West Ham’s opponents Bournemouth will be without highly regarded manager Andoni Iraola for tomorrow’s game. The Cherries boss is serving a one-game touchline ban, meaning he will have to watch proceedings from the stands at the London Stadium — a long way from the action and unable to directly influence matters from the technical area.
To get an idea of how much his absence will impact the visitors, Claret & Hugh spoke to Bournemouth fan and podcaster Craig from “Up The Cherries” to gauge how much they will miss their gaffer on the touchline.
“AFC Bournemouth will be without Andoni Iraola for tomorrow’s game against West Ham at the London Stadium. It will be a rarity not to have our Basque supremo on the sidelines and it could be seen as something that could really affect the Cherries. However, Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper — Andoni’s trusted assistants and heroes at Dean Court — will be fully briefed on what the main man will be looking for.
Assistants Ready to Step Up
“Tommy especially can be seen as very vocal on the sidelines, getting his message across on a regular basis, whereas Shaun is more methodical and reserved in his approach. Both will have regular contact with Andoni sitting in the stands, and this will be with the meticulously put-together game plan already worked on.
“Kroupi might be withdrawn at 60 minutes, which is a bugbear for me and other fans, but there will be a method in the madness of a man who has done so much since arriving from Rayo Vallecano. Will Adli and Rayan stick to their wings, or may they even swap? I guess that depends on how West Ham approach them, but do not be surprised to see Tommy and Shaun pressing their earpieces a fair bit.
“It will be unusual without Andoni, but it will be something in the contingency plan and no doubt he will have that drilled down. Hopefully he does not get banished from the sidelines too often, though!”
I think even Bournemouth have cell phones now so I suspect it will not be too much of a handicap.