Brilliant Andoni Iraola AFC Bournemouth Tactic
I never thought that I would be recreating in Football Manager one of my favourite FM 06 players’ tactic.
But here we are – I, doing something unique for me and you, learning something new.
Andoni Iraola is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Premier League club AFC Bournemouth.
Utilised primarily as a right-back in his career, he was highly combative and possessed good passing skills. He spent most of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, earning 510 competitive appearances over 12 seasons.
He played as a youth for Antiguoko, alongside teammates such as Mikel Arteta, Xabi Alonso, Mikel Alonso and Aritz Aduriz. Let’s just take a minute to imagine how impressive that youth team was back in the day.
Good! What I liked at Andoni Iraola while managing clubs in FM 06 was his ability to execute free-kicks and penalties. And that’s exactly what he did best for Athletic Bilbao, in real life, as well.
If you had him and Francisco Yeste in your team, in that game…brilliant.
Iraola moved to New York City FC in June 2015, aged 33. He made his debut against Toronto FC at the Yankee Stadium on 12 July, playing the entirety of a 4–4 draw.
After he retired, in November 2016, Andoni Iraola studied for the coaching badges and in June 2018, he took over as manager for the first time in his career, in Cyprus, with AEK Larnaka.
In July 2019, Iraola replaced the departed Borja Jiménez at the helm of Mirandés, newly promoted to the Segunda División. He took the team to the semi-finals of the Spanish Cup for the second time in their 92-year history, notably winning against top-tier sides Celta, Sevilla and Villarreal. On the 21 July 2020, he left the club as his contract expired.
Iraola remained in the second division and in August 2020, he took over from Paco Jémez at Rayo Vallecano.
Almost a year later, after achieving promotion in the playoffs, he extended his contract until 2022. The following season, he again led a club to the last four of the national cup; it was the second time Rayo had achieved this, the first occasion coming 40 years earlier.
In February 2023, Iraola was approached by Leeds United of the Premier League but was not given permission to leave the Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas. He left at the end of the campaign, having turned down a renewal offer.
But, in June 2023, Iraola’s breakthrough at a managerial level finally came. He was appointed manager of AFC Bournemouth on a two-year deal.
His first match in charge was a 1–1 home draw with West Ham United on 12 August, in which Dominic Solanke scored a late equaliser.
He achieved his first win in the tenth league game, against Burnley, 2–1.
Iraola extended his contract with the club in May 2024, until 2026; his Cherries team had just finished the season with a best-ever 48 points, in 12th place.
On 2 November, he oversaw a 2–1 win over Manchester City, ending their 32-game unbeaten run in the domestic league.
To be honest, at first, I did not think much of Andoni Iraola’s time at AFC Bournemouth. I did not think much of him as a manager. I just knew he was there.
But after watching his team closer, I changed my mind. I am sure there is no accident that he led both Mirandes and Rayo Vallecano to semi-finals in the Copa del Rey. His AFC Bournemouth currently sit as 7th in the Premier League, having a realistic chance of qualifying for European football next season.
Andoni Iraola favours a 4–3–3 or a 4–2-3-1 formation with a focus on quick ball recoveries. With quick wingers, tireless midfield runners and a defensive midfielder who tends to drop deep when building from the back, with the full-backs pushing forward.
His main emphasis is on catching the opposition off guard.
And on that note, let’s go to the in-game tactic.
The sweeper keeper is on defend duty. There is no need for the goalkeeper to go out of his way to sweep up the loose balls, but he needs to be there as a passing option if the team needs him to.
The back four is made of two wing backs on attack duty and one on support and two ball playing defenders on defend.
Be careful that the ball playing defenders will go out of their positions at times, to aid the passing game. If you feel like this setup is too aggressive for your team, change them to central defenders on defend duty. This will keep them on the defensive line.
The wing backs are one on support and one on attack to keep the formation balanced. The right-sided one will go up the pitch in the rhythm of play. While the left-sided one will go up the pitch immediately after the ball was recovered, becoming a passing option later in the build-up.
No player instructions for any of them.
The defensive midfielder is a ball winning midfielder one, on defend duty. A defensive midfielder on defend would also work here.
The difference is, in my opinion, that the ball winning role focuses more on recovering the ball in a proactive manner. The defensive midfielder seems to be waiting for the perfect time to try and recover the ball.
The central midfielder is a deep lying playmaker on support duty. This player could also be a central midfielder, but I feel like Bournemouth are quite rigid in their midfield setup, both players hovering alongside the midfield line, aiming to stop opposition counterattacks.
Dribble less as player instruction for him.
The wingers are two wingers on support duty. I kept them as standard wingers. The only change is adding the player instruction of marking tighter. To ask them to aim to stop the opposition’s build-up from the back.
And an attacking midfielder on support and an advanced forward make up the rest of the formation. Both are asked to mark tighter. For the same reason as the wingers.
Beware that the attacking midfielder having no other player instructions means that in the match engine, this player traits might heavily dictate how he plays.
As mentality, I chose positive.
In possession, fairly wide attacking width and play out of defence. Shorter passing directness and a slightly higher tempo. And play for set-pieces, to use any advantage we could possibly have in attack.
In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the center-backs through short kicks.
And out of possession, a high press and a standard defensive line. And trigger press more often.
I used this tactic managing in my building a nation save in Malta, with FC Valletta. We were unbeaten in the league, winning the title in a dominant fashion. Even conceding only 19 goals.
In Europe, we missed qualifying to the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League league phases. But we did manage to qualify to the UEFA Conference League league phase, where we narrowly missed the qualification to the next round.
And domestically, we finally won the Maltese Cup and the Maltese Supercup.
As I am managing in a lower league, domestic dominance might be a pre-requisite if my team becomes quite good.
However, do try this tactic for yourself and let me know how your seasons go.
I am glad I decided to cover Andoni Iraola’s tactic in Football Manager. I hope that his Bournemouth side qualifies for European football, which would be a nice feat to add to his managerial career.
