Iraola: We are far away from Champions League
Andoni Iraola refused to get carried away after Bournemouth fans were left dreaming of a potential Champions League adventure following a first league double over south-coast rivals Southampton.
Travelling Cherries fans chanted of playing in European football’s premier competition next season after their side soared to fifth spot in the Premier League table thanks to a deserved 3-1 success at St Mary’s.
Ryan Christie conjured a fine assist for Dango Ouattara’s 14th-minute opener and then quickly fired home a superb second before Marcus Tavernier sealed victory late on following a goal back from Kamaldeen Sulemana.
While his team climbed above Chelsea, on goal difference, and Newcastle to the cusp of the top four, Bournemouth boss Iraola is eager to manage expectations and not look too far ahead.
“I think we are far from there,” he said of reaching the Champions League.
“We need still a lot of points. A reality would be at the end of the season. Now, unfortunately for us, it’s not.
“We have to continue performing well. If we continue performing well we may have a chance when there are five, six games remaining and then we are fighting.
“Right now we are still in the process, there is still more than one third of the league to play. We are focusing in the next week and definitely not further than this.”
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15 minute ago15m ago01:41
Opta stats: Bournemouth away day kings
Bournemouth are unbeaten in each of their last seven away Premier League games (W5 D2), with their 22 points won on the road in 2024-25 their joint-most in a top-flight season (also 22 in 2015-16).
On what was his 93rd Premier League appearance, Ryan Christie has both scored and assisted in the same game for the first time.
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16 minute ago16m ago01:40
Analysis: Christie shows his class
Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones:
“Andoni Iraola is a special manager. Not only because of his unique and barnstorming football philosophies but also because how his ability to completely reinvent players. Christie is the perfect example.
“Once a player that was a chief creator of goals in forward areas that carried lots of quality he is now a midfield enforcer and the relentless pulse that makes this Bournemouth team play at such ferocious velocity.
“That was on show here again but sprinkled with the class of the Christie of old where he produced two moments of supreme quality.
“His cross for Ouattara was impossible to defend such was the trajectory and his finish for his goal was equally as devastating.
“He is becoming a master of his trade in the Bournemouth midfield.”
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17 minute ago17m ago01:40
Player ratings: Southampton 1-3 Bournemouth
Southampton: Ramsdale (8), Walker-Peters (6), Bree (5), Bednarek (6), Wellington (5), Wood (5), Smallbone (5), Aribo (7), Fernandes (7), Sulemana (7), Onuachu (6)
Subs used: Dibling (7), Sugawara (6), Archer (6)
Bournemouth: Kepa (7), Cook (7), Zabarnyi (7), Huijsen (8), Kerkez (7), Christie (9), Adams (7), Brooks (6), Kluivert (7), Semenyo (8), Ouattara (7)
Subs used: Tavernier (8), Jebbison (7), Sinisterra (7)
Player of the match: Ryan Christie
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17 minute ago17m ago01:39
REPORT: Bournemouth up to fifth with win at sorry Saints
Bournemouth moved above Chelsea into fifth place in the Premier League with 3-1 win over sorry Southampton in the south coast derby.
Southampton 1-3 Bournemouth: Cherries up to fifth in Premier League with south coast derby win
Sky Sports
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13 Feb13 Feb14:18
Papers: Bournemouth, Spurs & Newcastle keen on winger
The top stories and transfer rumours from Friday’s newspapers…
Premier League trio Tottenham, Newcastle and Bournemouth all keen on Feyenoord winger Igor Paixao – Paper Talk
Sky Sports
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9 Feb9 Feb09:13
Semenyo: Winning FA Cup would be ‘cherry’ on the cake this season
Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo admits winning the FA Cup would be the “cherry on the cake” of what could be an historic season.
The 2-0 victory over Everton in the final cup tie to be played at Goodison Park put the south-coast side into the fifth round but with the club only three points off fourth place in the Premier League they are also chasing European football for the first time.
Semenyo, who won a penalty which he then converted before Daniel Jebbison added a second, would love to play at Wembley but knows that would be a bonus.
“I think it would be the cherry on top of the cake for us,” he said.
“We know we are doing well this season. A Cup run? The manager finds it really important, all of us as individuals find it important.
“It will be lovely to reach a semi-final where we are playing at Wembley. It’s a dream of mine personally and I think for the team we would love to have a cup run and see how far we can go.
“As a team we are ready to come up against whoever we get. We just have to wait to see.”
