The Keys Behind Bournemouth’s Success | OneFootball

The Cherries’ Climb To European Spots!

Bizarre would be an understatement when referring to the state of the current Premier League. Perennial top-six sides Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are languishing at 13th and 14th, respectively. Aston Villa, who finished fourth last season, currently sit 10th in the table. Manchester City, winners of the last four Premier League championships, are locked in a battle for the final Champions League spot.

Whilst Villa, United, Spurs and City are all competing for the unique distinction of the biggest disappointment in England’s top division, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest have proven to be the biggest revelations of the campaign.

Both teams returned to the top-flight in 2022 and managed to narrowly avoid the drop. But whilst Forest decided to keep hold of Steve Cooper, Bournemouth decided to move on from Gary O’Neill after beating the odds and staying afloat, provoking the ire of many pundits and neutral fans.

“Ludicrous decision after the excellent job O’Neil has done,” remarked ex-England striker Gary Lineker. “Bournemouth’s ambition should be to survive in the Premier League, it can’t be more than that,” argued ex-Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness.

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Perhaps nobody was more incandescent than TV pundit Richard Keyes, who, whilst tagging the official club account on Twitter, scathed, “Absolute disgrace. I guess you’re looking for someone to take Bournemouth to the next level? There isn’t a ‘next level’ This is it. There is no more. I remember Charlton wanting to do the same. How did that work out?

Fast-forward 20 months, and it’s evident that these skeptical comments have aged like milk. After a slow start to the campaign that saw them take three points from their first nine matches, Bournemouth managed to turn a corner under new manager Andoni Iraola and punch above their weight thanks in large part to their set-piece profligacy and a stellar home record.

The Cherries ended the season in 12th and secured their highest-ever points tally (48) in the Premier League, but today, they’re just six points away from surpassing last season’s total with 11 matches left to play. With a maiden European qualification within the realm of possibility and an FA Cup quarterfinal with Manchester City on the horizon, it’s shaping up to be an enthralling end to the campaign at the Vitality Stadium. But just how did they reach this point? Let’s take a look.

High-Octane Pressing

Ever since replacing O’Neil in 2023, Iraola has set his Bournemouth team up in a 4-2-3-1 formation which has been predicated upon high-octane pressing. Players are quick to respond to pressing triggers and regain the ball in the final third, before launching a quick counter-attacks through their speedy wingers.

Just like his former club Rayo Vallecano, Bournemouth have one of the lowest budgets in the league, but they’ve been able to compensate for this due to their commitment out of possession. They are going to work harder than their opponents and force them into making injudicious passes and potential giveaways, and they’re going to be able to pounce instantly.

We saw this on full display when they welcomed the reigning champions to the South Coast. Despite having 36% possession, Bournemouth were able to rattle a Rodri-less midfield with their aggressive press and relentless marking, forcing the ball back to Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson and capitalising on the slightest miscued touch or errant pass, whilst they also exploited City’s high line with pinpoint long passes in behind the defence.

Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring after nine minutes, whilst Evanilson doubled the lead in the 64th minute to secure a 2-1 victory at the Vitaly and put an end to City’s 32-match unbeaten run. “We could not match the [Bournemouth] players’ intensity,” lamented City manager Pep Guardiola afterwards.

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“The situation with long balls, we could not win it, and when you don’t win those sort of to Semenyo or other strikers, we have to defend deeper. We struggled to make our build up play and especially for the rhythm that they put into the game. They were higher than us, and we could not handle it. Sometimes the opponents are better and you have to accept it.”

Quick and Direct Passing in the Final Third

On the precipice of the 2024/25 season, Bournemouth sold Dominic Solanke to Tottenham for a £55 million plus £10 million possible in potential bonuses. It seemed that Bournemouth were destined for a humbling second campaign under Iraola — after all, Solanke had scored 19 league goals in 2023/24, 11 more than any other Bournemouth player. And yet, that’s proven to be anything but the case; having scored 54 goals in 2023/24, they’ve already scored 45 goals after 27 matches.

