As Tottenham prepare to face Hoffenheim in the midweek as European football returns—for the first time in January with this new guise, they will look to get a result and put behind some if not all of the pressure they’re currently under as they try to grab a direct ticket for the Round of 16.
Tottenham have publicly backed Ange Postecoglou—for now. We know how this song plays out. The Carabao Cup semi-final is making Daniel Levy just that bit more reluctant to dismiss the man he bet on and is losing, but it doesn’t look like survival is on the cards for the coach from Down Under in the long term.
Successors have been mooted. Max Allegri is sensationally back in the picture, but as are better, more suitable coaches for Spurs’ needs. Marco Silva and Andoni Iraola are the latest names on the scene, and here we are focusing on the latter.
Iraola’s name in the coaching circles was already on the up when he arrived at Bournemouth. The circumstances in which he arrived on the south coast were interesting, to say the least. The Cherries had dismissed Gary O’Neil seemingly out of nowhere after what was considered widely an acceptable campaign, and Iraola was only able to bring his conditioning coach with him in the beginning, which reflected in Bournemouth’s poor start to the season under him. Things had gotten off so badly that many had already put him on the sack list after a few weeks.
Since then, however, things have only gone from strength to strength. Bournemouth’s fortunes soon turned around as they went on to register their best-ever Premier League finish, and they’re already on the cusp of breaking that record this term as they vie for Europe.
So what is it about Iraola’s tactics that have made Bournemouth this good?
Iraola’s work focuses on having a robust defence-first approach with a well-coached setup. His players press high, and they press well, going man-to-man up the pitch and resorting to zonal containment in their own third. This is a time-consuming endeavour, as we saw from last season, but once it clicks, it can make the team hard to score against and even harder to play through. This season, Bournemouth are leading the charts for ball recoveries in every third of the pitch, and in possession, the players have instructions for both high-octane counterattacks and slow build-ups, equipped to deal with every situation and not refrain from ad-hoc creative moments when an opportunity presents itself.
Industry and tactics that make the side as a whole greater than the sum of its parts—in these aspects Iraola and Postecoglou are very much similar, but there’s a huge difference when it comes to prioritising defence; one does, and the other does not. Which is which? it need not be said out loud. Iraola is also demonstrably better at dealing with injuries, as we are seeing this season.
On paper, transitioning from Postecoglou to Iraola would be rather feasible, given the players would be used to the intensity of training, and a defence-first approach would make the team solid at the back while having a plethora of options going forward, bringing what they need most—balance.
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Under Iraola, Spurs could regain the defensive solidity that they had in their peak Mauricio Pochettino years while also retaining their exciting football approach. He will not come cheap, but compared to someone like Allegri, Iraola is a much better fit for Tottenham.
