AFC Bournemouth
Cherries head coach Andoni Iraola sat down from questions from the press ahead of Saturday’s visit of Sheffield United.
Here are three things we learned...
1. Expects smooth transition between Hughes and Francis
Earlier this week, the club announced that first-team technical director Richard Hughes is set to be superseded by Simon Francis at the end of the season.
Asked on the change, Iraola explained that he is expecting a smooth transition between the two.
He said: “For me, it’s a shame because I have been working with Richard closely this season and he is very good in his job and also as a person.
“We had a very good connection since the beginning and, obviously, I wish him the best for the future.
“The club has decided to keep Simon, who is very close and he knows how we work.
“I think the transition is going to be smooth because, for sure, Simon has been learning a lot from Richard.”
2. Focussing on ourselves ahead of the Blades
Following victory over Burnley last weekend, the head coach felt that improvements were still to be made in his side’s performance.
“Sheffield United will come here with the intention of winning the game and trying to increase their chances to fight until the end,” he explained.
“I think we have to focus more on ourselves. Against a team that has the same points as Sheffield United, we were not good enough.
“We won 2-0 but we need to improve the performance we had against Burnley if we want to win tomorrow; that’s our main focus.”
3. Solanke ready despite managed training
With striker Dominic Solanke having followed a reduced training schedule this week, Iraola shared his belief with the media that the frontman could still be as potent as ever.
The head coach said: “This is something that is quite common to every player, you don’t train normally because you are not so sharp or so fresh.
“You can lose a lot of rhythm but in his case, he has been training almost every day in the season.
“He is someone that has played a lot of minutes and trained a lot of minutes.
“It’s not a big problem [that he hasn’t trained as much] because he’s been very, very solid and robust during the season.
“He doesn’t need to train as much as other players that have been up and down, I think he still has a good level.”
