Iraola earned his high-profile move to Anfield after overseeing three impressive seasons at Bournemouth. However, his initial introduction to English football was far from smooth. The Spaniard famously failed to win any of his opening nine Premier League games in charge of the Cherries. That difficult early run included a heavy 3-0 defeat to Dyche´s Everton in October 2023.
Following that heavy defeat on Merseyside, Iraola quickly realised his intended style of play was unlikely to yield results. He subsequently made a dramatic shift in his approach to secure survival. As a result, Bournemouth immediately won 2-1 over Burnley in the league. Dyche praised this adaptability, noting how Iraola essentially adopted a more direct style but executed it with superior athletes.
"Iraola basically plays lower league football, but at a high level," Dyche explained. "They turn you and turn you, and force you into submission. High quality and high energy version."
The stark contrast between Iraola´s early matches and his eventual successful formula left a lasting impression on Dyche. He admitted he was amazed by the Spaniard´s willingness to completely abandon his initial footballing philosophy.
"I marvelled at it because we ran all over them at Everton when he was trying to play what you would imagine is the Spanish way," he added. "I think he is brilliant at managing, as you could tell he went ´this ain´t going to work´.
Hahaha - Dyche, den store klovn, kalder Iraolas fodbold for lower league football😆
Hvad f… mon han vil kalde sin egen form for “fodbold”?
Han kalder Bournemouth-spillerne for atleter - de spillere har Liverpool vel ikke i helt samme grad? Men han kommer nok heller ikke til at spille 1:1 som i Bournemouth.