Bournemouth and Sunderland played out an entertaining 1-1 draw on Saturday
Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola bemoaned a poor start from his side as Sunderland ended their losing run with a 1-1 draw at the Vitality Stadium.
Sunderland started the game much the better of the two sides, and were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty when Enzo Le Fee appeared to be fouled by Alex Jimenez. The Black Cats got the goal their play deserved when Eliezer Mayenda scored his second of the campaign, but Evanilson rescued a point in the second half with a close-range header.
Iraola felt his side ended the game the stronger but wasn’t sure his side did enough overall to win it.
“I think we paid for our slow start, I think we were very slow to start the game,” Iraola said.
“They scored the first goal and obviously after we improved and I think in the second half we were the closest team to winning it. But probably we paid a price in terms of two points today with how we started the game.”
Iraola singled out substitute Ryan Christie for special praise, with his quick free kick key to the equalising goal as he switched the play to find Marcus Tavernier in space.
“I think the goal is a lovely cross, a lovely finish but especially for me it's Ryan Christie who kind of scores the goal because we need to take quick these kind of free kicks,” he said.
“We were losing a lot of time setting up in the first half.
“They were losing an incredible amount of time every free kick and if we don't take it quickly then the game becomes so boring and there is no rhythm into the game. Just the decision to take it quickly and just play and put some tempo into the game, for me I'm very happy because of this.”
Bournemouth boss has his say on refereeing controversy in Sunderland draw
It was a contest marked by significant refereeing controversy, though Iraola felt that a penalty for Jimenez’s foul on Le Fee would have been ‘soft’. He said he felt the referee didn’t do well enough in managing the rhythm of the game and criticised the decision to penalise Eli Junior Kroupi in the first half. Jarred Gillett ruled that Kroupi had fouled Robin Roefs outside of the box.
“More than the big decisions, I complained about the rhythm into the game,” Iraola said.
“We haven't played continuously, I don't know. We were all the time stopping the game, a lot of warnings, a lot of medical attention. It has been really difficult to make the game a little bit, I don't know, entertaining almost. The decisions, I think the first call for a penalty, I think it would have been a soft one because there is no contact low, it's just the kind of push. I think it's a soft one [if it is given].
“We complained about the Roefs situation,” Iraola added.
“I don't know if it's a red card because Roefs makes a foul on Junior Kroupi or just leave the ball, the play goes and we score because we have the ball, there is no keeper. But he has decided to stop and it's never a foul from Junior Kroupi. One thing or the other, but it's never a foul from Junior Kroupi.”
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