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7 Feb7 Feb07:13
Iraola on Kroupi arrival…
Bournemouth confirmed the deadline-day addition of 18-year-old striker Eli Junior Kroupi from Ligue 2 Lorient on Monday.
Despite the long-term injuries to forwards Evanilson and Enes Unal, Kroupi will return to the promotion hopefuls on loan until the end of the season.
“I don’t know and I hope he is,” Andoni Iraola added when asked if Kroupi can be a success in England.
“We will have to see when he comes here. When you come to the Premier League there’s an adaptation process, especially with someone who’s young with a new language.
“Because of the club’s relationship with Lorient I think it was a good chance to sign someone his age who is ahead of the normal players.
“I think he is performing very well and has been very successful with Lorient and the national team.
“I am very happy and obviously I wanted to sign players for now but it’s true that the winter market is difficult. Sometimes you don’t have the players you need there and we decided not to sign anyone.”
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7 Feb7 Feb07:12
Iraola hopes Bournemouth can pass their FA Cup test at Everton
Andoni Iraola has called for Bournemouth to earn the right to advance in the FA Cup ahead of their fourth-round tie with Everton on Saturday.
Spanish boss Iraola, who was named January’s Premier League manager of the month on Friday, sees his side face an in-form Toffees team at Goodison Park.
David Moyes’ men, who have won three out of their four matches since his return as manager, claimed a 4-0 triumph over Leicester last week.
“We have a very difficult opponent. There’s no guarantee that if you rest players you can win the next league game so we go there knowing it will be difficult,” Iraola told reporters.
“We need to earn the right to play another game in the FA Cup because we are playing another Premier League team in a very good form at the moment.
“He’s been been very good in the four games he’s been there (Moyes). You can see with the results that he knows more about the club than anyone. It will be a smooth transition for him and he has started really well.
“I think we have the experience to play there, with the atmosphere, the kind of team they are and obviously with the confidence being high after their wins in recent weeks, I expect a difficult game.”
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5 Feb5 Feb05:51
Kluivert the Premier League’s top performer?
There’s a Bournemouth player at the top of the Sky Sports Power Rankings this week…
Justin Kluivert’s sensational form has propelled him above Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood in our statistically-calculated list for this season.
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3 Feb3 Feb23:01
Bournemouth’s transfer window assessed
Sky Sports News’ Mark McAdam:
AFC Bournemouth’s window started with two serious injuries to both strikers but they’ve finished the window with no new strikers despite the club’s recruitment team scouring of the market.
Cherries boss Andoni Iraola consistently said it was a position that was the most difficult to recruit for and that turned out to be the case.
Sixteen goals in five games would suggest they’re ok but only time will tell if they’ve left themselves short as this incredible season continues.
January transfer window: Your Premier League club’s business assessed including Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool,
Sky Sports
This window has really given an indication as to the club’s philosophy; young players they can develop for the future.
There’s been three new signings: 18-year-old Eli Junior Kroupi – who will stay at Lorient – 19-year-old Julio Soler from Lanus and 18-year-old Matai Akinmboni from DC United. All players with huge potential they’ll be hoping can become Premier League stars of the future.
It was a positive window in terms of ins but the fact they didn’t lose any of their key stars will be seen as the biggest win of the window. This summer might prove more of a challenge to keep a number of players who have all been catching the eye of Europe’s elite.
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3 Feb3 Feb14:37
Bournemouth complete Kroupi deal
Bournemouth have announced the signing of Lorient attacker Eli Junior Kroupi.
The 18-year-old French youth international will remain with the Ligue 2 club for the rest of the season.
West Ham had talks with Lorient for the forward right up until Deadline Day – with the Hammers offering up to £35m to take the forward on from this month.
Chelsea and Lyon were also interested in the young forward.
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2 Feb2 Feb02:07
‘I can’t believe it!’ | Kluivert misses sitter against Liverpool
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1 Feb1 Feb10:27
Iraola post-match presser in full
You’ve beaten three of the other members of the top four here this season. On another day, could you have completed the set and won again?
“Yes, yes, we didn’t get the result, obviously, but I think we gave ourselves a chance. I think we played a high-level game, both teams. I think the quality of the game has been quite high.
“But against these top teams, I think you need these small details to happen to your side sometimes. We hit the post, we hit the post again, second post, the goal, just a few millimetres, disallowed. We need to punish them because I think we knew that we would concede some chances because both teams played quite open, there will be transitions for both teams and probably we should have scored to put them under some pressure.
Obviously, the penalty in the first half looked… It was an interesting decision, VAR checked it but didn’t overrule it. What did you make of that decision?
