Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has admitted he was “nervous” but not fearful over his job after their poor start to the season.
The Spanish boss has been speaking to EFE, relayed by AS, about his time in England so far after arriving to take charge of Bournemouth in the summer.
He joined the Cherries as a replacement for Gary O’Neill, with Bournemouth’s ownership electing to go in a different direction despite the latter impressing at the end of last season.
The appointment of Iraola was something of a surprising one, with him arriving after an impressive few years in Spain where he had established Rayo Vallecano as a La Liga stable playing an attractive brand of attacking football.
The hope was that he could Bournemouth playing the same way but, despite positives, they were unable to translate their positive performances into points on the pitch.
That led to natural speculation about Iraola’s position and suggestions he was on the brink of being sacked, but it appears he was never truly concerned.
“It’s not that you get nervous, they are normal consequences. If you don’t win games, the normal thing is that they end up kicking you out,” he said.
“I think that the feelings of the last games have been much better, even the day against Liverpool in the cup when you lose, but you say, “Hey, we had them and they got away from us.”
“We want to continue giving it continuity. Knowing that we are in the Premier League and if we drop the level a bit it will be difficult for us to win again, of course.”
As stated, the decision to appoint Iraola and, indeed, the ability of Bournemouth to lure him to England was certainly one that shocked many in the summer.
He had been doing good work in Spain with Rayo, who he led from the second division and then established in the top flight over two seasons after that.
That suggested he was a good fit for a job further up the ladder at a club in Spain but instead it was Bournemouth who made the move and sold their project to him.
“For me, this is not so different from what I had at Rayo,” he added.
“It is a team that was promoted last year, that achieves permanence the first year, moments of being in decline, moments that come out… I think it is a successful year for them and then they want to change the way the team plays.
“It is one of the smallest stadiums in the league, it is a club that has the ambition of establishing itself as a Premier team. I liked what they told me and for me the opportunity to participate in the Premier has always been very attractive.”
