Bournemouth Boss: Arsenal Showed Us A New Level

By The Editor
on 1st October 2023

Bournemouth boss Adoni Iraola believes Arsenal showed his team something new…

Bournemouth boss Adoni Iraola conceded that Saturday’s game was the first time he felt his team were not at the level set by the opponent, despite the Cherries’ poor start to the season.

The south coast side have faced Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal in the opening seven games of the Premier League, and the Spaniard accepts that his team were shown a new level.

Iraola, who was in the same local youth team as Mikel Arteta in their Basque days, has attempted to bring a front-footed style to the Vitality Stadium which may, at times, seem naive.

Arteta’s men struggled to get out of their half occasionally in the opening exchanges of the game such was the home side’s intense pressing structure.

Also, with their home ground being one of the smallest in the division, squeezing opponents high up the pitch can become an effective strategy.

Arteta did find a way though, mainly through the passing qualities of David Raya who is constantly the free man in a game of that context.

“Today is the first day that I finished and we were not at the level that the opposition required us,” Iraola told the press.

“It’s true that Arsenal played really well, they are a really good team and we have to be really good if we want to compete.”

Interestingly, Iraola was more impressed with our work without the ball and how often we won the ball high or forced them to turn it over.

“They are a very good team out of possession,” the former Rayo Vallecano coach explained.

“The very good players they have – I’m thinking about Odegaard, Havertz and Declan Rice – they are very good without the ball in the press, in winning duels and second balls.

“It gives them strength in the midfield.”