The Basque boss was bemoaning Bournemouth’s lack of clinical finishing – and not for the first time this season.
It has become something of a theme in Iraola’s post-match press conferences to hear him speak of his side’s spurned opportunities.
Even after the Arsenal game at home, where the Cherries triumphed 2-0, Iraola spoke about missing key chances in both halves, before Ryan Christie broke the deadlock and Justin Kluivert added the second.
But how wasteful have Bournemouth been in front of goal this season?
(Image: Richard Crease) They’ve netted 16 times, the 11th most in the league, but have had the third most shots in the league, behind only Manchester City and Tottenham, with 186.
They rank seventh in ‘big chances missed’, with 23, and have struck the woodwork more than any other side in the league – hitting the post or bar a total of nine times.
The woodwork has, without a doubt, hindered the Cherries from picking up more points, even in only the past two games.
Against Brentford, Dean Huijsen struck the bar deep into second half stoppage time, while Antoine Semenyo struck the bar with a fierce volley with the final kick of the game against Brighton.
The Cherries sit seventh in the expected goals table – with 23.17 xG, but they have underperformed their xG by a whopping 7.17 goals.
(Image: Richard Crease) Only two sides have underperformed more than Bournemouth, and only just, in Manchester United and Crystal Palace, both underperforming by 7.31 goals.
This has by no means signalled disaster for the Cherries so far this term – they are 13th in the table with 15 points from 12 games.
The law of averages suggests that Bournemouth will convert some of their chances – but the reality is they are doing the work to produce the opportunities but are not, at this stage, finding the net.
Other games this season have seen the Cherries lose out on points they arguably deserved through a lack of finishing off opportunities – defeats to Chelsea and Leicester saw the south coast side produce a number of openings without finding the final finish.
Individually speaking, goals and chances have been spread amongst the Cherries side so far this term, with Evanilson the team’s top scorer with four in the league.
But the Brazilian, as many strikers are, is also responsible for the most big chances missed for the Bournemouth side, with five – which places him 17th in table for this metric.
Fellow forwards Dango Ouattara, Marcus Tavernier and Semenyo have all missed three big chances, meanwhile, with ten Cherries players on the list of those who have spurned key opportunities.
The number of chances created is a huge positive for Iraola’s side – but the Basque boss will hope his side will begin to take more of them soon as we enter the congested festive period.