Andoni Iraola’s style is in many ways opposed to Pep Guardiola’s, and that’s one of the main reasons we would love to see him at Manchester City.
Iraola was listening in as Jamie Carragher pimped him out to bigger teams on Monday Night Football ahead of the game, but the Spaniard will surely already be aware of a reality that his current club may soon face: Bournemouth are a stepping stone. Perhaps to Manchester City. If they’re not watching, they should be.
Pep Guardiola said ahead of the clash with Manchester United that the only way he would leave the club before the end of his contract would be if Manchester City sacked him. That doesn’t seem likely despite Amad Diallo’s 90th-minute winner condemning them to their eighth defeat in 11 games, with that being more than they lost in the previous 106 providing both a clear indication of their demise but also a reminder as to why sacking him would be one of the boldest decisions ever made by a Premier League club.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it would be a bad call. “I won’t have the energy,” Guardiola said as he dismissed the idea of managing another club, to which the follow-up question should have been: Does that also mean you don’t have the energy to manage Manchester City?
Because the head-scratching, hokum-talking manager we’ve seen in the last couple of months barely looks as though he has the vitality required to drive to the training ground let alone lead what’s looking like a more significant rebuild by the game.
Only Liverpool (+15.6) have a better xG difference than Bournemouth (+12.6) this season, and while this game wasn’t the greatest example of the Cherries’ typical dominance over their opponents – West Ham edged the xG thanks to their penalty – it did very clearly illustrate the Iraola philosophy that’s led to such numbers.
In stark contrast to Guardiola’s recent directive for his City players to “make an extra thousand million passes” in what turned out to be a failed attempt to regain confidence, Iraola insisted “possession must be meaningful” when asked about the direct style of football his side plays ahead of the game.
One move saw Bournemouth go from back to front with four touches before Antoine Semenyo hit the post, another saw a Semenyo shot blocked following three swift passes from the edge of their own box. It’s as if there’s a basketball shot-clock on Bournemouth attacks, with most of their attempts on goal arriving long before the 24-second mark.
They do everything with purpose, rarely – if ever – taking the easy option that City players currently have as their default, trusting their teammates to take the ball under pressure, with failed bids to force the issue only strengthening their resolve to continue to do so.
It’s a style that makes any game involving them entertaining and – remarkably – opposition teams like West Ham perfectly watchable when they haven’t been for most of this season. Lucas Paqueta gave Julen Lopetegui’s side the lead in the 87th minute from the penalty spot after Tyler Adams was cruelly penalised for a handball, but two of the great statistical credits to Iraola’s management of this Bournemouth side combined two minutes later to deny the Hammers victory.
No team had scored more goals after 80 minutes than the Cherries (8) and no team had seen more goals scored by substitutes (7) before Enes Unal came off the bench to curl a sublime free-kick into the top corner in the 90th minute, with those stats exemplifying the fitness levels of his side, his nose for a change, the recruitment that’s occurred under his watch and the way in which he’s motivated everyone to make a difference when given the chance to do so.
Iraola will be frustrated. Bournemouth weren’t at their best. But they still managed an incredible 29 shots as a dip in performance levels fails to prevent the customary barrage of attempts on the opposition goal.
They would have gone level on points with Manchester City had they won, which speaks to both Iraola’s excellence and Guardiola’s troubles. And while the City chiefs may look at Bournemouth’s style and think Iraola incompatible as his philosophy is in many ways opposed to the one Guardiola has used to win everything and more at the club over the last eight years, having watched City endlessly and pointlessly pass the ball from side to side in the last few weeks, as wingers snub opportunities to take on their full-backs and midfielders fail to make runs in behind, we would love to see what Iraola could do with them.