2023-2024

#PLStories- Andoni Iraola reveals his playing style for Bournemouth team #AFCB

The high-pressing, intense, front-footed approach has been likened to that his former boss Marcelo Bielsa instilled at Leeds United. In taking Rayo Vallecano up from the second tier of Spanish football to two consecutive seasons finishing mid-table in La Liga, upsetting the biggest teams along the way, Iraola’s style has caught the eye. It ultimately led to Cherries pulling the trigger on Gary O’Neil, despite being happy with the job he was doing. An in-demand Iraola, out of contract and available, was just too good of an opportunity to miss. By pundits and former players, his tactical style has been labelled ‘organised chaos’ and ‘rock and roll football’. The 41-year-old Spaniard was presented to the media for the first time this week and his performance during the half-an-hour press conference could not have been much further from the style many are expecting to see his Cherries team play. Despite not speaking in his first language, Iraola oozed calmness, confidence and control over the room of both local and national journalists. His bosses were also in attendance with Neill Blake, Richard Hughes, Simon Francis and Jim Frevola all watching on for the start of the press call. Iraola dignified every question with a perfectly reasonable answer, but refused to be drawn into any outlandish, headline-grabbing comments, particularly when pushed on his relationship with fellow Premier League bosses Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery or Eddie Howe. There was a humility to Iraola’s tone. Yes, he is now a Premier League head coach, operating amongst peers widely considered to be the best in the world. But with his only previous managerial experience coming with AEK Larnaca, Mirandes and Rayo Vallecano, Iraola insisted he could not yet be classed in the same bracket as other top bosses in the country. “I hope I can be at the level,” he said. As well as fielding many questions about fellow Premier League coaches, the topic often reverted back to style of play. While he cut a controlled figure in the media suite at Vitality Stadium, a few yards away on the pitch itself, he hopes to see a different story from his players. We will get a first glimpse of his new side in action, in a friendly against Hibernian in Marbella next week. But given how he explained his plans and tactical ideals on Wednesday, we already have a good idea of what we are likely to see. Asked if his style could be described as ‘chaos but fun’, Iraola replied: “I don’t like the games to be too controlled. “If you are on the ball for 30 seconds, then they are on the ball for one minute, I prefer, even if we are not so clinical, so sharp, we try to attack as soon as we can. “We open the game. We have a good volume of crosses, of chances. When you want to play high, when you want to arrive, sometimes you will suffer at the back. “But you have to be ready. I think we have good defenders also. We have to stay compact, even if we are high, we are low. “I don’t want to use these words you talked about!” Last season Cherries had the third worst defensive record in the league, conceding 71, not helped by considerably the worst record at defending set pieces. Asked how he plans to fix that, whilst balancing the style of play he is looking to implement, Iraola explained: “Sometimes we make the mistake to think if we play high, you are worse defensively. “My idea is exactly the opposite. I want to play high so the number of chances (against us) is lower. The volume of set pieces we have to defend is lower. So at the end the numbers will be better. “Normally when you analyse the games it looks like it is risky, but I do not agree with this. “It is true that sometimes if you play high and if the timing is good, you can give away a one against one against your keeper. “But they are the things we have to control, we have to work on. “I feel as a coach on the outside safer when we are far from our box than the opposite.” Some of Iraola’s ideas do cross over into what O’Neil was working on improving during his spell in charge. Certain games saw Cherries try to regain the ball high up the pitch, whilst also playing direct to pacy wingers. Quizzed on whether it will take time for the players to adapt to the methods Iraola is looking to implement, the Basque-born boss said: “Always when you arrive to a place it will take some time. “But we would like also to maintain a lot of things that the team was doing. “I think at the end last season, the team finished in a good position, for a team that was recently promoted. But we’ve come with our own ideas, we have some games during pre-season to try to implement these ideas, to try to improve and that’s what we are doing right now. “We still don’t have the international players, they will arrive at the end of the week. “I want to start working with all the group so we can start the tactical side. “The first week has been more about the physical side, because we don’t have a lot of players. “Next week we will start thinking more about our tactical idea.” Cherries head for a 10-day training camp in Marbella on Friday.