Daniel Storey takes a look at how Bournemouth fared as part of i’s season reviews for all 20 Premier League clubs
What went well?
There was some trepidation when Andoni Iraola started his tenure at Bournemouth with three draws and six defeats in his first nine games, but since then the results have been extraordinary: between 28 October and 28 April, Bournemouth took 45 points.
Over that period, Iraola’s team ranked fifth in the Premier League behind only the current top four. That is one of the standout achievements of this season, and led to Iraola being nominated for the Manager of the Year award.
Iraola was able to implement his style after that initial acclimatisation period. Bournemouth pressed high up the pitch and became comfortable doing that as one seamless unit. They ranked third for tackles in the middle third and sixth in the final third, but 14th in their own defensive third; cut off attacks at source.
When they won possession, Bournemouth were also superbly direct – no team in the division attempted to take on opposition players more often. Their success in doing so allowed Dominic Solanke to stay high up the pitch and receive exactly the type of service he has longed for in the top flight. This was his coming-of-age year too.
Finally, Bournemouth have used their recruitment (more on that soon, because there’s a flipside) to create a squad of players at peak age. Of the 11 outfielders given 15 or more starts by Iraola in the league, nine are aged between 21 and 27. Life is good here.
What went badly?
Given how swimmingly everything else went after that tricky opening run, it’s impressive to look at how little Bournemouth’s most expensive summer signings offered. Iraola’s success has come through improving the players he inherited. Lewis Cook, Ryan Christie and Antoine Semenyo are the three most obvious examples.
Of the five most expensive players signed last summer (at a cost of not much under £100m), only Milos Kerkez started more than 12 games – he started 22. Of the others, Alex Scott managed 11 starts and Hamed Traore, Romain Faivre and Tyler Adams one between them. Adams was injured and Traore and Faivre loaned out for the second and first half of the season respectively, but it doesn’t all scream value for money yet.
Finally, Bournemouth picked up an awful habit of throwing away leads. They held at least a one-goal lead in 24 of their league games, more than Aston Villa in fourth. They also dropped more points from those positions than anyone other than Brentford, 27 in total. Somehow, this season could have been even better.
Player of the season
It can only be Solanke, although Cook and Christie in midfield have enjoyed the best seasons of their careers. Bournemouth’s centre-forward may well miss out on Euro 2024 thanks to the form of Ollie Watkins and penalty-taking of Ivan Toney, but he has been sensational all season.
Before 2023-24, Solanke had played 96 Premier League matches and scored 10 goals. His £20m transfer fee had been paid back by his Championship prolificacy, but Solanke was in danger of becoming yet another not-quite-Premier League standard striker. Now no English striker has scored more than him in the division at the end of a season where he has become a potential option for some of the biggest clubs in the land.
Breakthrough player
When Illia Zabarnyi was signed by Bournemouth in January 2023, he had played only 50 senior league games and he started only three Premier League matches last season – Bournemouth lost them all. So for him to step up at the age of 21 and play every minute of Bournemouth’s first 34 league games of the season is a significant achievement.
“He is someone that has evolved incredibly this season,” says Iraola. “He made some mistakes at the beginning of the season, something very normal. His performances lately have been, for me, very, very, very good.” Is he going to be targeted by bigger clubs this summer too?
Best team performance
Bournemouth were more dominant during the 2-0 home win against Newcastle, but it was the swagger they showed when winning 3-0 at Old Trafford that stood out most and had people really talking about Iraola’s football. Solanke was a constant threat, Philip Billing and Ryan Christie won the midfield battle and Marcus Tavernier and Dango Outtara overpowered United on the break. It was also Bournemouth’s biggest Premier League away win since 2019.