Not so long ago, Bournemouth were flying high in the Champions League spots and people were cautiously whispering that they could break into European football for the first time in their history under a young, progressive manager.
They also had arguably the most in-form player in the league. Antoine Smenyo was absolutely ripping it up, scoring six goals and providing three assists across his first seven appearances.
Now, winless in their last five Premier League games, Bournemouth have tumbled down the table, sitting in 14th, and Semenyo hasn’t made a goal contribution in his last six. So, where is it going wrong?
Bournemouth’s fantastic start
After selling almost their entire defence, few had expected Bournemouth to put up much of a fight, and some were even suggesting a relegation battle was on their horizon, but some smart recruitment and fantastic coaching proved the doubters wrong.
Their first game of the Premier League campaign may have been a 4-2 defeat to Liverpool back when Arne Slot’s side were at least kind of good, still, there were plenty of promising signs, and a good-looking foundation to build upon.
Iraola didn’t win any of his first nine Premier League games when he joined in 2023-24, drawing three and losing six, before eventually getting his first victory against Burnley and then getting battered 6-1 by Man City after that.
This season, Iraola’s side had a massive 18 points from their first nine and were second to Arsenal in the league table. Five games later, they’ve only won one point from the 2-2 draw with relegation threatened West Ham.
How have Bournemouth played this season?
The Spaniard has established himself as one of the best young managers in the Premier League since he stepped foot on the South Coast, so much so that he is constantly linked with move to any of the ‘big six’ when a manager starts to have a wobble.
He likes his side to play on the front foot, pushing his defensive line as high as they dare. The best example, although it’s a negative one, was their recent 3-1 defeat to Man City, with Pep Guadiola’s side carving their defence open and allowing Erling Haaland to feast almost every time they had the ball.
So, as a result, they do concede quite a few goals. Bournemouth average 1.7 goals against per 90 minutes, a total of 24 across their 14 games so far only Leeds, West Ham, Burnley, and bottom placed Wolves have worse records.
It’s high-risk high reward football, but they’re conceding more goals than their xG suggests they should have. Bournemouth are 11th for xG conceded with 18.4, and second for possession won in the final third per 90 with 4.4. So, while they do give chances away, they’ve certainly been unlucky at times.
This season, Iraola has tweaked their system a bit. Bournemouth averaged 57.7% possession in their past five games, a big jump from 50.6% in the opening nine, so opposition sides are starting to work out that playing a low block nullifies their attack somewhat.
How can Andoni Iraola fix it?
Bournemouth typically adopt a 3-1-6 structure in settled possession. They advance both full-backs high to provide width outside the opposition’s defensive block, while the two defensive midfielders drop deeper to form the base of the build-up.
When he does that, the opposition just sit deep, knowing that Bournemouth don’t really have the players to break down a low block.
One of the best aspects of Bournemouth’s game is their counterpress and winning the ball back high up the pitch, so, if Iraola gives up possession and allows the opposition to have a bit more of the ball, they would be able to hit them on the counter.
Verdict
The Premier League is so tight at the moment, every side is going to have a run of games where they don’t look the best, and managers need to find a way to tweak their game somewhat.
Perhaps a place in the Champions League is a little unrealistic for Bournemouth this season, but there is no reason they shouldn’t be pushing for the Conference League in time. Iraola is a very capable coach, there isn’t any reason for Cherries fans to be too worried.