract so you stay there....

"I signed for two years, but it's basically year to year when you are a coach. We have seen a lot of managers who have long contracts, and because they club doesn't want, because they don't want, because.. at the end when you are a player the contract is very important.

"When you are a manager I feel... you know, if they sack you it will be better because they will pay you a little bit more, or if I haven't worked also it's like... if you're happy I am happy don't worry, I hope I'm going to stay here two years or a lot more years, it will mean I have done a very good job. But I feel we have to earn it.

"Managers, we have to earn every year the right to continue, especially in clubs like Liverpool but I've done it everywhere. I've done it always like this, yes."

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola on how important his core principles are:

"They have to be our core principles. After we will have a lot of games a lot of questions, 'if you face low blocks...' and this, I always say I prefer to face low blocks, in terms of we will be in control of the games, we will concede fewer chances, spend a lot of time in our opposition's half. Those are the scenarios we have to find.

"Some teams give you it straight away, that situation - perfect. Other teams, they don't give it straight away, they try to control the game, play in your half.

"I'm looking forward to spending as much time as we can in our opposition's half with the ball, without the ball, because I feel we are closer to scoring."

As a reminder, there is a poll at the top of the live page, we want to know where you think Liverpool will finish at the end of the season.

Currently, 68% of our live page audience think it will be a top 5 finish for the Reds.

21% of you believe Andoni Iraola's Liverpool can go all the way and be crowned Premier League champions.

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola on whether fans should expect a transitional season:

"We have to accept that there are difficult situations right now. A lot of senior players leaving, very experienced players leaving who have achieved almost everything here at the club.

"Also, some of the very important players are injured. We haven't started training and already have cases of Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, long injuries. So in terms of also improving the team, we have to consider, we have to replace very important players who were making very good numbers.

"And we also have a situation with those big injuries who are going to miss some time, that we also have to find a way to replace. These three players, I love them, they are the long term solutions, I am sure about Hugo, Conor and Giovanni.

"But there's going to be in August a period where we are without them and we have to find solutions to this."

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola asked what fans can expect from his character and personality:

"The most difficult question, probably, no? 'Try to describe yourself', I don't like this at all!

"I think you have the advantage that you have already seen me, three years at least in the Premier League. Some of them will know me better, the others maybe they don't know me. But the people involved in football more or less, they're going to know what we will try to do.

"I understand that this is Liverpool, we have to change some things, we have to change a little bit even tactically, on the pitch...

"But if they sign me it's because they want a lot of things that I was doing before at other clubs. So I wouldn't like to change on the pitch the DNA of what has been my teams, and also outside, how I'm going to answer your questions, how I'm going to relate to the supporters.

"I'm going to try and be as natural as possible and I hope it doesn't change me a lot."

Iraola started his football education at renowned Basque amateur club Antiguoko alongside Alonso and Arteta, who are now in charge at Chelsea and Arsenal respectively.

They played football on the beach as children, but only when the tide was out.

Iraola told BBC Sport's Kelly Somers last year: "It's incredible because when we were seven, eight, nine, I played with Mikel Arteta, I played with Xabi Alonso.

"We are more or less the same age, playing sometimes against each other because I was in a school and they were in other schools when we were playing on the beach.

"Then after we played together in a small club, also in Antiguoko, and now it's amazing that we see each other on the football pitches almost 40 years later."

Iraola spent the bulk of his playing career with Athletic Club, where he worked under top coaches such as Marcelo Bielsa, who led the Bilbao side to two finals in 2012, and future Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde.

But it was when he left the club in 2015 to see out his career at New York City FC that he truly got to rub shoulders with the game's elite, playing in a team containing Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa, and managed by Patrick Vieira.

"It was the moment where I realised I was going to retire and I started thinking about the game in a different way," Iraola said.

"I also had Patrick Vieira as a coach. He showed me a different style of play because he was coming from the Manchester City academy, where there was more positional play, and I was used to a different style of play."

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola, asked whether he will be the same coach he's always been or if he has to change:

"I will try to be the same coach. I will understand that I will make mistakes and say things that I shouldn't. You can't be thinking all the time, subtly, 'don't tell this'...

"I think you have to be yourself and I will try to be.

"Obviously I cannot say everything here to you, there are some things that you have to keep private.

"But especially with the players, I know that we will have big personalities, big egos, but I will try not to change with them also, yes."

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola, asked whether he sees Harvey Elliott's future at Liverpool:

"Definitely. Harvey is here with us. I've seen him with this eagerness of showing himself and getting himself ready again. He will have a chance during pre season. We will need him.

"It's a good sign, he came one week earlier, he has been training with the under 21s. I hope we can see him in a good place.

