Bournemouth deserved to topple Brentford in thriller, claims Iraola

Andoni Iraola was insistent that Bournemouth “didn’t deserve to lose” as a 3-2 defeat at Brentford saw them travel back to the south coast with nothing to show for a decent performance.

Bournemouth had taken the lead twice, first through Evanilson and then Justin Kluivert, but could not hold on either time.

Yoane Wissa’s brace and a goal from Mikkel Damsgaard handed Brentford the three points, as the Bees bounced back from their late capitulation to Fulham on Monday.

Iraola’s team had the better of the chances, creating 2.6 expected goals (xG) to Brentford’s 1.5, and the Spaniard felt the result was not a reflection of Bournemouth’s display.

“I don’t think we deserved to lose today. I think we were better for most of the game. Probably, they’ve been more efficient than us in the key moments, and they’ve made the difference,” Iraola told BBC Radio Solent.

“We had very, very clear chances to score. We played really well again. The problem is when you lose, people always say, ‘No, but you lost.’ Against Everton [a 3-2 win in August], we played much worse, but we won, and it looks much different.

“Overall, we’ve been the better team, especially in the first half. I was very happy with the performance in the first half.

“We hit the crossbar at the end, and I think there was a clear penalty to Evanilson to score and make it 3-3, but we couldn’t do it.”

Three goals in three games pic.twitter.com/AOVutNLEcU

— AFC Bournemouth (@afcbournemouth) November 9, 2024

Bournemouth’s Brazilian striker Evanilson netted his third goal in as many games, making him the first Bournemouth player to score in three successive league games since Dominic Solanke in December last year.

Evanilson had shouts for a penalty denied on the hour mark after it appeared Ethan Pinnock had caught his leg, and Iraola was not satisfied with the explanation he received from the officials.

“They tell us he kicks himself, but he kicks himself because he was kicked. To me, it is very clear and obvious, but to them, they don’t think so,” he explained.

Thomas Frank concurred with Iraola’s assessment of the visitor’s strong first-half performance but praised his side’s fightback.

“The bounce-back mentality was unbelievably good. Maybe even more impressive than if we had won 3-0 because we actually played badly in the first 20 minutes. Bournemouth were better than us,” he told Sky Sports.

“We gave them clearly the first goal and then one or two other chances. But after that goal we stepped up and we found some of that great bounce-back mentality.”

8 goal involvements in 5 @premierleague home games

Wissa’s ON FIRE! pic.twitter.com/8nCN0aDMBc

— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) November 9, 2024

While Brentford are scoring plenty, they have shipped 12 goals in their last five games, though Frank is keen to focus on the positives.

“The positive is that we are a very dangerous team going forward,” he said.

“We must be up there [as a team that’s scored the most goals]. That is incredible. We are Brentford. I think that is insanely good. I think people don’t understand how good it is.

“But of course, I am also very ambitious and I would love us to win 3-0 today.”