AFC Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola faced questions from the media in his pre-match press conference ahead of the rearranged fixture against Luton Town.
Here are three things we learned…
1. Knows players will be focussed at kick-off
Following the events of the abandoned game in December, the head coach faced several questions on Tom Lockyer’s recovery from a cardiac arrest.
Alongside sharing his delight over Lockyer’s recovery, wishing him well and stressing the importance of learning CPR, Iraola shared what he is expecting from the team once tomorrow’s pre-match build-up is done.
He said: “I’ve been a player and when the referee whistles at the start of the game, you focus because you have difficult things to do.
“You think about the football stuff and the opponent you have, also what you can do whenever you receive the next ball.
“I think the players will be focussed on the football side because they are used to it.”
2. Expecting a “very different game” from the Blades
After being held to a 2-2 draw by Sheffield United on Saturday, Iraola explained that he was expecting a different style of game from the Hatters.
“Luton and almost all of the teams, we are in a battle. All of the teams need the points and it’s important,” the head coach shared.
“The later you play, the more important the points are because you don’t have so many chances after.
“They’re a team that have changed a little bit since the last time we played them here, they are much more aggressive in the press and are keeping more possession.
“They are playing more from the back, they have very good midfielders and then they have a lot of pace.
“They have dangerous players to attack the spaces, they cross a lot, they are always a threat from set pieces, we could see it when we faced them, they scored the first corner they had.
“We have to prepare for a very different game than the one we played the other day against Sheffield United.”
3. Plan for the break following the Hatters’ visit
With 17 days between Luton’s visit and the Cherries’ return to action after the upcoming international break, he also talked on the plan for that period.
Iraola explained: “We train after the game, the next morning. We’ll do the recovery process as well as we can.
“We don’t know exactly the number of players we will have because over the national team breaks, we’ve had half of the squad, no more.
“I will have probably a healthy nine or ten players, no more.
“We will keep training because we have to keep the fitness level really high for the last part of the season, that is always the most important.”
