The Basque boss opted to go for Alex Scott, Marcus Tavernier and Tyler Adams in the centre at Liverpool in their Premier League opener on Friday night, with Adams playing the anchor role.
Scott and Tavernier were more fluid, with both coming deep alongside Adams at times, while also playing the higher up the pitch to assist with the [Cherries](http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/cherries/clubnews/) high press.
And Iraola revealed that this was to match up to the threat of Liverpool in midfield, to try to nullify their threat.
The Reds played Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz across the same three positions, and Bournemouth largely matched up well with their hosts.
_(Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)_ Adams looks set to play a key role for Bournemouth this season, while Scott impressed at Anfield and Tavernier will aim to be in contention for a spot in the starting XI across the midfield and forward line.
Scott told the Daily Echo that he was relishing the challenge for places in the midfield.
“It's good. I mean, since I've been here, I've played 6, 8 and 10 and obviously all different positions require different things,” he said.
“As a 10 it’s a lot of high intensity pressing which probably has never been one of my strongest things but it's something I've had to adapt to and I've had to learn under this manager because that's the way he wants us to play.
“And it's definitely tough at times. You're nonstop running and you get the ball and you can't feel your legs at all, so it's tough.
“But that's part of building into the season, obviously, the first game here and I'm only going to improve at it.
“I've got so much more that I can bring to this team and I'm ready to show that throughout the season. I'm looking forward to it, hopefully injury free.”
_(Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)_ Reflecting on the midfield setup and how it performed on Friday, Iraola told the Daily Echo his thoughts behind the selections.
“Because of the matchup, because they were more or less in the middle, three against three,” he said.
“The characteristics of Alex and Tav, it was more almost a 4-3-3 than the 6, 8, 10, 9 that we normally play.
“At the end, profile wise, they both can play 10, can play 8. And sometimes they were changing marks, probably Alex was the one jumping a little bit more on the press.
“But they were recovering basically in quite similar ways.
“You have to adjust because Liverpool are so good that you need help. And you always need more players to arrive to every shuffle, to every build up they have. But I think they've done a good job.”