“For me, if you take this penalty, it can go both ways. It’s probably a slight touch, I haven’t seen the play, but with Lewis [Cook], he trips after a slight touch.
“But I would just say, Evanilson against Brentford, exactly the same play. I would say even that one is more clear. So I accept, you call that one, you call this one, perfect.
“You don’t call that one, you don’t call this one, perfect. You don’t call one and you call the other, then I have to complain.”
Do you take some confidence from a strong performance against a side like Liverpool, even in defeat?
“At the end of every game, even when you win, like we won the last games, there are good and bad things and we will analyse everything and for sure we could have done some things better. But overall I’m very pleased with the performance. I think, like I said, we gave us chances against Liverpool.
“I think it’s very, very difficult to win against Liverpool. And now we will just analyse it 24 hours and start thinking in the next game, that now is the cup game that we have against Everton.”
Asked about his view on the referee Darren England’s performance…
“When you ask me a lot about the referee, I think in this kind of level of game, I think the players are the ones that receive all the comments, all the appreciation, all the value of what they’ve done from Liverpool, from Bournemouth. And that’s what I’m going to try to do.
On his pride in the performance…
“I think we’ve been more competitive, probably. We haven’t had these phases where you’re always going to concede chances against Liverpool, especially the way both teams play and the game has been quite open.
“We accept this. Probably we have to look at why we didn’t get a result in our offence. Because we’ve had enough chances to score and once you get the goal, whatever it is, the 1-0, the 1-1, they feel some pressure that, especially after the 2-0, they probably haven’t felt.
Was Mo Salah the difference today? Was that what turned the game?
“He scored the goals. Always when you score the goals, you’ve been probably important. They have very good players and it’s difficult to cover everything.
“I think Miloš [Kerkez] has dealt very well with him all the game. Probably the second goal is the kind of finish that he loves, but it’s impossible to cover everything, every minute. So you have to give credit to him also because it has been a lovely finish.
What do you think is making the difference for you, being able to stay at the top of the table?
“No, we are not there. We have teams that are much better than us and in a better position than us. We are in a good position for us and we will try to keep close to the positions that we are now.
“But I’m not focusing on the standings. I think we are performing well. We are being competitive in almost every game.
“I would say sometimes the opposition have more than us, but I think we are in a good line and if we can keep this level of performance, I think we will finish in a good place. But obviously there are teams that are better than us.
Antoine Semenyo looked to be a handful again, giving a really good performance going forwards. What did you make of his showing today?
“I think like other players, I think overall I value the performance. Probably other games he has more chances to score goals or whatever. But considering the opposition, to do it against this kind of opposition for me is valuable because all the duels against the Liverpool players are expensive to win and are difficult.
“I think even if you don’t have as many chances as against other teams, I value them today, yes. At the end there are small details.
“We are talking about centimetres, millimetres probably. The other day we probably scored five. I don’t know, maybe some more but not a 5-0 difference.
“Sometimes you are more clinical than other days and definitely we needed more. I don’t know if a better finishing but these things could go to our side if we wanted a result against Liverpool.
“Obviously we’ve enjoyed the good results but we cannot change any approach. It’s not the end of the beginning of anything, the end of anything. We are going to approach the same week with the same mentality that we’ve done until today.
“It’s still very early in the season. We are going to take the next chance we have, that is the FA Cup against Everton. Difficult draw, we play away against a team that is flying apparently.
“It’s going to be difficult but we will give it a try. Just one more on that FA Cup game.”
On chance of players coming back from injury…
“Right now I don’t have a lot of options really. Probably it’s not the same situation. When you have 20 players available and then you can decide.
“We are quite thin, I hope we can recover but it’s going to be difficult. At the end we are talking about one week. Sini is the only one that has really started training with the group.
“But he has trained two, three days. It didn’t make any sense definitely to risk him for today. Let’s see if he has good feelings this week and completes at least one full week of training.
“But for sure it’s going to be difficult against Everton.”
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1 Feb1 Feb09:35
Iraola: Small things didn’t go for us
Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola to Sky Sports after his side’s 2-0 loss against Liverpool:
“Obviously disappointed to lose the game. When you play against these types of teams, the small details have to go for you. We hit the post, we had a goal disallowed with a slight offside. Small things that didn’t go for us. It was a chance, but it didn’t happen.
“The misses are key moments, they can make the difference when it’s 1-0. They are quite clear chances. And we haven’t scored against this team, like Liverpool, and we didn’t punish them.
“Today you could see the level of the game, how they performed. It was a high-level game, the players – we should be talking about them.
