Bradley Barcola has admitted that it is less ‘tactical’ in the Premier League at Liverpool than at his former club Paris Saint-Germain.
The Frenchman is settling into life at Anfield after a huge £123million transfer from PSG to the Reds on deadline day.
He is yet to do much in the Premier League with no goals or assists, but the winger is off the mark for the Reds in the Champions League.
Barcola scored a hat-trick for Liverpool in their 6-3 win over LASK to become the first Frenchman in the club’s history to do so.
In an interview in French, he discussed life on Merseyside, where he revealed that Andoni Iraola‘s style is a bit less tactical than Luis Enrique.
Barcola on life in the Premier League
“It’s going well,” Barcola told Téléfoot. “I was able to meet my teammates; there is a very good coach who has good ideas.
“I’m trying to adapt because it’s really very different from PSG.”
Asked specifically about the Premier League, he added: “It’s different; I find it less tactical, although we had a very, very tactical coach [at PSG].
“But overall, I think it’s less tactical; there are less changes on the pitch.
“Whereas with the previous coach, I would have to come inside, or sometimes move out to the flank and then someone else would take my spot. It’s very different now…”
You only have to watch PSG’s game against Manchester City in the Champions League to see what Barcola means, and it is in no way intended as a dig at Iraola.
In that match, all of the PSG team were constantly rotating, popping up all over the pitch, and it was very fluid.
With Liverpool, it is a bit more rigid, with Barcola playing almost exclusively on the left so far – both on the team sheet and in-game.
And Enrique is a two-time Champions League-winning manager, while Iraola has earned his role at Liverpool after doing a brilliant job with Bournemouth.
Last season, he got them into the Europa League with a sixth-placed finish, but it had been a steady building process before that, leading to them earning European football with high intensity and aggressive football.
Quality to shine through
Despite the quiet start to life in the Premier League, Rory Jennings feels there is no way that Barcola turns out to be anything like Florian Wirtz – who has been branded the biggest waste of money ever.
Both cost over £100million, but Wirtz is into his second season at Anfield and is yet to show any of the form he displayed at Bayer Leverkusen.
Speaking on Thank Football It’s Friday, he said: “He’s scored a hat-trick in the Champions League, and you are new to the club.
“I was talking to somebody recently, on-air, and they mentioned Wirtz and Barcola, but you have to separate those two – they are very different.
“Barcola will succeed. He is far too good to fail. He is a remarkable footballer, and The Kop will be soon serenading him with that Maxi Rodriguez song.
“That is going to be happening week in, week out because he’s a class act.
“It is going to work for Barcola – he is mustard. I think he’s brilliant, mate, I really do. We saw shades of it at Portman Road.”