Liverpool, Bournemouth set the tone for new Premier League season

Slot and Iraola arrived in the Premier League with the odds stacked against them. Both replaced club legends in dramatic circumstances. Iraola came first, in 2023; he took the reins after Bournemouth controversially dismissed English coach Gary O'Neil. Slot followed in 2024 and was tasked with filling the impossibly big shoes of Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp. Fans were furious with both appointments. Neither Iraola nor Slot was expected to excel.

If you're a regular viewer of the Premier League, you know where this story went. Both coaches blew their expectations to smithereens. Iraola transformed Bournemouth from a small, fragile Southern club into a genuine European contender, all while finding, training and flipping world-class talent. (Bournemouth picked up defender Dean Huijsen for $23 million last summer and sold him to PSG a year later for a whopping $73 million. Not a bad bit of business.) Slot, meanwhile, strode into Liverpool full of respect for his predecessor's wacky style but uninterested in continuing it. He added rigidity, serenity and a truly composed air to Liverpool's famous attack, and he delivered a Premier League title in his first season in charge.

Reading through fan reactions to Iraola and Slot's arrivals is eye-opening with hindsight. Iraola was dismissed as an overhyped interloper while Slot was regarded as a cultural mismatch with his new club. Both received plenty of criticism for their lack of name recognition and international pedigree. Iraola and Slot were lambasted by their fanbases for everything they weren't. Loud. Flashy. Egotistical. Aggressive. Dramatic.

Premier League fans can be forgiven for their fears. They welcomed Iraola and Slot warily because they were coming off a decade of Premier League coaches who made drama their calling card. Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and yes, Klopp made an art out of pulling attention onto their antics and away from their players. Their extended period of success convinced many that the only way to win something as dramatic as the Premier League was to be the most dramatic man in the competition.

Not anymore. Iraola and Slot are proving that drama on the field doesn't require drama in the backroom. They're composed, thoughtful leaders and in Bournemouth and Liverpool, they've built two fabulously competitive teams with a minimum of fuss.

The Premier League has entered a new phase now, one where inspiring coaches like Iraola and Slot (alongside their peers Unai Emery at Aston Villa, Thomas Frank at Tottenham Hotspur and Fabian Hurzeler at Brighton) keep the drama squarely on the field. It's a brand new era, and it started right here: with Iraola and Slot, Bournemouth and Liverpool.

Welcome to the 2025-26 Premier League season. If the fight between these two is anything to go by, we're all in for the theater of a lifetime.