"Last season had to be very difficult for him. It was a strange situation where they couldn't even put him to play. And I think he uses this, the bad situation he has experienced, to make him even more eager to be a Liverpool player."

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola on how much the World Cup will impact his ability to learn about his new players:

"I think it is what it is, we cannot change it. Players deserve a break. Once they have been in the World Cup, they deserve their three weeks so they can enjoy time with friends, family, think of other things - physically, they need a rest after a very busy season.

"I think I'm looking at the positives. I've had now one week to see every training from the under 21s. We've had some players from the first team willing to come a little bit before, they are already in a better shape to start. Already today, they didn't have to come, I've seen two or three that I haven't seen before they are already here, ready for the testing tomorrow.

"I think this progressive introduction also will allow me to get more in touch with every player.

"It will also give especially the young players, some players who have been on loan, more minutes during pre-season. The first part of pre-season is going to be with a lot of players from the academy, players that in other situations maybe I wouldn't know as well, and now I will have the chance to get to know personally, training every day with them, in some friendlies, and it's going to be good information for me."

Aadam Patel
Football Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

What does the next month or so look like for Andoni Iraola and Liverpool?

After the in-person introductions, one of the first things that will happen will be the individual assessments for the players on their return before the hard work begins.

The key focus will be playing a front-foot and aggressive style of football and there will inevitably be changes, with a revamped backroom staff, in terms of how things work. Iraola will be joined by Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper - who were with him at Bournemouth - as his first-team coaches.

If their time at Bournemouth is anything to go by, there will be intense running in the early days and the Spaniard is known to play an active part in drills.

He often referees in mini-training games.

"Get really aggressive. Get used to this, because we will do this every week..." is one of many lines that stands out, in a clip where his enthusiasm and passion is clear to see.

"Andoni likes to take all of the sessions and be in the thick of it as opposed to leaving it to others," a Bournemouth source told BBC Sport last month.

Pablo de la Torre, who will join Iraola as an assistant coach, has worked with him previously in Cyprus, at Rayo Vallecano and at Bournemouth. The Spaniard is trusted by Iraola and will play a major role in ensuring Liverpool's players are physically ready for playing the brand of football for which he is known.

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola on his assessment of the squad he's inherited and whether he's had a chance to look at how things didn't go right last season:

"Obviously I talk to the players, the staff, I talked about the things are working really well, the things that we can do differently - I wouldn't say better, but differently. I think it's different.

"I have the advantage that probably players already know what we are going to demand in terms of style of play, but we will have time to know each other.

"One thing is to know a player, talk to a player, ask him, 'Where do you feel more comfortable? In this position? In this other one? Where do you see yourself?' I am asking the players these questions so I can understand them.

"But after I will see them train, I will make some tests, I will feel things, then I will take decisions from there."

That's all from Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola. We will continue to bring you the full quotes from his first Liverpool news conference.

What did you make of his first news conference as Liverpool boss? Let us know your thoughts via the 'Get Involved' button.

Image source, Getty Images

"I think it is a big challenge for me, it will be a big change but a great opportunity," Iraola said about having a busier schedule, including midweek Champions League games.

Andoni Iraola is next asked about why he signs two-year contracts.

"As managers, we have to earn the right to continue".

Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola, asked if he understand what it means to be Liverpool manager:

"I want to think I understand. Probably not until you are here and until you go through certain experiences, I will not fully know. But I am here to experience those situations, I am ready for it.

"I understand that this is a massive club, everything that I'm going to say now is going to biggest scrutiny, you have to be very aware of the mistakes.

"But I wouldn't like to be too careful. I would like to act quite normal, we were talking to Tony now, I'm not going to live in my bubble, just training ground , home. I would like to go to the city, experience the city, I know some places, I will have to take some pictures...

"But it's part also of the magic of being the Liverpool manager. I would like not to change too much."

"We have to replace very important players [who have left]." Andoni says.

He added that the club will need to "find solutions" for players with long-term injuries.

Liverpool

Image source, Getty Images

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola, asked whether he has spoken to Arne Slot about what happened last season, or Virgil van Dijk and Alisson (who each have less than 12 months on their contracts):

"I've spoken, especially with all the players who have been in the World Cup, especially the ones that have already been eliminated and are enjoying their holidays. I didn't want to bother them while the World Cup was ongoing, but I've had very good conversations.

"I'm also using this couple of weeks before we start properly first team training to talk with a lot of people around that work every day here. Those are the ones that are helping me, create a good environment so our players can perform and, let's say, we can maximise their abilities."

The next lot of questions is about himself, "you will have to be yourself and I will try to be.. I will try not to change".

He was next asked to describe himself but instead he says that we have seen him before, as a Bournemouth manager.