From memory, Andoni Iraola is the only manager of hundreds across Pep Guardiola’s eight years at Manchester City to have sat in the swivel chair after an away defeat and complain that his team were too defensive.
Not that they had to defend too much or that City overpowered them in midfield. That can happen. He moaned that Bournemouth were not attacking enough, lacked bravery. After a 6-1 pasting, it felt quite outlandish coming from a man who’d won one of his first 11 Premier League games.
Iraola blamed himself for giving in to the aura of City, allowing his players to sign up to a prevailing feeling that the only way to contain them is by standing on your goalkeeper’s toes for the afternoon. Bournemouth had never operated with a back five under him before and the Spaniard came away realising that they’d lost as soon as he presented the team on his whiteboard. Subconsciously, they dropped too deep. They gave up any power.
It is pointed out to him that they did actually seem comfortable during a goalless opening half-hour. ‘No, no,’ he says. ‘I definitely wasn’t! Defending so low? We cannot survive. We’re not good enough defensively. I didn’t transmit the [right] mentality to play that game. I didn’t want to be so passive; my message was not well understood.’
If he had his time again, Iraola would have a central midfielder dropping into make a back five, rather than starting with a rigid quintet, but those are mere details and Bournemouth are sixth in the league table since that day, which spans 36 matches.
Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth are sixth in the league table since losing to Manchester City early on last season
He tells Mail Sport how he didn’t want his team to be so defensive against the champions
Iraola had won just one of his first 11 games in charge at the time – now, the Cherries are flying
Sixth. Bournemouth. Ahead of Tottenham, Manchester United, Newcastle. Eight points clear of Brighton and 18 of Brentford.
City – or whatever is left of them, amid an injury crisis – roll into town on Saturday wary of what befell Arsenal a fortnight ago and how Aston Villa couldn’t shake the Cherries either. They will be mindful of the fright given to them down on the south coast in February, when struggling to kill off the 1-0 win and the man from the Basque Country who finished his playing career at sister club New York City eyes another scalp. Who, really, can blame him?
Iraola signed his New York contract in Manchester alongside City’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain and his predecessor, Brian Marwood, who had moved upstairs. He’d never even contemplated leaving boyhood club Athletic Bilbao and rejected a few Premier League moves down the years but wanted to explore a new way of living with his wife. In July 2015, they set up camp on the Upper West Side, close to Central Park. To begin with, every single afternoon, without fail, would be spent visiting a different neighbourhood. Sitting outside with a coffee, watching the hustle. Brooklyn and Williamsburg were particular favourites. Given their cafe culture tendencies, that somebody from near San Sebastian leaned towards them ought to be no major surprise.
‘Yeah you definitely do the tourists things,’ he says. ‘We were in the middle of everything. There was a moment when I had to say to my wife, “eh, I came here to play football, we can’t do this every day”. We had to calm it down a little bit!
‘It was amazing and good for my English. And I lived the sport without the pressure I felt in Athletic Club – when it’s your team, a lot of pressure. Of course in the MLS you want to win but there is no relegation. It was the first year of the franchise and everything was more chill.’
Iraola had been a marauding right back, his energy excelling under Marcelo Bielsa at Athletic. He used to invert before that became cool, utilising the inside channels over 12 seasons and was a mainstay of their UEFA Cup campaigns – key as they beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 2012. He almost scored one of the great European goals against United after twinkling to sit down Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick. He stuck it wide. Best not to remind him.
The legs were a little heavier when he pitched up in America though and, in a league dependant on fast wingers, manager Patrick Vieira saw something that probably altered the course of Iraola’s second career. He moved him into central midfield alongside Andrea Pirlo, to supply Frank Lampard and David Villa. Honing that craft helped ignite a tactical obsession.
Iraola notices that very few full backs from his day transition into top managers. That will change, given the demands on the modern versions and how they are central to everything, and he believes a team’s attitude towards any specific match can now be defined by the people traditionally wearing No 2 or 3.
Iraola signed his New York City – sister club of City – contract in Manchester alongside City’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain (right)
He was a right back by trade, and moved into midfield under Patrick Vieira during his time in the States
He credits his time in the MLS for helping him see the game differently and similarly to the way City see it
‘It was an experience with Lampard, Villa, Pirlo,’ he says. ‘We were all at the end but I was lucky enough to have Patrick as a coach and he made me see the game differently.’ He saw the game in a way that City – even back then, pre-Guardiola – saw the game. It is not actually how Iraola chooses to play it, infinitely closer to Bielsa than Guardiola, but he thinks the 18 months in the Big Apple offer him dexterity in thought.
That is not limited to soccer. He arrived an NBA supporter, as so many Spaniards seem to be, finding tickets easier to source for the Brooklyn Nets over the New York Knicks, and left a fully paid-up member of the American football fraternity. He and Villa started going to the MetLife in New Jersey, initially not particularly understanding what was going on.
For somebody who leans into the blood and thunder element of his profession more than most, it does sound strange to hear him say how much he loves a sport renowned for its relentless stoppages.
After revealing that he was at Tottenham three weeks ago to see the Bears beat the Jaguars, the 42-year-old crystalises the fascination – and not just because he quickly became a Fantasy Football bore.
‘I always compare it to set pieces in football,’ he says. ‘I like it more from a coaching perspective. OK, you stop every time, but there are a lot of fast movements, blocks. There are some plays you have to see repeated two or three times to understand what they’ve tried to do.
‘I’d like one day to understand the whole methodology of it. How they coordinate everything. They have different coaches for everything.
‘Sometimes in our set plays, we give them three or four routines – no more. I suppose in the NFL they have to learn a complete playbook – like 200 different plays! And they don’t make mistakes! I’d like to analyse that one day. I suppose they have one big book with every play starting in pre-season. It’s really interesting.’
