Andoni Iraola on Bournemouth's 2-2 Chelsea point
14/01/2025
Stamford Bridge, London, UK
14/01/2025
Stamford Bridge, London, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00What do you think of the match? Even though the fans are chanting your name, you look quite frustrated, obviously.
00:25Can you tell me how you're feeling and what you think about the match?
00:29It's a difficult one. Sometimes games are quite easy and you finish happy or sad. This one is very difficult because I think the result is fair.
00:39I think Chelsea were better than us in the first half. I think probably we were lucky to finish just with the 1-0.
00:47I think we were better than Chelsea in the second half. I think we deserved the turnaround.
00:53I think probably the point is fair, but the way we've lost the point, I don't think it's fair.
01:01I think there is a goal that they scored that should be disallowed.
01:05When they shoot the free-kick, you put the image, stop the image and Correa is touching our wall.
01:12It should be one yard. We cannot argue if it's half a yard or three quarters or he's touching the menu like this.
01:19I understand the referee life, 24 minutes, the pressure, Stamford Bridge.
01:23But one guy in the VAR only has to check this free-kick, stop the image when he shoots.
01:29Are they in a legal position? No, they are not. One second, that's it.
01:33I haven't understood a lot of decisions today about the referee, but we can argue, we can discuss, we can say the penalty, the yellow card, whatever.
01:45This is not arguable, this is what it is. And to lose the three points here because of this, for me it's difficult to accept.
01:54But I repeat that I think it's a fair result. I think, especially in the first half, they did much better than us.
02:00Is Cucurella the reason your wall couldn't stop the ball? Because it kind of looks to me that the wall is not well placed.
02:07Yes, Cucurella is touching our wall. He's the last player of our wall. Cucurella, you stop the image, I've just seen it.
02:15Life I didn't realise. And it's like this, touching the menu, you have to leave one yard.
02:24We cannot argue, it's what it is. It's not fair or unfair, it's like they put the rules, these are the rules.
02:33But I repeat that I don't think we deserve to win today because, especially in the first half, they did better than us.
02:43You didn't like that decision. What about the decision around David Brooks not being sent off?
02:50Ends of arrest, very, very unhappy. You said there was no intention to go and it's dangerous.
03:02I don't understand also why the VAR asks the referee to go and check this.
03:08For me the play is quite clear. It's Robert Sánchez on the ball, he's going to throw the ball to Cucurella to do the counter.
03:18And Brooks wants to stop Cucurella, grabs him. There is no violence, no hard knock, there is nothing.
03:25So I think it's a clear yellow card. It's when you grab one from the shirt to stop the counter. I've seen nothing violent.
03:34If you see the first play of the game, and we can argue about these things, that Cucurella goes against David Brooks, we can argue and we can discuss.
03:46I think it's a yellow card. For me, Brooks never wants to do nothing to Cucurella, just stop him to avoid the counter.
03:54It's my opinion, but we can discuss. About the free kick, we cannot discuss. It is what it is.
04:03It was obviously a difficult first half. Chelsea were the better side, but you really came out far in the second half.
04:10How did you sit and how did you change the team at half-time?
04:15We were very disappointed with the first half, because we haven't been us.
04:19We've talked in the half-time, we can come here and lose against Chelsea, they are a top team, but let's lose doing the things we've been doing all the season.
04:29Being much more aggressive in the press, being much more vertical, putting much more rhythm to the game,
04:35and we were playing very slow, quite passive, quite trained just to keep possession without really being aggressive with the ball.
04:44In the second half, we've been what we are, a different team, and I finished very happy with the performance of the second half.
04:54We were very close to winning it, but we have to analyse both things.
04:59Why we weren't the team we wanted to be in the first half and why we've been able to change the game.
05:07Just on James Hill, it looked like he was having some discomfort. What was the situation with him?
05:14He has felt a very tight hamstring. We were very close to him. He was playing close to the bench and we decided to change him straight away.
05:23We have to assess him, see if there is a small injury there. If it's just this tightness and in two, three, four days he can return to the team.
05:34But you've seen the number of players we have available and obviously to lose a player like James Hill in the first half,
05:44we decided to leave Justin on the bench because he's someone that can change the game in the second half.
05:54He can give us another spark and probably if we have 25 players available, Justin will start the game.
05:59But in these difficult conditions we came here, I think, we've taken that decision.
06:05We've had to lose the change straight away but luckily even without subs we could change the game in the second half.
06:16Justin looked really good off the bench but Antoine in particular looked like the difference maker in the second half.
06:24Just a word on him.
06:26I think he has played very well, especially in the second half. We needed him to ask for more balls, to win more duels, to be more aggressive.
06:35He was not playing badly in the first half but he was quite shy. We needed more from him and I think his performance in the second half has been very good.
06:56It's a big worry. Big, big worry. Not now. We've been last month, month and a half in a very difficult situation, numbers-wise.
07:04But it's true that, especially this week, with Van Ilsen and Esunao, very specific players in the same position.
07:10Today I think we had 12 outfield players from the first team, if I'm not mistaken.
07:16We've lost James Hill so we are having help from the young players but most of them are not ready to play a game like today.
07:27They started the cup game, they've played some minutes but it's too much for us to ask them to play a lot of minutes in the Premier League right now.
07:44But they are ready to help and if we need to use them, they are someone that I trust also.
07:55Yes, very proud. I'm very, very proud about them because we are making them play 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes.
08:01My biggest worry is that the ones that are healthy, that are surviving, let's say, it's difficult because probably they are playing more minutes than they were going to play in a normal situation.
08:13What has happened to James Hill is that after not playing most of the season, now we ask him to play 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes.
08:20There is always a danger that can happen to others.
08:23But we have to survive, I think, one or two games at least until we start to recover some of the players that we have out.
08:43We are taking game by game. Even if we come from a good run of games, we are in a very difficult situation, especially numbers-wise.
08:53We have now a very short turnaround, another very physical game like today away Newcastle.
08:58We have Forest, we have Liverpool after Forest.
09:01So we are going through a very difficult period of the season.
09:06I think it's still just halfway through the season, still very early.
09:10I think we are doing very well. The points that we have, we already have them.
09:13We want to continue this level of performance.
09:16But still, for me, it's very early to start talking about those things.
09:34I think he has just started playing at this level.
09:37Obviously, he's doing very, very well.
09:39Games like today's, probably the first half between Xhava and him, they were not giving us the level that they are giving us every week.
09:49And then we've changed their positioning for the second half.
09:53They've been much, much better. He has been very, very brave in the second half, very aggressive.
09:58We know that he is very good on the ball, but he has to continue.
10:02He has just started. He has to show this level for a sustained period of time.
10:07I have no doubt that he can do it, but he has to show it and he has to do it.
10:12He's in this process and we will try to help him because, obviously, the level is there.
10:21We have very, very little players, so now we cannot lose anyone else.