Bournemouth under Iraola: Why have the Cherries been so good this season?
2025-01-24
Category: sports

After an encouraging debut season in English football last season, Andoni Iraola has taken Bournemouth to another level this term.The Cherries are currently seventh in the Premier League, just three points off the top four - and face another of this year's surprise packages Nottingham Forest on Saturday.Before that game, BBC Sport analyses why Bournemouth have been so good this season, what makes them so difficult to play against and how one of the game's legendary managers helped inspire the way they set up.
Bielsa's teachings, Iraola's interpretation
The Basque native spoke about former coach Marcelo Bielsa's influence on his attacking approach in an interview with Sky Sports in 2023."I use a lot of exercises from Marcelo that I learned from him [at Athletic Bilbao]," he said. "I use a lot of things, especially with the ball. He is willing to make all the runs to the space, he is ready to accept this kind of disorder, offensively."The key takeaway here is disorder. Whereas managers like Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot are all about minimising risk and avoiding chaotic game states, Iraola's Bournemouth embrace them and are all the better for it.The former Rayo Vallecano boss deploys a system that aims to apply both zonal marking and man-to-man pressing. Analysts these days call it 'hybrid pressing' and although Bournemouth are not alone in using such an approach, they are certainly far more effective than most teams at executing it.Aiming to win the ball back as high up the pitch as they possibly can, Bournemouth's hybrid press is generally most visible during opposition goal-kicks.
Above is an example from Bournemouth's trip to Old Trafford last month. The striker Evanilson is well-positioned to cut off access to the right-sided centre-back option. Justin Kluivert is close to defender Harry Maguire in the middle and Antoine Semenyo is ready to jump on any attempt to pass to Lisandro Martinez in the box. Kluivert is the only one here with a man-oriented responsibility.Onana chooses the risky option and passes to midfielder Manuel Ugarte who is immediately jumped on by the tireless Ryan Christie. Out of the field of vision, Dean Huijsen has pushed up on Kobbie Mainoo, Milos Kerkez has pushed up on Amad Diallo and Ilia Zabarnyi is engaged in a 1v1 duel against Joshua Zirkzee which he comfortably wins, resulting in a turnover.
Former Cherries striker Dominic Solanke, nowt at Spurs, explained the learning curve with Iraola's methods in an interview with the Times last year."We couldn't take in all the information at first. For me, I'm pressing with a number 10 behind me and at first, our timing was off," said Solanke."We didn't know when to press or to drop, but now it's second nature as the manager has gone through it many times and it's embedded in our heads and we are all on the same wavelength."
Last season, Iraola's side managed to convert 54 high turnovers to shots across 38 games in the 2023-24 Premier League season. Meanwhile, so far this season, they've already managed 45 across 22 games. They are getting better and better at catching opponents higher up the pitch, with the average shot-ending high turnovers jumping from 1.4 per game to 2.0 per game.
Top of the charts
If last year's work was an introduction for the players to Iraola's methods, this season they've shown how good it can get, both in results and performances.Here are some rankings for the Cherries this term, in the Premier League:Counter pressures (1,329) - 1stPressures Resulting in a Turnover (653) - 2ndDistance covered per game (112.3) - joint 1st (with Tottenham)Sprints per game (171.3) - 2ndHigh Turnovers (193) - 4thShot-ending High Turnovers (45) - 1stBournemouth's average age is 25.1, making them the fourth-youngest squad across the Premier League. This is relevant because Iraola's football involves a lot of risk, something he sees as a strength.The Cherries boss said in an interview with Spanish outlet Relevo: "We are a team of volume, because there are probably better teams in small spaces."But we have a very young team, with energy, and that allows us to accept open duels in which we sometimes lose, but we can come out on top. Our strength lies in that."
Players maximising threat from chaos
It all comes back to the chaos which is enabled by the presence of players like Kluivert and Christie. The former has become crucial to Bournemouth of late thanks to his goals, but even beyond that, it is the Dutchman's capacity to thrive in Iraola's disorder that makes him so effective.
As for Christie, he is the brains of the Cherries operation in midfield. "He is the most tactically intuitive player I have in the squad. He knows what's going on at all times," said Iraola.
Knowing when to jump and when to hold off at all times, Christie's seemingly unending capacity for running helps Bournemouth take risks with their pressing, leading the league for possessions won with 136. As a player with experience in more creative roles, when the right spaces open up, Christie can hurt teams with his passing too, just as he did against Chelsea for Semenyo's goal.At Rayo previously and now at Bournemouth, Iraola has worked with clubs that are not too high-profile and have therefore given him the space to implement his ideas and acquire the kind of players who will suit his style.He may still be fine-tuning his own tactics in possession and figuring out the balance between chaos and control, but Cherries fans will be delighted with Iraola's brand of football so far, with the team pressing higher up the pitch as well as the Premier League table.