Iraola has walked straight into the next question, which admittedly is a bit fawning. Given Ryan Christie’s goal from that clever corner against Arsenal, and their general desire to improve at set pieces, perhaps Bournemouth are due a playbook too.
He was at Tottenham three weeks ago to see the Bears beat the Jaguars and is fascinated by the NFL
Iraola discusses the set piece goal scored by Ryan Christie in Bournemouth’s win over Arsenal
Christie’s goal was straight from the training ground and sparked the Cherries into life
He takes it graciously, gently laughing, because he is fundamentally a nice, polite man. The Christie move won’t be binned altogether – and they scored a similar goal against Queens Park Rangers in last year’s FA Cup – but is back on the shelf for a few months at least.
‘No, no, we couldn’t do a book. Sometimes you realise that eight players know what we’re doing but there might be one… he’s not well placed, he’s forgotten what we were doing. The NFL have the times between defence and offence to remember everything. In football you don’t have this time. You have to give the instructions before the game and they have to remember for the 100 minutes.’
Naturally, it’s further eased in America because the coach wears a headset. The constant communication offers an extra dimension to the tactical nuances of the sport and the Paris Saint-Germain boss, Luis Enrique, recently said he wants to try it.
In Iraola, he has an ally. Albeit a pragmatically reluctant ally. A fear of an inability to rein it in washes over his face. Maybe he’s wondering what Bielsa might have been like with a mic.
‘Talking to the players in the ears, I don’t think they [authorities] will allow it but it would be interesting to try. As a player I wouldn’t like it! It’s difficult in Premier League stadiums. As a manager you’re using your voice [wisely]. Sometimes, especially with some players, you have to shout and make them remember all the time. And we don’t have these timeouts.’
Well, that isn’t strictly true. Some club enjoy the odd manufactured timeout. Iraola smirks, acknowledging the point and his body language suggests agreement. ‘Well, we don’t,’ he grins.
Mikel Arteta crops up in conversation shortly after. Purely coincidental, of course. Iraola grew up with the Arsenal coach and Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso – of interest to City post-Guardiola – as a child, playing on the idyllic La Concha Beach on Spain’s northern tip, eventually going through Spain’s Under-21s together.
Remarkably, Iraola and Arteta didn’t speak for 15 years before Bournemouth came calling. Their careers had darted in different directions, Arteta plying his trade almost exclusively abroad, yet they picked back up like it was still 2008. The affection never dissipated.
Iraola grew up with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso
He admits he had not spoken to Arteta for several years before taking over at Bournemouth
He will once again do battle with Pep Guardiola (right) this weekend when Bournemouth take on Manchester City
‘Football is like this. You play with someone for some seasons – even as a [senior] player – and you have a great relationship. You see them for most of your day for five, six years. And then there is a move. You might message but you start losing contact.
‘But with these people, after years and years you see them and know them so well that you speak as if nothing has happened for the last 15 years. With Mikel, it’s a little bit like this. We grew up together.
‘We both remember these experiences so well and when we meet, it’s “ah, it’s amazing we are meeting again”. In San Sebastian, you play every two weeks on the beach. They are memories. You go with your goals, the crossbar, everything.’
A crossbar sounds fancy. It’s not northern back alleys with goals drawn in chalk. Or jumpers on a park. ‘Yes, proper nets! There were three time slots: 8am, 10:30am and 12pm. If you have the first time, you put the nets up and draw the lines. The last time, you take them down. So the best part is to be in the middle!’
Iraola maintains that there is no real discernible difference between Dorset and home. A decent beach and having the sea on the doorstep is important for him; here he has both. He challenges perceptions of the weather, claiming the Basque climate is fairly similar but does admit luck with the specific area of the country he resides. Mondays are usually reserved for lengthy bike rides, going from Poole around the coast down to Studland beaches and hopping on the Sandbanks Chain Ferry home.
Mainland Europe is on the horizon on those rides and the club’s ambitious owner, Billy Foley, set a target of reaching continental competition within five years last season. Iraola laughs that it’s now reduced to four years but doesn’t flinch.
His young team – with one of the lowest average ages in the division – have recovered more balls than anyone else this year, ending high turnovers with the most shots too. Only one side has recorded more sprints and their passes per sequence average of 2.9 – the third shortest – indicates a high-octane Bielsa style designed to inflict rapid damage.
Since joining, he’s picked up 15 points from 15 matches against the six big clubs underneath City and Liverpool. They ran analysis on how to win points in those matches considered freebies in the summer and things are moving in the right direction.
‘I think right now, we are realistic that the league is divided. Eight or nine teams we would all put in the top nine. And then the rest. There is a difference, a gap. There are some teams clearly better than us. If we can slowly, slowly reduce the difference then let’s see.
He has urged Bournemouth not to lose their DNA, even against top teams, as they prepare to do battle with City
He explained how it is important to put teams under pressure with a riskier approach to games
‘And we don’t want to lose our DNA, you know? Even against the top. In in this case the opposition are better than us but we have to play to our strengths. I always say to them that they have to be braver than normal against a big team, because your normal press against them is probably not going to work.
‘You need to be even braver, a riskier approach, to put them under pressure. We have to sell to the players that yes, we need you to run, but in exchange, if we recover as high as we want then you have chances. The players understand it and I’m quite competitive in training – 95 per cent of it will be with opposition. I don’t like these passing drills without proper opposition.
‘Our strengths are more related to being an energetic team. It’s not that we’re not technical, we have lovely players. But when games are more closed, it’s costing us. We’re normally finishing stronger than the opposition, we’re scoring more late goals.’
High risk on Saturday then and there could be fireworks. It’s fair to say that there will be no back five.