In contrast to other teams like Newcastle (Alexander Isak) or Forest (Chris Wood) who have had to rely on a singular player to bang in the goals, Bournemouth’s approach is very much ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.’ Evanilson, who joined from Porto for £40.2 million to replace Solanke, has contributed five goals in the league, Semenyo and Dango Ouattara have chipped in seven apiece, whilst Justin Kluivert leads their scoring charts with 12 goals.

Read More: Justin Kluivert – Escaping Father’s Shadow

Photo: IMAGO

It seems that the departure of Solanke has necessitated the improvement of all of Bournemouth’s attacking players both on and off the ball. Their vertical style of attack is based on squeezing the opponent into their own third, retrieving possession in the opposition’s half, and making the most of these giveaways by immediately hitting on the counter before their rival has a chance to react.

Thanks to their direct, rapid wingers as well as their attack-minded left back Milos Kerkez, Bournemouth have the tools to pick apart their opponent’s build-up before making a break for the byline and whipping in a cross or a cutback. Bournemouth sit third in the table for fast-break shots (34) behind Chelsea (39) and Liverpool (54), whilst they second (412) for successful crosses behind Fulham (465).

Read More: Key Bournemouth Opta Stats

It should come as no surprise that Bournemouth are recovering possession in the final third on 6.2 occasions per 90 in the league, well ahead of second-placed Arsenal (5.5). This tenacity has remained a consistent regardless of their opponent or available players, and it’s why, even when they were forced to play Outtara as a 9 after losing their only two center forwards to injury, they remained a major threat and were able to score 4+ goals against the likes of Newcastle, Forest and West Brom.

Tactical Balance

So far this season, Bournemouth have been able to beat Arsenal, City, Tottenham, United and Newcastle and enforce their game on and off the ball. They’ve done so thanks to a number of a impressive individual contributions from Chelsea loanee Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has far exceeded expectations in goal, to the industrious efforts of Ryan Christie in the engine room of midfield, to the ageless Adam Smith at right back.

However, there’s an argument to be made that their most valuable performer has not been on the pitch, but on the touchline. Iraola has been able to get his players beating to the same drum, capable of executing a high-intensity press, launching long passes into the final third, and constantly being first to loose balls.

The Spanish manager is far from a one-trick pony, though — he’s been able to adapt his tactics to help Bournemouth face the situation at hand. Sometimes, it will be tweaking a pressing set-up, other times, it might be moving a winger to the opposite flank, whilst other times, it might be dropping his team slightly deeper. Whatever it is, Iraola has proven that he has the tactical nous to read the fine details and make the in-game changes that are required to get them over the finish line.

Bournemouth aren’t afraid to sit deep in a 4-4-2 setup and soak up pressure, remaining compact and organizing and forcing the opponent into making a riskier pass towards the flanks, where they can then launch a transition. Despite losing starting centre back Marcos Senesi to a quadriceps injury, Bournemouth have been able to achieve a stalwart defensive record that has proven the fulcrum for their unprecedented success.

Summer signing Dean Huijsen has stepped into Senesi’s void and emerged as one of the revelations in European football, forming a stellar partnership with Ilya Zabarnyi. Between Zabarnyi and Huijsen, Bournemouth boast one of the stingiest central defensive duos in England, two players who are more than capable of prevailing in 1v1 duels and defusing potential danger by winning long balls, and who also have the technical finesse to launch counter-attacks with precise passes out from the back.

Conclusion

As the saying goes, defence wins championships. Bournemouth may never win a championship, but for the city’s 585,000 residents, a maiden European qualification might as well be a championship. The Cherries find themselves pushing for continental football thanks to a parsimonious backline that has let in just 32 goals, behind only Arsenal (23) and Liverpool (26).

Bournemouth have conceded one goal or fewer in six of their last eight matches, and they sit seventh in the table, one point behind sixth-placed Newcastle and three behind fifth-placed Chelsea. They’ve won three of their last four road trips, and on Sunday, they’ll be looking to continue their superb away form by doing the double over Tottenham in North London.