Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola spoke to the media following his side's 2-1 comeback win over Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola admitted that his side probably didn’t deserve to beat Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium but he hailed his new teenage recruit Rayan who went from villain to hero for the visitors. The Blues took the lead through a 42nd minute penalty from Iliman Ndiaye after Rayan had brought down Jarrad Branthwaite but David Moyes’ men capitulated in the second half with the Cherries netting a couple of quickfire goals through headers by Rayan (61) and Amine Adli (64) before Jake O’Brien was sent off for a professional foul on 69 minutes.
Iraola said: “I’m happy with the result. To be honest, I don’t think this has been our best performance, but football is like this.
“We played much better against Aston Villa the other day and you don’t win the game, just one point. Today, probably a draw would have been, I think, a fairer result, but we found a way.
“It was a set-piece, which is also very important for us, because Everton are one of the best teams, especially offensively on set-plays, a big threat. We’ve been preparing a lot and to score for them like this to win the game is a nice thing.
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“I don’t think we started well in the second half. I think Everton had two clear chances and we made a couple of mistakes in the build-up and if they’d have scored a second goal, probably the game would have become very difficult.
“But it’s true that after the subs I would say, we’ve started taking care of the ball a little bit more. The first half was very flat and was not good for us, we need things to happen and if we are just waiting, we are not this team, we need show some signs of urgency and some personality on the ball, a little bit more than what we were showing in the first half.”
Despite the victory, the Basque boss was also frustrated with how his side responded to having a one-man advantage for the final 21 minutes plus additional time. He said: “We were playing very well until the red card. I think it has probably simplified Everton’s game. We haven’t played well, 11 against 10.
“I know it is difficult in they don’t need to be a threat. Even from Jordan Pickford, straightaway, they go direct, they put the ball in your box.
“If they win the first contact, there is always a second ball, and something can happen. They created some corners and set-plays and while we defended well in that situation, I haven’t liked how we dealt with those minutes.
“In a win, I think we have a lot of things to improve, because, while I won’t say that it’s the worst performance over the last few games, we probably didn’t deserve to win today.”
One thing the 43-year-old was pleased about was the manner in which Bournemouth scored their two goals. Their equaliser came from a dominant back post header from Rayan in an aerial duel with Vitalii Mykolenko after he had earlier given away the penalty.
Brazilian Rayan, who is 19 like Harrison Armstrong and Tyler Dibling and has scored in both his starts to date, only joined the Dorset outfit on January 27 for £24.7million plus add ons from Vasco da Gama in his home city of Rio de Janeiro. Iraola said: “I think that it’s a mistake from Rayan, but we have to accept these kind of mistakes with him and young players. He’s coming to a new league, he’s 19, he knows he cannot do this in his own box and it’s a penalty.
“But he shown character because I don’t think he gets too affected by it and he continues being a threat and in the second half I thought it was another pen (when he went down under a challenge from Vitalii Mykolenko) on the other side but he continued and scored the goal and I finished happy. Even with the mistake, I think it’s a good learning experience for him and it hasn’t cost us points in the end.
“It’s one of the things we were looking for in the winter market because this season we have lost Antoine Semenyo and Dango Ouattara, two of the most physical wingers in the league. We needed someone with some physicality and with set plays given that we’re quite short, so I think he’s added these things to the team.
“I’m also happy with the assist of Adrien Truffert with his right foot, very strange from him, but it’s an incredible cross and it’s good because it’s someone who a lot of times arrives in those positions and is probably not getting the numbers. To have a cross like this and an assist like this I think is going to be good for his confidence.
“I don’t think we’ve scored a lot of headers this season, but James Hill (who provided the headed assist for the second goal) has been key with set-pieces both offensively and defensively for us, because Everton are massive, they have four or five super-tall players and he has been dealing with first contacts and first aerial duels in both boxes very, very well.”
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