Iraola on Bournemouth's 2-0 defeat Premier League leaders Liverpool
01/02/2025
Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, UK
01/02/2025
Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, UK
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SportsTranscript
00:00You've beaten three of the other members of the top four here this season. On another
00:08day, could you have completed the set and won again?
00:12Sorry, I didn't get the...
00:13So you've beaten the other members of Forest, Arsenal and City here. On another day, with
00:18a bit more luck, could you have made it four out of four?
00:22Yes, yes, we didn't get the result obviously, but I think we gave us a chance. I think we
00:27played a high-level game, both teams. I think the quality of the game has been quite high.
00:34But against these top teams, I think you need these small details to happen to your side
00:41sometimes. We hit the post, we hit the post again, second post, the goal just millimetres
00:45disallowed. We need to punish them because I think we knew we would concede some chances
00:53because both teams played quite open. There will be transitions for both teams and probably
00:58we should have scored. We should have scored to put them under some pressure.
01:07Obviously the penalty in the first half looked... It was an interesting decision. VAR checked
01:16it but didn't overrule it. What did you make of that decision?
01:19For me, if you take this penalty, it can go both ways. It's probably a slight touch.
01:25I haven't seen it in play but with Luks, he trips after the slight touch. But I would
01:29just say, Emanuelson against Brentford, exactly the same play. I would say even that one is
01:34more clear. So I accept. You call that one, you call this one, perfect. You don't call
01:38that one, you don't call this one, perfect. But you don't call one and you call the other,
01:42then I have to complain.
01:44It's a good performance though, as you've said, hit post twice and Brooksie's goal disallowed.
01:50Do you take some confidence from a strong performance against a side like Liverpool,
01:56even in defeat?
01:58At the end, in every game, even when you win like we won the last games, there are good
02:04and bad things. We analyse everything and for sure we could have done some things better
02:09but overall I'm very pleased with the performance. I think, like I said, we gave ourselves chances
02:16against Liverpool. I think it's very, very difficult to win against Liverpool. Now we
02:22will just analyse it for 24 hours and start thinking in the next game, that now is the
02:27cup game that we have against Everton.
02:31Commiserations after that one. The crowd certainly felt a certain way about the referee
02:39and the performance today. Do you have any comments about Darren England?
02:43No. When you ask me a lot about the referee, I think in this kind of level of game, I think
02:53the players are the ones that receive all the comments, all the appreciation, all the
03:00value of what they've done from Liverpool, from Bournemouth and that's what I'm going
03:06to try to do.
03:08You mentioned yesterday that in the reverse fixture you had a bit of head loss and that's
03:12why you lost 3-0. How proud are you today that your players kept trying and didn't stop
03:17fighting right until the end, even though they were two goals down?
03:20I think we've been more competitive, probably. We haven't had these phases where you're
03:26always going to concede chances against Liverpool, especially the way both teams play and the
03:30game has been quite open. We accept this. Probably if we have to look at why we didn't
03:37get a result, it's in our offence because we've had enough chances to score and once
03:47you get the goal, whatever it is, the 1-0, the 1-1, they feel some pressure that, especially
03:54after the 2-0, probably they haven't felt.
03:59Was Mo Salah the difference today? What turned the game?
04:03He scored the goals. Always when you score the goals, you've been probably important.
04:09They have very good players and it's difficult to cover everything. I think we've done...
04:15We've dealt very well with him all the game. Probably the second goal is the kind of finish
04:22that he loves but it's impossible to cover everything, every minute. So you have to give
04:28credit to him also because it has been a lovely finish.
04:33What do you think is making the difference for you in being able to stay at the top of
04:37the table?
04:39No, we are not there. We are not there. There are teams that are much better than us and
04:44better position than us. We are in a good position for us and we will try to keep close
04:50to the positions that we are now. But I'm not focusing on the standings. I think we
04:57are performing well. We are being competitive in almost every game, I would say. Sometimes
05:03the opposition have more than us but I think we are in a good line and if we can keep this
05:09level of performance I think we will finish in a good place. But obviously there are teams
05:16that are better than us, yes.
05:21Antoine Simeoneau looks to be a handful again, giving a really good performance going forwards.
05:27What did you make of his showing today?
05:30I think like other players. I think overall I value the performance. Probably other games
05:38he has more chances or scored goals or whatever. But considering the opposition, to do it against
05:44this kind of opposition for me is valuable because all the duels against Liverpool players
05:48are expensive to win and are difficult. I think even if you don't have as many chances
05:56as against other teams, I value them today, yes.
06:01And it's sort of another one of those that we were at the beginning of the season where
06:06you left a potential. There were a couple of missed chances, those two post ones. Is
06:12it just a case of those fine margins, they could go your way on another day?
06:17Yes, at the end there are small, small details. We are talking about centimetres, millimetres
06:22probably. The other day probably we scored five. I don't know, maybe some more but not
06:30a five and nil difference. Sometimes you are more clinical than other days and definitely
06:39we needed more, I don't know, a better finishing but these things to go to our side if we wanted
06:47a result against Liverpool.
06:50Obviously an unbeaten run comes to an end. How proud are you of such a run and such a
06:56run of great performances?
06:58Obviously we've enjoyed the good results but we cannot change any approach. It's not the
07:04end of the beginning of anything, the end of anything. No, we are going to approach
07:08the same week with the same mentality that we've done until today and still it's very
07:16early in the season. We are going to take the next chance we have, that is FA Cup against
07:23Everton. Difficult draw, we play away against a team that has seen the result, is flying
07:28apparently. So it's going to be difficult but we will give it a try, yes.
07:35Just on that FA Cup game, Tab's come back from injury, potentially Sini might be back
07:41from injury. Are you hoping to maybe give some minutes to players who are either coming
07:45back or might have been more on the bench?
07:49Right now I don't have a lot of options really and probably it's not the same situation.
07:54So when you have 20 players available and then you can decide. We are quite thin, I
08:01hope we can recover but it's going to be difficult because at the end we are talking about one
08:04week. Sini is the only one that has really started training with the group but he has
08:09trained two or three days. It didn't make any sense definitely to risk him for today.
08:15Let's see if he has good feelings this week and completes at least one full week of training
08:22but for sure it's going to be difficult against Everton, yes.