'More than a few defensive headaches going on for Iraola right now'
Bournemouth's backline has been at the forefront of Andoni Iraola's mind for a number of weeks now. On multiple occasions, he has highlighted not just the number of goals they've conceded, but perhaps more the manner in which they've been conceding them. That's why the clean sheet in the win over Fulham would have meant so much to him.Iraola made a big call in leaving out Ilia Zabarnyi on Monday night. It was the first time he'd ever chosen to drop the Ukrainian defender. Zabarnyi has set a very high bar for himself since his arrival at Bournemouth, and his performances in recent week haven't hit his usual mark.Marcos Senesi stepped in against Fulham, but he had a difficult first-half, so much so that Iraola had to swallow his initial decision to drop Zabarnyi as he then brought him on at half-time in Senesi's place.That was a perfect example of Iraola's decisiveness. He wasn't afraid to drop Zabarnyi initially, but then didn't leave Senesi on the pitch longer than he needed to just because of his principles. That's something Iraola should be praised for.And then across the backline, there's the very real prospect of both Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez departing Bournemouth this summer. Kerkez in particular was excellent again last night. He's quickly emerged as one of the Premier League's best full-backs, and is going to be mightily hard to replace if he does leave Vitality Stadium.There's more than a few defensive headaches going on for Iraola right now.
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