Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola has explained the reasoning behind a substitution he made against Brentford.
Despite the efforts of manager Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth couldn’t hang on to their lead, and conceded a late equaliser against Brentford on Saturday at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The hosts went ahead through an early Mathias Jensen free kick, before Dominic Solanke struck to level things up. The Cherries then took the lead themselves in the second half, as David Brooks finished from close range.
However, Brentford’s pressure eventually told as Bryan Mbeumo scored in the 93rd minute to settle the game at 2-2. Considering the Bees struck the woodwork three times in the match, Bournemouth might consider themselves fortunate to have drawn the game, despite having been bitterly disappointed not to hold on for the win.
Iraola addresses Bournemouth substitution
Iraola is still looking for his first Premier League victory as Bournemouth boss. In an effort to secure the three points on Saturday, he replaced Ryan Christie with defender Chris Mepham late on against Brentford.
Iraola has addressed the decision. As quoted by the Daily Echo, the Spanish coach said, “obviously they were losing the game, so they had to push. We needed some help, especially for set-pieces where they have very good players. We needed Meps’s help for the duels, for all those crosses that we will receive in the last minutes. But it didn’t work, because we conceded a second goal.”
The decision to bring Mepham on can hardly be branded the reason that Bournemouth dropped points, however, it is true that little that Iraola tries seems to be working particularly well at the moment.
His Bournemouth side have plenty of talent, and have shown flashes of quality, but Iraola hasn’t yet been able to bring his own brand of football to the Vitality Stadium. Considering how heavily he was backed in the transfer market this summer, the former Spain international needs to start producing more impressive results soon.