Bournemouth under Iraola: Why have the Cherries been so good this season?

The Basque native spoke about former coach Marcelo Bielsa’s influence on his attacking approach in an interview with Sky Sports in 2023.

“I use a lot of exercises from Marcelo that I learned from him [at Athletic Bilbao],” he said.

“I use a lot of things, especially with the ball. He is willing to make all the runs to the space, he is ready to accept this kind of disorder, offensively.”

The key takeaway here is disorder. Whereas managers like Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot are all about minimising risk and avoiding chaotic game states, Iraola’s Bournemouth embrace them and are all the better for it.

The former Rayo Vallecano boss deploys a system that aims to apply both zonal marking and man-to-man pressing. Analysts these days call it ‘hybrid pressing’ and although Bournemouth are not alone in using such an approach, they are certainly far more effective than most teams at executing it.

Aiming to win the ball back as high up the pitch as they possibly can, Bournemouth’s hybrid press is generally most visible during opposition goal-kicks.