Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has again insisted the club never got nervous with him, despite their poor start to the season.
The Spanish coach has been speaking to Radio Marca about his time with the Cherries so far, which has significantly improved after a difficult start.
Iraola arrived in the summer to replace Gary O’Neil after an impressive stint managing Rayo Vallecano in Spain, who he took from the second division into La Liga and solidified in the top flight.
He endured a difficult start to life in England, with Bournemouth seemingly struggling to adapt to his way of thinking and finding themselves at the wrong end of the Premier League early on.
They’ve rapidly improved following a 6-1 defeat to Manchester City at the beginning of November, though, winning all but one of their seven games since, with the one draw a very credible 2-2 one against high-flying Aston Villa.
That run has seen the Cherries fly up the table and they now sit 12th, 10 points from the bottom three and only three outside of the top ten.
It’s an impressive turnaround, to say the least, and one Bournemouth’s board will be delighted with after backing their man early on. Although, for Iraola, there was never any danger of him being sacked.
“Strange season. We started very badly, we couldn’t win and now it’s the opposite,” he said.
“We haven’t lost for two months. Now the players know us better and the calendar is more favourable, and we are doing very well.
“We want to be in the Premier League next year but close the gap with the teams at the top. Within what is our league we seek to be as high as possible. It happens a little like with Rayo Vallecano in Spain, to me it isn’t that different.
“We were all aware that we had a complicated schedule, but the club did not get nervous at any time. The fans continued to cheer and now they are happier for this streak. We are going to try to prolong it so that they can continue enjoying it. There had never been such a long streak.
“You don’t know what can happen in the future. I’m not one to ask for many things. That we don’t have many injuries. We have to earn it if we want to look higher.”
