Iraola on Bournemouth's 2-0 defeat Premier League leaders Liverpool

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Iraola on Bournemouth's 2-0 defeat Premier League leaders Liverpool  01/02/2025  Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, UK

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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.

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