Back in February, after Andoni Iraola turned down the chance to leave Rayo Vallecano for Leeds United, La Liga expert Terry Gibson wondered if such an opportunity had simply come at the wrong time for the 41-year-old Spaniard.
Leeds United were, after all, staring down the barrel of relegation at the time. And, as Gibson pointed out on El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast, Andoni Iraola would have arrived under pressure to immediately turn around a sinking ship without the benefits of a full pre-season or – due to a gruelling fixture schedule – sufficient time on the training pitch.
Iraola, however, cannot rely on such excuses at AFC Bournemouth, having taken over at the Vitality Stadium in July before being given ample time to mould a team in his own image.
Speaking to The Telegraph last week, Iraola acknowledged that he was always likely to face a difficult challenge winning over a fanbase infuriated by the sacking of the highly-popular Gary O’Neil. That ‘challenge’ is now starting to feel like an uphill battle, Iraola resembling a man attempted to free climb in the middle of a blizzard.
Leeds United wanted Andoni Iraola
Bournemouth are one of only two teams – along with Sheffield United – yet to win a Premier League game so far. Saturday’s 3-0 hammering by a previously out-of-sorts Everton left The Cherries second bottom, and Iraola near the top of the bookies’ so-called sack race.
“Mistakes are pretty obvious. It’s not the first time that’s happened this season, and it’s costing us points, games,” Iraola said, via the Liverpool Echo.
His Bournemouth team may be more comfortable and expressive in possession than O’Neil’s vintage, but that has come at the expense of the resilience which saw the Cherries take points of Newcastle United and beat both Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in 2022/23.
“We have to accept there is a moment when you have to take responsibility. We’re a team, but (those mistakes) are costing us points,” Iraola adds.
“We knew it would be a huge game. Very important for us, it changed the situation a lot from winning or losing this game. We made the mistakes, and (Everton) didn’t.”
Bournemouth still winless under Iraola
Iraola eventually arrived in England, four months after talks over that move to Leeds broke down, with a reputation as one of the brightest young tacticians in European football. A man who’s ‘incredible’ brand of football turned Rayo Vallecano into arguably La Liga’s greatest overachievers.
But as the pressure rises and the losses keep coming, Iraola will soon find himself facing rather awkward questions about whether that Rayo success was merely a classic case of ‘lightning in a bottle’, or whether the challenge of succeeding O’Neil was simply beyond him.
And, as O’Neil found out not so long ago, Bournemouth’s owners are not afraid of making tough, occasionally brutal, decisions.
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