Comparison was the scenarios, not the intricacies of their individual coaching styles.
Over achieving at small clubs, then straight into big clubs and the expectations that come with it.
As i said, hope I’m wrong.
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I don’t think he was an option this time because of the head coach / manager thing.
Well if David, Paul and Ken not happy then I’m out
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I think it has already been reported this evening in the Times and on BBC that we will formally talk with Iraola this week - that feels like it has come from the club.
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I don’t think it is because of this (in practice there is probably little difference between the two), and if it relates to transfers, there is little evidence that we aren’t willing to lean into players the manager/ head coach asks for.
People seem to be overlooking a very decent playing career. He played for his home town Bilbao for over a decade, getting an handful of Spain caps during their greatest period ever, and captained bilbao during a rare period of competitiveness. Bilbao may not be a huge club, but the San Mamés is a demanding place
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Are bilboa the club who only sign players from the local area?
There also spain 4th most successful club in terms of trophies won
The more I read about him the more I think he will be a great fit for the club. Obviously some questions about how he will handle the different challenges he will face - but I can’t think of many clubs competing for top honours that has owners that are willing to invest so much time in the manager/ head coach.
It feels like this would be the perfect union.
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Yeah. They are historically one of the most successful clubs, but a bit like Villa…most of it before most of us were born
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I think we were all convinced that Slot was a good fit before he arrived too.
What frustrates me, is as you and others have touched upon the shit housery of teams. I may be looking at this through rose tinted glasses, but apart from Macca and maybe Robbo we don’t really have a player who is niggly, guilty of the darker arts of the game.
Rodri as good as a player as he is, gets away with so many almost fouls, and Arsenal have become experts of this. What I mean by this is the little tugs, pushes, holds, kicks which disrupt the attacking player.
I understand the need to be competitive and when I played myself I loved the physical side of the game. But in today’s game it appears to be an obvious and premeditated tactic, which the Refs let slide. How Arsenal managed to get away with their repeated tactics of blocking, holding and general gamesmanship all season amazes me.
In the end until the referees stamp this out they are entitled to use it to their advantage.
Talking about shit housery I always found it amusing the amount of fouls Hamman won by literally running away from a player and falling over. You could see it coming every time
The source is Jason Burt (Chief football correspondent for the Telegraph)
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Don’t they also take players from outside of the local area (my geography isn’t great so it may still be classed as ‘local’)? I thought the requirement is that the player is of Basque (?) heritage - so they have had players from France, for example?
We’re not. We never hired him. People need to behave 
Yeah it’s Basque requirement not specifically Bilbao. Either born there or developed
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https://x.com/Arbihorla/status/2061088727649206496
Many people may not realize that Andoni Iraola captained the outstanding Athletic Club side under Marcelo Bielsa, featuring stars like Iker Muniain, Ander Herrera, Javi Martínez, and Fernando Llorente. That team famously defeated Manchester United both home and away, knocking them out of the Europa League in one of the competition’s most memorable upsets.
Much of Iraola’s footballing philosophy was shaped during his years under Bielsa. As captain, he was at the heart of a system built on relentless intensity, aggressive pressing, positional discipline, and fearless attacking football.
It’s no surprise that, as a manager, Iraola has emerged as one of the strongest proponents of high-energy, front-foot football. The principles that define his teams today were ingrained in him long before he stepped into the dugout.
Edit… I looked that up.
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Not all, but probably most of us. A lot of that was based on faith, admittedly, but there were some concerned about him coming from the Dutch leagues. And we knew then he was a fan of Pep, so there was likely to be some shift to possession football.
Iraola hasn’t won league titles in the top division but his record at the clubs he has been at has been really good, earning promotions and winning a cup. and his footballing foundations are a much closer fit to what we want to see than Arne’s was at Feyernoord. He is a Bielsa fanboy. He appears to be a warm positive personality - and understand what its like to be the underdog/ outsider.
I think the fact Hughes was his boss for a couple of years means that we already have better insight into his relationships, approach and credentials than we ever had with Arne.
And perhaps for him this is like Jurgen’s move to Dortmund?
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Yeah, one of the things that got me excited was an article on Bournemouth’s match against Forest, who dropped deep to counter Bournemouth’s attacks - and Iraola responded by getting his CBs to run with the ball at forest’s defence!
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He seems to be the only one reporting that and everyone is running with it. I’m not sure but I guess we may find out. Also, fuck The Telegraph.
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