Andoni Iraola on AFC Bournemouth’s centre back options
ANDONI Iraola’s selection headache at centre back is ‘very good for the team’, the Basque boss said.
Three players have been deployed in the position so far this season, in two combinations, with Illia Zabarnyi starting all of the Cherries’ Premier League games this term, alongside either Marcos Senesi or Dean Huijsen.
Nineteen-year-old Huijsen joined the club from Juventus in the summer for an initial £12.4million, while Senesi and Zabarnyi joined from Feyenoord in 2022 and Dynamo Kyiv in 2023 respectively.
Each have put in strong performances for Bournemouth, and Iraola said he chooses which partnership to go for depending on the demands of the opposition, rather than sticking with one duo each week.
The Cherries head coach said the trio are giving him selection problems, which is a very good thing for the team.
“I’m very happy with the performances of the three,” Iraola told the Daily Echo.
“Very happy. And even Hilly [James Hill] is the fourth one, when he played against West Ham, he was very good.
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“But these three that have started the Premier League games, I think they’ve had very good performances and it’s not easy for me.
“I suppose it’s not easy for them because they will all want to play. I try to find the partnership that I think will give us more [of a] chance in every game.
“Sometimes it’s not because they played last game better or worse, [it’s] because they fit better with the demands of the particular game and they have to continue pushing and giving me reasons to select them like all the others.”
While Cherries are yet to keep a clean sheet this season, they have conceded 10 goals in seven games.
Aside from the 3-0 defeat at Anfield against Liverpool and the 3-2 victory over Everton, Bournemouth have conceded one goal in each of the other five games.
After the 1-0 loss to Leicester City at the weekend, left back Milos Kerkez said the Cherries defensive unit know they have work to do to improve and secure the so-far illusive clean sheet.
