AFC Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola sat down for his weekly press conference ahead of Manchester City’s visit to Vitality Stadium on Saturday evening.
Here are three things we learned…
1. Squad still in a “good moment”
One of the press conference’s early questions saw Iraola questioned on recent form, which led to him praising the team’s current performance levels.
“We are in a good moment,” the head coach explained.
“The Newcastle game was one of the best games we’ve played this season, not even just in the last month.
“I finished really happy with the game, even after reviewing it, we were very good against a very good team.
“It’s true that we are probably not as good in the boxes as we’ve been in the previous run, but I think overall, the team is doing good things and I think we can also be good tomorrow.”
2. Messaging positive ahead of City visit
With Pep Guardiola’s side sitting second going into the weekend’s fixtures, the head coach revealed that his messaging to the players is remaining optimistic.
Iraola said: “It’s obviously one of the most difficult games you can play, they are a team with more possession and you have to be ready mentally to be a lot of time without the ball and defensive.
“You go to the press and the next one again, get beaten, then the next one again with the same intensity and mentally be ready to wait for your moment; to wait for your chance.
“I think we can damage them but it’s obviously a very difficult game in a lot of areas.”
3. Aiming for a game of “two directions”
The Cherries’ plan for tomorrow was also touched on by the media, which saw Iraola share that he wanted to cause City problems despite it being a tough test.
He explained: “They control all of the games, they don’t want the games to be very open, they want the games in just one direction.
“They take the ball and dictate the game, they don’t leave you breath but we have to make the game both directions, even if we concede chances.
“They can score a goal but we have to also make it a game of two directions, so they are also concerned about our forwards.
“I trust our forwards; I think they can make a difference.”
