As Bournemouth aim to pile more misery upon Manchester United with a surprise home win this weekend, Andoni Iraola can at least claim to have heritage.
Bournemouth’s head coach was captain of the Athletic Bilbao team under Marcelo Bielsa which dumped United out of the Europa League in 2012. Iraola marauded from right-back to give Patrice Evra a migraine, assisted the second goal in Bilbao and came close to a sensational individual goal. He will remember this opponent fondly.
Six weeks ago, Iraola could afford to smile about little. Bournemouth were second bottom of the Premier League and winless. There were rumours – but only rumours – that he was one defeat from the sack and Bournemouth promptly trailed at home to Burnley.
Since then, an eventual comeback victory and 13 points from six matches. Only Manchester City have beaten Iraola in that run and coaches of stronger teams than his have learned to accept that fate with good grace.
Internally, that difficult, slightly miserable start to the season could have come as little surprise as Iraola fell foul of a rotten fixture list. Their first eight league matches of the season were against opponents who beat them in the corresponding fixture in 2022-23 and Bournemouth lost those eight games last season by an aggregate scoreline of 26-3. Picking up three draws could easily have been sold as progress, were it not for the timing.
But mainly: this stuff takes time to work. Iraola was only happy to concede that he had been appointed because Bournemouth wanted to overhaul their playing style. He said the training sessions had changed and that players were being asked to make far more decisions within games that required them to think on their feet.
At that point, perhaps after the 3-0 defeat at Everton or the 6-1 loss at Manchester City, when Bournemouth seemed grotesquely open despite City’s evident dominance, Iraola had a choice: compromise or continue. In an interview with Marca, he stated his obvious plan:
“We will not change our idea. Quite the opposite. The recent results [the upturn in form] came to us by pressing higher, taking more risks, sometimes even marking people. We see that if we live in a no-man’s zone then we suffer. So we reinforce the message.”
That message is indeed being reinforced, and it is sinking in. Iraola is a proud pragmatist, shifting his style to fit opponents, a process enabled by his study of managers ranging from Bielsa, Patrick Vieira and Eddie Howe.
But there are certainly broad patterns: counter-attacking with wingers, pressing high up the pitch, the propensity to mix between slow passing and direct play, a need to be ready to attack at any moment.
Those are all now playing out in the (rapidly improving) numbers. Only Everton and Luton have fewer sequences of 10 or more passes – that’s the fast and direct. No team have scored more goals resulting from a turnover high up the pitch (Bournemouth are level with Manchester City and Tottenham) – that’s the pressing.
Last season, Bournemouth ranked 17th for touches in the opposition penalty area and now they are 11th – that’s the attacking.
The defending was indeed loose in late summer and those problems have not yet – and maybe will not – disappeared. Bournemouth have conceded two or more goals in nine matches so far this season.
But to repeat a point: they have played some very good teams. Iraola has faced 11 of the top 12 and Manchester United will complete the set on Saturday.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/h7AzM2s
Post a Comment