Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has revealed he uses a game of football bingo to keep things fun behind the scenes and not overload his team or staff with analysis.
The Bournemouth boss has been speaking to Marca about life on the south coast as he continues to establish himself in his first season with the Cherries.
He arrived at Bournemouth following an impressive spell with Rayo Vallecano in Spain and after a difficult start to the season enjoyed an extreme upward swing at the end of last year that had Bournemouth as one of the in-form teams in the league.
The 2024 calendar has started a little difficultly, with Bournemouth yet to win a game, but confidence is high that the Cherries will be fine this year and far from the relegation battle.
That confidence is borne from the attractive, attacking brand of football that Iraola has managed to introduce and get the side playing since his arrival.
It took a while for that to click into place, necessitating long hours training and in video analysis, something Iraola was aware could become boring or tiresome, so he’s employed a ‘secret weapon’ to avoid that.
“Between the hours of video analysis, we take a short break of five or 10 minutes and play bingo,” he said.
“I don’t think you have to be working and concentrating on the screen all the time. You can take a break and play. It’s good for the group. There is time for everything,
“It’s good because the analysts are very young and whenever ‘older’ players come out we can have an advantage.
“It works for us because, in the end, it is not a question of wasting time or hours. You have to do your job and, if it is done, you can play bingo for five or 10 minutes. Nothing changes.”
