Bournemouth Boss Iraola is Working Wonders...
Andoni Iraola has challenged the orthodoxy of the day more boldly than any other young manager. He is the man to watch!
Hello and welcome back to The Overlap Newsletter! Crystal Palace will face Manchester City in the FA Cup final tomorrow at Wembley, kick off 4:30pm. As stated in Opta, the two clubs have vastly differing fortunes in the FA Cup; City have won this competition seven times, while an eighth success would see them trail only Arsenal (14) and Manchester United (13) for total FA Cup trophies. Palace on the other hand are yet to win this competition, and, having lost to Man Utd in both 1990 and 2016, are one of four clubs to have competed in the final twice without ever lifting the trophy, along with Queen’s Park Rangers, Birmingham City and Watford. For Palace, it would be a reward for a club who were saved from potential liquidation in 2010 under chairman Steve Parish, when they were fighting to stay in the Championship. For Manchester City, it could be the club’s first season without a trophy since 2016-17, which was Guardiola’s first campaign at the club. To date, it is the only season the Spaniard has failed to win a trophy in his managerial career. Manchester City looked to have found a solid run of form of late, with a run of five successive victories in all competitions. Palace meanwhile conceded 10 goals in the space of two games in April and are now unbeaten in five games despite facing meaningful opposition in the form of Bournemouth, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. Both head into the game with the hope of taking home silverware this season, but who will be lifting the trophy on the day?
Catch the latest episode of Stick To Football on The Overlap Youtube Channel as Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jill Scott, Ian Wright and Paul Scholes are joined by former Everton and Burnley manager Sean Dyche. Listen to the latest episode of It Was What It Was following the link below as Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper welcome special guest Richard Hough, author of 'Verona Capone, the Miracle of 85'. In this episode, Richard delves into the extraordinary story of Hellas Verona's incredible 1984-85 Serie A title win:
Quiz Question…
Manchester City beat Stoke in the 2011 final to end a trophy drought of how long?
Stick To Football Behind The Scenes: Sean Dyche
WHY THE BOURNEMOUTH BASQUE IS MY MANAGER OF THE YEAR
By Rob Draper, co-host It Was What It Was
You heard such good things about Andoni Iraola at Rayo Vallecano that it was hard not be excited about his arrival in the Premier League. After all, Xavi, then coach of Barça, described his team as the “biggest pain in the arse in La Liga.” It was a huge compliment. The man from Usurbil, a town in the Basque Gipuzkoa province that, extraordinarily, is also home to Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery, Juanma Lillo, Txiki Begiristain and Julien Lopetegui, had led the team with the lowest budget in La Liga to twelfth. (For more on the Rise of the Basques listen here:
They had beaten champions Real Madrid, remained undefeated in four games against Barça and reached the Copa Del Rey semi. Notwithstanding the shock at Gary O’Neil’s departure, Iraola’s arrival at Bournemouth in the summer of 2023 seemed replete with possibilities. By November he was just another overrated hipster appointment gone horribly wrong. Eleven games in, smashed 6-1 by Manchester City, Iraola looked a little boy lost amongst the grown ups. With one win, Bournemouth were locked in the bottom three, only the naivety and awfulness of Burnley, Luton and Sheffield United - up they came, down they went - meaning that they had a chance of surviving. And yet that was the sliding doors moment for Iraola to win seven of the next eight and end the season with Bournemouth in a record 12th place. He may surpass that this season and sleepy seaside Bournemouth, with their non-league stadium and its small-town sensibility seem to be heading for Europe. A year almost to the day of that 6-1 thrashing, Iraola took on Pep Guardiola again in November this season. This time Bournemouth prevailed 2-1, a game that precipitated City’s collapse in the Premier League, which is fitting because no one has pushed back against Guardiola’s tactical dominance more than Iraola. On Tuesday, they face each other once again, both clubs striving for European football. Now is the time of year where we start handing out the accolades and in the absence of tension in the actual Premier League, perhaps the manager of the year award provides the most intriguing contest.
This week the Premier League listed its own contenders: Arne Slot, Eddie Howe, Nuno, Thomas Frank and Vítor Pereira. All are excellent candidates and you could make a compelling case for each of them. And yet my eye is constantly drawn to Iraola’s Bournemouth, who doesn’t even make the short list. He shares with Frank the distinction of massively punching above his wage-bill weight: only the relegated clubs are likely to come in below Bournemouth and Brentford in the league table of player salaries. The reason why Iraola is my manager of the year is not the league position, though it helps, and it’s certainly not because Howe or Slot are undeserving. I would happily see either win. It’s simply that whilst all three play what Guardiola describes as “modern football,” Iraola looks to be the pioneer, the one really pushing new ideas to their limit. Since the ascent of Guardiola at Barça in 2008, tactics have been dominated by juego de posición, the strict organisation of a player’s position in a team shape. There is creativity and individualism within that, especially in the final third, but this has been the foundation most coaches seek to follow. The trouble is many became poor imitations of Guardiola, a low-quality copy. See Vincent Kompany (notwithstanding his Bundesliga title) and Russell Martin for details.
Iraola is the first serious thinker among young coaches to challenge Guardiola head on. Think keeping possession is the mantra for modern football? Bournemouth are routinely top of the table for most mis-controls. Iraola isn’t bothered by that. Think long balls are out of fashion? Bournemouth are second in the table for long passes. Think passing your way through midfield is a key principle that must not be violated? Bournemouth are sixth bottom for midfield possession. Below them are the relegated clubs (predictably), Everton and Crystal Palace. And yes if he wins the FA Cup, Oliver Glasner deserves to be part of this conversation as indeed does David Moyes.
Mario Suárez played for Iraola at Real Vallencano. “He doesn’t want the game to be under control: he wants things to happen,” he said. “Rob [the ball] in the opposition’s half, [go] direct, open the pitch, get into the area.” Organised chaos? Iraola likes the term. “I prefer too much chaos to too much organisation. I prefer to play at a high pace, even if it means a touch of hastiness, than play at a lower pace and have a bit more control.” Of Guardiola’s fabled positional play? “We have to prepare [positional] patterns, but we cannot just prioritise them,” said Iraola. “If you can see that you don't have a teammate ahead, forget about the pattern, just drive the ball and try to force things to happen. I want him to attack first.” The times are a-changing and for the first time in his life Guardiola is behind the tactical curve. It will be intriguing to see on Tuesday how he responds. However it ends up though, Iraola has challenged the orthodoxy of the day more boldly than any other young manager. He is the man to watch. And he is my manager of the year.
Quiz Answer:
35 years