“Both teams were very good, their players made the difference. It was a high-level game and to win against Liverpool is very difficult.”
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1 Feb1 Feb09:29
REPORT: Salah double helps Liverpool open up nine-point lead in title race
Liverpool moved nine points clear at the top of the Premier League as Mohamed Salah scored twice in a 2-0 win against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
Arne Slot’s leaders were aiming to become to first team to beat their hosts in the league since November 23 and they were given a stern test en route to ending an 11-match unbeaten run for Andoni Iraola’s side.
The league’s top scorer Salah, as so often during this wonderful Liverpool season, was the difference, scoring a penalty in the first half and a brilliant solo goal in the second to secure his team’s 17th win in their 23 games, but along the way Bournemouth put up a real fight.
Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool: Mohamed Salah scores twice as Reds move nine points clear in Premier League
Sky Sports
Things did not go the home side’s way during a first half in which they hit the post, had a goal disallowed and fell behind following a contentious penalty award.
Iraola’s side came at Liverpool early. Alisson was alert to deflect behind Justin Kluivert’s near-post drive following a poor defensive header from Trent Alexander-Arnold, the closest either side came to scoring in the opening 20 minutes, before Antoine Semenyo left Liverpool’s goalframe quaking with a bullet effort against the woodwork.
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1 Feb1 Feb09:29
Bournemouth beaten but far from disgraced
Sky Sports’ Ben Grounds at the Vitality Stadium:
Salah, as so often during this wonderful Liverpool season, was the difference, scoring a penalty in the first half and a brilliant solo goal in the second to secure his team’s 17th win in their 23 games, but along the way Bournemouth put up a real fight.
Things did not go the home side’s way during a first half in which they hit the post, had a goal disallowed and fell behind following a contentious penalty award.
It was from a quick transition, the kind at which Bournemouth have excelled this season, that Liverpool won their spot-kick.
Gakpo seemed to have got clear of Cook as the pair chased a long ball into the home side’s box. The Liverpool player tripped, though there was more than a suggestion that he may have stumbled over his own foot. VAR upheld Darren England’s on-field decision, and from the spot Salah slipped the ball just beyond the dive of Kepa.
A hairline VAR call denied David Brooks an equaliser, Milos Kerkez judged to have been fractionally offside before his teammate lashed in what would have been a wonderful goal.
Substitute Marcus Tavernier came within a whisker of levelling, turning away cleverly from Andy Robertson before opening his body and sending an effort crashing against the inside of the post, with Kluivert leaning back to lift the rebound glaringly over.
The Cherries have now hit the woodwork 16 times in the Premier League this season, the outright most of any side. On such fine margins titles are won.
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31 Jan31 Jan11:04
Merson: I’d be worried Iraola could leave for Spain
Sky Sports’ Paul Merson on the Transfer Show:
“Absolutely outstanding. Every Arsenal fan would be relying on Bournemouth tomorrow to do a job on Liverpool.
“They’ve been outstanding. Kerkez and Semenyo have been outstanding. They’ve been a good watch, have given all the big boys and game and beaten them all at home.
“I think they’re there for the long run and will stay hanging around. I would be shocked if Liverpool won tomorrow, I think it will be a draw. A difficult game for Liverpool.
“For them to stick by Iraola after last season, they’re reaping the rewards now and they’re a dangerous, dangerous team. And it’s incredible that their stadium holds only 12,000!
“At the moment, they will hold onto Iraola. You look at the top teams: who is going to lose their job? The Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea managers won’t.
“And Bournemouth are above Tottenham in the table. But I want Ange to keep his job. But I would be more worried of him going back to Spain with Barcelona or Real Madrid. I rate him that highly…”
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31 Jan31 Jan08:00
Iraola: I don’t know if we will have enough, but we will try
Cherries boss Andoni Iraola has led the club on an 11-game unbeaten run in the Premier League, while leaders Liverpool are unbeaten in 18 league games:”It’s definitely the biggest challenge of the season. I think they have been the best team, not only in England but also in Europe this season.
“They are top of the league. They have been top of the league in Europe, even though they didn’t play their first-team in their last game. That shows their level.
“It’s going to be very difficult for us, but it’s also a good challenge. I think we are in a good moment as we are playing well also. I don’t know if we will have enough, but we will try.”
Sinisterra to be assessed
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola confirmed he will have the same squad available as last time out against Nottingham Forest.
He added:”From the ones that are injured, the only player that has started doing stuff with us recently is Luis Sinisterra. We will assess him again today, but it is not certain that he will be involved this weekend.”
